Ben Gong Jia Dao (2025)

The duration was too long

I watch this because of Han Yutong and Zuo Ming acting is hit-and-miss but luckily his acting was decent in this drama. And Han Yutong needs to stop using her long nails manicure in ancient drama.

FL seems to have foreseen every step, and the plot is intricately interconnected. It's a logically sound and satisfying drama. If you prefer mindless, slapstick comedy, this might not be for you, as the FL rising from a low position, inevitably has to endure some hardship. It 's not a pure romance; ML is just a normal emperor with a harem, though he does show favoritism and affection due to the female lead's schemes. So it was natural there is no intimate scene and the chemistry between the leads didn't show too much.

The only plot hole is how the two of them could not recognize each other? They've seen each other's faces before, and there's no amnesia. They even fell in love after spending three months together. ML is blind and disfigured, yet he can remember the taste of the health-preserving soup but not the female lead's voice?

For me the time is to long, i watched this with 1.25x speed for saving my time. If they can trimmed the time, it would be better.

Still decent to watch and recommended if you have many times to spend.

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An intricate tale of rivalry, cunning deception and first love

I chose to watch this drama because I was preparing to write a reddit post about Han Yu Tong's revenge dramas.

What I liked:
1. FL characterisation - Shen Ming Xia was smart and scheming. Her revenge plan was carefully crafted so don't mess with her.
2. Acting - Good performances by the actresses who played the Queen and two concubines. While I liked Han Yu Tong's overall performance in this drama, at times I found her facial expressions too "hard" so I wasn't sure whether Shen Ming Xia was scheming or really being kind/genuine.
3. Supporting characters - I must say that antagonists were a delight to watch and hate. I also liked the servants who were kind to Shen Ming Xia.
4. Romance - I liked scenes of Shen Ming Xia's first love more than scenes of her blossoming romance with the emperor.

What I disliked:
1. Length - With a running time of 4 hours 7 minutes, it feels like watching a condensed version of Chinese period drama. I prefer modern drama and with bad subtitles, I struggled with this drama during the second act. However once moved into third act, I became invested in the story again.
2. Romance - Slow burn romance but only a few scenes. I would have liked if the romance between Shen Ming Xia and the Emperor was given more screentime. I want good, real kisses too.
3. Nails - Gosh I couldn't stand Han Yu Tong's long manicured nails. They felt out of place in this drama.

Favourite scene
When Shen Ming Xia saved a wounded soldier

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