RHA3GAR

Felt like a pretty standard revenge drama, similar to the Legend of Zhang Hai in many ways in that the main character uses their intelligence rather than their fighting ability and it is their love interest who does the fighting. Felt like a big budget series with amazing sets, costumes and overall production value. The plot dragged at times, but overall was engaging enough to keep me interested. For those expecting a romance, there is definitely some of that, but not as much as you would see in a series more focused on it. This is mainly going to be a revenge drama, the romance is secondary.

I would say that they had some unusual casting choices though. I really liked the ML actor. They aged him up so that the 12 year or so age difference between him and FL wasn't as obvious, but the similar situation in which the emperor was 29 and his consort was in her 40s was quite a bit more apparent. It was a bit jarring to see the FL looking like she was in her mid-30s playing a character that should be around 21 at most. The acting from the FL was good, but she just doesn't look the part. I really liked the Tong'er maid character played by Ai mi. She's going to be a star someday.