Ti02

She is from a noble family, her father is the Grand Tutor. Her brother works under Emperor, and is also a close friend. But Zhi Li doesn't live there, the Eunuch said she is the only woman who is allowed there, no one else, so I felt she is allowed to visit the place.
Meng Ting Hui on the other hand is no one. The villain Chancellor already has accused that allowing woman to hold power is just a way through which Emperor choses woman for himself, hence her presence in the palace, would be a definite proof for that.

I don't know who the director is. But till now its good. The pacing is fine. I love the politics, its not too hard to understand. There are some slow-motion scenes, I didn't have a problem, but some people did not like it. The actors are doing a good job.
There are some dramas where we don't know the backstory, and they clear little by little, its not that. We almost know most of the things, so rather getting curious about the past, it is more about getting intrigued of what will be happening next.
It also gives me "The Double" cdrama feels, maybe because the cinematographer is same, same production house, similar actors and alignment to politics. This is a good thing from my perspective, because I loved that drama.
The chemistry or tension is not very huge though. But maybe its a mature kind of story, so hence toned down.

Most of the actors we love are all overworked. But he is still the king of the overworked actors. He once said if he doesn't work for 2 days, he overthinks and feels bad, then feels his fans might forget him, so he continuously does work. But this is both good and bad.

For sure, plus this has nothing to do with actors. This is not actors' responsibility. Like suppose this drama is great till the end, so its a solid 9.5/10 for me. But because of usage of AI, it would be 9/10.
I love the actors here, they are doing an excellent job, I like the script and pacing as well. But this is on the production house who is doing this to save some money. This shouldn't be the correct way.

Its possible he was trafficked as a child, or has a sibling or a friend who was, hence the rule. But yes it is what it is.

Intros are important, maybe not for everyone, but for a lot of people, including me. I never miss intros of the first episode and the last episode, no matter how bad the intro is. Its very relevant to the plot, if they do it correctly. It gives you a peek towards what is going to happen, ost, some times if done properly it also gives you hint about plots.
There are some dramas where intros were so great, I never missed it once during 40 episodes. But again to each their own.

AI usage in dramas is bad. Its takes away the real talent, hard work of people, and replaces them. Beautiful drawings, animations, cinematography work, CGI are way better, stays with us for long. Honestly even different footages just clipped together is also better than usage of AI.

But this had a mix of both, so I wouldn't say its trash or something. Its fine, whatever we do, I fear AI has entered the drama market, and we cannot get away from it.

This is true. There was a famous don in my country who kidnapped, seek ransoms, evicted bullied people, murders, but drew line at drug trade. Its weird. You are correct.
But as you said this does not diminish the immorality of their actions.

Okay about the intro. The entire thing thing doesn't seem AI, but some portions do. Its seems a mix of real filmed footages as well as AI.

I like the drama too.

Exactly😂
Like I am all up for morally grey villains, but come on this guy is not that.

That Tiger Gang leader is weird. So you traffic young woman, but children nope. Weird morals, what the audience is supposed to find you as a morally grey villain, because you sometimes also care for your subordinates and refuse to traffic children??
Also that bi'ch dying gave me so much pleasure.

You can watch this season, its travel food games and fun, so not a problem. Its just that sometimes they crack some jokes whose origins were in season 1, so you might not see through them, but there is not a lot of them, so I think that's fine too.

Liu Yuning is everywhere lmao, he is in variety shows, he is doing concerts, numerous osts in different dramas, and he is even filming a drama as well. By chance if he gets a half day free, he will then livestream 😂. Good for us though.

Its released in Mango tv international version.

Loving this

I love when I understand the politics of a drama from early episodes, and I don't have to scratch my head continuously and wait like forever.

Haha it is🤣

No chances. Its a Mango Tv drama.

1. Yup same guy
2. No idea, I did not read the novel.

Mango tv doesn't have heat index.
You can wait for the market share reports, and no. of views data, takes few days.