Visibly feeling nostalgia for the pornochanchada style of the 1970s, Rede Globo 'decorated' with pseudo-impressionist touches, blur and chroma-key a merely paltry racial melodrama set during the Second Brazilian Empire. The chanchada style occasionally takes on half tones of porn, as you would expect from an Emperor (Dom Pedro II) who is nothing but a carpet faun, more concerned with stalking the countess, governess of his daughters Isabel & Leopoldina, as well as with proclaiming the country's entry into the Paraguay War à la diable. - In a nutshell "In the Emperor's Times" is historically disastrous, bigoted, and scandalous. The couple of unexpected and surprising protagonists, Luísa and Pedro, are as little empathetic as all the other characters, including the potentate.