Before I start, I watched Story of Yanxi Palace then I watched this, I did the same thing again with the rewatch. I rewatched Yanxi & right after rewatched this again. Having watched both twice I still prefer Story of Yanxi Palace majorly because IN MY OPINION Wei YingLou is the greatest female character ever made anywhere in the world. Wei YingLou is everything i am. She’s so fearlessly badass, she’s extremely loyal to the people she loves and most of all is not shackled by useless emotions that have been designed & perpetrated to keep women below. She’s cunning and ruthless and that’s one of the reasons I love her. I love you forever my most iconic Imperial Noble Consort Wei YingLou aka Empress aka literal QUEEN MingLan was ruthless when she was pushed to a corner and she’s super smart and calculating, she knew to guard her heart, and I really liked her character a lot. This series is the definition of character development. The main characters were so fleshed out (this is the most fleshed out character driven series I have ever watched) we knew who they were, what their motivations & desires were, their short comings and strengths. Our power couple did turn out relatively well and “normal” when you realize that the both of them came from families that were competing for the worst family of the year awards. Gu’s family ended up winning the award in a landslide.. The only thing that irked me was the we didn’t get to see how Molan was treated upon entry into her matrimonial home, I badly wanted to see the shock/heartbreak on her face as she entered and saw a very pregnant concubine chunke (Sue me I’m petty like that). Also the demise of Gu TingYe’s stepmom was so anticlimactic. I feel she died so easily. I wanted her to experience real long drawn out pain/anguish but alas it wasn’t so, like I said sue me, I’m petty like that. People need to stop telling women when and how to feel anything. A lot of men in this show & in the real world will be dating/sleeping with different women and not love any of them. When the women are now seeking for their attention, these women will be called clingy (especially in C & K Dramas) but when a man falls in love with a woman she is automatically expected to reciprocate those feelings, like she should be grateful and happy that he loves her, (that was one the foolishness that pissed me the hell off in the comment section while watching on the VIKI app), the audacity of women to not reciprocate a man’s feelings simply because he’s handsome & loves her, gosh the travesty. *insert sarcasm* I do thank God I wasn’t born in that era because I know I wouldn’t have survived it, so in my opinion, the good/kind women of that era are the real MVPs. If indeed they had such evil scheming women then, damn, too bad, women supporting women have been a farce since beginning of time & I can’t see any end to it. At least that time they were not dressing it up prettily like they are now. #MeTooMovement my ass. All that being said, shoutout to MingLan’s girl squad they were literal goals. I loved each and every one of them. The best scenes was when the sisters fell down (happened at different scenes) Gosh I watched those several times. Nanny Chang’s rant to Madam Kang that caused her fall was so epic, it was a masterpiece. To end this, it was a really good series and I will be back in a few years to rewatch again. But for now adios to my scheming power couple…..
After watching and reading the novel, I can see why people loved it and are obsessed with it. I’m in the minority in this. I did like it but I didn’t love it. The only thing I loved was Xiao Zhan’s portrayal of Wei Wuxian. It was beyond perfection. He was so incredibly beautiful to watch. I am of the opinion that he’s better in Historical drama than modern drama because that Oath of Love was not good at all IMO. For me Word of Honor was 1000times better than this. I really did like Wei WuXian/Xiao Zhan but Wen Kexing/Simon Gong has my complete heart.
This series was spicy, it was hawt, it was steamy and it was every BL’s fan fantasy come to life. That being said for some reason I didn’t love it as much as most people seem to do. I liked it enough but it didn’t grab my heart the way TharnType, KinnPorche & CutiePie did.
I was so looking forward to this, it started off so strong and good. The swimming/death story arc was good and drove the 1st part of the series. I didn’t like UWMA and dropped that half way (the incessant weeping of Pharm was such a turn off, I get the trauma and all but it was way too much for me to endure), you have trauma but won’t go seek help from a professional so you cope by crying A LOT. So that wasn’t my cup of tea , so I didn’t care much about Pharm&Dean here either. Could have done without their presence. As for Win&Team, they were great until the last few episodes. Team now turned into Pharm with the incessant crying. The level of cringe that was the last few episodes was intolerable. So freaking disappointed with how they finished this. The skinship wasn’t even that great to save this. I expected so much especially from Win. They took him from being too cool for school (which was his appeal) to being way below average.
Wei YingLuo is the greatest Asian TV character ever made and IMO one of the greatest TV character ever made anywhere in the film Industry in the world. OMG what a woman, what a one army avenging warrior, what a wrong righter, what a QUEEN, take a bow my QUEEN. The thought of watching 70eps was daunting to say the least and I put it off for so many years because I honestly wasn’t a fan of the hairstyle for the men and the overall ambience of it. But I kept reading rave reviews and decided to take the leap of faith and oh boy am I so glad I did. It was so damn good I wished there was 70more eps. I would have watched even if it was 200eps that’s how good it was. Her tunnel vision in enacting revenge and righting wrongs even minor ones was a thing of beauty. There is nothing I hate more than goody2shoes characters and best believe there was absolutely none of that here. She was who she was and made no apologies for it. A lot of viewers wanted her to end up with Fu but I’m with the minority, the Emperor was way more suited for her. Only the most powerful man in the country was good enough for our powerful protagonist. Her targets knew she was going to come for them and boy did they all try to get her before she got them, but they were playing checkers while my girl was playing chess, so it wasn’t even a fair fight to start with. That thunder scene, I have just two words for it Gloriously Epic. The only part that was weird for me was the 2-3 years they spent apart. With the way the emperor was in love and obsessed with her I was shocked that he was able to stay away from her for that long. I guess maybe it’s because he still had lots of women in the harem so it was easy for him to endure the separation. I am actually currently rewatching it. It really is soooooooo good. Please watch if you are thinking about it after reading this review.
My love for Wen Kexing is unexplainable and indescribable. Gong Jun aka Simon Gong thank you so much for bringing Wen Kexing to life and embodying everything he was supposed to be and so much more. You deserve all the accolades and stardom that comes from such a powerful performance. It’s not often I love an actor/actress as much as I love the character they are playing and vice versa. This is one of those rare moments. I love Wen Kexing so damn much especially in all his Ghost Valley Chief glory, I have rewatched so many time and plan to keep rewatching. I also love Simon so damn much and I can’t wait to watch all of his upcoming projects. Keep soaring high my majestic beautiful man.
Having watched both twice I still prefer Story of Yanxi Palace majorly because IN MY OPINION Wei YingLou is the greatest female character ever made anywhere in the world. Wei YingLou is everything i am. She’s so fearlessly badass, she’s extremely loyal to the people she loves and most of all is not shackled by useless emotions that have been designed & perpetrated to keep women below. She’s cunning and ruthless and that’s one of the reasons I love her. I love you forever my most iconic Imperial Noble Consort Wei YingLou aka Empress aka literal QUEEN
MingLan was ruthless when she was pushed to a corner and she’s super smart and calculating, she knew to guard her heart, and I really liked her character a lot.
This series is the definition of character development. The main characters were so fleshed out (this is the most fleshed out character driven series I have ever watched) we knew who they were, what their motivations & desires were, their short comings and strengths.
Our power couple did turn out relatively well and “normal” when you realize that the both of them came from families that were competing for the worst family of the year awards. Gu’s family ended up winning the award in a landslide..
The only thing that irked me was the we didn’t get to see how Molan was treated upon entry into her matrimonial home, I badly wanted to see the shock/heartbreak on her face as she entered and saw a very pregnant concubine chunke (Sue me I’m petty like that). Also the demise of Gu TingYe’s stepmom was so anticlimactic. I feel she died so easily. I wanted her to experience real long drawn out pain/anguish but alas it wasn’t so, like I said sue me, I’m petty like that.
People need to stop telling women when and how to feel anything. A lot of men in this show & in the real world will be dating/sleeping with different women and not love any of them. When the women are now seeking for their attention, these women will be called clingy (especially in C & K Dramas) but when a man falls in love with a woman she is automatically expected to reciprocate those feelings, like she should be grateful and happy that he loves her, (that was one the foolishness that pissed me the hell off in the comment section while watching on the VIKI app), the audacity of women to not reciprocate a man’s feelings simply because he’s handsome & loves her, gosh the travesty. *insert sarcasm*
I do thank God I wasn’t born in that era because I know I wouldn’t have survived it, so in my opinion, the good/kind women of that era are the real MVPs.
If indeed they had such evil scheming women then, damn, too bad, women supporting women have been a farce since beginning of time & I can’t see any end to it. At least that time they were not dressing it up prettily like they are now. #MeTooMovement my ass.
All that being said, shoutout to MingLan’s girl squad they were literal goals. I loved each and every one of them.
The best scenes was when the sisters fell down (happened at different scenes) Gosh I watched those several times.
Nanny Chang’s rant to Madam Kang that caused her fall was so epic, it was a masterpiece.
To end this, it was a really good series and I will be back in a few years to rewatch again.
But for now adios to my scheming power couple…..
For me Word of Honor was 1000times better than this. I really did like Wei WuXian/Xiao Zhan but Wen Kexing/Simon Gong has my complete heart.
As for Win&Team, they were great until the last few episodes. Team now turned into Pharm with the incessant crying. The level of cringe that was the last few episodes was intolerable. So freaking disappointed with how they finished this. The skinship wasn’t even that great to save this. I expected so much especially from Win. They took him from being too cool for school (which was his appeal) to being way below average.
The thought of watching 70eps was daunting to say the least and I put it off for so many years because I honestly wasn’t a fan of the hairstyle for the men and the overall ambience of it. But I kept reading rave reviews and decided to take the leap of faith and oh boy am I so glad I did. It was so damn good I wished there was 70more eps. I would have watched even if it was 200eps that’s how good it was. Her tunnel vision in enacting revenge and righting wrongs even minor ones was a thing of beauty.
There is nothing I hate more than goody2shoes characters and best believe there was absolutely none of that here. She was who she was and made no apologies for it. A lot of viewers wanted her to end up with Fu but I’m with the minority, the Emperor was way more suited for her. Only the most powerful man in the country was good enough for our powerful protagonist.
Her targets knew she was going to come for them and boy did they all try to get her before she got them, but they were playing checkers while my girl was playing chess, so it wasn’t even a fair fight to start with.
That thunder scene, I have just two words for it Gloriously Epic.
The only part that was weird for me was the 2-3 years they spent apart. With the way the emperor was in love and obsessed with her I was shocked that he was able to stay away from her for that long. I guess maybe it’s because he still had lots of women in the harem so it was easy for him to endure the separation.
I am actually currently rewatching it. It really is soooooooo good.
Please watch if you are thinking about it after reading this review.
It’s not often I love an actor/actress as much as I love the character they are playing and vice versa.
This is one of those rare moments.
I love Wen Kexing so damn much especially in all his Ghost Valley Chief glory, I have rewatched so many time and plan to keep rewatching.
I also love Simon so damn much and I can’t wait to watch all of his upcoming projects.
Keep soaring high my majestic beautiful man.