scenophile

The plot here is something I'm sure we've all seen before — it's a typical revenge + political intrigue type story. But between this and The Prisoner of Beauty, I'm loving our new female leads that aren't physical fighters but are intelligent, brilliant strategists. Jiang Li is a fantastic main character to follow; I really liked how multi-layered the story here is and how she is the main driver of her own story. While I LOVED the romance here, it was wonderful to see the ML be supportive while the FL got to make the plans and carry them out.

With that being said, I also really liked the romance; this is always what I wanted from a slow burn: two characters who fall in love over a long period of time based on mutual support and care as they each work towards their own goals. It was actually great that romance wasn't the main arc here, and it made for very consistent tone throughout all 40 episodes. One complaint I have with some long historical c-dramas are that the first half is very light-hearted and romance-focused. while the second half becomes really dark and angsty once the main plot is addressed. This drama did not have that issue, which was refreshing.

There are some plot points that you'll have to suspend your disbelief for. Imagine how speechless when this show suddenly used the hyper-realistic masks from PLL. For the most part, though, I didn't have an issue with anything.

With that being said, my one complaint (and probably one that many people agree with) is probably the last episode/the ending. It had the perfect ending but tacks on a few more scenes that try to add some more darkness and angst to the story, but it only feels confusing because we didn't explore any of the plot points around it. In my head, that part doesn't exist, and without it, this was a fabulous show.