Oh dear… What to say about Tavia. I’m in disbelief, haha! How can anyone like a character who is hateful and constantly bitter? We never see her happy anymore because of other people’s happiness. She likes seeing the misfortune of others (including Charmaine), and doesn’t hesitate to do whatever it takes to manipulate them. She’s power hungry and selfish. Tavia seems to have jumped from being evil with an excuse (even if it’s lame), to being evil without any justification. Still, watching Tavia play out this evilness is quite amusing to say the least. Guess I’ll just keep watching to see how it all turns out. There is definitely no going back for her!
Ready for Episode 23 synopsis? 😉
Since being confined by Mary, Selena has enjoyed a bit of peace and quiet on her own. To pass time, she has been voluntarily copying Buddhist sÅ«tre, which has given her a new perspective in life. She is now a wholeheartedly good person who unconditionally wishes Moses happiness, good health and fortune. Wow, talk about changing overnight! [quote] It seems she has accepted her mother’s death and placed all resentment behind her (after just 2 episodes). She is portrayed as goddess-like as Charmaine now @.@ Why does TVB love having extremely good or extremely bad characters? Oh well…I give up. I think we already established a few episodes back that due to odd inconsistencies, Selena is now a goodie-two-shoe full stop. Not sure how writing out Buddhism scripture can really brainwash you, but it seems to work on her. Good things don’t go unnoticed and Moses finds a new love in Selena’s inner beauty and requests for her to be released. What do you guys think of Moses? Too gullible, or just a gentlemen who admires inner beauty? I mean, what if Selena faked it all? (I doubt it but the idea amuses me XD)
Moses realises Selena’s inner beauty and change
Meanwhile, Charmaine is seen burning an incense for her mother by the well. Tavia soon arrives, knowing she would be here as the two of them used to always come here together on this day. She reminds her Krystal has told them they need to always look out for each other and not help outsiders against one another. Tavia thought Selena was released because Charmaine helped her say good words again. Charmaine denies helping her and explains Moses’s change of heart was all due to Selena’s change. This pisses off Tavia who believes Charmaine is constantly on Selena’s side. How does copying Buddhist scripts make Selena a good person, and her helping Yoyo make her a bad one? Charmaine stands firm on her beliefs that there is a difference between black and white. Before she walks off, she corrects Tavia, saying today is not even Krystal’s death day, but the next month. haha!! Charmaine saw through Tavia’s fakeness, who tried to use Krystal as a weapon against her. If Tavia can’t even remember Krystal’s death day, what’s to say she even took what Krystal has told her to heart? 🙁 Tavia becomes absolutely infuriated and glares at Charmaine as she walks away. Does anyone still root for Tavia here?
Tavia angry Charmaine being on Selena’s side
Susanna is up late one night working when Charmaine comes in to see how things are. She notices Michelle’s grudge against her and asked if everything was okay between them. Susanna reassures her nothing is wrong as Michelle is probably just under a lot of pressure in her new role. Susanna remains optimistic and Charmaine offers to help her with the workload 🙂 Unfortunately, Michelle interrupts and gets Susanna into trouble for seeking Charmaine’s help, highlighting her lack of ability. Charmaine stands up for her and takes responsibility, explaining she voluntarily offered to help and it was not Susanna’s idea. Seeing Charmaine was so persistent, Michelle punishes both of them unreasonably. As Michelle leaves, she glares at Charmaine, annoyed that Charmaine is on Susanna’s side and covering for her… I wonder how Charmaine sees Michelle now? (On a side note… do you guys think Michelle actually thought Charmaine was lying to cover up for Susanna, or did she know she was being honest but went ahead anyway?)
Michelle punishes both Susanna and Charmaine
Tavia asks Michelle for some explanation regarding Charmaine & Susanna being punished. Michelle pretends to be righteous, making up excuses as though they deserved it for being so incapable and disobedient. Lucky for her, not only did Tavia not get angry she’s bullying Charmaine, she compliments her! WTF? It was amusing watching Michelle’s slightly nervous look (thinking she would get into trouble) turn into a pleasant surprise. Tavia supports Michelle’s doing, impressed by her unbiased and indifferent view (lol, how ironic). If she believes something is right, she can be bold and do it as she will be backed up. It doesn’t matter if the person she wishes to punish is Susanna or Charmaine. It makes no difference to her. What a evil bitch!!
This makes it very clear that Tavia is on a whole new level of evilness. Michelle evil? Not even close to Tavia! Tavia has no real reason to despise Charmaine so much. She thinks Charmaine is helping Selena, but so what? Does she have to be this angry? She’s already helping her by not telling Moses the truth about her wrong doings. It is clear Tavia doesn’t see Charmaine as her close ‘sister’ anymore, nor does she even try to understand or listen to her reasoning. She doesn’t need a reason; if she feels like it, she acts on those feelings.
This scene saddens me 🙁 I don’t understand why Tavia has a grudge against Susanna. They haven’t interacted in a very long time since she became the concubine, but before this occurred, they were on good terms! Tavia respected Susanna and saw that she was unbiased when she didn’t blame Michelle for the food poisoning incident. So what does she have against her now? I would have thought she would nominate Susanna over Michelle as the Head of Proceeding too. Is this again, issues with continuity? I only recall one scene when Tavia and Michelle ever interacted, and it was when she taught her how to sew in front of Mary. Do they even know each other that well? Why are they so friendly? Or is she simply using Michelle to get what she wants? Either way, Tavia and Michelle both look so bitchy and annoy the heck out of me!! ARRRGGH..
Tavia complimenting Michelle for punishing Charmaine and Susanna
One night, a bad tempered Tavia is snipping flowers off a plant when Yoyo reports that Moses will be spending the night with Selena. Tavia explodes in anger, scolding at Yoyo while unaware she was pointing a pair of scissors in her face. “Don’t kill me!!” Yoyo screams in terror reminding her of Ram’s death! Yoyo explains she has been having nightmares ever since Ram’s death and Tavia turns around and blames her for being dumb. It turns out Tavia was actually the one who murdered him! On that fateful day, Tavia was talking to the Palace doctor in a quiet area about not letting him leave the Palace. She wishes him to continue to work for her, giving him no choice but to continue hiding her secret. As he walks away, Tavia starts talking about how much the doctor has helped her in faking the baby’s death. Ram happened to be passing by at that time and overheard the entire conversation! Tavia and Yoyo discover him and he runs away in horror. Yoyo chases after him until he stacks it and lands on the ground. He shivers in fear, claiming he didn’t hear anything, but Tavia appears and kills him instantly!! O_O! ARRGH! Poor poor Ram…at the wrong place at the wrong time :'(…
Tavia kills Ram
Why does Tavia always reveal herself by unnecessarily blabbing out the truth in a public area? Pretty stupid if you ask me..
What do you think of Episode 23? Are you horrified by Tavia yet? What do you think of Selena? Is she more goddess-like than Charmaine? How do you feel about Tavia not liking Susanna? Post a comment and share your thoughts!
Please refrain from posting spoilers beyond episode 23. Thank you.
Click here to read Episode 24 Synopsis >>
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Perhaps Tavia’s grudge against Susanna came from Susanna preferring Charmaine over her, once upon a time?
Hi. 😛
And yeah, I almost forgot that scene where Tavia overheard Susanna telling Charmaine that she wouldn’t trust Tavia as much as she trusted Charmaine, and that Charmaine didn’t know Tavia like she knew her, because of her close relationship with Tavia. Back when both of them were still workers for the jewellery department.
(And *COUGH* of course I’m not using this comment to check in that follow-up comments box which I forgot to check earlier *COUGH*)
(Thanks for subscribing to the comments ^_^)
I’ve been observing Tavia’s character really closely from Episode 1, to understand her character better; but to me it seemed like no matter how much she was picked on, later on she really genuinely seemed to respect Susanna at that particular scene. When Susanna gave her a chance, an opportunity to prove her skills, she felt valued. Considering that was the last time they interacted, I’d think she liked Susanna. She doesn’t really bring up Susanna or disliking her since becoming the concubine and this was at least 10 episodes ago O_o
But that’s probably what TVB has done..making Tavia the type to remember every little suffering (but all them were not related to to her being the concubine!) Her key goal of becoming a concubine is so that no one can pick on her anymore..not to get revenge on anyone 🙁 AT least, I thought that was her initial intention. I guess I’ll have to watch the entire series before I can comment on this. (Prefer no spoilers)
Thanks for your input 🙂
You won’t get any spoilers 😀 I haven’t watched the series, so what I know is not worth spoiling.
I suppose, as you said, it was her initial intention to not get picked on. But then with everything happening at once (Selena’s meanness and then suddenly goddess-like personality that everyone likes, and Charmaine standing up for Selena and not her), I guess she just forgot the good times. And while Susanna-Charmaine and Charmaine-Selena are close and linked, perhaps she doesn’t really care who she hurts as long as she gets back at Selena. And then that goes to Charmaine because she gets in the way too much.
And I guess in that sense, when she’s in power, it’s almost natural for her to think about revenge, although carrying out her actions is a different matter.
And it probably also links to the whole idea of not being able to keep the truth hidden forever. She just has to keep hurting others to conceal her own deeds. Maybe she’s even gone into a time when she thinks she’s right and everyone else is wrong.
AH, very well said 🙂
And it probably also links to the whole idea of not being able to keep the truth hidden forever. She just has to keep hurting others to conceal her own deeds. Maybe she’s even gone into a time when she thinks she’s right and everyone else is wrong
Very true. I mean she killed Ram and still says it’s not her fault, and she has nothing to do with it. O__o wow, she must really be brainwashed!
SOB. I was so shocked seeing Tavia kill Ram DX DX DX
He used to overlook Charmaine and Tavia when they were little girls and was kind to them as they grew up 🙁
Tavia’s actions and behaviour were so… 🙁 🙁 She was starting to scare me because she was so easily angered! And she starting hating Charmaine too 🙁
Tavia actually chose a quiet place to talk to the Palace Doctor, so it wasn’t that dumb. XD It was just really unlucky for Ram that he was passing by in that direction (which will be revealed why in next episode or so).
And Selena’s like docile now, no comment.
yes, tavia completely forgot who was good to her last time.
it was just really unlucky for ram to get discovered.
ram’s death was so sad. spoilt my viewing pleasure D:
He used to overlook Charmaine and Tavia when they were little girls and was kind to them as they grew up
Yes..he was one of the most compassionate people in the Palace..really a shame.. But for Tavia at that time, I guess it really was a HUGE risk for another person to find out all her evil plans..In order to protect herself, she sacrificed another 🙁 Selfish and scary, but she didn’t have too much time to think it over.
She was starting to scare me because she was so easily angered!
Yup..looked like PMS 24/7..lol
Tavia actually chose a quiet place to talk to the Palace Doctor, so it wasn’t that dumb. XD It was just really unlucky for Ram that he was passing by in that direction (which will be revealed why in next episode or so).
hmm..but from the conversation with the Palace doctor, nothing was really revealed. If he heard that conversation, it would have just been her not allowing the doctor to leave. It was the unnecessarily things she said afterward which revealed all her plans.
Yeah, Tavia really didn’t have to say those unnecessary things. But she was all, “Ha, that Palace Doctor’s stuffed for sure. After all, he’s *insert what palace doctor did* for me! Just those crimes are enough to have him beheaded!”
And then Ram … got unlucky Dx
So yeah, it wasn’t very smart of Tavia to say those unnecessary things (out of being full of herself, thinking she was always having the upper hand, I think), although she did find a quiet spot to deal with the Doctor in the first place.
Wouldn’t it be safe in a concealed room, anyway?
But what about the many times when Charmaine went to go visit Ram and everything, how come we never saw Tavia go visit him? Or did she? I might have forgotten… ?
Nah she never did. Ram was just a generally nice guy around the palace helping everyone he can. I’m sure Tavia appreciated him, though.
Woooow, tavia is so evil! but her acting has been superb. she portrays the evil role so well along with various other characters, charmaine however annoys me always getting the IM SO NICE role
haha, they are both getting quite extreme though..
I actually think that Tavia’s behaviour is still somewhat understandable. If my best friend decides to defend my enemy, I’d be hella pissed.
Really sickened by how Selena suddenly becomes so innocent and fairy-like. Hello, didn’t she like just slap Tavia a few episodes back and dissed her because of her lowly background?
I actually think that Tavia’s behaviour is still somewhat understandable. If my best friend decides to defend my enemy, I’d be hella pissed.
Tavia always assumes the worst of people though… She assumes everyone is out to attack her, because of her very narrow mind. I guess seeing all the backstabbing and fakeness in the palace, she probably raises her awareness and not trust people easily to protect herself. But just because she constantly schemes, it doesn’t make everyone else do the same. Selena really hasn’t done anything to her, not after the initial slapping scene anyway, but Tavia continues to attack and make her life miserable. She also misunderstands Charmaine, thinking she really helped Selena when she didn’t do anything.
Really sickened by how Selena suddenly becomes so innocent and fairy-like. Hello, didn’t she like just slap Tavia a few episodes back and dissed her because of her lowly background?
After everything she has been through it’s normal for her to tone down her ego and all that…but to THIS extent? O__o It’s pretty crazy!
selena’s behavior is perfectly normal for me. i mean she went through alot, losing her mum, being helpless in times of trouble.. im sure that mellowed her bossiness and spoiltness.. she sure knows that she is not fight against tavia..
and her bitchiness in the first part was probably her establishing her authority but after the slapping incident she jus gave in and suck thumb.. accept reality.
so i find her behavior normal although the switch was quite awkward initially..
tavia on the other hand annoys me cos she kills and blames everyone else except herself for her actions.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts 🙂
so i find her behavior normal although the switch was quite awkward initially..
I think the transition was horrible. They made her too nasty and bitchy at the beginning and then suddenly changed her as though TVB was just forcing the idea on us. If you think about it, who can blame Tavia for not believing Selena is really this goodie-two-shoe? Even the audience aren’t convinced someone can change like that. The directors didn’t allow time for Selena to develop properly as a character and decided to just “make her good” to get the story moving.
Tavia for me still that super evil performance in her scary looking and unstandable mind. Ram’s death still unpredictabe athought for Tavia’s crime commit. Selena good side not that bad. Agree that her charactor is developed. She became good with nice reason as well as her mother’s death and mistake either its big or small may remind her that will yield a death and tragic to her if she stil commit the bitchy behaviour. Sam ho charactor still annoying. This entire episode still hold its flavoured to me even in comparasion to War and Beauty may defeat successfully to its more intense and intelligent script.
She became good with nice reason as well as her mother’s death and mistake either its big or small may remind her that will yield a death and tragic to her if she stil commit the bitchy behaviour.
hmm.. can’t really agree with you here. I don’t think Selena changed because of her fearing her own death if she was “bitchy” or whatever like her mother. She just seems to have given up on the whole thing and suddenly doesn’t care about Tavia anymore, and has put her mothers death behind her. So..does Selena not think Tavia was involved with her mother’s death?
Oh, thank i may skipped this point accidently. I think my previous thought also a reason for selena’s charactor transformation but yes, a bit clueless got here as Selena really looking as care nothing to evil tavia and epsecially not reminding to truth behing her mother’s death ot she sure that her mother did that voodoo to killed tavia baby? if my thoughts surely true, Selena must be a stupidest lady in this drama. Another point is the writer wanna make the twist at next episode, I am not sure. yes, now wait and see what next.
I think that Tavia is turning seriously evil now and there is NO way she can turn back now! However, I must say that I do prefer her over the typical-always-kind Charmaine whose character ( and her ) really annoy me!
I think Michelle has a reason to be harsh to Susanna because she thinks Susanna killed Ram. If you think someone killed the person who truly cared for you, you’d hate them too! Again, I hated it when Charmaine stood up for Susanna, EVERYTHING is her business! She really annoys me! Everytime she’s on, I look away xD
yeahh, charmaine goes by her mantra. which goes… (everyone knows) and i think that michelle knew that charmaine was telling the truth but went ahead anyway. charmaine is such an angel, why would she lie?
I do think the michelle has a reason, but it’s a misunderstanding, and she doesn’t have solid proof. People’s pity for michelle runs out very fast, i suppose, because she’s such a bitch (good acting doesn’t help here!)
People’s pity for michelle runs out very fast, i suppose, because she’s such a bitch (good acting doesn’t help here!)
i agree! I couldn’t even feel for her anymore and quickly came to dislike her.. It’s funny how I the things she does seem to annoy me more than what Tavia does (even though Tavia is more evil)
It’s not funny after she drives you up the wall (one of the few times that an actress/actor who acts well drives me up the wall, usually it’s those who can’t act who drive me bonkers)
can someone explain why she’s even more annoying than tavia?
Will have to watch it all to decide on that one 😉
I’ll probably talk more about that in my next post!
if i’m not wrong, you have more than the next episode to talk about it. hahaha! which means that we have somemore of michelle being a bitch D:
hmm..yes..xD Prepare for some rant coming from me! XD
Again, I hated it when Charmaine stood up for Susanna, EVERYTHING is her business! She really annoys me! Everytime she’s on, I look away xD
aw, really? XD I actually liked it when she stood up for her, mainly because I was so sick of seeing Michelle bully her… 🙁 Susanna doesn’t deserve any of this.
i agree with chibi here. I hate how michelle was being so mean and I liked how Charmaine stood up for susanna. However, I feel like Charmaine’s acting is kinda getting boring. I really like Tavia and her acting in this show. I like her evil laughs; they are pretty funny.
Yeah..I think its getting to a stage where, although Charmaine can be annoyingly too goodie-goodie, its better to have someone standing up against Michelle, for Susanna etc.
I think I’m one of the few that like Charmaine’s character. Sure, it seems too ideal how endlessly compassionate she is and the scenes where Moses rescues her from snakebite/bear-trap was stupid but I find Charmaine’s character to be quite intelligent and determined to stand up for what she believes. I’d hate her character if she was portrayed as weak and too dependent on others but she is none of this and she is also the only character that understands Tavia’s true nature and calls her for what she is. I really like the scenes she has with Tavia, like the scene where she corrects Tavia on her mother’s true day of death showing that Charmaine isn’t easily manipulated and is quite observative.
And lol@ scene where Tavia blabs about her master plan and is heard by Ram, why do TVB characters always feel the need to ramble about their fancy schemes with optional flashbacks? XD
Thanks for sharing your views ^_^
I’m sure there will always be people who like characters like Charmaine. I can see where you’re coming from, she’s clever and stands up for what she thinks is right.
However, I dislike the way she is “too” perfect and waaayyyy “too” pure… it’s how extreme her goodness is that bothers me. If TVB would tone that down even a little maybe she would be more likable as a character to me.
But who knows? Maybe Tavia turns so bad and extreme that she becomes worse than Charmaine XD (I’ll have to finish the series before I can judge on that one XD)
And lol@ scene where Tavia blabs about her master plan and is heard by Ram, why do TVB characters always feel the need to ramble about their fancy schemes with optional flashbacks? XD
Exactly my thoughts 😉
YES! omg. i totally agree with that I mean the Charmaine part. I don’t really like her chracter. She’s too pure and perfect LOL. The two main characters in this drama are a little too extreme. i mean there’s Charmaine who’s just TOO perfect, and then,
There’s Tavia, who’s just way too evil and kinda stupid too…blabbing about her plan where anyone ould have overheard her. 😛
there. it came out. tavia is the one who killed ram, who in turn caused michelle to turn ‘evil’. i won’t say that she is evil, but she’s mentally (uhm), affected now, by the death of ram. so the person who’s at fault is tavia. see, so she’s the person that i dislike most.
she’s worst than michelle by any standard, in terms of evilness, she goes and tell michelle to go and do anything that she thinks is right. She has even worse of a reason to hate susanna or charmaine. worse than the ‘reason’ michelle had. if you could even call it a reason. >< ugh. why do they have to do this?)
haha, I can tell Michelle turning evil has really annoyed you…lol Michelle has been driving me nuts ever since. But still…. Tavia didn’t turn Michelle evil. She did kill Ram, but didn’t interfere and make Michelle think Susanna did it. Michelle just assumed so because of what Ram had told her, and how she thought Susanna was the last to see him. I just blame Michelle’s stupidity on herself, jumping to conclusions and not trusting her friend 🙁 She doesn’t even have any evidence so why the hell is she so persistent?
It has annoyed me, even more than tavia did. for some reason! okay, let’s just say that she did kill ram. and michelle jumped to conclusions (a very bad one, at that). probably because of all the events and yeahh.
she is so persistent because the scriptwriters wrote her as such (and figured that they’d be annoying people like me T.T)
It was normal for Michelle to have suspicions about Susanna, considering she concealed the fact she saw Ram- but you’d think after all the opportunities they had to explain and talk, they would come to some conclusion? Susanna doesn’t even look like the type to kill!
I think it is normal to have suspicions, but when susanna explained and she didn’t believe her… she doesn’t look like the sort who will kill, yes
LOL I’ve been terrified by Tavia ever since the episode when she blamed her loss of her baby on yikei. I was just like WHAT ARE YOU DOING????? Yea. and then now, she goes around actually killing people.
oooooooh and I really liked the ending part, when she goes to visit bo gong gong and when she was about to “seung heung” the wind just blew in, and then it was like WHOOSH. the candles blew out! That was cool LOL 😉
when she goes to visit bo gong gong and when she was about to “seung heung†the wind just blew in, and then it was like WHOOSH. the candles blew out! That was cool LOL
Oh yes, I liked that scene too! haha!! ^_^
the best part was the look on tavia’s and yoyo’s face. priceless 😀
Keep these comments coming you guys 😀 I love the discussions and how all your views are different. It really is an interesting read seeing how you all think of what’s “evil” what makes you tick or not 🙂
My favourite scene from this episode was Charmaine and Tavia’s well scene…where Charmaine corrected Tavia’s incorrect memory of her mom’s death date and Tavia’s last evil/angry look at her!!
I found this series very upbeat, not draggy at all (plus, it’s an ancient series and we all know how ancient series can be so slow and draggy!)
But totally not this series, there’s probably something new happening in each ep. An example I remember [SPOILER] was when Kwok Lun hinted to kill Charmaine and Kevin’s dads off, literally the next scene, they were dead! Well, that’s quick. [END SPOILER]
There’s always a downturn though. In this case, I think it’s the character development. Since they have so many major characters in the series and plus have to maintain the upbeat pace, characters are either not changing much (like most of the characters Charmaine, Moses, Kevin, etc) or those who are changing 180 degrees swiftly (Selena and Tavia (we all know they tried their best in the character development for Tavia’s role, but it’s still pretty instant good->evil))
Overall, the series’ still very good though!! lol~ You guys know I love the series! 🙂
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Kinki..but plleeeeasseee don’t post any spoilers 🙁 I’m only up to episode 23 and what you mentioned has not happened yet.
Oh I am so very SORRY, Chibi!! I didn’t realized the ‘spoiler’ hasn’t happened yet. My deep apology! I truly didn’t mean to spoil anything for anyone, I just lost track on the episodes (what happened/what hasn’t happened. Please accept my apology! 😡 I won’t EVER do it again!!
That’s okay, I know it can be hard sometimes keeping track of what happened in the different episodes! 🙂
hello,i’m vietnamese,i find out this web site just by accident,and i really love it,especially the writer’s entries about tvb films,all.
I’m really bad at english,but reading these help me a lot in improving my E vocabulary.
Ah,i root for Michlle Yim,and i believe you too,because in my opinion,she is really really really the best actress.
I hope you will write more so i can learn more,thank u.
Glad you’re enjoying K-TVB.net 🙂 This blog belongs to K, and all of the summaries/posts were written by her except for [Beyond the Realm of Conscience] which I’m guest posting 🙂
I might be different to other due to favourite scence not the touching or disturbing and happy emotion involved in this episode but The Ram’s death. According to me interest in horror film, This scence took a time of freaky and scary with abit in violence. Athought it illustrated some terrifying image, it lacks the impact to underage viewer. Tavia performed out her evilness so strong in that scence as well as attracted me to not lost any flavoured on her charactor.
Death sure was awful!! Very well shot 🙂
hmm , but when Tavia kills someone , they always focus on her eyes ! LOL .
and , i find , the developement on this series is pretty lame , on the Selina thing .
guess they just had to squeeze on 33episodes .
I actually thought they could probably have even cut down on some of that 33 episode. They tried to squeeze a lot in there, but maybe if they took out some repetitive parts and focused more time on development it would work out better.
You finished?! *faints/8D’s*
Or was that a typo of 23 to ’33’?
in my opinion selena did turn good not that fast cause if you watch it its been half a year later in episode 23 so selena had time to learn and think for half a year.. but nice review!
Um..I don’t think so. 6 months didn’t pass since the incident, which is why Selena was left out “early”- her probation was initially 6 months 🙂
Yoyo chen did in scence with tavia.
do u realise everytime that tavia’s pissed she takes it out on the flowers by snipping the flowers randomly?