El Oh El...why do y'all grade this so high?

To be honest, this drama was not meant to be some kind of high-budget blockbuster...and they didn't try to be either. So they had that going on for them. Production-wise, the set, cast, decor, and costumes were up-to-par. It wasn't one of those dramas where you could clearly see the fresh silver or gold paint peeling off the very obvious plastic armor or swords. The dresses weren't pretty per se, but I really liked the hairstyles. They felt different from what we are usually "served". Loved that for them.

The acting was ok because there were plenty of industry veterans cast in it. Not the A-rated kind, mind you, but the kind that could deliver their lines in ways good enough for me to believe them most of the time. Well...except for the main actress and her ridiculous plotline. I got tired of her antics very quickly because they kept making the same "jokes" about her character over and over again. Like, we get it. You're a "sick, young lady", wink wink. Can we move on now?

And then she spent the whole drama over-powdering her face ghostly white. Meanwhile, her neck was a whole different shade of light paper bag brown. A mess! I think they did it for the plot...but these actresses are known to go heavy on the bleaching creams, so who knows.

Anyways, she was supposed to be strong, intelligent, a fighter, and a strategist in disguise and we literally got to see her fight 2 times and it wasn't even that good. They did a really bad job of transposing the actors and their double because you could clearly see that it wasn't the actors anymore. Additionally, the fight scenes were really badly choreographed.

My next bone to pick is more with Jeremy Tsui than his character. Jeremy Tsui is weird lol (not as a person, cause I don't know him like that but as an actor). For an actor of his background and caliber. This man has been in the industry playing main for a long time now. So, you expect his dramas to gradually get better and to be good...but somehow most of his projects always fail to deliver. This one included. I don't know who keeps casting him to play the "cold young prince/general/CEO/popular actor..." turn simp in those B-rated idol dramas, but they need to quit it. This man would be so much better as a villain or an antihero in a serious drama in my opinion. Something about him is very...ahjussi even though he is only 37.

And what kills it for me every time is that his other male counterparts look decades younger than him playing his older brother. Nasty work, I tell ya! He has an "old face" and clearly cannot pull the "young prince" character anymore, so why do they keep casting him in those young roles? The female actress could have pulled 18 (not really, but whatever) but trying to pass Jeremy with a face that looks blatantly "stretched" from all of his plastic surgeries and Botox...is not the move. He makes the dramas feel "dated" like we're still watching a drama from the early 2010s. He is coming off as one of those "idol actors" who never transitioned to serious roles. Like he failed to launch or something. Can you imagine Wu Lei still playing an 18-year-old young hero 20 years from now? His team needs to let Jeremy age physically and career-wise. I could say a lot more...but I don't want to be too mean, and my mama raised me right lol.

If you're bored and there is nothing else to watch...I would still not recommend this lol. But you don't gotta listen to me lol. Watch whatever, they are you 22 hours to waste and you may be like me a nd like to watch bad dramas anyway. So...go crazy!

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Pesky Details That Ruin It All

This drama had the potential to be so much more than it turned out to be, and I am highly annoyed about it...but it's still a good drama.

The first quarter of the drama was great. The world-building and tension between the characters paid off in every scene. Plus they had good pacing. The episodes were designed in a "problem of the week" format which helped with the pacing. This was done masterfully. It was engaging and kept the audience on their toes. We got exposed to all of the characters and events in a very natural easy flowing way. From start, I was enamored with the ML and FL. The two had a funny and entertaining love-hate (or more like love-annoyed by) romantic vibe and it drove the plot along. They both had an amazing background story way before it got revealed later that they were a prince and a princess of their own respective feudal kingdoms. I must say, I was very surprised by Yang Yang and Zhao Lusi's chemistry. It wasn't on the same level as the chemistry between Yang Yang and Dilraba in "You are my glory", but I think it's because that's how the script was written (historical romance can sometimes come off as stiff because of PDA restrictions but the actors made do with what they got). He does "distracted puppy lover" really well. The way he is both highly annoyed by her and in love with her, and would just follow her everywhere hearts shooting out of his eyes. Everyone could see that he was so in love with her because he would act so out of character when she is in question, except for him. Meanwhile, she is totally oblivious. Ugh...so good!

Then we start getting issues with repetitions. It's not that the plot dragged but more like it started to feel formulaic. It wasn't the worst, to be honest, because we still got exposed to new plot points that pushed the plotline along. It's just that it started to feel like ML and FL were invincible and there were no issues that they could not solve...and like...how realistic is that? ML did get knocked down real badly at some point. But then the script demanded that he regain all of his power in the most convenient way possible (he ate some magical flower that was growing in some old dude's sleeves for decades or something). So a few scenes like those did not pay off because of how easy the solutions were. Still, stellar acting, thus, the "really?!" moments were tolerable.

My two biggest issues with this drama reside in the way ML learns that FL was a "princess" in disguise...don't hold your breath, because we never get to learn how or when he "guessed" it. He just tells us and her "yeah I know" aaaaand that was it. That was so very frustrating because it felt like such a cop-out. One of the reasons we respect and love this dude is because he is so devoted to the FL despite not knowing that she is from a certain pedigree. He chose her over everything and everyone every single time. Even when everything and everyone in his life was pressuring him to pick someone who could be more beneficial for his goal to "Rule the world." So that was an important distinction between him and two other characters. BUT!!!...but they ruined that lovely feeling because we the audience and the FL will never really know if he actually "picked her" over the others despite her being a martial art vagabond or did he guess much earlier on than we thought and he was just being conniving as usually? Well, We will never know.

The second issue I had is with the ending...which also feels like a cop-out. So, we as the audience, spend 39 episodes and a half being told that ML is the rightful ruler. No one else would do and it had to be him. That's why so many people were so willing to sacrifice so much and die for him (shit, I sacrificed 40 hours of my life for him). And to be fair, unlike other dramas they gave him a good enough character development and arc to prove why he was the fittest for the throne. He truly cared for "the people" unlike all the other nefarious people from the other kingdoms. It wasn't a case of "Well he is the protagonist and he is handsome." There were other smart, if not smarter people around for the job, but he was the only one who actually cared about the people and wanted to rule with kindness. Like, one of the princes literally killed half of the court and their families because they "talked bad" about him. Like bro...? So you can imagine how frustrating it is when at the last minute THAT PRINCE and his greedy ass wife (and by proxy her crazy-ass dad) get to be the new rulers? Like WHAT?! And it's not like the ending couldn't work, but they spent the whole time proving to us one thing and then suddenly...not?! It feels so hollow. Had they at least spent more time on developing the other dude's character and showing his arc...maaaaaybe it would have worked. Because the way, I see it he is still not fit. Give my man's Yang Yang some Qi from somebody somewhere or some miracle drugs or something because that ish doesn't work bro. I GET why ML decided to drop out of the race, but I don't see why the new emperor deserves to be the one.

But that aside it was a good drama that got bugged down by weird details. Also, I must say, one thing they did very very well, was the dynamic between the kings and their potential heirs. Although the court drama was...typical, I love how they showcased and berated the ML's father at some point for his hubris and jealousy. Like this man was jealous of his own sons. He convinced himself and the audience (to a certain degree) that everything that he did was to keep the peace but really he kept pitting his sons against each other and used them for his own agenda and to keep himself in power. Especially the ML because he felt so inferior to him because unlike ML he is the son of a palace servant and he is not as brilliant. And ultimately that became his biggest mistake and stumbling block. The contrast between that royal family dynamic and FL family dynamic is so striking. It shows why FL turned out to be so well-rounded. She was raised in a kind and loving family. And therefore, she was able to serve as a guide to ML and a lot of people just by being herself...which is why in my opinion she would have made the best emperor even though the ML couldn't rule himself. They built us up for it. Whole-time they kept telling us that there as been female rulers before and they were actually better than their male counterparts...but oh well.

In conclusion, this is not a bad drama to watch if you have 40 hours to spare.

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Loved the crew...hated the drama.

I can't believe my first review is to shit on my girl Dilraba whom I actually quite like. However, I must tell the truth, this is very bad drama. I do not understand why people are giving it such a high rating. It's so misleading. I'll try to keep it short but man this is bad:

1. THE CARTOON SCENES: In a bid to save money and time, they replaced all of the war fight scenes with cartoons/anime scenes...and it was so bad. Maybe there will be a time that this technique will work, but that is not the case here. You have to watch it for yourself to see just how bad it is. Even for scenes that were not big war fighting scenes that can eat a budget (like when they met the king of Mobei, or when Khatan's concubine enters the scene) were given the cartoon treatment. It reduces the quality of the drama tremendously to me. It did not feel like an artistic choice but more like a bunch of film school students winging it and trying to make up for messing around the whole semester. It did not pay off.

2. TRASH ROMANCE: The romance was very lacking. No heat no passion. Just lukewarm basura. As stated above I love Dilraba in almost all of the dramas she's been in (You Ahre My Glory is forever that girl). This is due to the fact that the girl could have chemistry with a rock if needed. She plays love scenes and flirtatious scenes so well... except in this drama. But it's not her fault, the screenwriting is just crap. Like, I'm sorry this drama is not some kind of big budget War blockbuster. It's no "The Longest night on Chang's an" or "Joy of Life". It's one step above an idol drama (look there is nothing wrong with that. I'm addicted to dramas. I will watch all of them no matter what lol). So, tell me why this drama was taking itself so seriously? We all came here for Dilraba and Leo (two beautiful people)...just give us the romance. But nooo. It took 20 some episodes to even reveal the romance. They wouldn't show them kissing until EP 40...and it wasn't even a traditional kissing scene. Honestly, I would have been fine with a lip press and a camera spin like they used to do it back in the day. Instead, we got that weird "bird kissing scene" and a bunch of stiff hugs. It was so bizarre. I knoooow some dramas don't have intimate scenes...I'm not western media rookie who is asking for more sex scene here . I wished they'd skipped all together. Because, what's with the freaking birds?

3. RIDICULOUS PLOT EVEN MORE RIDICULOUS LOGISTICS: I get that Leo is very young and I'm not gonna shit on him...but if you guys wanted to created some big serious war drama...he is not the guy...ok. His acting is very subpar and not at that level yet (and I don't believe it will ever be. Some people are like and it's ok. I'm still gonna watch his stuff. I have not issues with a cute actor with a nice body but low acting skills lol). Not that Dilraba is the greatest actress but with a good counterpart she can deliver. It felt that their goals and the casting and scriptwriting were not in alignment.

4. BAD FEMALE LEAD JOURNEY: This was a classic Mary Sue story (don't fight me on this please). This girl is just so pretty and so smart and so this and so that. But the thing is, if you were to actually sit down and examine her actions you'd realize all of it was so dumb. It's one thing to be thrusted into the political arena reluctantly...and it's a whole different story to plant yourself into the mix because of "revenge" or whatever but whenever the opportunity came to actually act on said revenge you either chicken out or you take the "high road". And as a storyline, it made no sense. Wanting revenge informed us of this girl's motivation and actions...but then doesn't. If someone killed your whole family and you're on a quest for revenge...why do you care about the country and its citizens? And if you do...then just admit you're not about that revenge life and keep it pushing. It's just all felt so silly. And like ...is this girl the only one around that can do things? Why do people just give her tasks and hand her high positions? It's not realistic.

If you reaaaaally wanna watch it, go for it I guess. But it's not good!

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Don't Waste Your Time

High Key this drama is just really bad and has no redeeming qualities.

1. ACTING: I have watched historical dramas with the ML and FL before. Although, I cannot say I'm a huge fan of their acting but I wouldn't put them at the bottom of my list either. Li Gengxin is a stiff actor and that's why he can pull "the master/prince/lord" roles really well because they rarely require a wide range of acting. Wu Ji Yan is...very pretty and slim :). She is one of those actresses who needs a really good ML lead or support cast and since she didn't have that in this drama...her acting was a major flop.

2. ROMANCE: I have never seen two people in love acting "not in love" like these two in a Chinese drama before. Watching two hot actors in a romance drama having no chemistry is the most painful thing ever. This should have been an easy romance to nail with little effort on their part but they could not get the romance down. I just don't get it. The drama has all the elements to make it a good romance drama. They gave us cute story, cute couple, good reason for forced co-habitation, solid FL, solid ML, a good "villain", an annoying little sister, and a pseudo-love triangle. Like ... everything. But the chemistry just ain't there. It's not that it is forced... everyone played their roles like it was writing I guess but there is no fire, no passion, no angst, no chemistry...nothing. I mean I know there are couples like that in the real world, but I don't want them in my drama.

3. SUPPORTING COUPLE AND DRAGGING PLOT: The Nicky Wu and Rain Wang supporting couple's love story should have been a drama by itself (a verrrry boring drama but hey...they keep making those anyway right?) It was not necessary and just made this drama longer than it needed to be.

NOTHING ABOUT THIS DRAMA IS GOOD LOL. Sorry!

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It's a trap!

The funny thing about this drama is that the production quality is not bad. Based on the quality of the clothes, decor, and scenery, this drama should have easily been a B-rated idol drama. However, the storyline is so pointlessly ridiculous, that nothing could have saved it. Unlike the few B-rated dramas that turn out to be surprisingly enjoyable like "The Romance of Tiger and Rose", everything about the writing and the plot was nonsensical.

Acting: Bad and over the top
Plot: makjang and forgot to realize that it was supposed to be B-rated. I think they tried at some point to pull the "We know we're ridiculous but go with it" style of "The Romance of Tiger and Rose" but they failed miserably.
Music: Nope
Rewatch value: The romance wasn't even that cute or memorable for you to forgive the mediocrity of it all and go back to rewatch a few snippets.
Overall: I would give it a 0, but my mama raised my right so a 1 it is.

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He wasn't that genius and def a dummy when it came to love!

This drama was heavily weighted down by its formulaic approach to world-building a story around "what makes a genius a genius" and ultimately gave the story a dated feel (if you know what I mean). So, if this was pre-2018 it would have been a great C-drama. Because then that type of "villain of the week takedown" would have felt refreshing, innovative, and new. (Well...at least in the C-drama world, since Kdrama already had that down since Lee Minho became the "City Hunter", child!) But to be fair, since 2019 C-dramas have carved a big chunk of their resources into those types of drama and have adopted that type of formula as a sub-genre. So, we have seen the "genius child who is always 10 steps ahead" trope many times before in Joy of Life, Ancient Detective, Snow Sword Stride, Under the Microscope, The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty, who rules the World, The Imperial Coroner, and many more...that at this point this drama felt like it came too late.

And most of these dramas were actually really well done compared to this one. It is certainly not to say that you cannot create a good drama from a sub-genre and formula that's already been well-established. It's just a little bit harder and requires more deliberate writing to make the plot captivating. The problem with this drama was that it didn't raise the bar. It just copied and pasted the formula...but as an audience, you felt like they thought they were creating something that was gonna blow our minds. I can assure you that they did not. The plot conclusion was so easy to infer. it was so obvious who the big baddie was from the very beginning.

Most importantly, the takedowns started to become repetitive and very predictable by episode 17. Yeah, the guy was smart...but we've seen smarter and more thoughtful convoluted plots from our "genius" MCs before. For example, in Snow Storm Stride this man designed a plan that required him to travel from one end of "China" to another to entrap the season's big baddie. AND it wasn't until the last episode you were able to put together exactly what he was doing. Additionally, in many of the dramas cited above there was a lot of smart and interesting foreshadowing and character development to make the transitions from one villain plotline to the next villain plotline seamless. We watched the MC of every single one of these dramas become better after every single villain or obstacle they had to overcome. Either by gaining more physical power or wisdom. But in this drama, the MC came in already a "super genius" and wasn't really any character development. We met him a certain way at the beginning and he stayed that same way in the end. It's almost as if...he regressed, tbh.

I'm not even gonna talk about the love story. I felt like one of the main points they were trying to make was how "cold calculations and rationality devoid of human empathy can turn someone into a monster themselves"...So having the girl around made him see the value in being empathetic and to not use human beings as pawns in his machinations without their consents...or whatever. But then they broke up, in typical man fashion he couldn't stop being a jerk and decided to sacrifice their relationship instead...And like there was no reason or need for it. The whole point of the drama was that he was this super genius or whatever...so why couldn't he figure out another way to do this without being a complete asshole? Well...we will never know. And also...he wasn't even "That cold-blooded and calculated at the beginning" to be seen as a bad guy. I don't know if it's a flaw in the writing of the actor's portrayal...but I couldn't see it. There was a lot of "tell and almost no show" when it came to that aspect of the drama.

Look, it's not a terrible drama. The acting was good. It was actually one of the few dramas this year that had several well-choreographed fighting scenes. The costumes and sets were stellar in design, no complaints there. Overall, it's not a bad drama to watch. It's just late...

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Why couldn't you be as good as you promised to be?

Ok let me start by saying that the only reason this drama is bad in my opinion...it's because it's NOT great and it wasn't setup to be "just good". And that's annoying because it could have easily been great. I know you don't get it but let me explain. This drama had all of the elements to be a bomb drama. From the costume, to the acting, to the visual effects, the music...just everything was flawless and my expectations were so high...and then the last five episodes happened 😭. So the reason the drama is bad it's not because is bad per se, but because of its wasted potential. Compared to a lot of other dramas released this year, it's way better.

First, the acting from the main leads was amazing. Everybody deliveredT (yes, with a T at the end) and brought their A game. Luo Yunxi and Bai Lu bodied theirs roles, child. The chemistry between them was the exact type you not only want from people who have worked together several times BUT also the exact friend-lover-enemy dynamic required for this drama specifically. Usually when you say "chemistry" in Asian dramas, actors bring in the sexual/love aspect of it, but sometimes the drama demands the cantekerous bantering that exists in those type of relationship. And given that the story is about that girl going back in time to kill "the devil that doomed the world and kill every single member of her clan" (think going back in time to kill baby Hitler)...so it makes sense that you get actors who are comfortable enough with each other and can pull that type of relationship progression. It's very hard to pull if you're just "acting". But the fact that Lulu and Yunxi are friends, it felt very natural.

Second, as a matter fact the whole crew had impeccable chemistry and good storyline, which made the world building of the story seamless. I personally was able to get immersed and avidly follow along. I was not bored because the chemistry between even the supporting cast help you forget the most blatant plots (they were several). My favorite "brother-sister" romance was between the Fox and Tantai Jin. They were so funny together.

Third, Omg the costumes were amazing. I was expecting just another boring ass tule fabric galore, because apparently fantasy in C-drama means boring colors and even more boring designs with pastel tulles everywhere. Well, I was wrong! They tried very hard to give a good depiction of what the deities as portrayed in "real life" and it was gorgeous. To be fair, it's not like they were the "BEST" costumes ever (I wished they kept the girls shoulders covered sometimes), but the fact that they were so different from what they usually serve us made it 10X better. I am so tires of these damn tulle dresses!!!

So now that I have rambled enough let's talk about the bad: The storyline. Here's the thing, some dramas should NOT be that long. Because, it's one thing for the story to drag and for the characters to have multiple redundant moments were they were completely miserable AND THEN have then have a happy ending but it's a whole different thing when it's a sad ending. As a viewer it's just crushing to watch 40 episodes (that could have easily been 30 eps) for a sad ending from a drama if we're being honest, I only watched because it's a "love story". Like...no one want to watch a sad love story. I mean don't me wrong there are GOOD MELODRAMAS but this one was not setup to be a good melodrama from jump. So as soon as you realize that they are not gonna end up together by episode 35...there is a hard disconnect that happens and everything feels like a waste of time. Maybe it's just me, but that's how it felt. Then, the details and small plot holes that seemed trivial before are now very irritating.

Listen, as a C-drama watcher, I tolerate a lot of things. I don't expect any of these dramas to be some big Blockbusters that's going to win all of the awards. We're all watching this for fun and to waste time ( because some of us are depressed and trying to escape the dumpster fire that is the world right). However, the implicit deal is that us viewers will tolerate "ok dramas"...and they will give us romance and love stories where everyone live happily ever after or a semblance of it. Like, which romance lover has time to watch sad love stories right now? Come on!!!

Anyways, it was an Ok drama and you should watch it if main charactera dying at the end doesn't bother you., Or if you're a fan of Bai Lu and Luo Yunxi.

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