The screenwriter completely did a disservice to the entire cast, the stunning production, and the actors' hard work by pushing out such a lazy, rushed, and illogical ending.
Worst ending ever. Killing off Liu Shuo in the final episode after he was emperor for barely two seconds makes zero sense. They built a whole arc for his political ascension just to snuff him out on a random hunting trip like a throwaway plot device.
And then, to top it all off, the twist for the next line of succession is that Hong Xian is pregnant instead of the Xie Hualou. Don’t get me wrong, Hong Xian's character deserved better too, but politically? It's a complete mess. She has no powerful noble backing, the baby isn't even born yet so there's no legal regency, and Wei Rao is a powerful figure but isn't of imperial blood to hold the throne herself. They left the entire imperial court in a total power vacuum with regional princes rolling up the very next day. Also making Hong Xian pregnant instead of Hualou is weird too, because Liu Shuo seemed to have built better chemistry with Hualou.
It honestly felt like a desperate, unearned attempt to copy the iconic ending of Empresses in the Palace where Zhen Huan secures absolute power. Instead for this drama it was completely structurally broken. Why kill off Liu Shuo out of nowhere when they could have given us a proper, satisfying, or even open-ended ending? Instead, they chose a frustrating, cliffhanger that invalidates 30 episodes of hard-fought character growth. The acting and the cast deserved a 10/10, but this garbage finale drops the whole show down to a 7.5. So disappointed. Literally fuming.
K-Drama 
Worst ending ever. Killing off Liu Shuo in the final episode after he was emperor for barely two seconds makes zero sense. They built a whole arc for his political ascension just to snuff him out on a random hunting trip like a throwaway plot device.
And then, to top it all off, the twist for the next line of succession is that Hong Xian is pregnant instead of the Xie Hualou. Don’t get me wrong, Hong Xian's character deserved better too, but politically? It's a complete mess. She has no powerful noble backing, the baby isn't even born yet so there's no legal regency, and Wei Rao is a powerful figure but isn't of imperial blood to hold the throne herself. They left the entire imperial court in a total power vacuum with regional princes rolling up the very next day. Also making Hong Xian pregnant instead of Hualou is weird too, because Liu Shuo seemed to have built better chemistry with Hualou.
It honestly felt like a desperate, unearned attempt to copy the iconic ending of Empresses in the Palace where Zhen Huan secures absolute power. Instead for this drama it was completely structurally broken. Why kill off Liu Shuo out of nowhere when they could have given us a proper, satisfying, or even open-ended ending? Instead, they chose a frustrating, cliffhanger that invalidates 30 episodes of hard-fought character growth. The acting and the cast deserved a 10/10, but this garbage finale drops the whole show down to a 7.5. So disappointed. Literally fuming.