The Good:
1. The main actors are tremendous! I started watching because I liked Wallace, but in the end I fell in love with Cecilia. They played the main characters perfectly portraying the chemistry and forbidden romantic tension between the emperor and the doctress. Although these actors were awesome, just like in any other drama some of the supporting cast got the side-eye.
2. In a long drama like this it is difficult to tell if days, months or years are passing, I liked that the drama gave hints to the timeline of how much time had passed so we wouldn’t be confused.
3. Overall, the story line was particularly thoughtfully written and didn’t stray too much from the main story of the happenings around the doctress. At every turn she was learning something new, meeting new people and being a total bad a@#.
4. I love a strong female lead character. This drama had one of the strongest female characters I have seen in a long time. Once she learned how to bat an eyelash and flirt a little she was unstoppable!
5. The character development was remarkable and well planned. I was so happy to see so many characters developing and having “life”
The Bad: Well… There isn’t much bad to the drama but in 50 episodes you find stuff wrong.
1. I HATED their lace front wigs, they didn’t match the hair colors for women and above all I saw clothes tags. smh. I couldn’t focus on what some of the characters were saying because of bad lace-mustaches… and don’t get me started on Essen’s drawn on eyebrows!! Hair and makeup should be ashamed, but the costumer was extraordinary.
2. Plot dragging- While the story line was good; there were some plot drags after ep 25 or so. The emperors temper tantrum would last way too long, or the empress’ despicable plotting would go on for way to long and I would be forced to jump ahead.
3. The evil stepmother. There were so many evil stepmother/evil women in this story I was sick of them. These women were overly evil, cunning and had poor excuses. I understand that this is historical based but the evil women in this were almost overwhelming.
Overall- this is worth the time! This has a unique somewhat happy ending but don't get your hopes high. If you like historical dramas with strong female characters, or if you just like strong female leads this one is for you!
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- For the first half of the drama, the balance between romance and medical was really good. However towards the end, the romance got really complicated (rather than love triangle.. it became a square?) and confusing. The medical part of it pretty much got lost after episode 30.
- I enjoyed the medical parts of the drama more since the context of the drama was about how Yu Xian was the first imperial doctress and attempt to rid of the negative connotations for female doctors.
- It felt like the drama lost its point and was trying hard to push the romance.
- The ending happened very quickly and weirdly...
Characters/Actors:
- I felt the actors was well chosen
- There was chemistry between all 3 main characters but Yu Xian's personality was predictable - like the typical 'innocent and pure' character.
Music:
- i didnt pay much attention towards the music of the drama, but the song that was used during the romantic scenes was really nice
Overall:
- Overall its a nice drama to watch, at least first half. Its pretty long - 50 episodes, I recommend watching it when you have loads of free time. Since first half the drama got me waiting for the next since I was following it as it aired (2 episodes everyday), so you might get hooked initially. But around episode 30 - you probably will slow down.
- Its a Chinese soap opera - so if chinese isn't you first language you won't be able to enjoy what they say as much since they speak in the 'ancient' way. Even as a chinese speaker, some parts are hard to understand.
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I enjoyed the idea of a complicated romance, where things don't exactly turn out the way you want. I thought it was filmed beautifully, and the emphasis on a woman in a non-traditional field was somewhat realistic.
The pacing was slow, but usually slow pacing means a lot of clever dialogue and character development....I kept waiting and waiting...and no. I had to force myself to finish.
They heavily referred to the confuscius rules that made life hellish for women, which I liked because sometimes I think dramas ignore this bit of reality, but after a while it became redundant.
I liked the inclusion of tribal peoples. I found the ending to be weak, and her utter lack of expression was not satisfying. It did not seem to fit her character well. I think a lot of people will disagree with me, which is fine. I don't think that they should have picked Wallace for the lead because I think the short amount of time available to him to film may have impacted the story. Or not and I am just wrong.
To sum up, I think the best thing was the lovely scenes/costumes but this is so normal in dramas that it seems hardly worth commenting on.
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By far one of the best Chinese historical dramas out there!
The story and characters are so well written.The story is hard and yet beautiful to watch some of the time. Still, I've watched it all the way through twice and marvel that both times I never once thought of "fast-forwarding" through the tedious parts that most historicals usually have. The Imperial Doctress doesn't have that. ever.
Fantastic acting and a lovely, with a bitter-sweet ending.
This one is a MUST for anyone who enjoys historical shows!
By far one of the best Chinese historical dramas out there!
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STORY - 7/10
it's kind of mind boggling to look back on how much has happened on Yunxian's journey over the several years in which the drama takes place. There are some points you're questioning character's sanity and there's huge amounts of palace makjang and the evil plotting to go along with it.
The story alternates between being interesting to cute to eye-rollingly exasperating and/or boring to heartbreaking to wanting to kill everyone and everything between those categories. As I've said before, it's really a roller coaster ride of feelings and despite the low points, I think it was enjoyable.
ACTING/CAST - 9/10
Honestly, I love Liu Shi Shi and I might be biased in saying this but I thought she kicked butt in this. There's not a lot you can do with Yunxian's character who's really virtuous and kind and basically a cinnamon roll but I think she rocked it. I've seen a lot of complaints about her acting and again, I might be biased but I think she did a fabulous job. Yunxian also reminds me a lot of her other historical roles like Bu Bu Jing Xin's Ruoxi and I love how I felt as if I was growing up with Yunxian throughout the drama.
Wallace Huo also deserves his own paragraph of praise because I love how he portrayed Zhen Qi's character progression. Both Zhen Qi and Yunxian evolve as characters as they go through their own trials and tribulations and in the end, I think they portrayed it well. Wallace has played unrequited love characters before and he always plays them so well that my heart is literally crushed while watching him as Zhen Qi. I really believe he did a great job in this and he is one of the major reasons why I stuck with all 50 episodes. He emotes very well and you can see how Zhen Qi grows into a better man.
The other actors and actresses also portrayed their roles well, most notably (for me anyway) the villains like Mei Lin and Qiyu's mother. When they were on screen, they had me plotting terrible schemes for them to go through. Then there were the characters who I loved to hate (Qiyu) and the characters I probably should've hated but ended up loving anyway (I'm looking at you, Ye Xian).
MUSIC - 8/10
I loved the music in this drama. It's not much songs really, just about 3 or 4 but they're incredibly meaningful and honestly add to some extremely emotional scenes. Definitely some of my favourite OST songs.
REWATCH VALUE - 7.5/10
It's 50 episodes long and I'm probably never going to rewatch the entire thing but I definitely have scenes that are my favourites and that will have me coming back to this drama.
OVERALL - 8.5/10
I quite enjoyed this drama particularly because of its lead characters, the female lead's passion for medicine, love stories (unrequited, triangles, squares) and its ending. The journey was a great ride and I'm happy to complete it and add to the favourites pile.
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This review may contain spoilers
Like watching thumbscrews turn in real time
If you’re expecting a typical medical drama, you’ll be disappointed. If you’re expecting a typical romance drama, you’ll be disappointed. The Imperial Doctress is a tragedy. Through and through.This is my second time watching this drama. I don’t remember it being this dark the first time round. But that’s likely because I was a teenager when I watched this ten years ago. I didn’t even know the term ‘coercive control’ – let alone recognise its signs – which may explain why my experience watching Imperial Doctress this time round felt a lot different.
**The selling point of Imperial Doctress***
What I think Imperial Doctress executes beautifully – excruciatingly – is the No Win condition of misogyny. The FL, Yunxian, is perpetually surrounded by men who, in one way or another, want to control her and own her.
When I first watched the drama as a naive teen, I remember being super frustrated whenever Yunxian would seemingly freeze up instead of speaking up for herself or trying to explain her actions. Now, as an old and wise 20-something year old, I see this response in an entirely different light. It depicts how she is constantly between a rock and a hard place. No matter what she says or does, a man will condemn her for it. Find it a way to make it her fault. Blame her for all woes. She seizes up because she never knows what to do without digging an even deeper grave.
I went from seeing this drama as a messed up, confused romance during my first watch, to seeing this as a tragedy that follows the spiral downwards of a woman who simply wants to pursue her medical passions but is torn down every step of the way.
**Qiyu as the embodiment of coercive control**
Look, I would love to know what the intentions of the writers and creators were. What Qiyu – Yunxian’s love interest – demonstrates from start to finish is coercive control. As a teen, I didn’t clock onto how much of a dickhead he was until he become emperor. But with this second watch, it’s evident practically from the get-go that this mf is an absolute menace to Yunxian.
He promises the world. But as soon as he has Yunxian in his palm, he goes back on his word. Not only this, but every-single-time, finds a way to victim blame Yunxian and gaslight her (and I’m talking about BEFORE he becomes emperor). Unlike Qizhen who at least starts to mature and learn the error of his ways, Qiyu is Yunxian’s thumbscrew until the very end.
Qiyu’s character is clearly put into Bad Guy territory, but it’s not clear *to what extent* the writers actually want the audience to condemn his actions. There are multiple scenes (and this applies to scenes between Yunxian and Ye Xian as well) that are NOT AT ALL romantic – and more often than not depict elements of abuse (including coercive control) – but have romantic music playing in the background. Would LOVE the creators to come forward and explain their thinking.
**Ye Xian as the Northern stereotype**
The character of Ye Xian is a tricky one to analyse. Yes, he too goes to immense lengths to try and control Yunxian and make her his possession. He attempts rape. However, I think he needs to be viewed through a different lens than Qizhen and Qiyu because he’s treated through the Cdrama as the ‘northern foreigner’.
On the one hand, Ye Xian is yet another facet of patriarchal control in the plot. On the other hand, the writers have trapped him into a cardboard trope where, I’m tempted to argue, raping the Han FL is part of the convention. To me, it felt like there was a trend in 2010s historical costume Cdramas of this ‘northern foreigner’ character appearing as the uncouth northern barbarian, sprinkled with a bit of ‘noble savage’ characterisation. The Rise of Phoenixes, Rebel Princess, and Legend of Huolan featured such characters. Their mistreatment of women was portrayed as a cultural inevitability.*
This is not to dismiss the misogyny of his character, but rather recognise that his characterisation is complicated due to this othering.
It’s also interesting that his character seems to be more attuned to gender oppression than the Han MLs. He explicitly states the sexist double whammy Yunxian is caught in: either accept his marriage proposal or go back to Da Ming to face the scorn and derision of having her reputation sullied. But at the same time that he recognises the reality of her impossible situation, he also doesn’t seem to understand why there are practical reasons for her to reject his proposal. She knows (subtextually) that while he can proclaim to love and protect her, that this is entirely subjective to changing feelings and is no long-term guarantee of safety. This is deja vu of what she has already experienced with Qiyu’s own unreliability.
On a tangential note, this is why I actually have a lot of time for Princess Wanning in The Double. She is married off to [insert cardboard northern character] royalty. Eventually, she is able to return home after this marriage, only to face a royal court that sees her as used goods, but feels so uncomfortable about it, that they don’t even dare say it aloud.
**The tragedy form**
I think the main reason behind why a lot of other reviewers are unhappy with Imperial Doctress is because they tried to watch the drama as a romance or medical drama rather than a tragedy, and hence are disappointed with the second half.
Personally, I find the second half is when the tragedy really hits home. It follows the acceleration of Yunxian’s downward spiral as Qiyu intensifies his efforts of coercive control (and this becomes physical abuse too).
This drama has a lot more in common with a series like Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace, than dramas like Rebel Princess or Princess Weiyoung.
So, unlike others, I thought the ending was perfect. Obviously it wasn’t rainbow-and-uniorns happy, but nor was it morbid (like in Rise of the Phoenixes or The King’s Woman). For me, it was a well-balanced bittersweet ending that suits the tragedy form.
—
*Although Rise of Phoenixes’ Helian Zheng doesn’t fulfil this particular convention, he is indeed depicted as unsuitable for the FL. I’d argue that he suffers at the hands of the Han superiority complex, but that’s a can of worms for another day.
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Great Great Drama
Ah! Where do I begin? I've watched this series last year and my overall rating was 8. Few months later I've watched it again. Well it 's really known that the most autocratic dynasty that ruled China was the Ming Dynasty. And this affects the lives of women due to neo-Confucianism and among other things. The rigidity and strictness that was being imposed on women was really designed to oppress the female species. Well I can go on and on about this. This drama is a story of a young woman who's desire in life was to learn to be a physician and heal patients. Of course she encountered mountains of hurdles along the way as men's mindset at that time was extremely primeval. The story is set during the Ming dynasty and the Oirat's several attempts to bring back the Mongolian rule. How the eunuchs' influence on the young emperor brought him his ruin that led him into Oirat's captivity and losing his position as an emperor to his brother. In the midst of it all is our heroine.This drama made me shed barrels of tears. First time I've watched it I sobbed plus it's exacerbated due to it's beautiful and heart-rendering OST. And it had the same result the second time around. Every time the OST is played on the background with Cecilia &Wallace on screen - knowing that the love is there but it can't become into romantic reality made me burst into tears. Others say that emperor Qi Zhen (Wallace) had unrequited love for Yun Xian (Cecilia) but I disagree. She loves him with all her heart without realizing it at first. Or it might be because she already committed herself to Qi Yu and the emperor had an empress. Such complicated relationships for these characters involved in the story.
Great choice of cast specially the leads. I've admired the works of Cecilia and I find her a good actress. I've watched her on Sound of the Desert, Scarlet Heart & Lost Love In Times. Oh God! All the mentioned series made me cry but they're all FANTASTIC. She is somehow great in finding chemistry with her on-screen partners. She makes you fall in love with her character and the men she's with. Except for Qi Yu. Ahhgghh! Hate him such an asshole. The actor is great but I never warmed to him. He is not handsome nor charismatic. Compared to Ye Xian (Mickey Yuan) I don't find him endowed with good looks as well but he has charisma. And Cecilia was even able to connect with him on screen. There were times I wanted to scream at Yun Xian to show more strength in front of her nemesis like the empress. But duhh...
Now, Wallace's acting is spot on. This is the first time I've watched him but damn his portrayal was superb. I love how his character has grown from being frivolous to a matured person. From a young emperor, to his captivity, to retired emperor. There were many instances that I wanted to find the director and scream at him. Good God! Ask him to hug Yun Xian or kiss her. What's wrong with more physical intimacy on-screen. So annoyed.
Critique: I really don't know Chinese Traditional Medicine and I did a little research since I'm curious. There's a lot of criticism about it in the medical field such as claims of purportedly healing efficacy. But hey every culture and tradition has its own idiosyncrasies. But what I can't fathom is the use of chicken dung and its effects as medicine. Eewww disgusting! And there were a lot of other dodgy medicinal ingredients featured in the series. Plus it was made worse with the subtitle because of the translation.
On the other hand, this drama is superb. I love it. Highly recommend it. How I wish the Chinese drama makers will make more of this kind of dramas - meaning serious with good cast appropriate to their characters. There's really very few of this category, there's mostly these teeny fluffy historical rom-coms.
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Do not recommend for people with trauma
Caution: triggering words ahead!I don't want to write a negative review but feel I should warn anyone who still might consider watching this. I have some traumas from some people close to me having suffered bad things happen to them (for privacy reasons won't go into details). It has led me to be sensitive to certain subjects and react sometimes pretty strongly when getting in contact with content that has these subjects in them. So, because I reacted very extremely to some scenes in this drama, if you have any similar traumas for example people you care about that have suffered or you yourself have suffered, I don't recommend watching this drama.
The drama is pretty much a depiction of all kinds of possible bad things that could happen to one woman back in the day. I don't know if their intention was to leave viewers with some kind of a message to not give up no matter how hard it gets... it doesn't really turn out like that. The story gets more and more depressing and ends in depression. The last seconds two of the three main leads are still there and give each other a depressed smile after life had crushed them but they kept going. Did not find it inspiring at all, just a slap on the face. At the beginning of the story you're still hopeful for something good to come at the end, like often in dramas the main characters go through ordeals and trials only to ultimately conquer at the end. Nope. If still breathing counts as conquering, then yes, but I don't think they looked very triumphant: both of their spouses dead, one of them lost their child on top of losing a whole lot more during her whole life.
The story focuses mainly on the FL. She is oppressed first by her father and the societal norms for women, then by her colleagues and their distrust in women as professionals, then her fiance who says one thing but does the other giving empty promises, then by a foreing enemy who kidnapped her, then by her husband and his first wife and his mother who all do evil things to her, until finally she almost dies, survives, has had enough and gets a chance to leave everything behind. However, the drama doesn't show her getting a happy ending after all the suffering; she does get to continue in the profession she loves and help people which I guess is the closest to happiness she can get. Also, the other ML appears in front of her at the last seconds of the drama but we are never shown if they ever manage to be together or if she is so traumatized and broken that she is unable to ever be happy with anyone.
And when it comes him, his wife was the most loyal, faithful, kind, goodhearted, wonderful wife he could've ever asked for, yet he never loved her back. So he is a douchebag, pining after another woman instead of being grateful for his wife who went blind from one eye from crying when he was kindapped and imprisoned by the enemy and had one of her legs crippled after bowing down so much in front of the statue to pray for his safe return. Still he doesn't love her at all but clearly states that he only ever loved the FL of the drama. Am I supposed to be happy he appears in front of FL at the end? No, I am not, she'd be better off alone without any of these guys in the drama! Also, this man dumped his responsibilities and the whole empire on his pre-teenage son after the death of this loyal wife leaving to look for the FL. Seriously? The boy is probably not even 13 yet, maybe like 10 or 11 years old, and he just lost his mother, and now the father leaves his son all alone to sit on the throne while he goes to have fun with the love of his life? Not a good guy. Bad husband, bad father.
These are not the reason, though, why I don't recommend to watch the drama, but the reason is the following: There are disturbing scenes in this drama where FL is subjected to attacks and violence when a guy tries to forcibly "take her" and then stops and pretends like he wasn't really going to hurt her, and then later an old lady tries to cut her private body parts and then tries to kill her, and then later she is ultimately subjected to even r*pe by the other ML. Thankfully they don't show everything too clearly since it's a Chinese drama (censorship) but still the r*pe scene was enough to have me experience an extreme trauma reaction. I screamed loudly at the screen several times like I went mad with rage. I have never had such a bad reaction to a drama I watched. The r*pe scene comes after this ML had already behaved more and more horrendously toward the FL. I could have still stomached all the rest of that and not have it affect me so deeply but that scene was too much for me and has left possibly a permanent mark on me.
I am grateful they make it clear in the drama that even marital r*pe is r*pe all the same since during that scene she is already his Noble Consort. However, I resent that they depict the FL as being quite all right after she had just had a bit of a cry. Basically a day or a few days later she is already quite calm and sitting around and talking as if nothing happened and as if she has no trauma whatsoever. She would have physical injuries from him forcing himself on her while holding her down, and she would have deep psychological trauma to the point that she could not stand being touched by him again but would flinch, draw back and probably shake from terror any time he even came into the room. She would feel disgusted by him. So in this drama the depiction is not done well enough, but it belittles the huge physical and emotional suffering a woman experiences when she is r*ped.
Moreover, what is absolutely unforgivable is that they later have the FL pretend to forgive the ML who r*ped her and have intercourse with him several times, even if she does it to survive. This is just so wrong I have no words for it. Basically she gets repeatedly r*ped because it's not consensual: she does not want to do it but has to in order to stay alive since she is now a prisoner for life, so in a way she concents to it, but just to save herself. To make matters worse she of course gets pregnant, at which point they have the nerve to turn the story into a lovestory again! FL and r*pist ML are now happily and lovingly waiting for the arrival of a baby because now the FL actually forgives him for everything, as if the baby magically solves her psychological trauma from being r*ped by him and solves all the marital problems and the bad attitude, the temper and the behavior of the husband ML. All of a sudden, she is not in danger anymore from him and doesn't have to force herself anymore just to survive. Suddenly, she is not traumatized at all, but radiating with pregnancy joy and he magically turns to Mr. Good Husband all of a sudden and starts to treasure her again. Nasty! Hideous! How dare they?!! As far as I know, usually r*ped women do not feel happy about a pregnancy at all, instead, it makes what they've been through even more tormentous. This aspect being muddled in the drama yet again belittles the suffering of a r*ped woman. Yes, yes, I know, women back then had to do what they could to survive, but at the very least they shouldn't depict the FL and ML like a happy couple that has gotten over their "little disputes and small issues". Very disturbing.
I wish the ML actor had never taken such a horrible role, he is quite a good actor and usually I've liked his other roles but what on earth was he thinking to take on this role? Wanted to expand his reportoire and play a bad guy? Not a good choice. There are other ways of exploring a challenging role than to take on the role of a r*pist to prove what a great actor you are for being able to pull that off. Many MLs will take on a role as a bad guy but there is a delicate balance that has to be maintained so as to not go too far in a role to make the viewers feel so sick that they will feel repelled by them later. Bad guy role where a character is killing folks and being ruthless can still be pulled off. Bad guy role where a character is physically abusive towards women, walking on thin ice, but still, can be pulled off without losing the audience permanently if played carefully. But there is a line that - when crossed - can be too much for the viewers for the actor to be able to come back from it. I personally would have adviced ML not to take such a role since I've been his fan. Now I feel conflicted. Hopefully, with time, I'll be able to get pass this, forget and not attach his face to the face of an evil guy, even if fictional.
Without the horrible scene I would've given the story and the drama better ratings, but there's a line that got crossed for me here. I've seen other dramas where women had traumatic experiences and had been harassed or even r*ped but I didn't have such a strong reaction to those. I think it's because in those other stories a bad guy is a bad guy all the way, so you are prepared to see him being evil, but the character in this story is first depicted to be a loving and kind person who then slowly decends first into a nasty person and then from that to a full on beast whose erratic mood swings from one moment to another are volatile and who completely loses himself in a narcissistic illusion where everything revolves around him. In his mind, he never does anything wrong, it's everyone else who is bad, and even if he admits to doing something wrong, he brushes if off thinking he should be forgiven fast just after he says "don't take it to heart, don't be mad at me anymore" as if it never happened. Dude's a psychopath or something.
Then he is magically cured of his insanity and narcissim by the arrival of the news that the FL is pregnant. If I have to pick one good part of the story, then it's that he comes to his senses realizing he is not a good enough emperor and finally apologizes to his brother for what he put him through. However, this also kind of makes it more glaringly obvious that the drama belittles the r*pe, yet again. ML gets a deadly condition, courtesy of his psycho Empress wife, then says that it is retribution for what he has done. At that point I thought, okay, he has now realized how evil he has been towards the FL. But no, he says the retribution is from him allowing his Empress wife to poison Empress Dowager and doesn't even mention what he did to FL! He did say a few apologetic words right after r*ping FL, but that was nowhere near adequate repentance nor aknowledgment of how horrific it was what he had done to her. Now, since he is at deaths door, he feels the need to repent and makes up with his brother, which is kind of a moving moment, except that he never mentions his deadly condition being retribution for hurting his own wife who he claimed to love but then r*ped because he thought she had been with another man. Sick pervert; who does that?!! Good riddance!
Watched to support Liu Shi Shi, Huang Xuan and Wu Lei (who only appears at the very end of the very last episode for only one minute) but unfortunately I now wish I hadn't watched it. Yes, yes, pretty accurate depiction of what it was like for women back then (and in some aspects even nowadays), but I just felt sick to my stomach every time I saw that ML after the r*pe and kept wishing someone would murder him brutally. I don't think it's good for my mental health to have such violent thoughts!
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