Josh B

The writing is terrible - like a highschooler wrote it. The actor/actress are good though.

In the novel, she is good. She and her sister are on opposite sides in the harem, but she can't bear to harm her (though she does find her frustrating.)

Poor her, I knew there was something wrong when I saw her new series as a pearl diver. She looked very different, almost a different person. I've seen a lot of her series before, and that was the first time I was like... she either went through a lot of unnecessary cosmetic surgery, or has some severe health problem.

It vibes with the book, the little princess is kind of dumb and dies so many "social" deaths in front of the eldest princess.

I'm not a fan of his, but he has done a good job so far in the first 4 episodes. He has a wide range of facial expressions that are suitable for humor.

Well, its a plot to wipe out the Xu family to cover up the missing silver case, but it backfired.

The father told him that she can't be his legal wife, but he had better treat like she is one.

They should have cut 2-3 characters from the story. If they cut the roles for the princess, the cat carrying lady, and had someone like Meng Zi Yi attempt to assassinate Feng Xian, then be captured, experience a love/hate relationship, and so forth, it would have been 10x more entertaining to watch.

The writing is horrible and inconsistent. Really is shame, because I don't think any of the actors/actresses are bad at their jobs.

So does Xin Zhi Lei totally steal the show out from under Li Qin again? (Joy of Life)

I think that is shame. I always liked story of his palace hijinks the most, rather than his adventures outside of it.

I felt the same way. This seems very generic and boring. I feel like this story has been told dozens of times.

When he returns home, Wan'er confronts him and gives him the cold shoulder. She doesn't flip out though. Consider her background. She grew up in the palace. Her whole life is surrounded by dudes with multiple wives. His relationship with the northern ladies is very complicated and fraught with politics. In the book, he plans out how he will seduce DuoDuo with poetry and poison so she won't kill him with her superior martial arts. He flirts with Si Lili and is tempted by her, but it was very one-sided with her mostly liking him more, so he can use her as a spy. The story doesn't make a lot of sense if they leave out the difficult relationships he forms with them. He just never marries them. At the end of the book, he is only married to Wan'er and his maidservant.

The book was 'poly' but not really the main focus. He married only two women: Wan'er and his maidservant (not in the show). In the book she is really torn up by the fratricide between the half brothers (she is close friends with all of them), the death of her mother, and FX's injuries. She was a side character, but it appears that the show writers are going to expand her story line, like they did in season one. I think she has a lot of potential for character growth in the next two seasons, as she was in the thick of it.

Probably better off seeing them in reverse. The first one will raise your expectations too much for the second season.

In the novel he cares for him a lot. He just has interesting (and dangerous) ways of showing it.

Haitang is in the second half of the first season. In the book, Wan'er doesn't have a lot of personality until after they get married and she is exposed to the ML and his sister's modern thinking. She helps him navigate the palace and plays peacemaker between factions that the ML will inevitably upset. Since the director had the script adjusted, I think he was trying to develop their relationship a little more and didn't quite hit the mark if you didn't like it.

Wan'er becomes a supporting character in the book but has a good ending as his wife. She doesn't pass the test (is the character so important that if you eliminate the character, will the story still flow?) I felt that the main female lead was always Haitang. The book's interactions between her and Fan Xian is funny as they are always messing with each other.

I'm guessing that it will be "undone" in season 2.

I thought it was kind of pointless too. I suspect that they are just dragging out the early romance between them to give it some mileage.