If you have heard of Wu Ze Tian then you must have known her for being the only Female Emperor in Chinese History and also having been the most ruthless there has ever been, those were my highest hopes before watching this drama and those sassy clips of the opening theme got me anticipating that moment.

96 whole episodes ended in disappointment as I expected the plot to be filled with a number of schemes especially when Wu Meiniang entered the harem of Emperor Gaozong and had two scheming rivals in love Consort Xiao and the Empress Wang.

To my surprise the show sheds another light of Empress Wu having branded her a victim of the conspiracies and the endless machinations of two of her best friends Xu Hui and Princess Gaoyang and much to my surprise I waited for her to become very cruel that's if you have watched EMPRESSES IN THE PALACE, EMPRESS KI and CRUEL PALACE WAR OF THE FLOWERS, but to my surprise her cruelty came as a last resort and I didn't feel the gravity.

Historically, Wu Ze Tian is known to have been very smart but according to this series she is portrayed as a naive woman that's not so so smart like I expected her to be and having expected this to be the longest drama in Cdrama History, I was really disappointed when she became Emperor in the Last Episode and none of the dramatic moments during her reign were included as I anticipated the Zhang Brothers and the Princess Taiping to make an appearance but sadly the series was coming to a close when some bits of her reign should have been expanded.

I don't want to be mean but I was wondering what the Taizong Emperor was still doing alive in the fiftieth episodes as this historical drama instead of centering more on the political life and astute nature, it only gave us her sugary and annoying love life yet I was waiting for war to ensue much as the romance was nice it wasn't what I individually wanted to see, I was more anticipative of the cruelty, power hunger and strength of the Wu Ze Tian Character.

That's generally what I had against the Series but on the bright side I believe much as it was centred on the romance bit it felt very catchy and the phrases themselves were just enthralling to listen to, the costumes were remarkably the most beautiful for any historical drama I have ever seen second to EMPRESS KI's and FAN BINGING really brought out the most beautiful TV ADAPTATION ROLE of WU ZE TIAN which I personally believe would have looked more beautiful had she acted up to cruelty.

In a whole because I am sympathetic and try understand how hard it is to come up with something to suit the viewer audiences, I give this series an 8.5 because it isn't totally bad you can trust me there are a whole lot worse series that don't make a genuine effort but at times protagonists don't have to be limited to being too good so I am hoping that for any future adaptations on similar historical figures like EMPRESS LÜ ZHI, EMPRESS DOWAGER CIXI, EMPEROR WU ZE TIAN, EMPRESS LIU and many others, don't make the protagonists too sympathetic and don't do it again.

Otherwise I'd recommend this series for viewing and don't be discouraged by the 96 Episodes because each about 30mins long when compared to your average Sageuk which screens for an hour and roughly more, it's equivalent to 48 episodes in total and 75 when considering a duration of 45 minutes.

This is the longest I have ever reviewed on a series, I hope it was helpful