WM

The last two I enjoyed were "Blossom" and "Flourished Peony" (only Part 1, though, as Part 2 sucked big time), I even enjoyed the Romance parts there.

But finding something valuable is becoming increasingly more difficult.

I would love to watch some of the older shows, but many of them don't have English subtitles, like Wu Zetian from 1995 (apparently, it's the best adaptation).

Very interesting post.
I really enjoyed "Blossom" and since you gave such a high praise - what were the other Dramas written/produced by people involved with "Blossom"?

I'm very, very tired of "Purposely leaving people alive that want to kill you" trope.

I've dropped the FH after a 5th episode, but I've seen a big fight which happened later, where the FL allowed some guy to live after he tried to betray and kill her. I'm sure it worked great for her :).

In the end, these days I prefer to watch cheap, but better-written and shorter (meaning: focused on the main characters) Vertical Dramas over the long Big Productions with tropes repeating themselves and secondary characters getting way too much screentime.

"Nirvana in Fire" and "Empresses in the Palace" are IMO difficult to match.
"Story of MingLan" is also excellent.

I shudder thinking about some of the options you got offered above, like "The Double", lol :).

But also, I like the serious tone, low in Romance and with leads who are better actors than singers :).
Who knows, maybe your priorites are different.

Overall, a good watch, but it was painful to see her getting dumb down once or twice so the ML will have a chance to help her - f'n Romance messing up strong/smart Female Leads as always.

Still, she is all-around more capable than 95% of the FLs. But maybe still a level below Lu Songli.

Also, this one works - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fh5g3tCbRA

I guess, it's similar to "Badass Female Lead" who needs the ML to save her over and over and over again.
It's pretty much standard in all dramas including BFL.

It's been a few years since I've watched it, and it remains the best ever Drama for me (at least in C-Dramaland), I think only "Empresses in the Palace" comes close in having a similar imprint on me, but I used FF there more due to a much higher dosage of Romance.

I also tried to watch "The Advisors Alliance" (partially due to Liu Tao playing the FL), but stopped after a few episodes, when the ML broke his own leg on purpose to avoid working for the main villain.

Pretty disappointing for a supposedly great political advisor :(

For all the fans of ML and his meticulous planning, there is a Novel and Vertical Drama about the FL who is probably close to his level in political scheming, counter-scheming, and the ability to walk one step and look ahead three (or ten) steps.

She is also very ruthless ;).

Thanks for the warning about the "Smart Female Lead" not really being smart. Will be easy skip then, as I actually consider watching it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCmUYbJzD3c

"Travelling back to 70 years later, I led 5 CEO great-grandsons to fight back and rewrite their lives" - really like this version of "my 18-year-old Grandma" storyline.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtSGynWoBD4

Looks like she is playing in Vertical Dramas on a regular basis.
The one below, could be one of them (not sure if it's already listed, I'm too lazy to check it case by case)

Yeah, I've seen this one.
And the other version I found was Raw ;(

OMFG! Wang Likun in Vertical Drama!!!

I was expecting a top actresses from Micro Drama going up (like Ma Qiuyuan), but to see someone with the CV of Wang Likun going the opposite way is a huge shock.

Do you have a new YT or DT link that works?

The extraordinarily capable and well-acted FL made it watchable, but in the end, the writers clearly forgot about some things which were promised. And really, 90 minutes would be enough here.

Also, it's hard to take seriously the 2ML punishment (except for death, I guess) if he didn't seem to be hurt much after the 1st "encounter" with the beggars.

And, around the 54-55th minute, the ML was promoted to super-duper-fighter level, while the so far unbeatable Maid was sent to a Martial Artist cannon-fodder role. This was really not needed, and of course, stupid Romance is to blame for this. Like always.

Yeah, this was my big issue with this one, and of course, the fact that many times she had to be saved by the ML.

I love the FL who are forward-thinking; unfortunately, Princess Wei Young was not. I've heard she was better/stronger in the book, though.

Regarding forward-thinking FL against the scheming villains - nobody does it better than Lu Songli.

I watched "Threads of Destiny" with her and it was quite good until certain point.

In general, I like femcentric Dramas with consistently strong female leads - the word "consistently" is probably the most challenging ;).
And the less Romance, the better. Unless I really like the ML (but it happens rarely),