Let me start off by saying this - this was a DIFFICULT show for me to finish in the beginning. The beginning of this show was incredibly slow. I don't mind the concept of shows setting the stage and foundation for whatever story they're attempting to tell, but I felt like this was one of those shows that would easily lose a potential viewer in the beginning. The only reason I kept going was because I'd been told by several people on various platforms that the set-up for the show makes the rest of it that much more worth it. That's what I was told.

Now, the complaints I have for this show are not with the actors. The actors did .. fine, I guess. They did the best with what they had. We can honestly say that. This show could have been so much BETTER but it wasn't. I'm actually quite disappointed with what this show turned out to be. The premise is intriguing and appealing, but the execution leaves a LOT to be desired. The execution fell flat, and that's my primary takeaway from this show. Months into the future, I'll probably think about how amazing this show truly could have been if given to a set of more competent writers (or directors?) Anyway, this show sounds good on paper but it doesn't deliver on those promises.

Starting off, I love Bai Lu. I love her to pieces and I find that she's quite talented for the most part. Now, I must say that I finished watching Till the End of the Moon prior to watching this show so some of this review mostly comes from my inner comparison of the two shows. Mainly for no other reason but because of the fact that Bai Lu stars in both. Let me start off with one of my biggest pet peeves EVER when it comes to watching dramas - there was a very distinct lack of chemistry between Xue Ning and her love interests. It's the strangest thing because all of her love interests were attractive. Yet, there was a strange lack of sexual tension and chemistry between her and any of them. I don't know how or why they manage to do THAT but it was one of the first things I noticed after I got through the first 10-episode slump. Again, I'm wondering if this is due to the director or something else, because I didn't ship her with anyone. Her first two love interests were decent men for the most part. They weren't downright awful or cruel, but it felt like the writers didn't know what they wanted to do. Meaning - it's almost like they were gearing up for a very specific endgame for Xue Ning and then decided to change their minds in the last 5 episodes of the show. Also, she had amazing chemistry with her girl friends. Xue Ning's relationships with the Princess and Fang Yin were some of my favorites in the entire drama.

People often complained about TTEOTM suffering due to those set of writers not knowing which way they wanted to commit regarding Ye Xiwu/Li Susu's feelings but I felt the same way about this show. I felt like the writers were building the foundation for Xue Ning to end up with Zhang Zhe and then suddenly decided not to follow through. I'm not saying this because I shipped them or anything like that. I'm saying that based on the way Xue Ning acted towards him. There is a very distinct way she looked at him that she never replicated with Xie Wei. Xue Ning looked at Zhang Zhe like he hung the fucking MOON! She had the heart eyes every time she talked to him and it was very very obvious that she liked him. It may not have been obvious to him because he's the duty before honor, hero type so his only purpose is to bring justice to the kingdom and blah blah blah blah. He was gorgeous but his character wasn't interesting enough to be the endgame. If they would have shown him struggling to do the right thing while understanding that following the rules and decrees of an unjust, indecisive leader would have sent everyone straight to hell, then I would have been rooting for him honestly. Xue Ning's interest for him was there. Their interactions were decent too, but his character was too much of a Lawful Good for me to root for him. Rules ensure that order is maintained but some rules need to be broken, and I don't truly believe he ever realized that. At least not by the end of the show, that is.

Someone else said it and I'm inclined to agree, but it appeared as if Xue Ning was simply going through the motions when she got with Xie Wei. It didn't seem as if she even LIKED him. It seemed like she was mostly tolerating and humoring him for some reason? What reason would that be? I don't know, but that's what it felt like. We know he liked her. That was obvious! But I couldn't tell if she liked him or not. She never looked at Xie Wei with the same kind of awe and adoration like she did with Zhang Zhe, which is why I said it seemed as if the writers (or director) didn't know how they wanted to play this. Not to mention the fact that there was truly no real reason for Xue Ning to dump Zhang Zhe in the end. Absolutely none. Also, Yan Lin was a sweetheart but it was never going to be him and that was also obvious. He was a good man who really cared about her, but I knew he wasn't going to be The One. He bowed out gracefully and that just goes to show what kind of a man he was. He loved her but he knew she didn't love him the way he wanted her to; it didn't change how he treated her. He still cared about her. He still protected her. He still wanted her to find happiness, even if it wasn't with him. He's a good man, Savannah!

Now, let's talk about her and Xie Wei. I typically don't like the enemies to lovers trope. I'm usually not a fan of it, but I can be if DONE PROPERLY. That last part is the most important distinction about that statement. The teacher-student thing didn't bother me. The idea that he would be awful and toxic to her also didn't bother me honestly. What DID bother me is the fact that there was no real sexual tension between the two of them. I wouldn't consider a man walking around choking you and telling you at every juncture that you belong to him to be sexual tension. Granted, that could be hot under the right circumstances. However, it wasn't hot in this one. I don't know if it was because the director (or writers) didn't know how to write the receiver of this type of dynamic or not. What I mean is this - in this type of dynamic, the receiver has a very distinct and specific role that would determine how the audience responds to the dynamic as a whole in the long run. Xue Ning never responded to Xie Wei like a woman who was just barely holding on by a thread because she wanted to jump his bones so badly but she couldn't because she's a lady who has to suppress her feelings and maintain her reputation. She didn't respond like that. She responded as if she was being threatened. Her responses came off more like fear rather than suppressed sexual desire. Which didn't make sense due to who she was in her first life. Who she was in her first life would have THRIVED with a man like Xie Wei. The Empress would not have shown fear like that; she would have gave as good as she got and responded by giving this man a run for his money, but that didn't happen either.

Another thing - someone else mentioned that we never saw Xie Wei supplicate himself at Xue Ning's feet, and I think that's another piece of the puzzle that would have changed the finished product of this relationship. I love a man who is possessive and obsessive (in fiction) for the most part, but I still need to see that man's willingness to submit to the woman he claims to be in love with. I don't want this misconstrued. I'm not saying I want him to go through some halfhearted, shoddy redemption arc, but I want him to beg and grovel for her sometimes. Whenever they would argue and he would be in the wrong, we never saw him supplicate himself to her and show her how deep his love is. He never apologized to her for his reactions to her. Yes, he never hid how he felt in front of the world. Yes, he put his life on the line to save her multiple times, but what about the words? We need to see you submit to her in private too. When it's just the two of you, why not? He never established himself as a safe place for her to land, in my opinion.

Sidenote: The one couple I actually found myself interested in was Fang Yin and her husband (whose name I can't remember for some reason). Now, those two had the potential to be great. There was just something about him wanting to lift that weight off of her shoulders and shared the burdens of life with her that I found intriguing. He saw her and he knew that she could have been the love of his life eventually. Yes, he wasn't in love with her initially but he could have been. If the writers had allowed them the opportunity to blossom and thrive, they could have fallen in love with each other and it would have been interesting. I wanted to see where it would go. I wanted to see more of it, but we didn't get that and that's unfortunate.

It bears repeating - this show could have been SO MUCH BETTER. I'm disappointed because it didn't live up to its potential. My expectations were so high based on what I'd read from other people, but I should have lowered them. Will I rewatch this show? Maybe some scenes because there were some scenes I found unintentionally funny, but not a complete rewatch. Would I recommend it though? Ehhh, maybe. It's not downright terrible but it's not as great as people claim it is. It's just okay.