The sets and costumes and beautiful female actors draw the viewer in and keep them hooked. The fact many of the characters have multiple titles and names (and these often change over time) which can be very confusing and make it hard to follow. The English subtitles are terrible in places, as if a literal translation is being made, given the very different grammars Chinese/English this doesn't help and at times they grate on the historic atmosphere - referring to multiple persons as 'guys' is lazy and inappropriate. I know torture practices in ancient china were indescriabably awful and what is portrayed here by comparison is tame but it still comes over as revolting, as does the deliberate humiliation. By 50 episodes in I found the waring in the harem and spitefulness, not to say downright malice, too much. The Emperor, Dowager Empress and Empress are very flawed characters and the regime in the Forbidden City is irredeemable.