absurd

Omg, not the fluff ball attaking them. I can't. They were so serious and the only thing I could focus on was that they are running away from the fluffball 🤣

Not sure why, but I can't finish it. Nothing was wrong with drama. Plot, production, acting - everything was great. I just got stuck around 20 something episodes and lost interest. Maybe, I'll pick this up later

Have watched about half. It's not bad, but not great. A pretty typical costume drama, with a pretty typical script. It would have been a good watch, if they didn't also make FL a very standard annoying and dumb c-drama FL. She's just not... likeble. Spoiled, bratty, not that smart, very petty and judgmental about people's appearances. Only things she has going for her is that she's kind and pretty, that's about it. Every time she opens her mouth, I want to skip. There are many other dramas with pretty much the same plot, but way better FL.

The drama wasn't too bad, after couple of episodes I got into it and it was pretty interesting to watch up until the last part in duke's manor. Which was extremely unnecessary, considering it contributed nothing to the story, characters or relationship development and all the characters introduced before it ended up in the same place where they were before it.
I liked the character development for younger sisters. Granma obviously got no character development, but at her age, that's expected.
Now, when it comes to the leads. At first everything was good. Her distrust for him was not unfounded. Using him in her scheams was also not unexpected. But then it went on and on and looks like she either never really trusted him, or worse, was treating him like child, unable to think for himself or be rational. Something like this may work when one character is way older or way more experienced than the other, but they were presented as equals. So her treating him like a child that needs to learn his lesson up until the very end made me not really want them to end up together. I personally prefer ML and FL treating each other as equals, but here it looked like RSB was ready to drop him any moment without a backward glance and did not think he deserved to know the whole truth at any given time. Not my cup of tea (sorry for the pun).

Agree 100%. There are some dramas on mdl with way higher ratings, that have way lower production quality and a lot of skipable scenes, while KTTPH has none

He has 3 wives, if you include XJY. Princess He Yuanji is his first wife, Xie Jiayu would be second. Ruisheng is kinda a concubine or something like that, she's not of high status so she can't be the second wife, even though she came earlier than XJY.
How it came to be, the son and what is their relationship is thoughtfully explained in the drama itself pretty early on, just watch

Just a side note, they did a really good job with continuity. If characters change clothes, you actually know why and when they had the time to do it. A lot of the dramas I've seen just make characters play dress up for no reason and without any regard for why and when they would do it, which sometimes takes me out of the story

I was really afraid they will f up the ending with limited number of episodes left. But not only did they manage to pack both lead up and the final fight in the last episodes, they also gave us a very through and conclusive last episode and an actual happy ending, that did not feel like an afterthought. My only beef is with the trailer and end sequence. When you're watching XJY cry over XWY's death, you already know he's fine, because there are several scenes from the trailer that have not happened yet. They actually spoiled the ending, literal last scene! Ugh
As a side note, Lejun and prince Ying story was actually very through, even with limited screen time.

What the... this is THE BEST c-drama I've ever whatched. Sure there are other ones I really like, but this one is actually amazing. The way the story flew, every character and just overall production quality is just really good. The low budget is not noticeable at all, because they spent it very smartly, production team deserves an award for forward thinking and planning. All actors did an amazing job, not a single boring side character. And leads also did an amazing job both together and as separate characters. This is the first time I haven't skipped a single scene in a drama. And with the fast pace and limited number of episodes, they still managed to give us a very through and conclusive ending. Just wow. First time I'll give 10/10, no problem
OST is amazing too. No misses

Wow that was... bad. Considering how popular the leads are, how did it end up looking so cheap and horribly written? CGI looks cheap, some supporting characters can barely act and the editing is so choppy, it stops making sense.
And it started out so good. I agree with previous comment, first like 9 episodes are pretty good and then it's like they gradually run out of budget and good editors. Just repetitive conversations and situations, characters just randomly coming and going, and acting getting progressively bad, like some supporting actors couldn't even be bothered to make any expression other than "stoic face"

He's not learning though, he's just going with the best presented argument at the moment. Doesn't seem to have his own opinion

The funny thing is that Xiao Wuyi talking him out of his decision last episode was what solidified it for me. It was a good thing that he saw reason, but it was so easy to sway him, c'mon.

My main problem with Li Mao isn't that he decided to fight for the throne. It's that he really can't think for himself. His sister, teacher Xie, Xiao Wuyi, even Xie Jiayu can talk him into anything and out of anything. He can't stand his ground at all. Birthright, whatever. But how can XWY consider him a good candidate for the emperor, when dude doesn't have anything he will not back away from at the first sign of a conterargument?

Good thing I'm watching this as it comes out. If I was binge watching, I would get no sleep until it's finished

Because actors said so in the livestream, while promoting. Both HMH and AM were like "don't worry, happy ending is waiting for you".

Are you sure you're paying attention? He wasn't trying to stop her, he was making arguments for her to make Eagle to stop trying to ruin everything

He needs to reform the army and adjacent ministries, they don't have resources, there's a lot of embezzlement and all the people hired for high positions are hired because of the lineage, not actual skill. So he needs 3 years of peace to make the reform work, so that even if he's not there as a commander, it would still be a capable army.
Eagle dude keeps making demands because he doesn't want peace, he wants them to refuse and end the talks

You do realize they don't need to show us how the kid was made in order for them to have a kid? It could just be "3 years later" here you go, happy family

Even though her mother is a princess, she does not really have much influence. And XWY is a grand general who commands the whole army, just broght a big victory and also has a high title, so strictly speaking he has a lot more weight than Xie family. He also asked for this marriage as a reward, so there's that. Being a second wife is not actually a low title, if they offered her to be a concubine then, that would be insulting. The other situations you're talking about might have been concubines. Translations is c-dramas don't always do a god job translating that. Second wife is basically the wife that he married later than the first one. Sure, the first one is above her in seniority, but it does not mean her position in the family is low. A lot of the time it's actually the first wife that gets put aside when the second one comes

How in world what happend in the beginning of episode 30 could be interpreted as Lifey colluding with demon king? The only thing she did was tell Togzhou to stop attacking because he's injured. What kind of shoddy writing is this? This drama started out so good, but now it's like they don't even bother to come up with something believable.