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Yeah, it's pretty decent rating.

Maybe it will make me reconsider watching it after stopping after Episode 5, and my love for Li Qin will overcome my early dislike for the ML and the general lack of interest in seeing such a high amount of teenage-looking actors in important roles.

Whoa, 5 hours is crazy - I think my max so far was a bit over 4 hours, some historical minidrama starring Mi Qi.

遥相思 - I know Wang Yun Yun, so it least deserves a look and reading comments on YT :).

Lets see, I have no experience in how often MDL info on this level could be true or wrong.

It would be shockingly short knowing how much of the material they have still to cover.

I'm surprised to see that Douban still don't have a rating for it - from what I remember, the "
Romance of the Female Soldier" already had it around Episode 30.

Btw, first comment I've spotted there - "Chen Zheyuan is not suitable for this role. His appearance and temperament seem too thin and childish", gotta love Chinese directness. And after 5 episodes, I could probably agree with it.

I finished Episode 5, and I found myself FF-ing it a lot.

Injured FL, of course, led to the FL needing rescue from the ML; kids were dumb and noisy, and I even hate myself for not predicting that the dagger would be used by one of them (or at least not so quickly).

Lin Qi is great as expected (and as great as she was in Song of Glory in a very similar action role), but the ML is level(s) below Song Mo from "Blossom" in the "God of War goes through Enemies to Lovers" archetyp.
There are also way too many teenage-looking Princes who come from the same school of acting, where idol-looking guys are getting fast-tracked like crazy.
And even Xia Meng doesn't look as pretty as her MDL's profile picture would suggest :(

Positives? Horrific ML's childhood friend went to the border with his father, so hopefully he won't be stealing screentime for a while. And I like the ML's subordinates, especially when they are discussing serious things between them.

Not sure if I will continue it.

I finished Episode 5 and found you post to be actually a big, fat lie.

Too many screaming kids, in my eyes the FL didn't get even with the ML (despite claiming it) and of course she had to be saved on the boat. I found myself FF-ing a lot, maybe it's not for me afte all, even if Li Qin is great, just like she was in "Song of Glory".

They also love "let's make the FL injured in the 1st episode, so she won't appear to too strong" trope.

"Empresses in the Palace" is freaking long and slow-paced and even more freakin outstanding on every level. It has to be the best serious Harem Drama Ever, I watched "Ruyi" after it and it wasn't even close. "Yanxi" was good, but it's like a high-level Idol show, while "Empresses" is just a serious Masterpiece, similar to "Nirvana in Fire".

The best part of watching "Empresses" on YT, is to read a native comments in Chinese via google translation, as they explain so many extra nuances. Fascinating show that I underrated after the initial watch, but a few months later I found myself to come back to some episodes.

This actually sounds very intriguing.

It would be fun to watch a brilliant and manipulative emperor, because typically it seems the Court and Harem members are manipulating them.

That's one of the reasons why I wanted to watch a decent version of Wu Zetian Drama - she had to be very manipulative and brilliant to rule as a woman for so many years, but the only one with English subs is the one with Fan Bing Bing, which seems to be the worst one ...

What an amazing news!!!

Genuinely replying:
1) I watched the Joy of Life's ML in the "Sword Snow Stride" and feel like he plays similar role everytime, plus based on a few clips he's the type of lead there, I would like to see dead every 5 minutes. So, no reason to go there.
2) Leo Wu is the ML in "LLTG", which is like double-no, lol :).
He already tried to ruin "Nirvana in Fire" for me playing there as kid (?), and after seeing some clips with him and reading his fangirls screaming every timg someones says he is not the greatest ever, he pretty much tops my ML black list.
The ML from "The Double" is a strong rival, but he is much less famous, so it's difficult to get to #1.

I didn't watch those two (and don't plan to), but the Emperors in the "Nirvana in Fire" and "Empresses in the Palace" were both outstanding.

After watching Episode 2 - this is actually entertaining, I am FF-ing it much less than expected after the FL got amnesia.

The ML is a typical Almighty Fearsome God of War, so it's difficult to expect something else, but at least I don't want to kill him every 5 minutes...yet.

However, I would like to once watch a Drama, where in a serious way FL will beat the hell out of ML a few times (injury or not) and then propose him - "You know, let's stop fighting, maybe we could be together instead?".
Didn't happen yet.

Thanks. It sounds similar to Yingluo from "Yanxi Palace" continuing in trusting her Eunuch Brother after he pretty much told her that they will be enemies for the rest of their lives - it pissed me off to no end, as such a brilliant FL should know better.

And a few years later - mostly because of Lu Songli - it is even more difficult for me to accept a smart, capable Female Leads making occasionally dumb decisions.

Appreciate the explanation, but it sounds even more off-putting for me.

I remember watching recently a few microdramas where the FL either hated forced marriage - I think it happens more than you suggest, or decided against joining the King's Harem after helping him win a throne. The latter is extremely rare IMO.

8 minutes in of the Episode 1:

So, the FL successfully defended her country's stronghold and then, to celebrate victory, went alone to the forest to pick up some mushrooms. Very smart.

Ugh, this is really disheartening for someone who, at this momen,t is starting to watch it.

Especially dumbed down FL as the Female General to make a cliffhanger or two possible always make me disappointed.

Her fighting scenes looked great in "Song of Glory", although I don't look to closely regarding using backups.

Also - "Li started studying Chinese traditional opera in Shipai Central School at the age of 11 and trained in Wuxi, Shaoxing, and Kunqu operas.", this should explain it a bit, especially if she had more fighting-oriented parts of Chinese Opera implementd in her training as well.

"I've been drugged hundreds of times on the Battlefields". Yeah, right, kiddo.

I've dropped it after Episode 6, as it looked more and more like the short version of "The Double" and similarly overrated here and on YT based on the comments, while in reality it was one, gigantic mess, with extremely unlikeable ML and crazy camera work. And the FL wasn't much better either. Also, she's kind of smart, but the ML was outplaying her easily (just like in the "Wonderland of Love", which I dropped quickly too).

I'm old, so I usually like to have a character worth cheering for.

I also need to finally learn to stay away from the "Jealous Male Lead" and "Possessive Male Lead" tags. I miss Gu Tingye from the "Story of Minglan" :(.

Could you link it me too it? MDL doesn't seem to have it.

I'm trying "Sinful Marriage", which seems possibly too crazy for my basic standards, but maybe I will adjust and enjoy it.