I’m sitting on the fence here and giving it a solid 8.5, but I ended up skipping a lot of scenes here. Especially…
It is a drama mill, with recycled plots, costumes, sets and the rest. Apparently there is much less money right now for original production, and coupled with censorship and all sort of restrictions it is hard to produce original and interesting work.
She - the actress is 7 years older than ML is, and 10 years older than the prince who presumably had rescued her as a child from a camp he himself owned. If you don't smooth her face it will show big time, camera tends to exaggerate every little flaw, wrinkle, and pimple. Also it is a matter of style that has become very popular lately, to make heroic characters look like porcelain dolls or an anime figure. I personally dislike it but it is a trend. Also someone here said they were filming when it was really hot, and makeup didn't stay on as intended. I don't know whether is fact or gossip, but here we are.
Visual effects teams use apps to 'beautify' and smooth faces of actors. It is a more sophisticated version of a filter you may have used on zoom or a beauty camera. I has been done for ages everywhere.
I love a good historical fantasy, but for me it still has to be anchored in some basic plausibility and just enough authenticity to make it work. This drama seems to go totally off the deep end midway. In addition to some really odd stuff like superhuman recovery from injuries, it has too many blatantly contemporary values, views, and proclamations that clash with the fantasy historical landscape. It breaks the 4rth wall. FML delivering speeches as if she is at a rally, and the princess with her "love" are bad enough, but the whole thing with his mother, who acts, speaks, and makes demands like a 21 century feminist activist is just insane . Mommy is tired of being an empress? - what does she think, being an empress is a part time job that should have live work balance? And she will take HER children away, so he will have nothing to do with them, and she is pulling a sword on the Emperor - all that in front of a ton of witnesses. Seriously? ML role is written for a brilliant strategist, and it is interesting, and I absolutely love CZY performance, he is the reason I started to watch, but the rest of the plot and dialog are getting so implausible, and frankly dumb, it is hard to keep suspending the disbelief. 🥲
She's not a self absorbed arrogant princess she was just an orphan princess who lost her mother tragically killed…
She didn't just betray her brother and father; silly besotted cow betrays her Emperor, and in essence her country. She commits a crime that normally would land someone in prison or worse.
The character of the princess, the ML younger sister is the reason why ladies have been deemed weak and gullible,…
Not just father and brother - she betrayed her country, its people, and her emperor. Stealing the imperial token is a crime, leaving without permission is a crime, blackmailing her brother with her life is inane and insane - and all for a man who would not even touch her. I could not believe what I was watching.
Outside of being the owner of the death camps.edit - wrong brother LOL ignore this
Other poor traumatized kids grow up to be decent valorous human beings and not psychotic owners of death camps, or lechers and causal killers. Traumatic childhood is not an excuse for evil. F**k his yearnings for real care/love.
At first I found difficult to accept the male lead, too much make-up, too childish and feminin look but I must…
I am the opposite: I LOVE ML, too much makeup, young looking and the rest is the style and the genre. If you don't like that style then of course it will not work for you as much. FML character, the way it is written, irritates me half the time, she is one dimensional, and frankly not very clever. I also think CZY acting is superb, but to me Li Qin acting is rather flat. I keep thinking of Liu Shi Shi in a somewhat similar role in The Journey to Love, she is a powerhouse, to me this FML is nothing special here, nor in other dramas, she has no spark, and no warmth, and too artificial.
I am on ep 13, and all I want to do is to slap his sister so hard she would see stars for a week! What a stupid, self absorbed, arrogant little puppy. And to be honest FML is not smarter by much. ARGGGG.
CZY is a main lead in 5!!! upcoming dramas. I hope he doesn't collapse, or lose all his hair from glue and wigs. That is a crazy schedule for anyone. He is a wonderful actor, and lights up the screen, but there is such a thing as overexposure, and same old same old can tank a promising career. I wish him all possible luck.
1
ML role is written for a brilliant strategist, and it is interesting, and I absolutely love CZY performance, he is the reason I started to watch, but the rest of the plot and dialog are getting so implausible, and frankly dumb, it is hard to keep suspending the disbelief. 🥲
FML character, the way it is written, irritates me half the time, she is one dimensional, and frankly not very clever. I also think CZY acting is superb, but to me Li Qin acting is rather flat. I keep thinking of Liu Shi Shi in a somewhat similar role in The Journey to Love, she is a powerhouse, to me this FML is nothing special here, nor in other dramas, she has no spark, and no warmth, and too artificial.