PRAIZNN

I had been anticipating this drama since the release of the first teaser/trailer. When it finally revealed an air date and dropped its initial episodes, I thoroughly enjoyed it right from the start. It was a chaotic ride the way through. We accompany Wei Rao as she finds her true identity/family, confronts adversaries (both domestically and politically), and finds romance in between all she went through.

The first half and the second half of WTME had different focuses. The first 16 episodes focused on the reveal of her birth, her true identity, her family, and also laid the foundation for her potential romance. The second half was about court politics, Wei Rao's relationship growth with her estranged family, and navigating the romance between Wei Rao and Lu Zhou.

So let's get to it.

A Chou grew up as a night soil woman; she has been trampled upon, bullied, and insulted. She has fallen on her knees many times, and what's more heartbreaking is that she does all this for her family; when she goes home, she takes good care of her sick mom, and yet her father, who gambles and is a drunkard, makes things harder at home. The fact that he sold his daughter (to be sexually assaulted) to a man while she was sick in bed spoke to the extent of how selfish and wicked he was. Her mother doesn't do anything much better; she does not try to protect her from her husband (and I feel it lies in the fact that she is not her biological child), and what can be worse is she comforts her and always tells her to accept her fate, and don't try to fight back. She does even try to give her a word of hope, but A Chou swore that if she ever receives an opportunity to get out of this frustrating life, she would grab onto it and change her fate. Her mindset is much appreciated, not her conforming to the words of her mother and accepting what fate throws at her.
A golden opportunity came before her; she grasped it, thereby changing her cruel fate from a lowly night soil woman into the wife of a renowned general, Lu Zhou. As the story progresses, she earned her own title, made her own fighters, and was revered by the people because of her kind heart, resilience, wits, and determination.

This is where the name Wei Rao comes in; she takes the name after she grabs the golden opportunity. That was a potential dead end, as she married a man destined for death in the place of the real Wei Rao, who refused to be married to the seemingly dead man. She makes a gamble: if she marries him and he dies, she would live a life of wealth as a widow, while if he survived, it's her fortune. Either way, she wouldn't have to go back to the slums.

Wei Rao is smart, calculative, scheming; she somehow thinks 10 steps ahead of her enemies, even predicting their moves and taking the necessary precautions into account. Though as smart, calculative, and scheming as Wei Rao, she gets cornered a few times in the drama, notably episodes 13 and 23, and she gets cornered when it has to do with someone she's close with, when her emotions make her think less and act faster, without laying necessary plans, and I feel this portrayal made her feel more human. This girl struggles to express her emotions; she also struggles to bring out her true sincerity to others, much more falling in love with someone. And all this has to do with her past, which she fears (a lot). Her past acts like a barrier that stops her from giving true sincerity and love, and yet it also makes her vulnerable, weak, and scared when she's threatened with it and when she thinks of people finding out the truth. I wish they had shown the viewers as she grows up from the fear of her past, becomes bold to let others know, not trying to erase the surface problem, but delving deep to organically erase that fear. I'm happy Lu Zhou always stood by her and protected her.

Lu Zhou is a righteous man who married the woman whom her despises for her cruelty against his choice, while he was unconscious, and when he woke up from his supposedly dead state, he saw this woman whom he despises right beside him on his bed; he exploded and was enraged. He initially felt disgusted and angry at her presence; I felt angry and raged at how he pushed her away, but from his point of view, considering all the evil things she(the other Wei Rao) had done in the past, it made sense. As the story moves forward, he sees someone different from the cruel girl he met; he was in doubt, yet he subtly falls for her, protects her, and cares for her. When he confirms his feelings that he has fallen for her, he is so down for her. Normally, I find many of the persistence men force on women annoying, but with Lu Zhou it never felt so. It was the quiet type, always staying on the sidelines, willing to help. The fact that he recognized his wife JUST from her facial expression should not be forgotten. He was one who made them being a REAL couple possible and wholly appreciated that. I wish we had got a lot more from this man other than being the person who Wei Rao with or without her permission; more of him as a general, maybe? He looked really good in armour.

When I finished episode 16, that felt like a good end to me, except the leads aren't into each other yet. I wondered how the writers would carry the next 14 episodes; then I saw a spoiler of their breakup in episode 17/18, and I decided to pause and wait for more episodes to be released as Youku dropped one episode each day, so as to binge 7/8 episodes. I initially thought/had the impression that their breakup would be cheap, for the purpose of prolonging the plot, but I was so wrong. While I understood Wei Rao choice and partly agree with the choice of backing out of the marriage (of convenience), I believe if she stayed, Lu Zhou would softened her emotional barrier easier/faster, and their bonds and love would have been more earlier and strong.

Their romance felt like a slow-burn, and their chemistry as a young couple was sizzling; their stares, facial expressions, body movements, waist grab- I ate all of that up. Even after they divorced, I appreciate Lu Zhou approach, this man yearned for his woman, while her respected her decisions, even when she rejected him time and again, purposely flirting with other men at the sight of his presence, he cared a lot, he was bothered, worried, protected her, cared for her, understood her, went with (most) of her choices, knew her thoughts, aahh he totally knew his woman and was so down bad for her. His persistence didn't feel annoying; it was like a man down in love with his woman. Wei Rao wanted someone who could give her a love unique to only her, which she didn't receive from anyone in life, yet she never knew Lu Zhou had that unique love she wanted in his heart, and when she had opened up to Lu Zhou in episode 23/24 about her past, she felt free, and her emotional barrier gradually faded away, thereby accepting her feelings for Lu Zhou. Then, when they kissed with that symbolism, I was smiling throughout. Even after they truly married, though it felt rushed, their flirting and interactions were intense. Wei Rao and Lu Zhou have my heart; their entire scene as a truly married young couple was a delight to watch, and I didn't find a single scene boring; I was smiling and giggling all over.


I disliked Jun Dai. Right from the initial episodes, you could see she's unhinged, psychotic, vengeful, totally crazy, and an (attempted) murderer; she basically has no borderline in her insanity. Her pretentious cries always make others get soft and cool with her, but it did absolutely nothing for me, except she was only good at that: playing the victim in every situation, and when she is caught, she flips her mad switch on. She is not even smart, and she's really dumb to me, but at least she knows how to weigh situations and respond. She treats people as pokemon card collects them when in use and dish them when out of use. I hate the way she was so obsessive over possessing Lu Zhou, like she rejected him before now she wants return, GIRL your chance has passed give up. The scene in which she said she was not raised how to love someone, at her last breath, pulled some strings at my heart, even if I found that hardly believable. Be so for real, even if you were never raised/taught on how to love, it should come naturally, not being taught, except her EQ is low, but that does not excuse all the evil, wicked, and cruel things she has done. I wish she didn't get off the hook so easy; her death felt cheap.

I despise, hate, dislike Han Liao right from when I first saw him, and I really have to say the actor nailed the portrayal of this detestable character. The fact that he killed his wife wrote that NO for me. I'm glad his screen time wasn't much/was reduced, because I couldn't stand his face. Oh, how I wish he really, really suffered before his death; that would have been the best closure for me. He and Jun Dai are the perfect match, though I fear Jun Dai might outmatch him domestically.

One thing I hate is when a character acts like a saint, all righteous and forgiving, it draws my suspicion as that one might be "keep your friends close, and your enemies closer." Guess who that is? Of course Wei Chan, from a 100 mile I knew this girl is gonna be clearly an antagonist of this story, when she threw away her skin I wasn't the least surprise, but she hid it well. Her end was soooo satisfying; that was one of the best endings a villain got in this drama. The fact that Wei Rao foster sister came herself with her voice and asked her to be done same thing she did to the girls, satisfied the deepest part of my soul, though I would have loved to see it done.

I'm happy Qi Zhong Kai didn't betray Lu Zhou (his best friend), but I was not really surprised, because his attitude throughout the series, never held those tendencies of betrayal. I hope he finds a woman he loves and cherish, even if she's not up to the Standard of Wei Rao, him loving her and her loving him is enough.Wish the drama showed more on the emperor's struggle to emotionally connect to the empress dowager (his mom), their final argument were tensed with the kind of "you didn't take care of me/love me" but I have birth to you". Also wished to see how the emperor connects to Weird Rao's grandma, as the woman who raised him at the absence of him birth mother. All these should have been tackled and added more complexities to the relationship, but then the ending was on "Speed Mode"

The two girls with the same face seemed to lack logic to me. Even though they are from the same family, I assumed they were twins, but I'm guessing the writers went for some unpredictability and twists. I can't comprehend how two girls who are not twins have the same face and are from the same family; not one I've seen before. Bi Tao death was heartbreaking. Even with the slight betrayal she committed, it could be understood; after all, her family was held hostage, but she ultimately loves her master (Wei Rao). Her actions spoke to it.

In conclusion, I liked the ending; many things were rushed, and it felt like 30 episodes were not enough to complete this. Some details and explanations were left out, but I still enjoyed and liked it; some parts managed to keep me on the edge of my seat. But what was that trash they threw in at the last minute- her brother, the new emperor dying, and it's caused by his brother. That trauma and heartbreak was so uncalled for; her brother was easily the sweetest and least complicated character in this show, yet it was his goodness and mercy that got him killed. I don't think I need a season 2; with all due respect, they should have wrapped this up neatly without the last Ten Minutes.

The woman that you are, Wei Rao: decapitated her sexual assailant, castrated the crown prince, deposed the empress, frightened the empress Dowager; she deserves accolades. I don't get why others doubt Tian Xi Wei's performance; she personally portrayed these two characters distinctively well.