“THE REBEL PRINCESS” (Eps 1-8 Eng)
@wishfultoki,@sicarius, @marcusnyc20, @ndlessjoie, @pakalanapikake
I’m hooked on this show after 8 eps.
Check it out when you have time.

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    Thanks @kiara for the recommendation. I have had THE LONGEST DAY IN CHANG’AN queued up on Viki for I don’t how long.

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      Oh do watch THE LONGEST DAY IN CHANG’AN. I’m currently watching it also. (Zhou Yi Wei is in both dramas). I find the 3 kingdoms era interesting ( both China and Korea) so CHANG’AN is a real treat.

      I miss the epic sageuks of old. I don’t see any in Dramaland’s future so I’m going catch up with mainland epics for now.

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        I’m still catching up with the epic sageuks of old! Just finished KIM SU RO and am thinking of watching GWANGGAETO THE GREAT or KING GEUNCHOGO. Which one would you recommend @kiara?

        Feel free to recommend more mainland epics! I have yet to watch THE LONGEST DAY IN CHANG’AN and am intrigued because it’s set in the Tang Dynasty (?).

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          GWANGGAETO THE GREAT is very long (92 eps) but it ties in with SFD when it comes to the Liaodong Peninsula incident and why General Choi Young was so determined to reclaim it. That was their last shot at reclaiming part of Korea’s glory days.
          Goguryeo has always been my favorite out of the 3 so I’ll recommend it first :).

          While Gwanggaeto is a descendant of Jumong, KING GEUNCHOGO is a descendent of the remarkable nation builder queen Soseono.
          Both kings expanded their nation’s territory so there is lots of war and political intrigues to keep you interested till the end.

          Yes CHANG’AN is set during the Tang dynasty. The alliance between Tang and Silla was to destroy Goguryeo. That’s why Silla is known more as a traitor for allying with a foreign country. Silla’s history calls it the unification lol.
          The main dream/goal of King Jinheung shown in the beginning of QSD was to unite the 3 kingdoms under Silla. I’m not sure if allying with a foreign nation was part of the plan but he’s known to play dirty politics. The first episode of QSD showed his betrayal of a treaty with Baekje.

          Both dramas will expand your knowledge on other sageuks that you are familiar with like Jumong, QSD, SFD etc.

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            Thank you @kiara. After watching BALLAD OF SEODONG and KING’S DAUGHTER SOO BAEK HYANG I think Baekje is my favourite. Silla always plays dirty. 😂 Tang troops also supported Silla in destroying the Baekje army at the Battle of Hwangsanbeol… I wonder what Kim Yu-shin thought of this method of “unification”.

            I recently watched the film ANSI FORTRESS so I’m in a Goguryeo mood. I will check out a few episodes of GWANGGAETO, but will probably switch to RIVER WHERE THE MOON RISES, which airs soon. 😀

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            @wishfultoki

            Thank you! Baekje has always been low key and especially Kaya. I’m glad you are giving both some loving.
            It’s hard for me to credit Silla with the downfall of the other two because both were internally broken first with lack of leadership from the top. It’s too bad because their generals were capable.
            I was a Kim Yushin fangirl until I realized that most of the history was written by bias Silla descendants from a later dynasty. I wonder how much of it was totally made up and exaggerated to the max.

            I prefer the (2006) “Dae Jo Young” series over ANSI as far as General Yang Manchun’s story. You’d think that an important historical figure like him would have his name recorded in Samguk Sagi but no Kim Busik wrote more about Silla’s beloved Yushin and even his sister….

            I’m not sure I’ll be back for RIVER WHERE THE MOON RISES but I hope it’ll do well for Kim So-hyun. I’m easily annoyed with pretty faces that can’t do sageuk and Si Joo was terrible in Moon Lovers. I don’t mind him being a support character but as a lead I have my doubt.
            Here is hoping he’ll improve on this one.

            Let me know how it goes. I’m in the rabbit hole with historical C-dramas.

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    It’s the crouching Tiger it girl! Right? New show!

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      Yes it’s Zhang Zi Yi. She is 40 or 41 now. She is not quite as convincing as a young girl but as she start to age in the drama she is quite good.

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    YES, THANK YOU! Your recommendation comes at the perfect time. I just dropped BLOOMS AT RUYI PAVILION because the female lead was immature, wishy-washy and showed no signs of growth by episode 20. I was only watching it for the cute secondary couple anyway.

    I see we’ve both gone down the C-drama hole! 😂

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      I think you’ll enjoy this spoiled princess who is becoming the people’s princess.
      I’m really loving the budding romance between the two main leads. Natural and believable. They both have the acting chops and screen presence to melt my frozen heart lol.
      The male lead is no flower boy and he’s the most convincing general I’ve seen on screen in a long time.

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      @wishfultoki and @kiara,
      I guess the episode count is my biggest stumbling block to getting into Cdramas.
      I know the episodes are usually shorter than Kdramas and you can skip the credits.
      I subscribe to AvenueX on YouTube and I do check in with her every now and then.

      Before coming to kdramas in 2016 I started with Hong Kong cop shows from TVB. I watched five dramas starting with LIVES OF OMISSION (2011). I visited HK in 2015. I visited mainland China in 2016 and 2019. I have completed only 3 cdramas: CANDLE IN THE TOMB (2016) WHEN A SNAIL FALLS IN LOVE (2016) (loved it) and THE LOST TOMB (2015). I enjoyed all 3. I followed CANDLE’s Jin Dong to SURGEONS but dropped it after episode 2.

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        Totally understand :).
        I don’t know much about China’s history so it has been a fun way to learn.
        I’m stuck at home with a lot of down time so it’s a perfect time to watch long dramas.

        “Joy of Life” is next on my list.

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    Are you still watching? I’m stuck about ep 40. The cousin from the mountain village is super annoying. Also, you can email me at allykdrama@gmail.com and tell me what days are blackout days at DL! Thanks!

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      They haven’t post any info for April yet. I’ll email you as soon as they post it :).
      I finished it 2 weeks ago. That cousin and her mother were pretty annoying but you can skip to 45 if you want to see what happened to them :).

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        We probably won’t be able to go until June or July. Ok, I’m going start watching Rebel now!

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          Oh that’s good then. I should be able to send it to you at the end of April or first week of May.

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      Hi @ally-le. I sent you an email yesterday about DL. Will update when I hear more.

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