Kshatriiya

Yesss, I was drawn to this drama because the FL reminds me of ML from Nirvana in Fire but female version. I was hoping no romance at all because romance usually leads to strong female leads being dumbed down.

Yes they should have been decisive and put the romance on the back banner altogether but unfortunately the demand for it is there so they had to shoehorn it. That's what happens when the director wants to make a serious story but also want to sell it to the idol drama fans.

What are they expecting, two mature adults (who barely know each other btw) in a political marriage to have a steamy kiss and proceed to f*k on the first night?

Do they not understand that a story can exist beyond romance?

Because they are supposed to act mature. Two mature characters, adults in a political marriage with their own agenda beyond romance. Hence romance and chemistry are not the point.

Imagine you're in a political marriage of convenience with a man/woman you barely know, have barely met, would you immediately fall in love?

Audience needs to understand that a story can be larger than facilitating love between the two leads.

I don't know whether I'm just getting old, pre 2020 we had NiF 1-2, Qin dynasty epic, Minglan, Yanxi palace, rise of phoenixes, Longest day in Chang'an etc. where the stories were taken seriously.

Nowadays it's just idol dramas with historical setting used as an excuse for pretty costumes, story written to allow for maximum fan service rather than making sense, two main leads occupy 99% of screen time. Easy 9/10 on MDL.

It's unbelievable. I want an intelligent storyline with an ensemble cast, appropriately distributed screen time. Not some eye candy with half the series just slow motion shots of ML and FL staring into each other's eyes with non-sense plot.

But apparently eye-candy and cheesy romance is what a lot of people like now.

I really don't understand how such a well written, well acted, well shot story is sitting at 8.5 while Romance idol dramas that immediately focus on ML and FL's romance get 8.7/8.8 above immediately on MDL.

Like, are people no longer able to appreciate stories that aren't solely about ML and FL's romance?

I swear if Nirvana in Fire was released today, it'd would have gotten 7.9 on MDL. The flood of idol fans into cdrama space has done an irreparable damage.

Just go to yandex and search eng sub episode 1. Google censors results so yandex is the way to go for finding those sites

Because TXW is a side character. Romance is bare minimum, the story is a slow-burn mystery with the world revealed over mini-arcs that come together to form a larger story. Your pursuit of jade didn't have that much of a story either, the whole first 15 episodes in PoJ is just the two leads getting to know each other and falling in love but you were too enamored by the romance and idol visuals to care.

My god I swear cRomance fans are addicted to instant gratification. I bet if you went and watched something like Nirvana in Fire, you would also complain that there's no story.

hopefully not, that backlash will be huge. Half the plot falls apart without her role.

why is it a problem that FL isn't appearing much? This isn't a romance focused drama, there's enough screen time for the "romance" already. Let other characters have screen time as well. But to answer your question, the "FL" in the novel, Lin'an is pretty much a side character. The real female character with impact is Grand Princess Huai Qing although she's not a love interest.

There are like 100s of romance dramas out there, take your pick if that's what you're looking for.

Without spoiling much, Huai Qing is pretty much the other protagonist level character of the story, pretty much ML's equivalent, her character is complex enough to be a protagonist in her own story - think of her as female equivalent of the ML from Nirvana in Fire. Among the novel readers, Huai Qing is the fan favorite, even more popular than the ML.

It's fine, I find her character annoying but TXW did a great job portraying her as she is in the novel. It's fine for me because I feel the real FL is Huai Qing, her character has much better role and bigger impact in the story and she's better off without the burden of romance.

FL is Lin An played by TXW but in the novel he has multiple wives.

It's based on real life story of Wu Zetian, the only female Emperor in Chinese history so it will only have one major correct path.

It's also a cultural shift isn't it, the older generation had to maintain that perfect image on screen but the younger generation has that idgaf vibe. And you're right about directors playing a role as well - this shows with directors like Zhang Yimou being able to bring out actresses like Ni Ni who can actually act but then movie directors are more serious than tv directors.

I won't name names but those early 2000s stars, they were picked for their looks above the rest where having a pristine almost idol like image on television lands you sponsorships especially for television stars (this is less true for movie stars like Ni Ni for example who can actually act). Idol actors still exist widely but the younger generation has more of a idgaf attitude and it shows. It's more of a cultural shift really.

Just me or younger gen actresses like Tian Xi Wei, Wang Ying Lu, Lu Yuxiao etc. (of course there are more) are so good at acting, much better than older gen "traffic stars" who typecast themselves in big budget dramas? Like these younger actresses really act their characters instead of trying to look good on camera all the time like pretending to eat, drink etc.

Great source material, superb acting and visuals but weird pacing, the director didn't do a good job. ML fits the character and FL is so so cute, how the eff is this the same director who shot the Double.

exactly, i want imperfect characters, give me morally grey realistic personalities