Knavery

I fast forwarded through 90% of this. Index finger is tired from clicking skip 10 seconds.

If you really like the leads I can see why you'd enjoy this. If you like soap opera family dynamic drama then yeah, you'll enjoy this. But that's over 90% of the show. The twist is there's a single family (the Rongs) who are matriarchal and not patriarchal so that could be fun for some.

It's probably worth giving a go if you're on the fence but I feel like it's segmented. The first ~11 episodes is one chapter, episode 12-30 are another and then 31-36 are the last chapter. I don't think this gives away much about the plot if you read this because the romance is the romance and the scheming/plotting is from the get-go to the very end.

I think the writing/directing for the leads is a bit much for the first couple episodes. The flashback 10 minutes after we just saw the scene was also pretty funny.

They showed enough for me to continue but yeah, I'm not sure if this is a newer writing/directing team but it certainly felt that way with some of the style choices, scene choices and the way the leads were acted/written.

The awkward chemistry sure looked like the future of the show. That's incredibly unfortunate.

The lead actor was half the fun and I really dislike when shows cast someone new to play the same character. The hope might be this stands on its own with very loose ties to the original and they fix the issues with the original (too much focus on Crown Prince to stall for time IMO).

Felt like it was over around the 28 episode mark to me. Everything before that was reasonably deliberate.

Everything after was like someone slamming the accelerator then the brake then the accelerator over and over from ~29-38.

The story is so awful. If it was interesting it would be better. Instead what is the Jinxiu kingdom? The sulky princess marries a sulky prince pining after the female lead.

The sulky prince despite being side by side with the female lead fighting back against Susha apparently doesn't have any power back in his kingdom. And his immediate thought is "lets just go back home with no plan". How about you rally some of those troops and take on the playboy emperor who is another awful character because even when they try to portray him as smart or cunning... he comes across as unhinged and stupid but it works because the Prince Jing Shi is an even bigger sulky moron.

It's just such an awful story overall. None of these people are likeable. None of them are portrayed as being smart or competent. None of them seem to be working towards any goal. They just exist to be time vampires and suck up the runtime of this show so it can get to 38 episodes.

I'm sure once we get to Episode 38 they'll have done something... but like everything from episode 29 forward - it's going to be convenient, just in time, with no backstory to create a spectacle on the screen. And if you're just throwing stuff on screen, you're not telling a story.

I think that's my issue with the show in a nutshell. It started strong with some minor flaws... but since Episode 29 it has been convenience over a convincing story. The end of Episode 32 is another example. How do you get them out of the Storm Alliance after talking about how they can't leave for the entire episode? Well lets just invent some people who are so ambitious and so angry with the Storm Alliance main leader they want to kill him! And oh, they'll try to kill the male lead too (lol?) that way everyone can figure it all out and sing Kumbaya and then the leads will have the green light to leave!

Because the directors and writers didn't have enough of a story to tell about the two leads and Susha kingdom so they're stalling for time to get to their 38 episode count.

It's a pretty big problem with most Chinese costume dramas over the last several years.

Man they're really leaning into the melodrama but instead of fake deaths and paternity reveals it's people randomly becoming super murderous.

Yeah see I didn't have any problems until Episode 27 where you can tell the writing and directing teams realized they resolved the "bigger" plot and didn't know what to do for the remaining 11 episodes.

The male lead won... and he won publicly in front of multiple court officials where the Prime Minister admits guilt in front of them. He wouldn't have been going to see his father. He would have had officials lining up to pay their respects. Those same officials would be seeing the Emperor convincing him they had nothing to do with the Prime Minister's betrayals. We as the audience might understand the male lead doesn't want to be Emperor but the ministers don't. The ministers would be thinking "he won, he's soon to be Emperor, I need to get myself in his good graces".

So we're supposed to believe that a crippled old man that was disgraced and begging the emperor for days in full of view dozens of officials, eunuchs and maids can mastermind a plan to kill 2 imperial guard, kill the head eunuch and then successfully frame the male lead in the eyes of those officials and the various factions within the military?

It's nonsense. First - those officials would have been lining up to see the Emperor and Crown Prince making the plan impossible. Second - even if we buy into the show's logic that the officials wouldn't be groveling and jockeying for positioning... why would anyone trust a disgraced official's narrative? "You know the Crown Prince who was just handed the keys to the Empire? Yeah he killed his father last night! Trust me, bro".

The team behind this show went way, way, way off the rails starting in Episode 27.

At least the show didn't play to the typical trope of two leads misunderstanding each other but wow was episode 27 disappointing. Costume drama writers and directors need to plan things better. Edit: spoke to soon, looks like 30-31 at minimum in the previews suggest male lead amnesia and misunderstanding with the female lead. And this show was doing so well, bummer.

Emperor executed Prime Minister's son.

Prime Minister wants to kill Emperor's son to make him feel the same way.

We can say the Emperor might have been right to do execute the Prime Minister's son but the Prime Minister is not presented as a good man which is why he doesn't care who he hurts in his quest for revenge as long as he can kill the male lead to hurt the Emperor.

The trailers for the next episodes (19-20) make me wonder how this will play out. I think they've telegraphed the male lead's goofy friend is likely the masked man given the Episode 19 preview Li Qin's character is threatening to kill him.

I'm enjoying the ride but I'm seeing the same warning signs with most Chinese costume dramas of the last few years. They rely on mystery and they take the political plot a little too fast where the big reveals come at roughly the halfway point in the episode count.
And often what these shows do is they run out of a good way to tell the story after the reveal so they start shoe-horning in misunderstandings. So my worry is maybe Li Qin tries to tell the male lead and he doesn't believe her and there's a misunderstanding for several episodes to delay.

I could be wrong though. Hope I'm wrong. I'd really love one of these shows really flourish in the second half and stick the landing.

Modern monarchy drama - I'll have to check it out when it releases.

They've done a really good job balancing the story and the romance so far. I hope they can continue.

The ending was pretty dumb and highlights the problems with Chinese costume dramas in recent years. They can't develop a romance story naturally so it has to be these giant gestures and these giant gestures destroy the story, the plot and the integrity of the characters.

The show was building for 5-6 episodes "we must achieve peace so people and soldiers aren't suffering". And what happens in the last two episodes to bring the leads back together? The male lead goes and regains his power and slaughters a whole bunch of Taijin soldiers so we can see his grief. But of course this massive level of violence is okay and doesn't destroy the peace because the show has run out of airtime and needs the leads to be together peacefully.

If all you enjoy is the romance that's fine. But I miss the careful balancing with a story, with a plot.

I'm not hallucinating - the male lead was a doctor to start the show, right? I'm kind of laughing along but hitting the fast forward button a lot, I come back, watch 20 episodes up to the most recent one and take a break and repeat.

I should have waited for the whole thing to be available.

I like Song Yi as an actress. The story has flaws for sure but I've enjoyed the ride up to episode 24.

I think it's okay but it's not spectacular acting or chemistry. It wasn't enough to distract from what I thought was a lackluster story and lackluster character development.

Again I don't think this show is bad if you compare it to other recent costume dramas that focus way more on romance and fun/silliness/lightheartedness. But it's far from what I was hoping which would have been something along the lines of Nirvana in Fire.

I haven't read the novel so it's hard to compare.

The show has been okay for me and I'll finish it but I think I was hoping for a Nirvana in Fire type of atmosphere where it's serious, somber and it's people working towards revenge.

Instead we got something similar "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer" adaptations. Where the atmosphere is sunnier or happier.
It makes the leads shallow characters. I was hoping they'd be more focused on revenge but instead they're easily distracted and the show goes too far trying to portray them as selfless. We're so far into this show and all I can see so far is they'll present evidence to the emperor and he'll deal with the problem... which would be an incredibly lackluster resolution when you compare it to even The Smiling, Proud Wanderer adaptations where the male and female leads take it into their own hands and become leaders instead of deferring to an emperor or others.

In modern Chinese costume dramas the romance can be overwhelming. That's not the case here.
They've made modifications from the novel it seems and some of them are a bit convenient and you might be disappointed at the writers not setting up the show properly or delivering the most consistent story.

I think it's okay. I wouldn't class it as a masterpiece but I'm sure you'll enjoy watching it. I haven't dropped it and will see it through.

I think my one gripe is I wish they'd dramatize being a general a little better and more accurately. But this is pretty typical of Chinese shows where the general is always fighting in hand to hand combat and not making strategic decisions to reposition the army or set up an ambush or whatever.

They hinted it at it in a recent episode with a decision Xiao Jue had to make that ended up having unintended consequences (but was ultimately the right decision to preserve his army). The writers obviously understand what a general's job is given that flashback but I wish we'd get more.