Deirdre19

The writing is bad, the CGI is beyond ridiculous and pointless side-characters get too much screentime.
BUT, the acting by the leads is really good and there are some great moments that make this drama worth watching despite everything else.
There are also a lot of people who simply hate either the drama or one of the leads. They had already downrated all the episodes before half of them were aired, so don't be too bothered by the low rating.

I complained a lot about HY coming across as bland, but it was always quite clear to me (and I hope it also showed in my posts) that the fault for him being bland was with the writing, not with the acting. GJ did what he could with the little material he was given in these early episodes.
When the script is bad and the direction is bad, there's not much room left for the actors to save the drama.

She is DZY's aunt. She was close the current emperor's father (and the empress dowager is insanely jealous of her) but promised him never to return to the capital. Hence she wasn't present when the rest of her family was killed. In the beginning of the drama people don't know whether she is still alive because nobody has seen her in a while.

Now they're up.

Those aren't the new ones... I still cannot upload anything. It seems to be a general problem with MDL at the moment.
All their clothes look so nice. I'm in love with the costume department 😍

It's another way of saying "transmigrated into a novel".
It seems that currently it has become impossible to find a short drama without this BS trope...

Yeah, fingers crossed it won't be another TJOCZ. Maybe with a different director there will be less pouting, more acting 😂😂😂

That would have to be a quantum leap improvement to turn her from a fluff cotton ball into an actress. I feel sorry for any ML being paired with her...

Probably 90% of the people who gave this a very low rating have never seen any of it.
For some reason that was a lot of hate directed at this drama leading some clowns to rate down the episodes before they were even aired.

Just to give you one example, the whole storyline of the fake DZY, her manipulating that dumb bodyguard, taking endless baths or having monologues wallowing in self-pity were annoying and served absolutely no purpose for the plot. A lot of screentime was wasted on this character that could have been better used to show us some of HY's scheming and planning, rather than only reveal it at the end.

More importantly for us non-fans, he showed us that he actually can act. Whether it's with his beautiful eyes or his beautiful hands, I really don't care. Even though I loved him in WoH, I came to this drama not expecting anything much and he really impressed me!
Unfortunately, C-dramaland is full of pretty boys who cannot act one little bit, so it is talent that we should praise more than anything else.

People complain a lot, but mainly about the writing and poor overall production. The fact that most of us are still here despite finding stuff to moan about in every episode proves that it isn't as bad as it looks.
I like the acting of the three leads a lot and even if there are some ridiculous moments writing-wise their acting is the reason why I'm still here.
Give it a try for a few episodes, then make up your own mind.

Poor LMX! Considering his feelings for her are genuine this must be pure torture! The writers really piled the suffering of several lifetimes onto this character 😭😭😭

LOL and a hitlist of the most unbelievable "cheating death" stunts by the protagonists. Some of them are like vampires and only decapitating can really kill them off, but not the multiple arrows or spearwounds to the chest.

The rating on MDL is chronically unreliable. Many sub-par dramas featuring popular idol boys will still be rated 8.5 or higher while other good dramas with real actors are only rated 7.8 or 7.9.

What do you mean "after episode 30"? The script-writing was messed up from episode 1...

I think it's his voice, but I'm not sure...
I'm quite happy he wasn't the ML, because this gave him a chance for a completely different role. I love his goofy antiques!
He stays for a few episodes (until 20, I think) and then apparently returns again towards the end, so I'm holding out until then. Once he's gone the drama became noticeable dull.

Ah, let me know when you get there. I think you won't be disappointed.

Na, some people (especially in xianxia) can spit blood by the buckload and they're still fine. Remember how much blood spitting there was in TTEOTM??
Based on my observation only the people who spit blood in a handkerchief will die, those who mess up the whole floor will be ok.

I have yet to see a C-drama were a bad or incapable emperor gets removed or is forced to resign. All these dramas seem to follow the premise that it is ok to "work around" a bad emperor, but the status quo must never ever be challenged!