One of the things that makes these historical dramas so emotionally resonant is that everyone's related to everyone else, so it isn't just political and national loyalty that's in play, it's family ties as well (it also makes me think that Jingting's disability, however much everyone may claim it's the result of a childhood illness, probably really comes down to in-breeding). When the Emperor, at his end, starts pleading with Lin Shu "I carried you on my horse, I flew kites with you..." it's just, ugh! Yes, yes, you did, but you also had your son and your best friend and your nephew killed, and accepted your sister and your wife as collateral damage, and you would have killed more sons given half a chance... And Prince Yu is a scumbag, but he also has qualities that make you think he could have been a different person, a better person, under different circumstances. And he does understand the Emperor best - killing himself for revenge was, in a very twisted way, a stroke of geni
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2020-07-17 03:09 pm (UTC)One of the things that makes these historical dramas so emotionally resonant is that everyone's related to everyone else, so it isn't just political and national loyalty that's in play, it's family ties as well (it also makes me think that Jingting's disability, however much everyone may claim it's the result of a childhood illness, probably really comes down to in-breeding). When the Emperor, at his end, starts pleading with Lin Shu "I carried you on my horse, I flew kites with you..." it's just, ugh! Yes, yes, you did, but you also had your son and your best friend and your nephew killed, and accepted your sister and your wife as collateral damage, and you would have killed more sons given half a chance... And Prince Yu is a scumbag, but he also has qualities that make you think he could have been a different person, a better person, under different circumstances. And he does understand the Emperor best - killing himself for revenge was, in a very twisted way, a stroke of geni