Good Grief

Guys I am finally happy after so long first drama is good and next this is the most mature convos I had with Mdl in past few years. Where its more on story and characters and interesting facts. This make this drama more enjoyable

I don't see a problem with them rushing to drop episodes. We don't have to rush to watch. I am taking my own sweet time. Of course the production wants to get it all out before everyone takes off for Chinese New Year holidays, which begins on the 15th and goes on till the 23rd. I will take off until March 1 and if I hadn't hurt my knees I'd be skiing and not watch a thing.

Pretty incredible when you think a nation like the US has been here 250 years and in China, that span of time is like "Oh you know, ONE dynasty, with maybe ten emperors". lol The scope of history, the many, many, many changes and upheavals and power exchanges is breathtaking. I love that engrossing shows like this give a glimpse into the past and excites viewers to read up and learn more about this time period.

Some may find these parts slow, but I quite like watching the scenes depicting the more "boring" or tedious side of governance. It is these people - the ones faithfully counting every expense, recording them and being diligent in their tasks that make our governments run on a daily basis.

Then you have the self-serving people in the shadows (literally these scenes are full of shadows with the lighting - don't think that's unintentional) plotting to get something for themselves. Such was mankind before and today - and tomorrow?

Recently i was reading Epstein files alot and now watching this E1 was quite unsettling especially 2nd half bcz sex racket involving minor girls reminded me alot of epstein files.

Ig now its picking up. I even read people are going back and reading about it. But overseas reception is mid, understandable its not a very easy drama to watch. But I feel if i holds very good till the end for sure it will be become a timeless classic. A lot people will visit it once it finishes

Very well, it has 9/10 ratings on weibo for tv. I saw it in a post

Riveting stuff. I am hooked, it's been sooooo long since a show had me this immersed and invested. I keep dropping them left and right and forgetting to even go back/record my progress...

Great acting from everyone so far. It must have been so difficult, living through such treacherous times with so much betrayal, evil, greed and blind ambition at every corner. I mean, honestly not much has changed as far as humans and their awfuness goes, but this time period was a whole stratospheric level, as were some other distinct eras in China's history. Good men/non conniving schemers were CRUSHED like bugs. Damn! This show is EXACTLY why I love Asian dramas in general and cdramas in particular.

I hope they maintain this great storytelling, acting, plot etc. throughout. I'm so tired of poor/rushed endings.

War scenes would be pointless for a drama that relies so heavily on real history. They would make sense if wars were able to resolve so many fragmentation issues in that particular period of time, seeing birth and death of 10 kingdoms and 5 self proclaimed imperial dynasties in just 6 decades. All of them failing, one after another, to deliver organic state services (justice, safety, security, free trade, at least an economic predictability if not prosperity etc), stability and extensive soft (societal, philosophical, cultural, economical...) and hard (military) power. Translated in modern language: they were all small sized powers with no convincing deterrent, that's why they've fought but no power actually won/achieved anything durable, independently of the strategy or tactics they've applied.

So, it's totally logical and natural this drama focused more on what really mattered to overcome such an "empass" state of being.

i suspect It's much more than that, Zhejiang produced drama !! they at least spent half a billion yuan considering the production team built a 60000 sq meter 550 real-life sets, 8000 custom made costumes, & filmed entirely in 8K quality

The last thing would be a budget issue as It's one of the few high budget major cdrama production in recent years. budget is said to be 350 million yuan, most S+ dramas of recent times barely have a 300 mm Budget. Lengthy war scenes could be unappealing to some viewers, maybe that's why?

Indeed, human nature has not changed these thousands of years.

They say history repeats itself is so true. And I love learning about Chinese history because after so many dynasties and empires, you could say that China has experienced it all.

During the Cheng Zhao Yue arc, even the king was hesitant about dealing with him because he held the real economic power in Wuyue. While the northern dynasties might be militarily powerful, but they lacked the economic prosperity the southern parts like wuyue had.

You see that in today politics too, we have politicians and government but how many decisions are actually influenced by the billionaires like Zuckerburg, bill gates etc…

Dialogues are full of wit and insight, I'm intrigued by the script

That’s true…this drama needs a philosophical tag, a lot of their dialogue have deep underlying meaning.