SweetPotatoPie

I agree with you... I find that YM's facial expressions aren't as dramatic in this series... if you notice only her mouth moves most of the time and they are small movements (like she can't move her entire face) vs Zhou Dong Yu in Ancient Love Poetry where all her scenes are compelling particularly the very dramatic scenes. Yes, YM's voice bothered me from the start... Voice is so important to the character and story telling, and I found her voice distracting... Sorry, I'm one of those who is sensitive to sound (including crying babies where I have to leave the room... just my personal experience and others may be ok with her voice.) Anyways, these are the reasons why I lost interest in this story and her character mid-way.

Really enjoying this drama and story... main leads (Huang Xuan and Victoria Song) great acting and I am totally engrossed with their characters and story... Wang Yibo - acting is just ok could see some improvement, but cute.

LOL...

Well said, very insightful.

Yes, I agree... though I could do without the eunuch part.

Agreed. But I was able to feel the pain and torment Bai Zihua experienced for Little Bone that made me appreciate his character... and I felt Wallace did a good job in portraying that role. You also get subtle inferences through his actions and gestures that Zihua had feelings for Little Bone early in their teacher-student relationship even though Zihua adamantly denied it, so of course, that made the pain deeper at the end. I'm ok with pain as long as the story is compelling....

Yes, Rise of the Phoenixes is one of my favorite ancient c-dramas and Chen Kun was great and so was Ni Ni.

I'm with you... she's annoying. Her character had potential to shine in that she was able to console the emperor's grief for his first love and to restore his will to live. Yet, her scenes always showed her acting meek, blaming herself for things, and frequently with tears. For me, she became a less interesting character as the story progressed, even though she's second FL.

Yes, I find her annoying too. it would be more rewarding for me to see her have some smarts, but she seems so lame.

I feel you... mine is more of indifference. Ugh the loosely held storyline and plotting is making me lose interest. I don't have any favorite characters in this story (sorry to those who are in love with the ML and FL). I watch dramas for the story and characters and in this I can't seem to love any of them... I can even love a villain as long as the the villain role is potrayed well and the sequence of events are logical and create a build up that culminates to some sort of finale. Here, it seems to be missing... Oh, well. I'm looking forward to Luoyang that's coming out soon. I'm expecting that drama to deliver. 🤞

LOL... touche 👍

Agreed... overall the storyline and plot could be stronger.

Oh, very interesting.... I'm surprised that he wouldn't know since Yang Mi somewhat hinted that the ending would be happy but a little bittersweet and torturous in getting there.

I'm binging on the trailers... forget about the episodes... 😂

It would be more interesting if this was flushed out more in the drama... to show that Jianming in actuality is the master manipulator and pursued what he thought was the best... at the expense of others. I'm fascinated by the thought process behind the actions taken by the characters in the story, and the drama should provide more glimpses of the thinking process so that the audience can them better. Seems to be lacking here...

Wow, his feelings for the emperor... very interesting.

Did he treasure her as a romantic interest or more like daughter in the novel?

Agree with your perspective...

LOL... sometimes I find the posts on this thread more entertaining than the drama itself... and they keep me abreast of what I missed if I haven't watched the episodes yet....

Agreed! I like complex characters because they add dimension to the drama and make it more layered and interesting, and the emperor is definitely that. It's nice to see Xu Kai Cheng play the emperor... I actually like him in this role vs his other dramas (which are tropes)... For me, I respect actors who can challenge themselves by taking on diverse roles that draw you into their world convincingly and make you believe that they really are that character.