caramel

Honestly, the villains were nowhere near her level when it came to intelligence and scheming. Barely any of them could think several steps ahead the way she did. Most of them only managed to survive for so long because of their higher status, while she had to strategize, fight, and claw her way up from the bottom, one step at a time.

I was quite invested for the first half of the show with her double role plot. Jundai was probably someone who could have fought her till the end, however I was shocked to find out that everything was revealed so early on in the show. I assumed the role switch was the main plot but it was not. The focus shifted to her finding her origins and getting her status back.

But I feel the one thing they overlooked was like how a commoner who had no connections to the politics and royal family suddenly is so cunning and knows how to control everyone. It was probably something we just had to assume cause even towards the end she like knew the emperor and his mother did not have a strong bond.

The plot is very fitting to the ending scene where she screams into the sky saying why she keeps getting thrown into problems just when she thinks things can get better. Most of the time people are just out to get her and she will conspire/lie/act/outsmart her way out of the situation. This made the middle portion of the drama a bit repetitive to watch.

Tian Xiwei's acting made the revenge scenes satisfying to watch, with her insane temper and coy looks. Yanan's role was not very big but he was the main support for her and one of the only people who could think on the same level as her. So they worked well together as a couple...actually more like he cleaned up after the chaos she creates. Until the last eps he questioned her love for him because most of the time it felt one sided. The chemistry is kinda there but also not there..?

Overall an entertaining watch.