In episode 18 of [Beyond the Realm of Conscience] some more exciting bits happen! Moses continues dealing with Kwok Lun and has found someone who could prove very useful to him.. can you guess who? 🙂 Meanwhile, Moses’s feelings for Charmaine has reached a point where he cannot hide it anymore and tells Kevin! What will happen? Will Moses, an emperor, be willing to give up his only true love? Read on to find out!
However, be warned that this post consists quite a bit of rant and criticism for certain character developments. I am enjoying this series so far, but there are certain parts which are starting to annoy me. I will also go over the exact reasons why I feel the way I do, so hopefully you can see where I’m coming from 🙂
As I refer to the characters by the name of the actors, I just wanted to make it clear I’m ranting about the character and not the actor themselves.
Just as Kwok Lun was gripping tightly onto Kevin’s wound, his father suddenly bursts and reveals his bandages! Kwok Lun aggressively rips off the bandage and a very deep wound is revealed! Convinced that it was him indeed, Kwok Lun insists he is put to his death. Kevin and his father beg for mercy but it wasn’t until Kwok Keung who interfered did Kwok Lun let it rest. Kwok Keung was touched by how dignified Kevin was and showed the pair sympathy. Yay, Kwok Keung is such a righteous man 🙂 I’ve been keeping a close eye on him since he first appeared, and have noticed he generally seems like a good guy. This episode confirms it, as time and again he actually ruins Kwok Lun’s evil plans! Of course, he is unaware of the evil-doings of Kwok Lun, but speaks up to help the innocent. They have been on good terms because he is married to his cousin (Yi Kei). When Kwok Lun’s guard asks him why he keeps Kwok Keung by his side, he explains he has quite a powerful army and may still be useful to him. He is very aware of Kwok Keung’s righteous nature, which I thought was pretty funny! XD Moses and Kevin also notice this, and uses him to keep Kwok Lun on this toes!
Since the slapping incident between Selena and Tavia, Moses has not visited Selena for over a month, which leaves her feeling lonely and empty. As she takes a walk outside, she sees Charmaine holding onto an injured rabbit. Another rabbit is seen trapped under a stone monument. According to Selena, the pair of rabbits must be lovers, and seeing as one is trapped underneath, the other one is refusing to leave, despite its injuries. She orders for the monument to be destroyed at once but Charmaine warns her against this as this stone is very important. Selena insists rabbits are more significant and does so anyway. What the….heck?? I think this is extremely unrealistic. Selena’s way of thinking is very childish, insisting something so daring for something so small O_o I find this out of character! Even the kind-hearted Charmaine knows the importance of this stone, and wouldn’t do something so offensive. Yet Selena, who isn’t even half as “good” as Charmaine insists so for the sake of rabbit “lovers”. WHHHATTT? I don’t see her being so generous to Tavia- a HUMAN- so how can she truly feel sympathy for rabbits? TVB suddenly tries to convince us she’s not as bad as she appears. However, if she really cared so much for rabbits, which she considers valuable life form- how can she treat Tavia like dirt because she used to be a servant? What a hypocrite. From the beginning, Selena kept picking on her like a selfish little princess, before she even got to know her character! I find this transition awkward and consequently I still can’t feel for Selena. :/ What do you guys think of this? I know TVB wants us to like her, but I can’t! I’m unconvinced! Unlike Tavia, Selena doesn’t scheme as much but I don’t believe she’s pure and innocent. Guess I’ll have to watch more to see if my theory is correct. I don’t think Selena is a “evil” person, but it doesn’t make her exactly likable at this stage either.
When Moses finds out what Selena has done, he becomes outrageous and he scolds at her endlessly about her foolishness. And…what do you know? The al-mighty-wonderful-goddess-like Charmaine comes in and suddenly everything turns happy sunshine (please, note the sarcasm!). Charmaine explains Selena did it out of her kind-soul to save the poor rabbits. OMG. Seriously how pathetic does this sound? Is this really a justifiable reason for doing that? People in those days hunted rabbit like food O__o If Moses wasn’t the Emperor, they’d be both dead by now. Because of Charmaine, Moses instantly changes his temper, listens to her and totally forgives Selena. In fact, he starts liking her. How biased is this? Talk about favoritism.. ! My rant doesn’t end here. What follows just drove me off the edge..
In a later scene, Moses RANDOMLY spots Charmaine laying against a tree in pain. OH COME ON! Charmaine is yet again helplessly in trouble? She’s portrayed as such a damsel in distress! I think TVB is seriously over doing it- last time her leg was trapped when she RANDOMLY decided to go save rabbits, and now she RANDOMLY gets bitten by a snake.. PLEASE. STOP! Spare us from this cringe worthy scenario! I’m getting really annoyed now..How many other characters have been bitten by a snake and randomly stumbled upon by the Emperor…? Yes, it makes a good romantic scene and some may call this fate; but hasn’t it been done last time? Need we see this again on round 2? I also don’t understand why TVB keeps making Moses and Charmaine run into each other by fate, yet forcefully insists she’s in love with Kevin. A bit forced, don’t you think? Charmaine is definitely a Mary Sue! I’m getting frustrated by how unrealistic her character is, and how everyone just blindly loves her to death.
Moses sucks the poison out and holds onto Charmaine to keep her warm
It’s a shame TVB used the same formula again, otherwise I probably would have taken it okay (may have even enjoyed it).. This continuous oh-so-helpless Charmaine portrayal is like having TVB rubbing it in my face.. >.> Please tone this down! Having said that, I did enjoy watching Mose’s reaction towards Charmaine, and also Kevin realising Mose’s true feelings. Charmaine aside, it was a good watch!
In the end, a very worried Kevin confronts Moses, confessing to him his desire to leave with Charmaine after Moses establishes as the ruler. Just as he feared, Moses replies he hopes Charmaine will never leave the Palace. He asks what man in the world will not love Charmaine? (lol, even Moses thinks Charmaine is Mary-Sue) As the Emperor, surely he has the most ‘right’ to her? This leaves Kevin feeling devastated and defeated. *gasp* Will Moses take Charmaine away from him…? However, Moses adds he knows Charmaine loves Kevin and he saw Kevin as his best friend- he would never want to tear them apart. Although he knows he has the power to make Charmaine his, he doesn’t selflessly and gives the two his blessings. He promises once he is stablised, he will allow the two to leave and return to his home town. awww…Moses is the best!!
I’ve always found Moses and Charmaine’s relationship much more intriguing and cute compared to Kevin. Yet I find myself annoyed watching Charmaine now. Does anyone else feel the same?
What are your thoughts on Episode 18? How do you feel about how Charmaine is portrayed? What about Selena? Do you think she did the right thing? Was it convincing? Post a comment and let us know!
(Please refrain from posting any spoilers about the story and characters beyond episode 18. Thank you)
Click here to read Episode 19 Synopsis >>
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yeahh! my sentiments exactly, i completely felt that the smashing the stone made zilch sense. I was wondering what on earth possessed selena to even think of doing that?!
I completely skipped the charmaine, injured and harmed scene. I felt that it was so lame! (i was actually wondering if i clicked the wrong episode number :O)
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Glad I’m not the only one who felt the rabbit scene was plain bizarreness o_o
DId you skip the Charmaine scene on purpose or you just didn’t see it? XD
let’s put it this way. Since i watch online, i only watch the parts that i like, which means that i need to read summaries to follow the story. And since i don’t like charmaine’s character (she’s like an angel, and these angels don’t exist > charvin) The slider was kind of stuck at the rabbit scene, therefore i watched it, and was completely confused, because it was so unbelievable.
Oh! haha, makes perfect sense 🙂
It does make perfect sense? ooh okay! ^^
But as a result of doing that, i have completely no idea what is going on now… The summaries are all too summarised. heh oops. Oh wells. T.T It’s getting boring, got too many people that i don’t want to watch scenes. haixx
Maybe her punishment from the slapping incident enlightened her to be kind to people? After all, she’s the one who said those mean things to Tavia in the first place. If she didn’t, things may not have turned out this way. Not sure if you remember… when Kwok Lun first told Selena about Tavia (before she becomes concubine), he told her Tavia is a devious bootlicker (hmm was he right?) and instigates her to go against Tavia. Maybe that’s why she was so mean.
Yes the rabbit scene was quite bizzarre but it made some sense. She sees the rabbits parallel to her situation with Moses; husband and wife, yet she is ignored and has to live like a widow in her own chamber.
Rich people kept pets. I bet she had a bunny or some cute pug chihwahwa like Paris Hilton before entering the palace?
Bizarre or not, Selena and the rabbits were not as annoying as the following poison snake incident. Sheesh!
Woah! Charmaine and Selena are really getting up your nerves! Personally, I didn’t feel this disturbed when I was watching this episode.
Although Charmaine’s character does seem to be ‘too good to be true’ some (most) of the time, I found her still enjoying to watch.
As for Selena, I think TVB is trying to turn her good (too quickly) so that we could be able to see how bad Tavia is. I think becos they are so focused on the development of Tavia and the story on Charmaine, they just dun have time for the development for Selena’s character.
I posted this comment up last night already, but apparently it didn’t show up 🙁
If you leave a comment and it doesn’t show up..chances are it got marked as spam for some reason, and comments are ‘pending’ until we approve it. Not sure why this happens but sometimes it does. Sorry about that!
I am not a spammer!! 😥
You make a good point on Selena’s lack of character development. I think Tavia was one of the few characters in Beyond who actually got developed more and changed throughout the story. Most characters stayed the same… (especially Charmaine)
I don’t blame the actor’s for their portrayal, but more-so of the actual story writing and directing. I think this episode made it more obvious to me there’s areas to be worked on. Having said that I still very much enjoy the drama so far 🙂 Looking forward to more goodness!
Yayy!! Chibi’s back! :cheers: We all missed you a lot (esp. Ah Pham, 😛 ) Anywayz, how was your trip?? Did you go watch the big BTROC finale in the mall?? Hope you had a relaxing and fun vacation!!
😥 BTROC lost Best Series!!
i don’t know why but i find moses kind of annoying
Oh really? Surely there’s some reason for that 😉
Moses just seems useless right now and just going along with everyone’s action!
I don’t think he’s useless.. (not yet, anyway) 🙂 He still seems to be in control and knows what he’s doing especially when dealing with Kwok Lun. Hope he gets more character development 🙂
Ya I agree with both points, Selena’s character changed too dramatically (didn’t really bug me though) and Charmaine’s “perfectly good” character is very annoying… (yes, her character is too unrealistic…)
I would prefer Charmaine ending up with Moess because their love story is much more cute and interesting…
Thanks for your comment! Glad you agree with my thoughts too 🙂 I was wondering if I was the only one thinking this ^^;; Was kinda expecting a bunch of readers totally disagreeing! XD I guess I was quite bugged by the Selena thing because I found the transition pretty awkward (I mean I really disliked the way she treated Tavia, and then suddenly they forcefully try make us believe she’s “good”.)
cant believe selena broke down the structure for a rabbit… Hello wat was that girl thinking breaking down the structure for a rabbit. thats not wat she would do for tavia if tavia was stuck somewhere they practically hate each other
LOL!!! I happen to random watch this scene on TV.
My reaction was -_-…….
That is totally ridiculous!! “to save the poor rabbits” uhm hello?? The only way she seemed to get out of it was because it was “Sam Ho”‘s idea..and it came out of pure “kind-heartness and love for the animals”. The king is just plain bias (its almost embarrassing)
I’m somehow not too excited to start this series now lol
haha, agree with the almost embarrassing part. Good grief!
I just hope this doesn’t happen again….
I think Charmaine is seriously too “holy”.
And I totally agree with you on Selena. She was portrayed as someone who is short-tempered and spoilt and now she’s concerned over a pair of rabbits. It is pretty unrealistic.
Thanks for reading! 🙂
I feel Charmaine is way too pure to be human..makes her character rather uninteresting and flat :/
well i dont think what selena did was “unrealistic” because being mean to tavia wont kill her.. but leaving the rabbits alone would kill her.. so i have to disagree btu then again everyones opinion is different from others
Its unrealistic because her personality clashes- it contradicts her beliefs. Just because being nasty towards Tavia won’t kill her, Tavia has feelings too- she’s a human. So a rabbits life is more important? A rabbit’s happiness is as well?
This rabbit scene actually makes sense, chibi. If you remember, Selena was influenced by Kwok Lun to treat Tavia shoddily. Before she entered the harem, he told her Tavia is a devious bootlicker who sticks close to the Empress (hmm… maybe that’s true?). I believe if she wasn’t told of this, her behaviour towards Tavia would be very different. Having a righteous Kwok Keung as her father surely would rub off some genes on her?
About her kindness to animals… Rich people kept pets, be it past or present. Not surprising if Selena kept little animals before coming to the palace.
Her sympathy for the bunny couple stems from her living a widow-like life after being the slapping incident. I bet having to be ignored by her own husband and sleeping all alone in a huge chamber made her come back to the ground and reflect on her own actions. After all, if she didn’t start poking Tavia in the first place, none of this would have happened.
Unrealistic or not, Selena and the rabbits were certainly not even half as annoying as Charmaine getting a snake bite! Her innovative designs for the Depts she worked in, her quick wit in swopping the toxic medicine for Mary and Moses, her sharpness in defending Suzanna in front of Suzan being reduced to this kind of fragile flower crap is so irritating! She does have some good moments in the show but they are always offset because of all this weak damsel scenes!
I don’t even know what to say about Selena. Actually I don’t know what to say about Moses!! He’s so blinded by his love for Charmaine that no matter what she says he’ll just agree with everything. The way Moses acts around her makes me uncomfortable/embarrassed for him…just a little bit LOL.
Charmaine definitely is a Mary Sue back in the ancient times…she does damsel and distress well.
As for Kevin and Moses…they seem like good bros and because Kevin always help out Moses or saves his life…Moses won’t force Charmaine to stay because he knows she loves Kevin but if Moses was even a bit evil, it would have been more interesting…stab your bro Kevin in the back!!
haha yeah 😉 There doesn’t seem to be much rivalry between Moses and Kevin -Guess they are the few characters in the show which demonstrate a true friendship, based on trust..unlike Susanna/Michelle, Charmaine/Tavia where there’s always some kind of misunderstanding. It’s nice for a chnagce I suppose, but a bit too ideal.
Moses needs all the help he can get though- Kwok Lun is one scary man.
The funny thing about this episode, if you are watching the Vietnamese dub, is that during the scene with Selena and Charmaine; Selena’s voice actor was using the same voice for Susanna so that Selena sounded more intelligent/mature perhaps? 😛 So it was very weird. Then her voice was back to normal but then the scene where Moses comes in ans Selena starts spouting something about loneliness her voice reverted to Susana’s again lol.
\
And lol @ snakebite scene, although Moses holding Charmaine was kinda sweet couldn’t they think of something better than him randomly finding her again? About the Charmaine/Kevin paring I have gripes about it too but for another reason which I’ll save for later episodes.
I really hope…this scene doesn’t pop-up round 3.. XD
actually it occurs over various times after that and randomly, but ah I guess I’m used to it now XD oh well
where is episode 19 onwards???
:'(
Patience …lol I believe chibi’s still watching them as she’s just returned from her trip 🙂
It’s up now 🙂 Sorry for the wait!
where are the spoilers for epi 19+?
They are not written up yet. chibi will get around to doing them when she has watched the episodes 🙂
Hi Vicky, I apologise for the wait~ Episode 19 is up now 🙂 http://k-tvb.net/beyond-the-realm-of-conscience-episode-19/
i will always love Charmaine! Even though, all the characters she plays are quite the same. Loving and all the guys love her haha.
So far this series is awesome. Tavia is surprising and love her as the evil character!
Good that you’re enjoying it so far 😀
Hmm, I still don’t like Selena’s character much yet. Too spoilt for me xD And yes, it was kind of strange for her to do something so daring, but I suppose since she was the Emperor’s concubine she felt like she had the power to. Maybe since she’s so… childish and stubborn?
*images spoilt little brat feeding rabbits, like how little kids find cute animals… cute*
Well yeah, it is sort of strange. I mean, she’s already on the Emperor’s bad side, wouldn’t she realise she’d be into deeper trouble? (Or perhaps she thought she’d catch his attention this way?)
(She did look genuinely happy when Moses was with her though, just glad to be in his company.)
And yes, it was so funny how Moses just forgave Selena because of Charmaine’s kind words. He’s so blinded by his fondness of her! Such bias XDD
The snake scene might’ve seemed random, but it was sort of justified later on, when KK stabbed a snake behind Michelle, and when Kevin gave Charmaine these… health-things, that it was ‘snake season’. And when Charmaine said, “I finally found it…”, she probably realised she dropped Kevin’s jade-gift by accident on her way to see him, and she got really worried and started going everywhere looking carefully for it, and got bitten that way.
But I do agree that it was probably repetitive, especially after that scene where Moses saved her from the rabbit trap. (but that scene was soo cute, and it was when Charmaine realised he wasn’t dumb~)
The scene did have a purpose though, even if it wasn’t as enjoyable to watch… ? Because it gave Kevin a chance to realise Moses’ feelings for Charmaine. (And lol. Moses seized the chance to hug Charmaine. ;D)
As for Charmaine’s character, I don’t think she’s a Mary Sue, despite how unrealistically *good* she is. It’s part of her nature to be gracious~ And she’s really kind. And she loves her mother, and upholds the words her mother told her.
A Mary Sue is completely unrealistic, but Charmaine’s character is still believable. Even if her character’s too annoyingly good. XD Because there are nice people in the world. 🙂 And I’m sure that back in the day, when people were conservative and filial, there had to be kind people. 😀
I have faith in Charmaine’s character 8DD
Meanwhile, I’m loving Tavia’s character. She’s at the stage where she’s not thoroughly evil, but schemes justifiably (Selena’s brattiness). I loved the slapping scene! XD I’m going to be sad when she keeps descending though. ;___;
wow, I love your very detailed and long comment 8D! Makes me excited, XD
Maybe since she’s so… childish and stubborn?
Yeah, I think it’s..childishness.. O_o.
Well yeah, it is sort of strange. I mean, she’s already on the Emperor’s bad side, wouldn’t she realise she’d be into deeper trouble? (Or perhaps she thought she’d catch his attention this way?)
That’s the thing..I don’t get it XD She’s not in his good books so why make matters worse? It really seems like she’s just being a immature princess who just likes things to go her way (and think it’s all justified) I doubt she wanted to catch Mose’s attention..just doesn’t seem like she thought that far o.o
The scene did have a purpose though, even if it wasn’t as enjoyable to watch… ? Because it gave Kevin a chance to realise Moses’ feelings for Charmaine. (And lol. Moses seized the chance to hug Charmaine. ;D)
haha, I know there’s some kind of purpose but it’s sad.. really. Well, I know it annoyed me XD
As for Charmaine’s character, I don’t think she’s a Mary Sue, despite how unrealistically *good* she is. It’s part of her nature to be gracious~ And she’s really kind. And she loves her mother, and upholds the words her mother told her.
But Mary Sue characters are “perfect” and everyone loves her to death ^^; I can’t think of a better description. I know there can be good characters, or people with good morals, but to this extreme? Take Moses for example- he’s a good person, very righteous. But he doesn’t feel “perfect” and “goody-goody” to the point it’s too unbelievable.
I’m going to be sad when she keeps descending though. ;___;
Me too ;_;
I am amazed!!!!!! I am MORE THAN GLAD that I am NOT the only one who found Charmaine’s character in the drama EXTREMELY unrealistic, and to a certain extent, annoying. and yep, I skipped that snake scene cos I just felt extremely sad for Moses.
hehe, I know how you feel. It’s always comforting to know you’re not the only one who thinks something a certain way.
I find it surprising that many ppl like Tavia’s character? Seems like nobody believes in goodness already these days? Although I must admit that Charmaine’s character doesn’t have much development but I still believe in her principles. Nevertheless, I also wonder if her character can survive in today’s society. Probably not!
aww, we still like to think there’s goodness in this world..we’re just more skeptical and thinking realistically. ^^; I think it’s kinda better than everyone loving Charmaine since she’s “good” and hating Tavia because she’s “bad”. Tavia isn’t all bad though (at least not yet in the episode)- we’ll have to see in future episodes to determine if we still like Tavia when she turns really bad.
So far I think she’s being reasonable..
Although it seems that the general idea is that Selena changed too dramatically, one interpretation could be that she saw the rabbits like Moses & herself & that the monument was like Tavia, getting in her way. But that’s just an idea.
That’s an interesting interpretation, but she doesn’t come across as such a character to me, as in, a character who would see it that way. She seems a bit too shallow to be able to think like that at this stage.
(And besides, I’m not sure that the relationship between Moses and Selena is all that great for her to relate the rabbits’ love to her own relationship with the Emperor. Y’know. 😐 Moses doesn’t really truly love the either of them, does he? Poor concubines XD But even so, he was already pissed at Selena, so… yeah. Bit of an awkward relationship.)
(Or you could say that Selena actually did see the difference between their relationships. But umm, I stick by what I think of her shallow character. :D)
[ THIS IS GETTING TOO DEEP D8 ]
mm..interesting idea, though I kinda doubt Selena had that much substance.. She really gives off a shallow kind of character ._.
i agree on you about the snake bite scene. i feel kinda frustrated watching it as it gives the hope on moses and charmaine relationship, but yet she will still be with kevin. in the early episode, i thought that moses will be with charmaine but sadly kevin character interfere. i love this couple as they look sweet together and hoping they will be together till the end, but i guess it is not.
i actually like Tavia’s character because she is a PRETTY INTELLIGENT BITCH! and Charmaine, well…what can i say about her? she’s HOLY. but uhm…as unrealistic as her character may be, i still like her because she is a FOIL to Tavia’s character. and with the love triangle, i actually DISAGREE with many people here. I think that Charmaine & Kevin are cuter and Charmaine & Moses. Yes, moses is selfless, caring, nice, and all that. and i absolutely LOVE moses. but i personally prefer Kevin & Charmaine because they have the cuter scenes together. and regarding the chemistry between them, it’s understandable that people can’t really sense it because the setting’s in the Tang Dynasty. i mean, in those times, even holding hands was a serious serious thing. of course there’s not going to be much chemistry going on if all they’re doing is talking (Da Qing Ma Qiao), which i find to be very very cute and sweet. in my opinion, Kevin is the sweetheart, and Moses is the considerate one.