Good Grief

Rate this drama 20 out of 10.

stunning drama, bravo

It was forced land seizure. The local authorities fraudulently asserted autumn taxes when the king had waived them bc of hard times and demanded payment in spring, before they were due. The farmers borrowed money from the noble families to pay their taxes using their land as collateral. Cheng Zhaoyue was the key architect of this scheme.

I just finished episode 30.
English is not my native language, but this drama forced me to watch it with English subtitles because I couldn’t wait for the next episode. With a book in hand to take notes of the words I didn’t understand and to keep track of the complicated relationships between the characters, I actually enjoyed it a lot because it was just that good.

This drama is perfect for those of you who enjoy serious and realistic stories based on history and complex political dynamics. When watching something like this, you can’t judge the characters as simply “good” or “evil,” “black” or “white,” because humans are fundamentally complex beings full of contradictions.
This drama presents its “men, ministers, kings, servants, and common people” in deeply layered ways.

From the first five episodes, I really liked the character Shui Qiu, an extraordinarily intelligent and loyal minister. He is a good and wise mentor, accompanying the ninth prince and witnessing his growth. He cares deeply for The Qian brothers and for the people. He is the type of person I would genuinely respect if someone like him existed in the real world.

Meanwhile, I truly hate the character He Cheng Xun, He is greedy, treacherous, cowardly, and constantly stirring up conflict. He is the kind of person who could bring ruin to a country if left unchecked. In the early episodes, I already hated him for betrayl his master… and after episode 30, I hated him even more.

The end of episode 29 made me hard to breathe, and in episode 30, I cried and cursed a lot. I felt bad for Hongchu, but what happened to Shui Qiu played a big role in shaping his principles as a king. I was just not satisfied with He Cheng Xun’s ending. I wish he were chopped up and fed to the dogs!!

For me, this drama is recomended... With note : Look the tag and the genre's

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?