Amarina

This is my opinion as well.

🤣 I suppose it depends on what you mean my "complicated". The previous persons answer was way too simplistic as I would say "yes, maybe". One of the frustrating parts of the first act is that they sweep aside "most" of the politics to the point where there is literally a "missing episode" when there's a voice over saying "the old Emperor fell, the new Emperor came to power, yadda yadda". BUT then the second third is outside palace politics (meaning he goes to the palace but is sent off and stuff happens outside the palace that eventually effects the palace. Finally the last third of the show is literally devoted to internal palace politics and the power struggle with wrapping up storylines.

😅 So honestly... you might wanna drop it at this point. If you're looking for feeling "the chemistry" between the main couple I didn't find it that sort of show and never personally felt sparks between them. Instead they spend the first 1/3 of the show dancing around each other in their comedy mixed with business plot (basically she plays the loving wife and he plays a dumb dandy around her so any closeness they get is played for laughs mostly), then it turns into a bit of a thriller as she's getting her memories back and they haven't confronted each other (here they're spending "most" of their time apart in the show plot, occasionally he drops by for plot points) , then it's business mixes with political until she forgives him ( Again they are mostly separated here and when together she's very cold towards him so.again, not a "ton" of time for "chemistry"). Then it moves over to straight political. (This final bit has the most "cutesy" moments with them together as by this point they are officially married.

Overall, they do have many the cute moments but this is honestly a show that should have gripped you from the beginning based on how they structured it. The fact it didn't and you're not liking the first episodes which essentially set up the first 1/3 of the show, indicates it might not be to your liking.

BTW 😅 "The woman who watches the FL" is just a Nanny who is in the employ of the ML. She's a servant who was hired to keep an eye on her and help keep the lies straight but she's not an "unusual" Character for the drama. By that I mean her having an older servant who helps her and looks out for her isn't unusual, there's a part in the show later where this character is sent to the "Nanny" of another household on her "day off" so they can gossip and she could come back and report about the household situation.

I can see your point on it ending at ep 23 if you want a story where she is still empowered to live a "normal" life despite everything that has happened to her. In that sense, absolutely, stop watching at end of ep 23. But realistically that's not the story they were telling the entire time. She had already mentioned multiple times she had nothing left to live for. Her smallest chance of survival even for a moment was when she was pregnant and had the promise of being able to leave, but once that was gone her only grip left to the world WAS to kill him and die herself.

Beyond what was already written, one thing to note is that the end does not have them technically end up together as a happy couple which is a note in their favor. The more vicious and ruthless the main character is the more they have to "punish" the character so often that ultimate punishment is death.

Specifically, he gets approved to marry her, she coats her lips in poison, they kiss, dialog about this is the closest they've ever been and how she wishes she never met him, he wishes there she could meet someone else, kiss, he dies, she cries and lays him out on the bed, she sets the palace on fire and lays down to die next to him whether the poison or fire gets her first doesn't matter, she's dead too. Very satisfying ending IMO.

Don't get me wrong I loved this show dearly and had a love/hate relationship with him specifically but did you truly not find anything villainous with him holding her hostage in his palace and when she escaped threatening to (possibly actually going through with there was a jump cut and many things DID happen off scree such as her second suicide attempt) kill a person a day from the General's Mansion until she comes back, and then permanently disabling her and making her live in pain by removing her inate martial arts abilities?

Yeah, remember he'd been shot with the arrows and then was kneeling in front of the palace in the cold begging to marry her

The only one that honestly annoyed me a but was the sister/friend/fiancee's death. Not the actual scene but the motivation... I felt that was a little lacking imo.

She had no interest in living though. I took it that she probably applied some sort of barrier over her lips before applying the poison but that as soon as they kissed they were BOTH going to die, he just died faster since he "ate" more of it and was already injured and weak from the previous wounds/kneeling.

I'm 100% giving this a 10. I was worried they were going to mess up the ending but nope...

Because they seemed to live in a world where what is shown in the trailer is not the show that's given to them 🤷‍♀️ I watched all the trailers and clips before hand, knew JUST how toxic this crazy dude was going to be and said "how many days til it airs? Christmas came early!" 🤣

Because people want a "happy ending" so they try to cater to both crowds. Honestly though this one is better than the dreaded "3 years later" 🤡🤣

🤣🤣🤣 That ending is textbook read it how you want to read it. WOW... I got my SE and obviously based on comments rolling in others are getting their HE they wanted 🤡

They'd have to severely mess this up in the end somehow to make this not one of my favorite shows. This dude is AWFUL and the acting is so good it hurts to watch.

I know some of you all are passed but dang I rewatched ep 11 and 12. The expressions on each and every characters face, the shifting eyes, the hands, the 🔥🔥🔥🔥. I wanted to screenshot and Clip basically EVERYTHING.

It's fully uploaded on the Youku app but just started uploading today on YouTube here(multiple eps per video):
https://youtu.be/voAkmeAYRzc?si=845RGFw2nmim2iYA

I knew going in they were the same actress but if I was going JUST off watching the shows I'd never be able to tell honestly. I swear she looks completely different between the two shows (which in some ways is good since other actors/actresses don't seem to be able to change their looks/demeanor between shows no matter what the character requires)

Only thing to do is rewatch the episodes while waiting... the aestetic shots, the hands, the touches, the grabs...

😭 I am so obsessed with this show. Every word I swear has double meaning and it's going to be one of those one's you go back and watch after the end and see through new eyes.