i wasn't spoiled for the time loop so i assumed the flashbacks were an earlier incarnation (or something along those lines that would pass censorship), and - I WAS NOT PREPARED. it whammied me so, so hard. i may never recover.

YES. I don't know anymore WHAT I thought the flashbacks were, because I did at least vaguely know it wasn't allowed to be actual reincarnation, but somehow I never really sat down and tried to figure it out and then the time loop merrily punched me in the heart.

i also really love what the show has done with zhu hong's crush on zhao yunlan.

So much this! I could've done without the unrequited love being a thing at all, I think, but given that it's a thing that happened, I love how it was handled. (And I do appreciate the strategic value of using it to highlight and underline that Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei are IN LOVE [and EVERYONE KNOWS IT].)

i'd like a lifetime supply of happy endings* for them, please!

(Well played.)