geechoo

Gu Jian was seriously annoying. He was wishy washy and always made the wrong choice at the wrong time. One of the things that happens to him at the end was supposed a big emotional moment but I felt nothing because of how inconsistent his character was. LCY is hateful but you're not supposed to like him. He's almost a villain of sorts.

I wouldn't even consider it a love story. The original novel was but it was much shorter and told from the female lead perspective. The drama was more about the male lead's life and rise.

The male lead makes this drama imo it's a role that's rarely seen in these types of historical romances and requires a ton of emotional range from the actor. The political intrigue plot completely elevates this from another boring romance drama to something with more substance. The female lead in comparison is so disappointing and one dimensional. She’s the stereotypical “傻白甜” innocent and sweet female protagonist that is abundant in cdramas. This might be why the romance plot was not as interesting for me because I couldn’t wait to get to the political scenes where the male lead maneuvers his way to the throne. I also must give major props to the costumes and cinematography. This drama was filmed on location for many of the earlier episodes and it looked gorgeous and grand in scale. Much better than the green screen mess that plagues cdramas.