absurd

I didn't skip everything! 😅 just yknw the repeat. I got the gist of what was happening

The "erase everything, like it never happened" was probably the worst ending they could have pulled for me. Even "everybody dies, nobody lives" would have been better. It was so disappointing, like they erased all the character and relationship development for everyone, erased Ji Ling and all of his sacrifices from existence and worst of all put pour Li Jie back where he started with no resolution. God, I hated the ending, it does not take away from the story, but makes it disappointing, especially considering there's no place before it where you could stop.

This was pretty good considering how many twists and turns the drama took. I kinda dropped it when I first tried it, probably because I wasn't in the mood. But on the second try, got into it pretty fast. Twists and turns, though for me make it a one time watch only, after knowing everything it's not as interesting to watch. But as a first time watch very engaging. I found the Lu Wuyi/Ji Ling pair much more interesting than the other one, and it seemed like director did too, he gave them a lot more attention and detail than the Wu/Wu couple. WSG and WWY living as a married couple arc was probably the most interesting part of their story, but right after they got out it went into the most boring trope ever, so I lost any interest I had.
Also poor Wu Shiguang got a bit sidelined for most of the drama, and now that I think about it if you remove WSG from the story, not much has to change, which is not great for ML.
Overall interesting to watch, pulls you in and not that many plotholes, considering the amount of turns the story takes. I also haven't skipped really, except for the Lu Wuyi redoing the saving of JL for like 200 times, I watched maybe two and the last one, did not have the patience for the rest.
They effed up the ending though, for me personally. I'll put why under the spoler

That part was what actually put the last nail in the metaphorical coffin of their relationship for me, not her giving him a choice, but the way she first decided to just sneak out, instead of having a conversation with him like an adult. And then, when he cought her, acted like she was giving him some important life lesson, while giving some lame excuses like "you will change and become your father", instead of straight up telling him "sorry, but family business is more important, you can stay here, but it doesn't work for me". Her speech sounded like a load of bs, covering for the fact that he is always going to come second after the tea. And there's nothing wrong with that, that's her life and blood, but it along with her fake moral superiority just drove the point home, that this relationship is not something I'm invested it. The story is good, would have preferred a bittersweet ending is all.

Saying that douban ratings are reliable, when fan wars can literally tank even the best dramas there, is a crazy take

I agree that ratings are not always right, especially on mdl. I've seen some pretty good dramas that barely pass 8 here and some pretty sh*tty ones, that have almost 9. But 6.7 is way too low to even bother, there are other things I can spend my time on, thanks

Ok. It does pick up after about episode 11. Here's hoping. Still not at the edge of my seat, but definitely more interesting.

Oh, wow. I was planning to watch this later, since first episode was pretty good. But 6.7? MDL ratings are definitely not reliable, but when it goes this far, it has to be extremely bad. Reviews don't give me hope either. Guess it's good I didn't waste my time

Imho, the last part just did not fit into the overarching story and looked like an afterthought. If it was a separate drama or season, with more developed characters sure. But they just dropped like 10 characters on our head and expected me to care about what happens to them. No way in hell.
And RSB behavior, where instead of talking to him like two adults, she decided to just leave. And after being confronted, came up with some absolutely idiotic reasons why she's leaving, while acting like she was teaching him a life lesson. This made me realize "I want them to break up". I want him to stay, take care of kids and become the head of the family, maybe build a family with someone else later on. While she goes back and lives for her precious tea (which she obviously values more than any person in her life), while watching her sisters be happy and carefree.
The drama in and of itself was not bad, it just (in my opinion) begged for the bittersweet ending.

One Chancellor is more than enough. But they seem to come and go. Admittedly I didn't get far, just can't get into. Skipping so much from the get go is my indication that this is not for me and I'm wasting my time

That really is not my main problem with this, if it was the only thing that bothers me, I would continue watching.
Also what often happens in dramas, is that child emperor is a weak idiot and that's why he gets manipulated. Here he's definitely none of that, that's why it's weird for me.
But again, talking out politics for 80% of every episode so far is what made me drop it. I personally don't find it interesting

More action, less talking

Ok. No. Dropping this. Not my cup of tea. Too much talking politics and scheming old men. Emperor who holds no real power is also kinda weird.
FL is a bit unpleasant with how smug she is about every little thing she does.
I'm skipping way too much. Just really not my kind of drama

Barely got through first two episodes, but it got better on the third. For now the only annoying thing is FL bestie's voice. It grates on my nerves so much, I have to skip every scene she's in.

I agree about Ying Lei, but not really your reasoning. On the contrary, BJ sacrificing himself to save ZYC makes saving him more meaningful to me. On the other hand the whole reasoning WHY saving BJ was so important sounded a bit forced to me. BJ himself seemed like a bit of a forced narrative, his presence in the team was not explained very well, considering his skill set. And the whole "saving this kid, is more important than Baidze goddess because he has some divine powers" seemed like an excuse. Like, it's ok to sacrifice ZYZ to save the world, but BJ has to be saved at all costs.
What made YL death meaningless to me was that LL could be actually talked into being reasonable, so they they should have started with talking.

I have rewatched this like... 3 times already. The drama for all of it's plotholes, has a very interesting story, very engaging characters and is visually stunning. The pace is good, some small scenes could be skipped and, I have to admit, Bai Jiu was not my favorite character. But overall it was really interesting to watch and had some actually serious moral dilemmas for the characters to solve. All the side stories contributed to the plot progression or character development.
The one thing, that, in my opinion, wasn't done right is that they put side characters backstories after their storyline was already finished. So you kinda already know everything, were given all the explanations and some flashbacks and then have to go through all of it again in detail

Yep, any time in the episode. No problem, to just stop and do something else. There's just nothing at stake, an I can't make myself care about mostly no name characters dissappearing

IMHO, considering the prequel was what? 10 years ago? And it's not really that directly connected, they probably should have given a little more introduction for the characters. But, the lack of suspense, for me, steams more from the lack of anything, except for those no name soldiers, depending on their solutions. There also seems to be not much progress, more like they are going in circles. I do like adventures, but the story here seems a little disjointed and in need of some real interesting stakes for the viewer.

To be honest, so far, for all that it's constant action and mystery solving, the suspense is not... suspending. I'm not really at the edge of my seat anxious to know what's gonna happen next. Maybe it's because I haven't watched any prequels or connected dramas? So characters are kinda unfamiliar.
Like, it's not boring, but I also can easily stop after watching one episode and go to sleep.

I've been watching a lot of costume drama lately and have to say most of them follow pretty much the same pattern. Execution and characters are what usually gives drama the edge. And for me personally, faster pace. Here, I wasn't really able to empathize with FL and the pace is kinda glacial. I probably can skip-watch, but I just don't want to.