For me, The Lament of Autumn is easily one of the best dramas of the year. This is a mature, complex and deeply human story set in difficult and turbulent times. Its characters are profoundly flawed, but so are real people. They have their virtues, their weaknesses and their contradictions. And those final episodes? Painful, absolutely. But they made perfect sense. The story ended exactly as it should have. Life isn’t always beautiful, love doesn’t always conquer all and not every story needs a happy ending. There’s a difference between legitimate criticism and bashing a drama simply because it didn’t give you the actors, story or ending you wanted. That’s a rather immature way of looking at such a mature story.
Episode 31 was EVERYTHING 👏🏻🔥 The intensity, the tension, and THAT bathroom scene? Easily next-level for a C-drama 🥵 You can totally tell a woman wrote this: framing it from his perspective while centering the women is brilliant writing. Cheng Lei is perfection and Xu Ruohan gave it her absolute all. I’m on the edge of my seat seeing where this goes (IYKYK!). Praying so hard for a happy ending because his character arc is unmatched and he deserves it! 🙏🏻
Just finished this and it reminded me a little of Flourished Peony: the FL is a super, super, SUPER intelligent woman who keeps getting hit with the worst life can throw at her and somehow always finds a way through.
But I actually liked this one much better. The pacing is good, the story is genuinely engaging and yes, I cried a few times. Women were treated so horribly… and sadly, some things haven’t changed nearly enough.
Final, completely childish and possibly petty thought: Lord, I CANNOT get over her nose 😭 It looks like one of those little cartoon mouse noses!!! I’m sorry. I tried. I really tried. 😭😂
I have to admit that what initially made me watch “Perfect Crown” was actually the amount of hate it received — and still receives. I’m not particularly a fan of either leads, so at first I planned to skip it entirely. But all the backlash made me curious enough to give it a chance before the remote possibility of it being banned, and honestly? That turned out to be a great decision. I genuinely enjoyed this drama. At the end of the day, this is a rom-com: a completely fictional rom-com set in an alternative reality. And viewed from that perspective, it absolutely fulfills its purpose.
Historical inaccuracies aside — which I can’t really judge due to my lack of knowledge on the subject — the story feels refreshing compared to most Korean rom-coms these days. The acting is solid across most of the cast, the pacing kept me engaged until the very last episode, and, unfortunately, that’s something I can rarely say about recent K-dramas.
I think the conspiracy 15 yrs ago is mostly tied to the characters who get the most meaningful, recurring screen…
I also doubt ML’s father is evil or even guilty - maybe guilty of hiding the truth and he is, after all, the CP Tutor - but he seems more afraid than anything else. So, behind the conspiracy must be (obviously) very very powerful people. And I’m almost certain the man in the carriage in eps 20 was Right Chancellor.
If you mean the crown prince mentioned in ep20, it's the crown prince from 15 years ago, before the demise of…
Unless the Crown Prince was deposed at some point, he should still be the same person 15 years later. I rewatched eps 1 to check the banquet — and if he was there, they kept him deliberately out of sight.
Same schedule in China and internationally, releasing the same 2 episodes everyday. However, Youku releases only 1 episode for VIP and the other for SVIP or VOD while Netflix releases both episodes at the same time. Youku episodes are available a couple of hours earlier
i'm on ep 5, so i don't know about the rest, but it was obvious wanshun faked her death. but the guard and cui…
It would really help if you used spoiler alerts 🙏🏻
Yes, it might seem “obvious” that she faked her death — but everything else was a genuine twist. There was absolutely no way to know why she did it in the first place. After that, and with all the other deaths, the motives were impossible to imagine.
Yet people come here saying this is a boring drama because they “figured everything out immediately.” Be serious.
And the second case — of course the people behind a female human-trafficking ring would be powerful figures, and yes, obviously men. Duh. Sure, the mastermind was suspicious… but he could just as easily have been a client, right? And what about why she was found inside the wall? Or who actually killed everyone at the end?
I honestly didn’t guess it right away — and I’m a huge fan of mystery novels and series. So I guess I really do have a very simple mind… just like I said. 😌
I’m truly amazed by the number of brilliant minds behind these screens. So many MDL users somehow managed to identify every villain from the very beginning and unravel all the cases within minutes. Truly outstanding. Meanwhile, I must be a rather simple mind, because I could’ve sworn the plot had plenty of twists and turns.
For those who asked if there’s any romance: - This is an investigative series and it will focus mainly on that; in this drama, solving cases is not a side job the mains have while being romantically involved. With that said and from the first 4 eps. I already know they will naturally get involved but it will be a slow burn. - Right now the FL only has 2 purposes in life: solving cases and finding out what happened to her family. She is self assured, competent and smart. She leads her own team of investigators and she’s very good at it; She’s also skilled in martial arts; - The ML has spent almost all his life at the Astrological Bureau, studying the stars and celestial events and “making” predictions on the future (as it was usual in the Tang dynasty). He has the Emperor’s trust. He is super intelligent and arrogant enough. Furthermore, he’s hiding things from the FL’s past and he doesn’t trust her (and she doesn’t trust him); - But we can clearly see he’s also protective of her and he’s already “bending” his own rigid rules of conduct because of her; - She hasn’t decided what to think of him, yet; - Together they will risk their lives while investigating the cases and will naturally get closer and closer; - So, I predict he will fall for her first and harder. She will also fall for him but later. There are BTS that show he confronts his parents in order to marry her “saying he will propose whether they like it or not and if she doesn’t accept, he will defend her with his life anyway! IMO this is pretty much romance on a true investigative drama.
So the rating as of today (2025.12.04) is a measly 7.6… Seriously, how is that even possible??? This show deserves nothing less than an 8.0 — bare minimum!!!
I could list at least ten dramas from this year alone sitting comfortably at 8.4, 8.5, even 8.6… completely overhyped and, honestly, pure nonsense compared to this one. Meanwhile, here we are with a low-budget drama doing its absolute best, delivering solid acting and a script that actually holds up — and people still think it’s only worth a 7.6? Be for real.
I just hope everyone who planned to watch it — and actually has good sense (aka, not the haters) — shows up, enjoys it, and rates it fairly, the way it deserves.
News 
This is a mature, complex and deeply human story set in difficult and turbulent times. Its characters are profoundly flawed, but so are real people. They have their virtues, their weaknesses and their contradictions.
And those final episodes? Painful, absolutely. But they made perfect sense. The story ended exactly as it should have. Life isn’t always beautiful, love doesn’t always conquer all and not every story needs a happy ending.
There’s a difference between legitimate criticism and bashing a drama simply because it didn’t give you the actors, story or ending you wanted. That’s a rather immature way of looking at such a mature story.
The intensity, the tension, and THAT bathroom scene? Easily next-level for a C-drama 🥵
You can totally tell a woman wrote this: framing it from his perspective while centering the women is brilliant writing.
Cheng Lei is perfection and Xu Ruohan gave it her absolute all.
I’m on the edge of my seat seeing where this goes (IYKYK!).
Praying so hard for a happy ending because his character arc is unmatched and he deserves it! 🙏🏻
But I actually liked this one much better. The pacing is good, the story is genuinely engaging and yes, I cried a few times. Women were treated so horribly… and sadly, some things haven’t changed nearly enough.
Final, completely childish and possibly petty thought: Lord, I CANNOT get over her nose 😭 It looks like one of those little cartoon mouse noses!!! I’m sorry. I tried. I really tried. 😭😂
I genuinely enjoyed this drama.
At the end of the day, this is a rom-com: a completely fictional rom-com set in an alternative reality. And viewed from that perspective, it absolutely fulfills its purpose.
Historical inaccuracies aside — which I can’t really judge due to my lack of knowledge on the subject — the story feels refreshing compared to most Korean rom-coms these days. The acting is solid across most of the cast, the pacing kept me engaged until the very last episode, and, unfortunately, that’s something I can rarely say about recent K-dramas.
However, Youku releases only 1 episode for VIP and the other for SVIP or VOD while Netflix releases both episodes at the same time.
Youku episodes are available a couple of hours earlier
Yes, it might seem “obvious” that she faked her death — but everything else was a genuine twist. There was absolutely no way to know why she did it in the first place. After that, and with all the other deaths, the motives were impossible to imagine.
Yet people come here saying this is a boring drama because they “figured everything out immediately.”
Be serious.
And the second case — of course the people behind a female human-trafficking ring would be powerful figures, and yes, obviously men. Duh.
Sure, the mastermind was suspicious… but he could just as easily have been a client, right? And what about why she was found inside the wall? Or who actually killed everyone at the end?
I honestly didn’t guess it right away — and I’m a huge fan of mystery novels and series.
So I guess I really do have a very simple mind… just like I said. 😌
Meanwhile, I must be a rather simple mind, because I could’ve sworn the plot had plenty of twists and turns.
I saw it here
https://x.com/wangxingyuefans/status/2016452051144749490?s=12
- This is an investigative series and it will focus mainly on that; in this drama, solving cases is not a side job the mains have while being romantically involved.
With that said and from the first 4 eps. I already know they will naturally get involved but it will be a slow burn.
- Right now the FL only has 2 purposes in life: solving cases and finding out what happened to her family. She is self assured, competent and smart. She leads her own team of investigators and she’s very good at it; She’s also skilled in martial arts;
- The ML has spent almost all his life at the Astrological Bureau, studying the stars and celestial events and “making” predictions on the future (as it was usual in the Tang dynasty). He has the Emperor’s trust. He is super intelligent and arrogant enough. Furthermore, he’s hiding things from the FL’s past and he doesn’t trust her (and she doesn’t trust him);
- But we can clearly see he’s also protective of her and he’s already “bending” his own rigid rules of conduct because of her;
- She hasn’t decided what to think of him, yet;
- Together they will risk their lives while investigating the cases and will naturally get closer and closer;
- So, I predict he will fall for her first and harder. She will also fall for him but later. There are BTS that show he confronts his parents in order to marry her “saying he will propose whether they like it or not and if she doesn’t accept, he will defend her with his life anyway!
IMO this is pretty much romance on a true investigative drama.
https://weibo.com/u/4090672929
This show deserves nothing less than an 8.0 — bare minimum!!!
I could list at least ten dramas from this year alone sitting comfortably at 8.4, 8.5, even 8.6… completely overhyped and, honestly, pure nonsense compared to this one.
Meanwhile, here we are with a low-budget drama doing its absolute best, delivering solid acting and a script that actually holds up — and people still think it’s only worth a 7.6?
Be for real.
I just hope everyone who planned to watch it — and actually has good sense (aka, not the haters) — shows up, enjoys it, and rates it fairly, the way it deserves.