Hi, so... I've had time to calm down after episode 12 - I slept for 7 hours, went to work and stuff... BUT! Just thinking about it makes me emotional. Anyway, I think you described the first couple of episodes perfectly ("concussed terror from the information dump"), because I watched the first two episodes almost week and a half ago and I was soooooo confused and going "What? Who is this? Do I know this name? Should I know? Eh... who's side are they on again?" at least every minute. 1/?
So I wasn’t sure I would continue watching but then I saw another of your posts about it and I decided to give it another chance… and the rest is history :D One thing I was like “what the f…” at were the fighting scenes. I’m sorry but this is just ridiculous :D Going back to the confused thing - I still feel like I’m confused a lot of the time – at times I feel like commander Meng because I don’t get the scheming and the jumps in thinking :D 2/3
And I’m sure I missed ton of things because this show is ridiculous. Also I’m really scared because I love so many characters already and I have 42 episodes to go, which means there’s lot of suffering to be had and I’m scared what will happen to them. 3/3
I’m watching episode 13 and I’m on the scene where Jing sees MCS rubbing his clothes while thinking… I’m having a lot of feels about the fact that he doesn’t know who MCS is. Also when MCS visited him and wanted to touch the bow? ugly crying on the inside, truly
Ohhhhh geez yes. Yeah, those first few episodes are intense—so overwhelming that it’s really, really hard to enjoy anything that you see (except for that moment where MCS meets the Grand Empress in episode 2. That is beautiful and instantly heartbreaking and honestly I have so much respect for how much it hurts every time).
I actually went back and rewatched some of the early episodes to really get a solid grasp on the story my first time around. (forever grateful to the lovely-wonderful friend who introduced me to the show for watching with me and helping me unravel some of my WTF.)
I want to write a sort of guide for the first episodes. There are some cool character guides out there, and some character maps to show the relationships between characters, but I feel like a scene-by-scene guide with bullet points re: the importance of each character/scene in those first couple of episodes might make the show a bit easier to enjoy the first time around.
Unfortunately, many of the things that happen in those early episodes (up to and including where you’re at right now!), a lot of the background the build-up happens in those very early episodes, and the character relationships and allegiances tie in. All the setup is there, and it’s amazing, but it’s hard to enjoy a lot of it on the first run-through.
I’m gonna write up a guide/summary to the early episodes. I am certain people have done it before and done it better than I ever could, but I’ll give it a shot!
Some character guides are organized by appearance or are alphabetized, too… I’m one of those folks who understands things best in categories and groups, so I may make a map of major characters by allegiance/intent. That’s what I needed the first time around, haha.
YESSSSSSS re: the sleeve. And the bow! Aghhhh I wish I could throw myself into the screen and give everyone a sound shaking.
Best of luck on your journey! <3
