Story of Kunning Palace

Revenge, obsession, and second chances

🌸 My Rubric-Based Rating – Story of Kunning Palace 🌸
(Using a 5–3–1 scale across 9 categories)

💖 Romance Quality
5 Perfect chemistry and satisfying development between Ning & Xie.
😄 Comedy
3 Some good comic relief (Fake Dingfei!), but not a central focus.
🧩 Plot/Intrigue
5 Well-crafted, emotionally complex, and full of satisfying twists.
🎵 Soundtrack
5 Memorable, haunting, and romantic—top-tier OST.
🏛 World-Building
3 Good palace intrigue, though not as deep as high fantasy.
👘 Visuals/Costume
5 Visually stunning with elegant styling and beautiful details.
📺 Binge Factor
5 Addictive pacing—absolutely stayed up for “just one more ep.”
🎭 Acting
5 Excellent range and nuance, especially from Zhang Ling He.
⚔️ Conflict
5 Creative, emotionally driven, and well-resolved.

🧾 Total: 41/45 → 🌟 Final MDL Rating: 9.1/10

Story of Kunning Palace had everything I love—intense romance, great acting, poetic justice, and a twisty, emotionally rich plot. Bai Lu and Zhang Ling He had incredible chemistry, and seeing ZLH in such a dark, yandere role was a treat. I loved all 3 love interests, and while the ending with Xie Wei made sense (and gave us that sweet wedding extra!), I still rooted for Zhang Zhe and Yan Lin at times. The side characters were strong, the villains were detestable, and the OST was bangin'. I only wish Fangyin had lived. Still, this was a beautifully written and satisfying drama from start to end. Tbh, it was the best thing for me to watch after Till the End of the Moon. It wasn't xianxia but it kept me invested and happy in the end!

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Peace is like a dream, why not fight till I'm damned

Do you believe in second chances? This drama tells the story about a girl who used every way possible and everyone around her to become an Empress. This Empress had a terrible ending and died horribly. Now she is back to the time before she went down the path of no return, and decides to fight against her destiny.

The best part of this drama to me, are the three male leads.

Our 2nd ML, Yan Lin is a bright and cheerful lad and the son of a Marquis. He is upright, and dotes on the FL endlessly in the start of the story. I think he has gone through the most character development in this drama. By the end of the story, having gone through much turmoil, he has matured a lot. But he still hasn't let go of his principal characteristics: upright, loyal and bright. This is how character development should be done!

Our 3rd ML, Zhang Zhe comes from a meager background. He has climbed the social ladder merely through his own talent. He works at the Ministry of Justice, quite befitting his just and unwavering character. From start to finish, in every lifetime, he never once takes sides in politics due to personal reasons and only supports the truth wholeheartedly. His romance with the Fl strikes a chord in me. I really like the dynamic between a high ranking noble lady × weak but talented poor scholar. I love the scene where they meet on a rainy day and they leave with their sight still lingering on each other.

Our ML, Xie Wei is the mastermind of most of the plots. He has ulterior motives and is dedicated to taking revenge. The more you get to know his character, the more you fall in love with him to the point that by the end of the story, you get addicted to his character. Can I just say Zhang Linghe is beautiful beyond measure, he looks otherworldly like a peach blossom spirit. Dark mysterious and beautiful ah! At first I was more interested in the 3rd ML with the FL, but as the story goes on, the differences between ML and him becomes greater. ML truly is willing to sacrifice his revenge, his hand (matters a lot cuz he's obsessed with playing guqin) and even himself for the FL. He's cold at the beginning but as soon as he starts falling in love it's like every scene they're together in combusts into fire. Best ML I have ever seen in drama ever. I just wanna watch more of Zhang Linghe T^T.

The FL is not as interesting as the MLs but Bai Lu is a good actress and it's easy to place yourself in her shoes, so it works out.

I love the side characters. You Fangyin and Boss Lyu's love story is soo sad. Love all the people by the ML's side— his bodyguards Jian Shu and Dao Qin and even the fake Xue Dingfei. Love the princess (I ship her 100% with the FL lol). I'm glad they didn't make the FL's sister the stereotypical evil character. Instead she has her own personality, storyline, and development. I really love her color palette and dressing style, goes super well with the character. The other side female characters are cute too (especially the astrologer, super funny).

The villains got so much on my nerves. But it's their job so idk. That Xue Shu is a damned b**** idk how they managed to cast someone that looks and talk evil all the time. I don't feel bad for her one bit. Her brother can go to hell too and so can their mom and dad. Evil family.

Anyways watch this drama, if you wanna look at beautiful scenery and even more beautiful people! 10/10 would recommend.

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drama gets better as story progresses. Got dark vibe.

Story of Kunning Palace - 9/10 -historical cdrama

after quite long time watched historical cdrama. Sadly this drama is just type I hate ful of intrigue alike to korean historical dramas.
Firstly I didnt really like this drama it was dark and even though first eisode made me remember :The Romance of Tiger and Rose: the vibe couldnt be more far away.
Vibe is very alike to :My Journey to You:, but that drama managed to catch mine interest from get go, guess mainly cause Esther Yu and Lu Yu Xiao where both of them are mine favs and their roles was very different from usual ones they plan and they managed to slay it.
Bai Lu and other characters in Kunning palace ... lets say it wanted at least 10 eps from me to grow fond of them to continue watch.

ok shortly first 10 eps I planned to rate 8/10. Till 30ep I planned 8.5/10. And last 8eps + special managed to perusade me for 9/10. Must say I practically binge watched it in one day.

Ok review was too long. For plot and genre just check out MDL.

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A surprise of 2023

I truly enjoyed this drama, and now that I finished it, I have withdrawal symptoms. Honestly, this show has everything that I enjoy:

(1) An intelligent female lead that doesnt take crap from people (no Mary Sues here) ;
(2) A male lead that is willing to do what needs to be done to reach his goals (Anti-heroes represent!);
(3) A strong chemistry between the leads (NO duck kisses to be seen);
(4) A couple that teams up and solves their issues quickly (those that scheme together stay together);
(5) A story that has not fillers (missing the mandatory annoying second couple, yay!); and
(6) A very happy ending (in many ways *wink wink*).

Point number 6 was very important to me and thankfully SOKP delivered, I had been burnt many times by C-dramas and there is nothing more frustrating than investing 40 plus episodes on a period piece and getting rewarded with tragic or lazy open ending. So kudos to the cast and crew, this drama was very entertaining, two thumbs up from me.

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A Familiar Idol Drama

In many ways, familiarity is an recurring element for Kunning Palace. The FL was an Empress of evil deeds in her past life that transmigrates into a do-over life, intent on fixing her mistakes. So the setting, the people, and even many events are portrayed as familiar events that add tension to the story.

As for my personal viewing experience, Kunning Palace also felt familiar‒A Familiar Stranger familiar. In fact having conscientiously avoided idol dramas‒costume or modern‒A Familiar Stranger was an rare exception that I attempted and enjoyed, perhaps mostly owing to its short mini-drama length. With Kunning Palace as the much anticipated big-budget drama, I joked to myself that all I'm looking for is AFS quality and I'm willing to turn my brain off for the ride. And to my cursed prediction, A Familiar Stranger is basically what I got: from the haphazard blinding lights, to the spinning shots, to the predictable OST that conspicuously serenades every modestly emotional scene, to the paper-mache world-building and story that I didn't dare staring into for the fear that even a lingering glance will set the whole world ablaze.

And sadly despite the modest expectations, I'm not sure if Kunning Palace matched the quality of AFS. Despite being a low-budget production shot in a pinch, AFS had arguably better production quality, better average acting quality, and better tropey romantic sizzle. And most of all, the short 3 hour run time and fast pace made all the irksome issues much more palatable.

To be fair, Kunning Palace is not a terrible show, and solidly above average for an idol drama. Unsurprisingly, a lot of people liked it, and liked it a lot. If you are not congenitally allergic to idol drama like me, the sets, costumes, pretty actors, and decent trope execution will be lighting up plenty of dopamine and serotine. And just some modest improvement to the script, acting, and cinematography would have made this a decent watch me. But as it is, the negatives slightly outweighed the positives, and multiplied by 24 episodes the cumulative enjoyment debt had become too much to overcome.

Complaints:
❌Kiddie level political schemes and too many plot issues
❌On-the-nose tension and dramatic moments, reinforced by even more on-the-nose dialog to make sure the audience understood the obvious
❌Too much try-hard acting; too modern line delivery, dialog, and general vibes
❌Amateurish cinematography and editing choices, the director feels like someone that likes to inject random effects into his Powerpoint slides to look professional

--Category Ratings--
- Overall - 5.5
- Plot - 5.5
- Theme / Message / Impact - 6
- Acting - 6.5
- Visuals - 7
- Audio - 7
- Rewatch - 5
- Accessibility - 7.5
- Subtitle quality - 8

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Perfect Drama ​

I watched a very good, high-quality series. Apart from simple mistakes, I watched an excellent series, without any errors or obstacles, everything was in its place. It's a particularly good story, well-constructed and excellently directed. I found little fault with the management. That may also be due to the player. For example; Elisa Ye failed to die. How bad was that? She was already good at playing the bad woman. It must be from there. Fang Yin's death scene affected me the most, perhaps because it was in the last episodes. Actress Melody Tang seems to have been specially chosen for this role. I really saw him as the personality that best suited his role. Such a pure and clean face, the way he played a game accordingly, his performance in the scene where he died impressed me a lot. Here, Melody Tang's and later Bai Lu's games were very effective. I also congratulate the director. I actually cried in this scene. It was a very, very extraordinary scene. The series was completely impressive and gripping. It was perhaps one of the best TV series of recent times. As I said, the story is solid, the editing is very well done, a good director and excellent actors, except for a few people. I liked Bai Lu very much. He's already a player I like. Zhang Ling He is one of the star actors of recent times that I like. Although Wang Xing Yue is young, he is rising rapidly. Zhou Jun Wei appeared little but played effectively. He was also successful in active scenes. It got into my eye. I found it good. I can't help but mention that I liked the veteran actors Huang Hai Bing, Liu Min, Zong Feng Yan. They are very good players. Congratulations. I also liked Wang Zi Teng in this role.
I recommend the series to everyone. You have to watch. You will be sorry if you don't watch it.

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cliche c-drama "do over" story

Despite its cliche premise, this drama is very promising at the beginning when heroine Jiang Xuening first resurrects into her younger self. Armed with knowledge of the future, she can gleefully manipulate the situation to her will and the first ten ish episodes are enjoyable if you don't squint too hard.

However knowledge from the future is not the same as intelligence, despite the writers' attempt to equate the two. As the plot becomes more muddled somewhere past the halfway mark it becomes clear that neither Jiang Xuening or Xie Wei are very rational or smart. The "politics" makes little sense and moves forward through the help of deus ex machina.

Furthermore the romance is filled with all sorts of strange baggage which is meant to be romantic but gets increasingly odd and kind of unpleasant. To make the ML more "dominant" and edgy, his personality has a definite violent and stalkerish tendency which is meant to be explained away by his dark past. I guess this is what market research shows girls are into in Asia.

One can give credit to the staff for doing a good job of putting the production together, but it can only be considered a polished c- drama and unfortunately not a top tier one.

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This is the Best Chinese Drama of 2023 for Me!!

I love everything about the drama!!! The directors were able to pieces this drama together very well despite ending with 38 episodes. I did wish it was longer because it was too good for it to end early.

I love all the main casts because everyone did their part very well especially Bailu and Zhang Ling He. I’m a huge fan of both actor and actress. I am very happy that I was able to see these two worked together!!! ( q v q )

I want to thank all the casts, directors and staffs for the beautiful drama. It’s been awhile since I have fully watch through a drama without being bored. Thank you for that!

Also, I’ve enjoyed watching this drama with my fellow watchers. Thank you for the great jokes and laughters. You guys are the real MVP for posting and sharing links relating to SOKP. :D

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such a slow burn romance

this story was the most intriguing slow-burn love story that was well and very well brought to life. From character development to plot line each move and dialogue was well considered as well as well presented by the actors. From start to end many questions had to be answered. The excellent part is that not all of them were kept to the end to be answered and some of them were on purpose revealed to the viewer to increase as well as decrease the anxiety of the viewer. Zhang Lianghe did a good of portraying Xie Wei (Xie ju’an). another notable actor other than Bai Lu was from Zhou Jun Wei. Overall worth a watch.
{also beware of the kiss scene. they where wonderful}

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FIRE MEETS GASOLINE ROMANCE!!!

When the chemistry is chemistrying!!! They casted such lovely actors and actresses here and they did great!

I have no words for Zhang Linghe's acting here as Xie Wei 🤭🔥 Therefore I conclude, they should give him more roles similar to Xie Wei lol he really ate being red flag! Bai Lu really knows the right script for her 💗 She doesn't disappoint!!!

Romance is romancing but I wanted more of them! It felt a little rush and it's very very slow burn on the FL's side lol. I can't say story is unique, but it's very entertaining and enough to keep me watching without skipping or fast forwarding. The two red flag FL and ML made me binge watch this 🤭🔥

I hope they make more series like this with mature FL and cast the right actresses. I'm so tired of seeing the same period drama FLs either very very childish, annoying or have no personality except having kiki voice. I don't hate actresses who have naturally baby voice, I just don't like others who does it intentionally and looks so old to have those type of voice or dubbing.

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Strong Cast Performance mees Quality Production. Must-watch.

Stellar cast with an entralling plot. Absolutely loved the deep, mysterious vibe of the ML. His deep voice and stern facade really played well into the character. Fell in love in EP 1 with his 1 word "可". Bai Lu is again, inexplicabily beautiful in a Costume drama. Enjoyed the strength and straigtfowardness of the FL, actions & thoughts made sense, though she did fall into a more Damel in Distress personality towards the end. The chemistry though was excellent. There was always some kind of tension between the leads that all the more made viewers anticipate their ending.

The plot is where I thought could be more improved. While the pacing and arcs were decently written. many of the excellent premises were not woven and fully made use of. I fully expected the ML's schizophrenia to play a larger role towards the end. It would have been nice for the FL to also show more maturity in her behaviour considering she was "reincarnated" from an empress. Character growth kinda fell backwards from empress to a 19 year old girl..

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