Started watching for DYX who I had first seen in this year's White Cat Legend and his acting impressed me. Wanted to see him in a different genre and though I try to avoid any and all MGTV dramas (due to the fact that they don't have proper subbers), I decided to give this a go because it was acquired on Viki (though that too became problematic as the subbing was inconsistent at best). I only am familiar with some of the supporting though not all. All I can say is smarts and advance prep always win.

Pros: I'd have to say my favorite characters were our ML or SD and our main antagonist LLZ (whom I had seen in a protagonist role this year only). Them two were as black and white as they come. SD was a man on a mission of both revenge and vindication for his father and family that were framed 16 years prior while he was just a young boy. He only survived because a friend of the family's told him what to do and also pleaded on his family's behalf. He had a lethal exterior earning him the nickname "White Ghost." But what many didn't know or see was that he had a good heart and the exterior was just a front. DYX was able to play both very convincingly. Things changed when he reunited with the FL who had snuck into the detention center he was held in to give him food and they had been friends before his family's disaster. At first they couldn't stand each other (he didn't recognize her and she thought he had really become this ruthless person) and she married him instead of her sister so the marriage didn't start on a strong foundation. That said their chemistry was spot on from the comedic get go to when he started falling for her for real and afterwards realizing who she was and started to put in more effort to actually win her heart. He repeatedly saved her when her reckless actions sent her to death's door but at least she was grateful. I didn't really care too much for the FL other than the fact that she was for the most part really good at solving cases and finding out truths when others couldn't see it. When they teamed up to work together, they really made great teamwork. The chemistry was definitely chemistrying.

Our main antagonist did a fantastic job at playing a very convincing looney. I have to give it up to the actor; he played an obsessed, power hungry, murderous and appropriately nicknamed the "Black Fiend" to the hilt. He was creepy but in a believable, skin crawling way. Ironically he usually wore white which made the fact that he was essentially a cult leader all the more diabolical. His realization that he had been lied to by his mom (he wasn't the son of the late emperor and therefore not in anyway shape or form fit for the throne) and his entire life was a lie at the very end and the way he went out was fitting for his maniacal self.

The other characters I liked were SD's guard, PC, Marshal Xu, XW, JXL; the empress, prince, and princess were all morally grey characters that had a lot of problems with themselves but they were believable. Many died under the Empress's watch like her musician or FL's uncle, Marshal Xu, and YQ while LLZ was rising to power aka falling into SD's trap and the Empress did little to stop that. I'm just glad she finally cleared the Shen family and held everyone responsible for that massive mess. PM Zheng was the other one I'd consider an antagonist as he was responsible along with a few others in the Shen family's mess as well as holding the Yan family "hostage" and trying to use FL as a spy with SD when she married him. I didn't like him at all and that meant the actor did his job. FL's family was ok; I liked her sisters the most. Her mother was a bit too cringey for me.

Otherwise costumes, sets, OSTs were good.

Cons: SFL I had the biggest gripe with. Why was she written that way? Dumb as a brick, sounding like a 12 year old and always being the thorn in SD's side; like mind your own business! Why are you bringing "the divorce" up every two seconds, like it's any of your business? You are getting all cozy with the evil in the graveyard not even understanding what's going to happen. Only time I felt bad for her was when he kidnapped her but she didn't seem to mature after it at all. I legit wanted to slap her, so instead I ffw'd her pretty much the entire show.

The dumbing down of FL who was always on top of things periodically within the show was inconsistent; thankfully these moments were usually short lived. Wish the whole end wedding didn't have to happen the way it did; yes they said words to each other in the palace but she was the one who gave him the ultimatum when it was his choice and she didn't really have a right to demand that; so the whole mini groveling and game playing made the official wedding anticlimactic and uncomfortable. I'm glad though the Empress laughed at it she did tell her that it was important to cherish those around you. I was also glad he pretended to have left so she would stop acting arrogant and understand that if she really lost him, it would be bad. He spent the entire series even when they weren't yet together, essentially saving her life or from pain and getting hurt himself. So the ending deserved to be better and smarter instead of that weird version.

I know DEX is only 19 years old but she has to practice kissing. DYX did all the work during those and it seemed like she legit didn't move or barely. So though we had some kissing scenes and the deed itself done a few times, they would have been much better if the director had the FL practice instead of just go immobile. Or like other actors have done in the past, just don't have kissing scenes if you're inexperienced, uncomfortable. Better than getting them halfway and lopsided, though by the final one, it seemed she kind of got the hang of it.

Also YQ and Marshal Xu's relationship seemed to come out of nowhere and like a total afterthought. There was zero chemistry between them. So when they died together, though very sad about him; her being there at all just took off from the gravitas of the situation. You could tell post production was moving at the speed of sound because there were revealing mistakes like the palace fight, you could tell the people in the background weren't really fighting but moving with their swords in slow motion or in the last episode wedding scene, the blue screen "sky" was visible in multiple takes.

Would I Recommend it? Sure. For the cases and the chemistry between the leads it's a good watch. Now that all of the episodes are out on Viki, you're good to go.