Look guys, I've been to China quite a few times now, I've come to learn that the Chinese people don't give two aerial acts of sexual intercourse about proper translation of things like instructions, ingredients or contents on ANY of the things they export.
It's usually because they are too cheap to pay a professional to do it right and what you get is nothing like what's supposed to be inside.
When they're done, it seems like they just hire a Chinese speaking student who's been at a U. S. college for a couple of years. They assume that , because they now speak English, they are qualified to translate complex and subtle phrases.
You would think, wouldn't you, that after all of the money that's been sunk into a production like this, with all of its fabulous costumes, set design and wonderful actors. You would think that someone would take the care to make the subtitles reflect the ethos of the scenes and put some feeling and subtlety into them? Not a chance!
As it is, you get lines that say, "got it" instead of the more grave "I understand" or "I'm on it" instead of " I will obey your command" or, worse still, "He's pissed" instead of "he's angry"
These high school Americanisms happen all the way through and it ruins the value.
It's like translating Shakespeare's "To be, or not to be" into ..... "Is you is, or is you ain't?" Not only that, but if you're a slow reader, the captions are gone in a split second, it's just pathetic.
So I hope someone from Netflix or PBS or whoever buys these foreign language productions will listen and insist on quality for future airings. If they do, and they pony up the money for professionals to do the job, then we'll all enjoy it more
Apart from that, the series is just captivating with its beautiful actresses and handsome actors who give stellar, riveting performances. The costumes and the portrayal of Imperial China are just about as perfect as you can get and the set design is without equal.
The opening and closing music is just hauntingly beautiful and there's nothing better than going to bed with those songs and harmonies folding you into sleep.
It's a long series and takes quite a bit of patience to understand who's who but so far it's been worth the minor setbacks.
Enjoy yourself.
