emmarose21

I never thought I would ever rate a drama below 5/10. But I just couldn't go any higher with this one.

I've read the statement from the production team about how this drama moves away from traditional ways of making Chinese dramas. And because of that, any flaws are to be expected and excused. Does anybody actually believe this cheap and blatant attempt to dodge attacks from critics?

Anyway, it's not just traditional Chinese filmmaking this drama moves away from; it's from universally acceptable storytelling. Books and shows are supposed to uphold ethics. But in their pursuit of wealth, fame and other capitalistic goals, western filmmakers have shoved moral principles aside.

And this drama looks like it wants to be like them.

One of the characters the female lead portrays is a clam princess, Sang Jiu, who initially seems wholesome but suddenly becomes wanton in ep 14, drugging her husband Ming Ye so he'd do the act with her. The characters are played by cdrama stars Bai Lu and Luo Yunxi whose chemistry had been proven in a previous collaboration. It's obviously a come-on scene, a promise to viewers to "hang on... there's more where that comes from!"

And therein lies my beef with this drama. It caters to the animalistic urges of the audience, the very thing I hate about western shows. The main objective is not anymore to tell a story or to impart a message but to hook viewers. That scene in ep 14 was when it hit me that this drama had succumbed to the western poison of catering to the basic urges of viewers to hook them in. The wholesomeness I had previously been happy to experience with cdramas disintegrated at that instant.

There's a world of difference between creating a high-quality drama that would naturally hook viewers with its superior storytelling techniques versus creating a drama with the main objective of hooking viewers with visuals and sex, never mind the quality of writing, direction, acting. Etc.

I'm beyond disappointed. The reason I switched from western shows to Chinese dramas was because of the relative innocence and nobility of cdramas, values that western filmmakers have exchanged for capitalistic goals. I had, in fact, been ruminating over the irony that communists, who have been usually painted as evil by western media, actually still uphold moral values, based on what I've seen in cdramas.

Western shows are superior in terms of the technical aspects of filmmaking. As far as I 'm concerned, if cdramas lose their moral integrity, they lose their only advantage over western shows. What a blow to my respect for Chinese filmmakers for resisting the corrupting influence of capitalism.

Apparently, I'm not the only one who got turned off this drama because of that seduction scene. I'm seeing other complaints about it online. Was this an attempt to make Sang Jiu a Daenerys Targaryen or Cersei Lannister wannabe? Such a shame. Chinese filmmakers could have contributed their own unique style of dramas to the world instead of copying from the west.

If you have been trying to look for the soul of this drama, don't bother. It sold its soul to capitalism.

This is the first Chinese drama I've watched and I'm hooked! The production is epic. The love story is utterly mesmerizing and the leads, Tiffany Tang and Luo Jin, are sensational in looks, acting chops and chemistry. The palace intrigues are riveting and the intelligence of Weiyong as she tries to prevail over her enemies' nefarious schemes is exciting to watch.

Mind-blowing plot, superb acting, stunning visuals, heart-tugging soundtrack - this drama has it all and more. Lee Min Ho's depiction of a handsome, elegant, benevolent and scientific king is perfect, as is Kim Go Eun as a dedicated, no-nonsense, taekwondo-master detective who decided to be brave because not everyone can be. I love how their relationship and chemistry developed from her initially thinking he was a crazy deluded weirdo to that heart-stopping moment when she found out he was not. The drama gets better the more it is watched. It is filled with delightful nuggets, the humor of which I missed on my first viewing, such as when she told him to "park your horse on the side road to the right" or when she carelessly tossed away his watch after he told her to take good care of it or when she sneakily took his DNA sample while he was explaining the parallel universe theory or when she told him his eyes look like those of a criminal and he stopped his explanation about quantum mechanics to say, "I don't know about other things, but I know my eyes are charming. I was born with deep-set eyes." Ha ha ha, an honest king, too!