This Is Amazing!

This is amazing!

The good old we must fake being lovers for the PLOT!!!!

Love her sticking flower in HIS hair because dammit, they are gonna be equal!

It is such a great arc that he went from watching plays, to directing to being one of the actors with her!

Man is capable of learning!

And is also protecting her mmmm

He kept that flower the whole time even bossing around thugs and only took it off after she left! Man is a goner.

This man is SHINING!!!!

One more thing re: badly written women - when it comes to female characters that ARE written poorly I wanna shout out the people who still make fan content for them. The people who love the objectively badly written characters, the ones ignored or ruined by the writers. The people who write fanfic to fix their arc or flesh them out, who ship them despite not being given much to work with. The people who decide that female villains can be given a redemption arc too. The writers and artists who give background women the same treatment fandom commonly gives to background men. Everyone who ships f/f rarepairs and brings that AO3 fic count up to double digits. To everyone who sees potential in underwritten women, I love you and you deserve kisses and ten million dollars in cash.

Intrigued by peach blossom goddess on MDL mentioning that the princess in this novel/drama might be inspired by the real Princess Taiping. https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1012029

Wikipedia:

During the reign of Emperor Ruizong, she was not restricted by anything, the emperor issued rulings based on her views and the courtiers and the military flattered her and majority from every civil and military class joined her faction, so her power exceeded that of the emperor.

In 690, Empress Dowager Wu wanted to remarry Princess Taiping to Wu Youji, a grandson of Empress Dowager Wu's uncle Wu Shileng (武士稜). Wu Youji, however, was already married, and Empress Dowager Wu secretly had Wu Youji's wife assassinated so that Princess Taiping could marry him. 

Eventually, however, a rivalry developed between her and her nephew, Emperor Ruizong's son, Crown Prince Li Longji. Both of them were hostile in power-sharing and they fought for the monopoly over power. After Emperor Ruizong yielded the throne to Li Longji (as Emperor Xuanzong) in 712, the conflict came to the political forefront, and openly, the court became a manifestation of conspiracy rather than the administration of the empire; in 713, Emperor Xuanzong, according to historical records, believing that she was planning to overthrow him, acted first, executing a large number of her powerful allies and forcing her to commit suicide.

//

I find this intriguing because I've seen criticisms of the princess storyline online - not the dramatic licence aspect, but in general the princess wouldn't have that kind of power & conflict. But history is often stranger than we presume.

Looks like subbers translated Palace of Desire on YT here. I checked it out, the translation looks excellent.

When I started watching The Double, I was trying to pinpoint why it felt so familiar, both visually (utterly gorgeous) and the insane OTP chemistry and dynamic between them, well, it turns out it's helmed by the director of Go Princess Go and Oh My General, who brought his trusty fan wind machine and petals along the ride. Sure, he has a bigger budget now and is limited by more censorship restrictions but it's still his signature style.

Seriously, so many scenes feel like homage shots to Go Princess Go that I've started to rewatch it like Pavlov's dog.

The trusty fan machine never fails.

The extra and gorgeous male lead (with a fan) with a penchant for dramatic poses.

Romance among flower petals.

Tragic death among flower petals.

Heroine taking the lead in a dance with the male lead.

Female lead openly thirsting after the hero.

i can't stop thinking about this

Sweetheart, we all know you want her to step on you!