Sunbath12

This drama looks pretty but is lacking in some key areas as far as storytelling. The drama simultaneously serves as a detective/case-breaking story as well as a classic revenge story of our female lead, Li Peiyi, niece to the emperor, whose entire family is wrongfully killed. The cases are the strong point of the drama, carrying emotional weight that builds to a point at the very end when Li Peiyi confronts the emperor defiantly. The revenge plot, however, is not well-constructed. The antagonists are not developed, and the political struggles are not even touched upon in this show, making it difficult for the audience to connect with the story beyond the superficial.

Ultimately, Bai Lu and Wang Xingyue are not given enough in the script either to sculpt their characters or to nurture any kind of romantic chemistry (at least it did not work for me). In fact, the most passionate performances from Bai Lu in this show (again, for me at least) were her scenes with the the Right Chancellor and the emperor. If the end credits' tease is to be believed, further seasons could be coming. In my opinion, enough time has been spent in a palace filled literally with skeletons in the proverbial closet.