Brennnndda

If you believe the alternate ending. . .then present Young Sook called and warned past Young Sook to be careful of the police officer and mom coming to her house, which must've preceeded Seo Yeon sneaking into the house to warn her mom to get out. If the call between the two Young Sook's did happen, then Seo Yeon's mother would be dead and she'd be locked up in the cellar.
I guess it just depends on whether you wanted Seo Yeon to have a happy-ish ending versus a bad one lol

You mean when Seo Yeon was strapped in the chair in the ending?

Definitely one of my all time favorites!!
Their kiss needs to be remembered as one of the best in xianxia universe. Not just because it was a "real" kiss, but because their kisses evolved as their characters did. The "lover's curse" kiss was so incredibly beautiful because of what it represented. It was like they were finally able to truly breathe a sigh of relief; at long last, they overcame all the struggles of love, separation, and desperation they fought through so they could be together. You could see and feel their relief, joy, and passion all in that one kiss.

And then she ignores the calls. . .I'm still pissed off Seo Yeon was so careless she didn't realize this crazy psycho killer held her family's life in her hands. . .

I completely agree! I love Park Shin Hye but her character pissed me off so much. Literally all her misfortune was her own fault...but she didn't learn from her mistakes which just made her plain stupid.

Remember, this drama was filmed in 2016-ish with the original intent of releasing in 2017. Xiao Zhan was not famous then. Plus, of the two men, Darren Wang is the stronger actor.

I thought the problem with Ming Yi wasn't that he was a bad person. . .it was that he wasn't as good a person as he thought he was.
He was downright selfish but in his eyes, he genuinely thought his actions were the only justifiable ones.

Oh! My Sweet Liar is adorable!

I meant when MY's dad attacked her, how did she survive it? I wish they showed the attack from the mom's perspective so we know if she crawled out of her watery grave or something like that.

Hahahhha, your comment is awesome!!!

She should've been like "You need her? Well, I need Han De Rang but you don't see me crawling into bed with him behind your back"
??
Inappropriate? Yes, but it would've been funny.

Yan Yan raised him

QY was always so mad because he thought he should've been given absolute power. . .but he was just so stupid. There wasn't a single moment where he did anything to prove he was ready to be respected as emperor.
My happiest moments when I saw QY were when Cheng Xu would kick his ass.
It was honestly:
1. QY plots against CX and makes up excuses to kill him
2. CX laughs at his stupidity, dares QY to try to kill him
3. Altercation erupts with CX flooring him and yelling at QY to get his shit together
4. Ming Yu hearing about it, scolding QY, then telling CX to not take it to heart
5. Repeat 1-4

They don't fully reconcile until around episode 46.
She marries Xiao Zhan's character in episode 40.

EP 46:
Hahahahahahah! That attempted coup was so ridiculously hilarious, then there was that "surprise" wedding hahaha
This drama is too funny. I suppose it could be entertaining to stretch human logic sometimes.

I'm not sure if I like HN's lover. It's great that he's so fresh and free. . .but for HN to promote him to general then for him to disregard all decorum/etiquette the first time he met YY was so . . .hmmm. . .odd.

I really can't help comparing Legend of Xiao Chuo to Promise of Chang An since both aired at such close intervals and because the backbone of both dramas are the same.

The stories are similar yet the results are quite different. Both YY and Ming Yu were Empress Dowagers for their sons but YY acted as regent while Ming Yu was not. I suppose what makes YY and DR more successful is that DR is not of royal blood so he isn't a threat to YY's son's reign and therefore she can pretty much do as she pleases in regards to both.

Even the way YY and Ming Yu married into the harem was different. Both were "stolen" from their lovers, and despite how much I hate Ming Yi, at least YY and DR were able to express their hurt and disgust with MY for what he did. Ming Yu and Cheng Xu on the other hand, had to stifle down their frustrations against Cheng Rui. I don't think Cheng Rui knowing the truth would've changed the end result. If anything, it could've put Cheng Xu on Cheng Rui's hit list.

There's also the differences in the sons' reception to their mothers' love interests. Qi Yuan was extremely antagonistic towards Cheng Xu despite the fact that the latter raised him like his own son; guiding him and training him from such a young age. On the other hand, YY's son is the polar opposite. YY's son has absolute trust in DR and listens obediently to his mother, father, and DR. There's even instances where he bows down to DR despite being the emperor. It's interesting to see a young emperor growing up with his eyes open and be pretty unprejudiced in contrast to Qi Yuan's many hissy fits.
YY and DR's past affection is also no secret and everyone knows why they didn't end up together. Cheng Xu and MY's relationship was the opposite. Besides their inner circle, no one knew they were together which was why there were more problems down the road.

I do appreciate that YY also sits her son down and talks to him about love. They discuss who he's interested in and whether his love interest could potentially be his bride. It also goes so far as YY's son essentially giving her the "go ahead" to be with DR because he respects his father and mother's decisions. MY never did that with QY which caused issues once it was time to name his empress. Qi Yuan basically dated behind his mother's back and not knowing that little detail was why Ming Yu betrothed Ruo Xuan to his brother instead.

duboku.net

I think at the time, when The Wolf was filming, Darren Wang was peaking because of "Our Times." I remember when the trailer was released in 2017-ish, his movie "Legend of the Naga Pearls" was also released so this drama emphasized his and Li Qin's names rather than Xiao Zhan since XZ wasn't as famous back then.

If Luo Yun Xi is considered the (second) male lead who never gets a happy ending (Princess Silver, Ashes of Love) then Li Qin should be considered his female counterpart. Her characters don't catch a break (Princess Agents, Song of Glory, The Wolf).

HN was my favorite of the three. She was wise, considerate, nurturing, and firm with her decisions. It also helps that she's played by the fabulous Charmaine Sheh. Unfortunately, her character flopped so hard. It's so sad but for a drama that was suppose to be women-centric, all the female characters basically sucked.
I feel like the writer(s) had an inkling of how they wanted the characters to be and then just never followed through with it. The only likable character is probably Han De Rang...and let's face it, there's really nothing spectacular about how his character is written either. He's just an all-around good guy who seems to be very smart but that's only because all the other characters are relatively dumb.

At this point, I don't think he cared. He just wanted one to become empress.