This review may contain spoilers
Do not recommend for people with trauma
Caution: triggering words ahead!
I don't want to write a negative review but feel I should warn anyone who still might consider watching this. I have some traumas from some people close to me having suffered bad things happen to them (for privacy reasons won't go into details). It has led me to be sensitive to certain subjects and react sometimes pretty strongly when getting in contact with content that has these subjects in them. So, because I reacted very extremely to some scenes in this drama, if you have any similar traumas for example people you care about that have suffered or you yourself have suffered, I don't recommend watching this drama.
The drama is pretty much a depiction of all kinds of possible bad things that could happen to one woman back in the day. I don't know if their intention was to leave viewers with some kind of a message to not give up no matter how hard it gets... it doesn't really turn out like that. The story gets more and more depressing and ends in depression. The last seconds two of the three main leads are still there and give each other a depressed smile after life had crushed them but they kept going. Did not find it inspiring at all, just a slap on the face. At the beginning of the story you're still hopeful for something good to come at the end, like often in dramas the main characters go through ordeals and trials only to ultimately conquer at the end. Nope. If still breathing counts as conquering, then yes, but I don't think they looked very triumphant: both of their spouses dead, one of them lost their child on top of losing a whole lot more during her whole life.
The story focuses mainly on the FL. She is oppressed first by her father and the societal norms for women, then by her colleagues and their distrust in women as professionals, then her fiance who says one thing but does the other giving empty promises, then by a foreing enemy who kidnapped her, then by her husband and his first wife and his mother who all do evil things to her, until finally she almost dies, survives, has had enough and gets a chance to leave everything behind. However, the drama doesn't show her getting a happy ending after all the suffering; she does get to continue in the profession she loves and help people which I guess is the closest to happiness she can get. Also, the other ML appears in front of her at the last seconds of the drama but we are never shown if they ever manage to be together or if she is so traumatized and broken that she is unable to ever be happy with anyone.
And when it comes him, his wife was the most loyal, faithful, kind, goodhearted, wonderful wife he could've ever asked for, yet he never loved her back. So he is a douchebag, pining after another woman instead of being grateful for his wife who went blind from one eye from crying when he was kindapped and imprisoned by the enemy and had one of her legs crippled after bowing down so much in front of the statue to pray for his safe return. Still he doesn't love her at all but clearly states that he only ever loved the FL of the drama. Am I supposed to be happy he appears in front of FL at the end? No, I am not, she'd be better off alone without any of these guys in the drama! Also, this man dumped his responsibilities and the whole empire on his pre-teenage son after the death of this loyal wife leaving to look for the FL. Seriously? The boy is probably not even 13 yet, maybe like 10 or 11 years old, and he just lost his mother, and now the father leaves his son all alone to sit on the throne while he goes to have fun with the love of his life? Not a good guy. Bad husband, bad father.
These are not the reason, though, why I don't recommend to watch the drama, but the reason is the following: There are disturbing scenes in this drama where FL is subjected to attacks and violence when a guy tries to forcibly "take her" and then stops and pretends like he wasn't really going to hurt her, and then later an old lady tries to cut her private body parts and then tries to kill her, and then later she is ultimately subjected to even r*pe by the other ML. Thankfully they don't show everything too clearly since it's a Chinese drama (censorship) but still the r*pe scene was enough to have me experience an extreme trauma reaction. I screamed loudly at the screen several times like I went mad with rage. I have never had such a bad reaction to a drama I watched. The r*pe scene comes after this ML had already behaved more and more horrendously toward the FL. I could have still stomached all the rest of that and not have it affect me so deeply but that scene was too much for me and has left possibly a permanent mark on me.
I am grateful they make it clear in the drama that even marital r*pe is r*pe all the same since during that scene she is already his Noble Consort. However, I resent that they depict the FL as being quite all right after she had just had a bit of a cry. Basically a day or a few days later she is already quite calm and sitting around and talking as if nothing happened and as if she has no trauma whatsoever. She would have physical injuries from him forcing himself on her while holding her down, and she would have deep psychological trauma to the point that she could not stand being touched by him again but would flinch, draw back and probably shake from terror any time he even came into the room. She would feel disgusted by him. So in this drama the depiction is not done well enough, but it belittles the huge physical and emotional suffering a woman experiences when she is r*ped.
Moreover, what is absolutely unforgivable is that they later have the FL pretend to forgive the ML who r*ped her and have intercourse with him several times, even if she does it to survive. This is just so wrong I have no words for it. Basically she gets repeatedly r*ped because it's not consensual: she does not want to do it but has to in order to stay alive since she is now a prisoner for life, so in a way she concents to it, but just to save herself. To make matters worse she of course gets pregnant, at which point they have the nerve to turn the story into a lovestory again! FL and r*pist ML are now happily and lovingly waiting for the arrival of a baby because now the FL actually forgives him for everything, as if the baby magically solves her psychological trauma from being r*ped by him and solves all the marital problems and the bad attitude, the temper and the behavior of the husband ML. All of a sudden, she is not in danger anymore from him and doesn't have to force herself anymore just to survive. Suddenly, she is not traumatized at all, but radiating with pregnancy joy and he magically turns to Mr. Good Husband all of a sudden and starts to treasure her again. Nasty! Hideous! How dare they?!! As far as I know, usually r*ped women do not feel happy about a pregnancy at all, instead, it makes what they've been through even more tormentous. This aspect being muddled in the drama yet again belittles the suffering of a r*ped woman. Yes, yes, I know, women back then had to do what they could to survive, but at the very least they shouldn't depict the FL and ML like a happy couple that has gotten over their "little disputes and small issues". Very disturbing.
I wish the ML actor had never taken such a horrible role, he is quite a good actor and usually I've liked his other roles but what on earth was he thinking to take on this role? Wanted to expand his reportoire and play a bad guy? Not a good choice. There are other ways of exploring a challenging role than to take on the role of a r*pist to prove what a great actor you are for being able to pull that off. Many MLs will take on a role as a bad guy but there is a delicate balance that has to be maintained so as to not go too far in a role to make the viewers feel so sick that they will feel repelled by them later. Bad guy role where a character is killing folks and being ruthless can still be pulled off. Bad guy role where a character is physically abusive towards women, walking on thin ice, but still, can be pulled off without losing the audience permanently if played carefully. But there is a line that - when crossed - can be too much for the viewers for the actor to be able to come back from it. I personally would have adviced ML not to take such a role since I've been his fan. Now I feel conflicted. Hopefully, with time, I'll be able to get pass this, forget and not attach his face to the face of an evil guy, even if fictional.
Without the horrible scene I would've given the story and the drama better ratings, but there's a line that got crossed for me here. I've seen other dramas where women had traumatic experiences and had been harassed or even r*ped but I didn't have such a strong reaction to those. I think it's because in those other stories a bad guy is a bad guy all the way, so you are prepared to see him being evil, but the character in this story is first depicted to be a loving and kind person who then slowly decends first into a nasty person and then from that to a full on beast whose erratic mood swings from one moment to another are volatile and who completely loses himself in a narcissistic illusion where everything revolves around him. In his mind, he never does anything wrong, it's everyone else who is bad, and even if he admits to doing something wrong, he brushes if off thinking he should be forgiven fast just after he says "don't take it to heart, don't be mad at me anymore" as if it never happened. Dude's a psychopath or something.
Then he is magically cured of his insanity and narcissim by the arrival of the news that the FL is pregnant. If I have to pick one good part of the story, then it's that he comes to his senses realizing he is not a good enough emperor and finally apologizes to his brother for what he put him through. However, this also kind of makes it more glaringly obvious that the drama belittles the r*pe, yet again. ML gets a deadly condition, courtesy of his psycho Empress wife, then says that it is retribution for what he has done. At that point I thought, okay, he has now realized how evil he has been towards the FL. But no, he says the retribution is from him allowing his Empress wife to poison Empress Dowager and doesn't even mention what he did to FL! He did say a few apologetic words right after r*ping FL, but that was nowhere near adequate repentance nor aknowledgment of how horrific it was what he had done to her. Now, since he is at deaths door, he feels the need to repent and makes up with his brother, which is kind of a moving moment, except that he never mentions his deadly condition being retribution for hurting his own wife who he claimed to love but then r*ped because he thought she had been with another man. Sick pervert; who does that?!! Good riddance!
Watched to support Liu Shi Shi, Huang Xuan and Wu Lei (who only appears at the very end of the very last episode for only one minute) but unfortunately I now wish I hadn't watched it. Yes, yes, pretty accurate depiction of what it was like for women back then (and in some aspects even nowadays), but I just felt sick to my stomach every time I saw that ML after the r*pe and kept wishing someone would murder him brutally. I don't think it's good for my mental health to have such violent thoughts!
I don't want to write a negative review but feel I should warn anyone who still might consider watching this. I have some traumas from some people close to me having suffered bad things happen to them (for privacy reasons won't go into details). It has led me to be sensitive to certain subjects and react sometimes pretty strongly when getting in contact with content that has these subjects in them. So, because I reacted very extremely to some scenes in this drama, if you have any similar traumas for example people you care about that have suffered or you yourself have suffered, I don't recommend watching this drama.
The drama is pretty much a depiction of all kinds of possible bad things that could happen to one woman back in the day. I don't know if their intention was to leave viewers with some kind of a message to not give up no matter how hard it gets... it doesn't really turn out like that. The story gets more and more depressing and ends in depression. The last seconds two of the three main leads are still there and give each other a depressed smile after life had crushed them but they kept going. Did not find it inspiring at all, just a slap on the face. At the beginning of the story you're still hopeful for something good to come at the end, like often in dramas the main characters go through ordeals and trials only to ultimately conquer at the end. Nope. If still breathing counts as conquering, then yes, but I don't think they looked very triumphant: both of their spouses dead, one of them lost their child on top of losing a whole lot more during her whole life.
The story focuses mainly on the FL. She is oppressed first by her father and the societal norms for women, then by her colleagues and their distrust in women as professionals, then her fiance who says one thing but does the other giving empty promises, then by a foreing enemy who kidnapped her, then by her husband and his first wife and his mother who all do evil things to her, until finally she almost dies, survives, has had enough and gets a chance to leave everything behind. However, the drama doesn't show her getting a happy ending after all the suffering; she does get to continue in the profession she loves and help people which I guess is the closest to happiness she can get. Also, the other ML appears in front of her at the last seconds of the drama but we are never shown if they ever manage to be together or if she is so traumatized and broken that she is unable to ever be happy with anyone.
And when it comes him, his wife was the most loyal, faithful, kind, goodhearted, wonderful wife he could've ever asked for, yet he never loved her back. So he is a douchebag, pining after another woman instead of being grateful for his wife who went blind from one eye from crying when he was kindapped and imprisoned by the enemy and had one of her legs crippled after bowing down so much in front of the statue to pray for his safe return. Still he doesn't love her at all but clearly states that he only ever loved the FL of the drama. Am I supposed to be happy he appears in front of FL at the end? No, I am not, she'd be better off alone without any of these guys in the drama! Also, this man dumped his responsibilities and the whole empire on his pre-teenage son after the death of this loyal wife leaving to look for the FL. Seriously? The boy is probably not even 13 yet, maybe like 10 or 11 years old, and he just lost his mother, and now the father leaves his son all alone to sit on the throne while he goes to have fun with the love of his life? Not a good guy. Bad husband, bad father.
These are not the reason, though, why I don't recommend to watch the drama, but the reason is the following: There are disturbing scenes in this drama where FL is subjected to attacks and violence when a guy tries to forcibly "take her" and then stops and pretends like he wasn't really going to hurt her, and then later an old lady tries to cut her private body parts and then tries to kill her, and then later she is ultimately subjected to even r*pe by the other ML. Thankfully they don't show everything too clearly since it's a Chinese drama (censorship) but still the r*pe scene was enough to have me experience an extreme trauma reaction. I screamed loudly at the screen several times like I went mad with rage. I have never had such a bad reaction to a drama I watched. The r*pe scene comes after this ML had already behaved more and more horrendously toward the FL. I could have still stomached all the rest of that and not have it affect me so deeply but that scene was too much for me and has left possibly a permanent mark on me.
I am grateful they make it clear in the drama that even marital r*pe is r*pe all the same since during that scene she is already his Noble Consort. However, I resent that they depict the FL as being quite all right after she had just had a bit of a cry. Basically a day or a few days later she is already quite calm and sitting around and talking as if nothing happened and as if she has no trauma whatsoever. She would have physical injuries from him forcing himself on her while holding her down, and she would have deep psychological trauma to the point that she could not stand being touched by him again but would flinch, draw back and probably shake from terror any time he even came into the room. She would feel disgusted by him. So in this drama the depiction is not done well enough, but it belittles the huge physical and emotional suffering a woman experiences when she is r*ped.
Moreover, what is absolutely unforgivable is that they later have the FL pretend to forgive the ML who r*ped her and have intercourse with him several times, even if she does it to survive. This is just so wrong I have no words for it. Basically she gets repeatedly r*ped because it's not consensual: she does not want to do it but has to in order to stay alive since she is now a prisoner for life, so in a way she concents to it, but just to save herself. To make matters worse she of course gets pregnant, at which point they have the nerve to turn the story into a lovestory again! FL and r*pist ML are now happily and lovingly waiting for the arrival of a baby because now the FL actually forgives him for everything, as if the baby magically solves her psychological trauma from being r*ped by him and solves all the marital problems and the bad attitude, the temper and the behavior of the husband ML. All of a sudden, she is not in danger anymore from him and doesn't have to force herself anymore just to survive. Suddenly, she is not traumatized at all, but radiating with pregnancy joy and he magically turns to Mr. Good Husband all of a sudden and starts to treasure her again. Nasty! Hideous! How dare they?!! As far as I know, usually r*ped women do not feel happy about a pregnancy at all, instead, it makes what they've been through even more tormentous. This aspect being muddled in the drama yet again belittles the suffering of a r*ped woman. Yes, yes, I know, women back then had to do what they could to survive, but at the very least they shouldn't depict the FL and ML like a happy couple that has gotten over their "little disputes and small issues". Very disturbing.
I wish the ML actor had never taken such a horrible role, he is quite a good actor and usually I've liked his other roles but what on earth was he thinking to take on this role? Wanted to expand his reportoire and play a bad guy? Not a good choice. There are other ways of exploring a challenging role than to take on the role of a r*pist to prove what a great actor you are for being able to pull that off. Many MLs will take on a role as a bad guy but there is a delicate balance that has to be maintained so as to not go too far in a role to make the viewers feel so sick that they will feel repelled by them later. Bad guy role where a character is killing folks and being ruthless can still be pulled off. Bad guy role where a character is physically abusive towards women, walking on thin ice, but still, can be pulled off without losing the audience permanently if played carefully. But there is a line that - when crossed - can be too much for the viewers for the actor to be able to come back from it. I personally would have adviced ML not to take such a role since I've been his fan. Now I feel conflicted. Hopefully, with time, I'll be able to get pass this, forget and not attach his face to the face of an evil guy, even if fictional.
Without the horrible scene I would've given the story and the drama better ratings, but there's a line that got crossed for me here. I've seen other dramas where women had traumatic experiences and had been harassed or even r*ped but I didn't have such a strong reaction to those. I think it's because in those other stories a bad guy is a bad guy all the way, so you are prepared to see him being evil, but the character in this story is first depicted to be a loving and kind person who then slowly decends first into a nasty person and then from that to a full on beast whose erratic mood swings from one moment to another are volatile and who completely loses himself in a narcissistic illusion where everything revolves around him. In his mind, he never does anything wrong, it's everyone else who is bad, and even if he admits to doing something wrong, he brushes if off thinking he should be forgiven fast just after he says "don't take it to heart, don't be mad at me anymore" as if it never happened. Dude's a psychopath or something.
Then he is magically cured of his insanity and narcissim by the arrival of the news that the FL is pregnant. If I have to pick one good part of the story, then it's that he comes to his senses realizing he is not a good enough emperor and finally apologizes to his brother for what he put him through. However, this also kind of makes it more glaringly obvious that the drama belittles the r*pe, yet again. ML gets a deadly condition, courtesy of his psycho Empress wife, then says that it is retribution for what he has done. At that point I thought, okay, he has now realized how evil he has been towards the FL. But no, he says the retribution is from him allowing his Empress wife to poison Empress Dowager and doesn't even mention what he did to FL! He did say a few apologetic words right after r*ping FL, but that was nowhere near adequate repentance nor aknowledgment of how horrific it was what he had done to her. Now, since he is at deaths door, he feels the need to repent and makes up with his brother, which is kind of a moving moment, except that he never mentions his deadly condition being retribution for hurting his own wife who he claimed to love but then r*ped because he thought she had been with another man. Sick pervert; who does that?!! Good riddance!
Watched to support Liu Shi Shi, Huang Xuan and Wu Lei (who only appears at the very end of the very last episode for only one minute) but unfortunately I now wish I hadn't watched it. Yes, yes, pretty accurate depiction of what it was like for women back then (and in some aspects even nowadays), but I just felt sick to my stomach every time I saw that ML after the r*pe and kept wishing someone would murder him brutally. I don't think it's good for my mental health to have such violent thoughts!
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