Urhian

I wouldn't have said it better with less words. Excellent comment !

I concurred! And I'm worried about what is to come of scripts with depth and layers with an audience unable to read/understand subtilities. I said it before, I will say it again : in this drama, every characters (from Xiaofan's parents to Luqing's friends) have a very well written purpose. Be it to help the viewer really feel the wealth gap between the leads, helps the leads to process their emotions or create tension for character growth. Plus, between the leads, their intimacy is fuel by a submissive kink from BOTH of them. Xiaofan enjoys it as much as Luqing. Zhou Ning can express it more in his acting (as allows his characters education and background) while Guan Yue as to be very very subtle about it until his character grows more confident in his relationship and desire.

Ah la la, unfortunately, it seems there is a few of us taking the whole picture into account while assessing this drama. Personally, I enjoy it a lot : the acting and script is pretty solid and consistent with the time period, every characters (from the leads to the infamous ones) have purpose that serves and forward push the narrative.

I'm having a feast with the BL content airing since July.

Woow, I should have watched it on my tv with pringles near by. It's a mix of Nivarna in Fire, the Princess Weiyoung and my Heroic Husband with a transmigrator plot, a thrilling side quest and a ALL amazing cast and storylines from main leads to background characters. Please give all child actors in this drama the equivalent of an oscar but in Chinese entertainment TV. Just Woow!

Okay

Hello, I have a different point of view. SFL isn't an idiot, she is not as well versed in the f*ck boy dictionary as FL.

What's refreshing in this drama plot is the introduction of different profiles of "transmigrated" MCs : ML, FL and SML aren't from the same time period and SML seems to come from an alternative "modern worl", don't forget she doesn't know Beijing!

Yes she has read the book and in the book she and SML are the stars. They have a happy ending and a Being "the chosen one" in the book, she has plot armor against the tyrant who is just a side character, a puppet, the main villain being the dowager empress. So she acted according to her script with the few romantic knowledge she had.

What's amazing about this drama is how well every character acts according to the time period. Yet none of them is a total cliché.

Welcome to my party! It has been ages since I sat on a weekend binge watching a drama without skipping scenes or dropping it. The storytelling is so good!!!! What a wonderful depiction of characters : everyone has a complete story, everyone is "humanised" and nobody is a caricature of the ideas of "villain" and "hero". Yes, nobody, not even Prince Duan.

Couldn't agree more. What you wrote is what's I think about Prisonner of beauty FL. A smart, cunning and driven FL doesn't have to be this way to the detriment of the ML or because every others characters are dumb down so we can see how brilliant FL is.

And each arc compliments each other to serve the main plot. There is no "waste" of character here, even background characters are engaging! Love it.

Thanks for the reference. I enjoyed The Legend of Shen Li, I will check the others ones.

I'm with you with that stand. But knowing myself, I will drop the drama and comeback for the last episode. Maybe because I'm older, but I grew tired of the miscommunication plots: for me it's just lazy scripwriting to lengthen drama. It's very annoying especially after one of the lead (be the ML or FL) as proven to be trustworthy and ready to die to protect his/her love. When I was younger, I would suffer through dramas' plagued with misunderstandings from ep 1 to the last ("Boss and Me" almost made me insane because of that) but now I'm on to the next.

I'll watch the sweet romance and kisses but for plot/drama for me is dead.

Thanks, I did. I really love this one. It was refreshing for this genre.

Love this. Can't help but comparing this to prisoner of beauty (which was a total let down for me).

Here, you have :
- a very good rendition of enemies to lovers (leads are perfectly match in strengths and wits and learn to work together from the start) ;
- a very rare step-siblings bond (fraternal love is thicker than blood, only apply to Susha though) ;
- villains are true to their beliefs, some even have family members that care for each other and "legitimate" reasons in their own right to want to kill the leads ;
- a WONDERFUL dark romance, very well executed, so much that the title "fated hearts" also apply to the second lead couple ;
- at the end of the show, almost every characters have a closure being happy, bittersweet, sad or deserved.

There are so many thing I want to say about this drama... I strongly encourage you to watch it for yourself. I know that many viewers are or will be annoyed by the princess. Yet, her character was perfecto written from her naive-self (she was love and shelter by everyone, even by her step-mother) to the brazen girl she became. She learned that love is fickle, the one you wish gone may be the one you will forever missed, whereas the one you dream to marry may be the one you really want dead). The actress did a fabulous job playing that character.

Thanks you! Very well said.

Yet it's how it's : innocent children died in Xindu because of that failed agreement. If WS wasn't the ML he would have been dead too.

I'm not a viewer that want a lead to only be savage only if it benefits the FL. Sorry, those kinds of ML are psychopaths.

So I'm glady accept our disagreement.

As far as harming the Wei, it's the same, exactly the same. And the Qiao didn't fail to assist they chose not to : the Qiao forfeited the alliance, taking all the benefit and none of the burden. By Wei state law, they committed treason (QM digging that tunnel in WS back was also treason).

You want a one dimensional lead that only excuse the FL and her family shortcomingand duplicity against his clan, I want well written and consistent characters (leads, villains, extras).

WS has always been a family-oriented man more than a man set on revenge.

*protecting Yanzhou against WS but not with him.

WS not executing Lady Yulou is consistent with his character and principles : if he hadn't kill QM for all the pain her clan caused him, his family (included Lady Yulou at the time) and his people, why would he blatantly kill Lady Yulou ? The FL can have plot armor but not the main villain ?

As for Daqiao her character was also very consistent since ep 1. She always knew who she was and perfectly stated it to QM in ep 29. That dialogue btw the two was perfectly executed (both actress were excellent). I didn't care about her, wasn't expecting much but loved how the help QM finally realised where the was wrong : always thinking of protecting Yanzhou and not with WS.

He is my favourite ML general for these reasons. He never had it easy yet never really went full madness. Even in ep 1, when he was furious and ready to shoot QM he still listens to his advisor.

WS is a very well written character. Sometimes, the dialogues that were given to Liu Yuning made it appear as if WS was partial against QM and only listen to one side (I really hated that line) whereas his actions had always been fair on a political standpoint (in fact, he acted more partial towards his wife and her family).

I conquer. Except from WS' mother, I really like the Wei dynamic.