general feihong-s wife

so true, I loved all of the scenes with PWX, ZLH lived that role

the march up to the palace stairs was such an iconic scene and Zhang Linghe delivered it so well. especially with all of the guards surrounding him with swords but just following him rather than making any move made him seem so powerful. reminds me of The Social Network. when he asked the traitorous officials if they missed their families, and when he told SRQ that he has not just his father but his whole family, gave me chills. such a good performance.

I find SOKP to have more defined, interesting and captivating politics. While TPR spends time on politics, it's not as well done in my opinion. I wish that in TPR they either commited fully to making politics more interesting and enjoyable, or they dedicated more screentime to characters like Pei Wenxuan. His wasted potential really frustrated me. In my opinion, the level of depth of Li Rong is closer to Xie Wei.

I watched The Princess Royal first and am currently on Ep 29 of Story of Kunning Palace, so far I enjoy Story of Kunning Palace more but The Princess Royal is also such an amazing drama. Personally, I prefer the character of Xie Wei over Pei Wenxuan because Xie Wei just seems more fleshed out and like more thought was put into his character, but it's all up to personal opinion and preferences. If you prefer more healthy romance with a lot of communication, then you'll probably prefer Pei Wenxuan, but personally for me, Xie Wei is more interesting and deep as a character.

I'll definitely let you know. On Ep 28 rn

I'll definitely let you know. On Ep 28 rn

It did indeed get better in 2nd half, but I ended the drama still wanting more... there were a lot of things that I thought could have been explored about PWX that really weren't and it's frustrating. In comparison, I really enjoy XW's character so far, I can tell that the author put a lot of effort and time into crafting him which I can really appreciate and enjoy. Just for context, I'm currently on Ep 25

true, PWX is amazing at communicating, his character carried the Peirong ship. personally I prefer XW as a character just bc he's more fleshed out and interesting. I think if the author and screenwriter for TPR had put a lot more effort in PWX as a character and didn't push him to the side he would be even better

I completely agree with you, literally the exact same. What episode are you currently on of SoKP? I definitely prefer XW as a character, but PWX is also an amazing character and matches with my moral code more.

I completely agree with you, literally the exact same. What episode are you currently on of SoKP? I definitely prefer XW as a character, but PWX is also an amazing character and matches with my moral code more.

what did they even mean by that bc were we seeing the same couple who sacrificed everything possible for each other like please be for real. his only true friend was FC and it's all the more tragic that she passed away

YRS was an interesting character but there were already so many characters and plot lines that I couldn't get invested in new characters to the extent that I would want to

Honestly, the weakest part was definitely the amnesia plot, and that is where the whole drama definitely became a bit messy and directionless in terms of plot. It broke up the flow. TSHH already sacrificed her spirit bone to help the Tree, I don't understand why they felt the need to have SJ attack the tree again. Everything that was communicated in that plot had already been communicated in previous arcs, it didn't add anything new. I think that the drama could have been a lot more enjoyable if they had removed the amnesia and DFL plot. When I rewatch I will definitely be skipping those episodes. And don't get me started on when DFYC asked ALSS if TSHH forgot him and ALSS was like "yeah it's because she hates you" like wtf???

Is it just me or I find the main couple a lot more compelling than the other couples? I loved all of the scenes between TSHH and DFYC, the only other couple that I found compelling was BT and SK, and the only other couple I found entertaining was YTX and HWS. The two other couples, TSYY and ALSS, and LJW and YRS were so boring that I genuinely had to skip their scenes.

that actually annoyed me so much because they had so many chances to tell him and they just decided to a play a game with him instead like he had a right to know the truth, but instead they were like "oh, maybe she hates you" like ???

Yes, it's of course necessary to examine the whole situation. I agree with you on many of the points you brought up. However, I want to discuss one of them. You said "She hated PWX in her past life due to a misunderstanding about him being in love with QZZ, but she forgot that she was literally in a relationship with another man". We need to look at the whole situation here, and also consider LR's fundamental character. She doesn't like sharing. She likes being in control. It's mentioned in the novel: if she's going to cut something, she cuts it cleanly and completely. She can't tolerate anything impure when it comes to sincere relationships. The moment she sees that PWX might have someone else in his heart, she deems that relationship, that she wanted to be sincere about, to be impure, and she aims to cut it out fully, rather than taking PWX's approach of working through their problems together. Consider this sequence of events; LR misunderstands PWX is in love with QZZ -> LR asks for them to split up -> PWX hesitates, causing LR to think that he likes both her and QZZ and become disgusted -> LR and PWX argue, and PWX says that they should split up -> LR saves SRQ and he lives with and accompanies her -> LR asks PWX to divorce, and he refuses. From all of PWX and LR's interactions after QZZ's death, in LR's mind, there was no love between them. They were only allies, and spouses nominally. To her, LR and SRQ, and PWX and QZZ, are different, because LR and PWX were in an exclusive romantic relationship when she thought he was in love with QZZ, while LR and PWX were in a nominal relationship when she was accompanied by SRQ. Therefore, while criticism of many of LR's other actions are, in my opinion, justified, I personally don't view her and SRQ's relationship as hypocrisy on her part. She's a hypocrite in many other senses, yes, but not when it comes to her relation with SRQ in the past life.

I don't mean to rant but it just find it frustrating how the screenwriters, directors and producers ruined what could have been a perfect drama. If they understood the source material and their audience more, and didn't let their personal bias towards one character skew the whole drama, then this drama could have been one that actually handled the topics it was trying to tackle really well.

For no reason as well! I personally believe that in terms of time dedicated and spotlight given, if they had replaced SRQ with PWX this would be a basically perfect drama. PWX would have his own dreams and motivations, he could be more explored as a person (for example, he hates that LR looks down on commoners in some aspects), his emotions and backstory could be more explored, and it could also help the political side of the drama and all of the concepts they attempted to dive into as PWX's view of the imperial system and all of the problems with it in general could bring a balanced perspective that really wasn't brought when SRQ was highlighted. From LR's perspective we saw how she viewed the system as the 'champion' of it. From SRQ's perspective we saw how he viewed the system as someone who greatly benefited from it. However, PWX's perspective as someone who was disadvantaged by the system and was working to fight it, would have been much more interesting to watch than SRQ's. Overall, a bigger highlight on PWX could have greatly improved the drama.

I wish that the director and production team didn't let their personal bias for SRQ get in the way of the enjoyability of the drama. They should have stuck to the novel and not pushed him to the front so much.

The humour and cuteness of the leads is 100% the best part. Happy watching!