Skibbies

it's.......not actually a cctv production, they just sold it to cctv, because the previous installments aired on it and it fits cctv's style more. The main producer for all four dramas are Qu Jiang, the previous 3 installments have Shaanxi's NRTA in its producers (or at least they co-operated somehow since they are in special thanks), but this one doesn't, instead this one has tencent, so cnetizens are all blaming tencent for the crash and burn, since internet giants are known for messing with productions.

It's fine to balance things, I'm ok with him having a grand goal and whatever, but really really not buying benevolent character lol. I just think it's perfectly ok for him to have flaws and negative aspects while still being an emperor with astounding achievements.

omg the novel is not THAT historically accurate, the author think it is, but it totally isn't, he's very very pro-Qin, all the other kingdoms sucks in comparison. He changed the gender of some real person for her to have a romance with Zhang Yi LOL. It's a pretty good series of novels but don't take it as history.

Anyways, the drama have nothing to do with the novel since the second installment, the author outright dislike the drama cos they kicked him off the production team. Qin Empire 1 have very perfect protagonists, especially Shang Yang because author loved him. 2 follows history much more closely compared to the novel and have less black and white characters (and you actually see the other kingdoms more, but it was also time of expansion and diplomacy). 4 well, you can't say it doesn't follow history since you can find the source for most events, but they clearly added way too much scenes for some people.

I never thought elixir stuff was on the table tbh, since it was going for a positive portrayal, but I'm NOT happy about the "whitewashing" here. What's up with oh no Ying Zheng was forced to do this and that, he's an emperor not a wuxia hero.

yes XD I was thinking about horse pulling the entire time so I wrote pull LOL.

i thought Lao Ai got the cows!!! I didn't look properly I guess.

merry xmas and happy holidays to you too! :D hope you have fun with all the dramas.

It's the same thing I think, it was cows first then horses, i think cos horses were more precious then? so i guess they might be used in battles more (?). The term (che lie) used is lit "cart pulled" so it doesn't specify what animal, the modern Chinese term reference horses (wu ma fen shi, five horse separate corpse). As a side note, from a cursory search, it seems that "che lie" could be something else entirely (could be run you over with a cart?).

I'm not sure it mentions in her wiki, i was wiki'ng Mao Jiao to see if he was real LOL.

LOL I start wiking everyone, since I want time to move, made another timeline cos of that.

No. they are about different people, the directors and tone/focus are different too. I think only 2 is subbed on netflix, 2 & 3 was filmed back to back and share same director/writer. So if this doesn't click for you, I'd rec trying 2. If you don't need subs then pick whatever you want or start from the beginning. The relationship between them are 1: Ying Qu Liang, 2; 1's son, 3; 2's son, 4: 3's great grandson.

HAHAHahHAHA. i can't stop laughing.

Nah, Zhao Ji returned, just like in the drama after Mao Jiao's comment, but it wasn't a dramatic return. and historically she became irrelevant to the court.

Don't worry, the arc is almost over! Yeah idk why they just left Fu Su behind, it seems really really dumb. Maybe they thought it'd go better if there's a "bait"? I think the drama was going they thought they were well prepared but they weren't.

Wang Jian struggled quite a bit against the Zhao army even after Zhao Yan's death, but the drama didn't really show that. They seem to be focused on other stuff instead, really trying to sell that benevolent Ying Zheng image here, ehhh.

You are cruel!! hahahaha. I'm kind of mad he died like that, since it felt kind of unnecessary. I'm starting suspect the writer have some kind fetish for brother-in-law and wife combo *squints*. I mean, sure, Zhao Yan's brother and his wife had affair, but that was AFTER Zhao yan died, also Ying Xi is entirely fictional so mhmmmmm.

I guess him visiting Qin was his final showdown, I did like that bit. Can I just say Zhao Yan's actor look so much better than Ying Zheng's, even the way he holds himself sometimes. *sighs for the nth time*

Fantastic review as always :D Now I feel less guilty for not writing a review haha. i think they were trying to do what Horizon Tower was doing in the beginning, intentionally misleading the audience for gotcha moment, some of it is flipping the situation again and again to draw in audience, some of it i think might have been attempt for some people to realise their presumptions?

Qiao Wei can definitely be frustrating, but she's also depressingly real in, so many ladies have appalling taste in men and keep excusing their absymal behaviour LOL. I'm glad she learnt to stand up for herself and be independent. The supportive female friendship is definitely my favourite part of the drama, it's fairly rare in cdrama so I'm always super happy to see it, especially when it's central part of the drama.

On me being a drama encyclopedia, hahaha that's such huge shoes to fill in, I only started regularly watch cdrama after NiF. I basically stroll douban's recent cdrama section every now and then, for 7+ dramas, and I have a backlog of 8+ ones. Qin Empire was recced to me by my mum & cos it's 9+ & because I always found the period really confusing LOL.

@WandereR: I actually only watched...let me see, three new historical this year? LOL I watched a handful of old ones (some are rewatch), which is continuation of me watching serious historical to familiarise myself with certain period of history. I watched SO many modern dramas this year (probably 20+)! My preference is a little weird though, my higher rated dramas tend to have romance as a side thing, which is opposite of MDL's preference, so it's all srs historical + mystery + youth dramas. which reminds me I need to update my list, I was going to write reviews for some....now I can't be bother to even do short comment reviews on douban oops.

I have no idea why they didn't license it for hk, utterly bizzare, and it's too old/too little demand for pirate upload too. By the way, if you can't get into 1, you can try 2, it took me ages to get into 1, and I was super taken back by the huge change in 2 LOL.

i don't think 1 is subbed either? i guess they thought there's not much demand for it? 3 is easier to translate compared to 2, 1 is probably the hardest.

i didn't know they made a series for three musketeers, thanks! I watched a movie adaptation I think? I watched an rather interesting anime version of monte cristo too. Both books were too long and intimidating for me to start lol, they've been sitting in my kindle since forever. thank you for the rec :D

Yeah it's set up. he's been yelling about unification for most of the drama though, and he mentioned some of the things he'd do once he unify. but i specify the date because i really dislike the pacing of the drama, that's a third of the drama left, and they just started, and there's bunch of other things i know they'll spend their time on, AND it's nowhere close to 230 BC is just real rough. there's leaked synopsis for rest of the episodes, and it doesn't seem like we'd get much after the unification, which is really disappointing.