Amazing CP chemistry, but an underwhelming political plot. Watch for the slow burn romance.

Story:
A bit of an unrealistic palace drama. The drama seems to try to do things for shock value at the expense of logic. Plus, the drama uses a lot of tropes you've seen done better in other dramas, so the schemes and progression of events are very predictable. All the villains want the throne, and they make the throne seem like such an easy thing to attain. The villains also aren't very clever, with the exception of probably the FL's father. The plot kind of goes downhill after episode 40 or so. The second half of the drama just repeats the same storyline but with a different characters who want to be emperor.

However, the romantic storyline is worth watching. The first 8 episodes are a bit slow since the leads probably only interact twice or so, but once they get together, the chemistry is through the roof. Awu and Xiao Qi have a soft intimacy between them, and Xiao Qi is pretty much the perfect ML. Tender and soft and caring. Protective and respectful. Fiercely devoted and unwavering in his love. He's such a refreshing change from the brooding, domineering alpha males you tend to see in idol dramas. Xiao Qi is easily the best character in the drama. The two leads show such idealistic domestic bliss that you don't see in other dramas. Unfortunately though, their chemistry only really peaks in episode 13, and while they have a lot of cute domestic scenes later, they're never really able to recreate the initial spark that we see when they first fell in love. Also, they tend to become separated for 5-10 episodes at a time because the ML is away fighting off rebels.

Speaking of fighting off rebels, this drama has some of most well-choreographed battle scenes that I've seen in dramas. And there's not just one elaborate battle scene, but several unique battle scenes throughout the drama. It really convinces you that the ML is a seasoned general and god of war because how well he is able to command his soldiers on the battle field, and how skilled he is at hand-to-hand combat himself.

Acting/Cast

Ignore the ages of the actors and don't think about what age they're supposed to play. I honestly have no issue with their irl ages. In fact, I started watching this drama because of how mature the actors are. I'm tired of watching dramas with actors my age. And the quality and nuance of the cast's acting because of their extensive life experience really shows. My only issue might be with Zhang Ziyi's lack of expressiveness in certain situations. You can attribute it to her character being elegant and aristocratic, but her extreme poise ends up making her appear too wooden and stoic sometimes. Her crying scenes really break your heart though.

Zhou Yiwei is plays Xiao Qi perfectly. He is calm and collected, but he isn't brooding and expressionless like the typical ML you'd see in idol dramas. You see such a wide range of emotions from him, and his character has a great arc that allows him to show how he's character has changed and matured. Raw is what I would describe him as. He's vulnerable and powerful all at the same time.

The supporting cast is great too. Everyone brought their best to the table. I do wish we got to see more of Angie Chiu and Kara Wai though.

Music:
Great OST, but they don't make use of it enough and the insert songs are used sparingly. Sometimes you'd hear a song once in the drama, and then never again. The instrumental score is great though, and that's used often.

Other:
Despite the production value and the big names attached to this project (e.g., cinematographer Philippe Le Sourd), you could still spot some mistakes that should have been fixed before the drama was released. And given that this drama was shelved for 2 years before it was released, you'd think they'd have more time to fix them. For instance, there are some discontinuities between some over-the-shoulder shots where one character is leaning back in one angle, but then sitting upright in another angle. The CGI is also a little obvious at times. Some of the manors feel like they're inside a studio, and the night sky often looks fake. The outdoor scenes are phenomenal though. I also love that we see full-body shots of the actual actors riding horses instead of the fake upper body shots or the faraway shots with stunt doubles that we tend to see in other dramas. I was really impressed with Zhou Yiwei's horse riding abilities. You can tell that this drama spent a lot on making the outdoor scenes look as vast and realistic as possible.

One other issue I have is how obvious where the deleted scenes were cut out, especially in the final 5 episodes. A lot of scenes would just abruptly cut to the next, and there would be missing information in between, so you just had to guess as to what happened between the characters that wasn't shown to us.

Rewatch Value:

I don't think I'd rewatch this. It was already difficult trying to hang onto my temper and patience when I watched this for the first time. However, I would definitely rewatch the scenes with the CP though. If only I could watch them fall in love for the first time again.

Overall:

I came into the drama curious about Zhang Ziyi's drama debut, and I was curious about the production quality of the drama because of all the notable talent that Zhang Ziyi brought on to work on the drama. I knew nothing of the plot or the romance. But ironically, what end up happening was that the only thing that kept me watching was the romance and the ML. Overall, I still think it's worth watching since I don't think we'll come across another drama with this kind of cast and production value any time soon.

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