This review may contain spoilers
Brilliant, underrated gem
I'm going to have a hard time moving on from this one, it's now my second fave drama after Nirvana in Fire. I loved the way they handled the history while giving us a fictional take on the Three Kingdoms period that isn't all dark and grim. I braced myself for a lot more sadness than I ended up getting which is a relief. There were deaths, but I think they made sense and they weren't the kind where you know the writers are just trying to just use deaths for shock and angst.
Overall, I think what really divides opinions of this drama is audience expectations of the male lead (ML). If you're expecting something like Nirvana in Fire or even something like The Double where the leads are always 10 steps ahead of the villains, never panic, or never make mistakes, you probably will not even finish the drama. The first 17-20 episodes have the ML evade the bad guys, but barely and often with sacrifices. It's a constant Trolley Problem: sacrificing the few for the greater good, or insisting on saving the few at a potential higher cost. It can be frustrating watching him insist you can have both but still ending with casualties. Even I got frustrated but thankfully I stuck it out because it gets better. He doesn't fully accept his role as the emperor and grow into his own until around ep 20 with the Guandu arc: after that, it's a delight to see him win against his enemies without betraying his original heart. He keeps his moral compass but is able to use his own wisdom and foresight to handle things his way rather than get pushed around as a puppet as he was in the capital in the first arc. Honestly he's kinda badass after that, I loved seeing the confident emperor hitting his stride.
Personally I disagree with some reviewers who said the characters don't have development except the Empress. I think many of the characters grow or change. Very few characters are one-dimensional. Over the course of the drama, you start to see that many of his enemies are not one-dimensional devils and eventually are won over by his wisdom and kindness. He lights the flames in their heart and reminds them of their original values of caring for the will of the people, things they slowly lost sight of as they followed Cao Cao who himself once had those ideals but abandoned them for gain. People I despised in the beginning, I grew to admire by the end. People I hoped would not change, did for the worse (well, mainly just one, but if you knew the history then you knew he would have to by the end).
(**spoilers!!!!!!**)
I also disagree with the reviewers who think the end was pointless with the emperor abdicating and that he should have done it earlier. Besides the fact that it had to follow the history of Emperor Xian abdicating and Cao Pi ascending to establish the short Wei Dynasty, the ML did not abdicate until after he was able to get the Central Plains to a place where it was much more peaceful and unified. He explained his reasons perfectly in the last episode when talking to Sima Yi, so I don't know if people just ignored that conversation and the peace that the emperor had been able to bring before he stepped down, or what. He long realized that what was most important was the well-being of the people, the title of the dynasty and ruling family name isn't what's important. Cao Pi probably wasn't a great ruler but at least he had Sima Yi at the helm, who bided his time to be rid of the Caos. I also loved the way that the emperor stepped down and was loved by all, and Cao Pi finally realized his ambition but the victory was ultimately empty. I think if you weren't paying attention to the story you could see it as cruelty winning with the Cao family ascending, but I think this story actually did a good job of showing how kindness isn't weakness, and how it was ultimately it was the emperor's selflessness kindness that brought great prosperity and peace to the land in its last years. Selfish ambition like that of Cao Pi and Cao Cao will ruin you, make your allies abandon you, and put you in the history books as crooks and demons., and their short-lived Wei Dynasty fell shortly thereafter to the Jin Dynasty of the Sima family who ended the Three Kingdoms period.
Overall, I think what really divides opinions of this drama is audience expectations of the male lead (ML). If you're expecting something like Nirvana in Fire or even something like The Double where the leads are always 10 steps ahead of the villains, never panic, or never make mistakes, you probably will not even finish the drama. The first 17-20 episodes have the ML evade the bad guys, but barely and often with sacrifices. It's a constant Trolley Problem: sacrificing the few for the greater good, or insisting on saving the few at a potential higher cost. It can be frustrating watching him insist you can have both but still ending with casualties. Even I got frustrated but thankfully I stuck it out because it gets better. He doesn't fully accept his role as the emperor and grow into his own until around ep 20 with the Guandu arc: after that, it's a delight to see him win against his enemies without betraying his original heart. He keeps his moral compass but is able to use his own wisdom and foresight to handle things his way rather than get pushed around as a puppet as he was in the capital in the first arc. Honestly he's kinda badass after that, I loved seeing the confident emperor hitting his stride.
Personally I disagree with some reviewers who said the characters don't have development except the Empress. I think many of the characters grow or change. Very few characters are one-dimensional. Over the course of the drama, you start to see that many of his enemies are not one-dimensional devils and eventually are won over by his wisdom and kindness. He lights the flames in their heart and reminds them of their original values of caring for the will of the people, things they slowly lost sight of as they followed Cao Cao who himself once had those ideals but abandoned them for gain. People I despised in the beginning, I grew to admire by the end. People I hoped would not change, did for the worse (well, mainly just one, but if you knew the history then you knew he would have to by the end).
(**spoilers!!!!!!**)
I also disagree with the reviewers who think the end was pointless with the emperor abdicating and that he should have done it earlier. Besides the fact that it had to follow the history of Emperor Xian abdicating and Cao Pi ascending to establish the short Wei Dynasty, the ML did not abdicate until after he was able to get the Central Plains to a place where it was much more peaceful and unified. He explained his reasons perfectly in the last episode when talking to Sima Yi, so I don't know if people just ignored that conversation and the peace that the emperor had been able to bring before he stepped down, or what. He long realized that what was most important was the well-being of the people, the title of the dynasty and ruling family name isn't what's important. Cao Pi probably wasn't a great ruler but at least he had Sima Yi at the helm, who bided his time to be rid of the Caos. I also loved the way that the emperor stepped down and was loved by all, and Cao Pi finally realized his ambition but the victory was ultimately empty. I think if you weren't paying attention to the story you could see it as cruelty winning with the Cao family ascending, but I think this story actually did a good job of showing how kindness isn't weakness, and how it was ultimately it was the emperor's selflessness kindness that brought great prosperity and peace to the land in its last years. Selfish ambition like that of Cao Pi and Cao Cao will ruin you, make your allies abandon you, and put you in the history books as crooks and demons., and their short-lived Wei Dynasty fell shortly thereafter to the Jin Dynasty of the Sima family who ended the Three Kingdoms period.
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