Hime

I really enjoyed the main leads and all the fluff we got. Unfortunately, just to make the drama longer, they added way too many supporting characters and there was too much "background noise" for me to not skip hours worth of the drama. I would rather have this be 24 episodes long and not have to be skipping around to get past all the unnecessary secondary storylines.

Also, the subs were pretty bad, as expected from mgtv, so that did not help either.

I gave it a 7 because I would re-watch just the scenes between the main leads, but had there not been so many characters I could not care less about, I would have given it at least an 8 for the enjoyment I got from watching the main couple.

So yeah, watch this when you have nothing else to watch and be prepared to skip A LOT of scenes.

I did mention the good points if you read all the comments I left behind, like how the acting was top notch and the relationship between the sisters, how Yan Zhi did not become a cliché character, etc.

But what stuck with me when I completed the drama was how it made me feel as a whole. And as whole I felt the plot could have been better so that was why I said there was no reason to complain about the rating since the rating was fitting of the drama. For some context, anything above 7 is worth re-watching for me and I have never given a 10. If you easily give a 10, what would you give a drama that is so good that it could be considered a masterpiece and that you will probably re-watch several times in the years ahead?

About the government, I know it is always messing up dramas, I know a lot of episodes were cut from this one, but I have to judge the drama by what it was and not what it could have been.

Although there were some parts that I found boring, which is normal in such a long drama, overall this was a pretty good one that I will remember for quite a while and probably re-watch.

I particularly liked how wise and kind the female lead was and the trust and mutual understanding between her and the male lead. The male lead himself although not perfect was very likable too. He was very loyal and loving and was almost as bright as his wife.

The family dynamics was also interesting and I enjoyed watching the FL winning everyone over. After the FL, my favorite woman character in this drama was her first sister-in-law. And next was probably Yao Di Zhu, a character that managed to avoid all the clichés and that for the first time made me think she was as good of an option for a wife as the female lead. Honestly, the only reason the male lead never fell for her was because he was already in love with the female lead and had no space in his heart for another woman. And Yao Di Zhu dealt with the whole thing with grace and dignity and managed to be different from any other second female lead in any other drama out there.

There were some great characters here. I just wish the ending was not as rushed. Maybe the drama should have been 45 episodes long instead of 43 to wrap up things neatly.

Yeah, but he died from drug abuse not because he was a self-sacrificing idiot that had a death wish. I have watched a lot of Chinese dramas that follow history and that have 1 or both of the main leads die at the end. This one just had poor writing. Like someone else said, this was mostly the ML being a doormat for the eunuch and not much more was happening aside from that. He literally stabbed and poisoned himself for Idk how many times just because of that damn eunuch. And only once or twice did I even think it was necessary for him to do that.

And why is the FL the lead if she was going to have such a mediocre ending? They might as well kill her too. With her personality I find it hard to believe she would be smiling working at a restaurant after her long lost sister and the love of her life just died. It would have been more credible for her to commit suicide or to get sick and die because of the pain of their losses.

Although I did like the drama to some degree, it had way too many flaws to ignore. I am clearly not the only one who thinks this way and that is noticeable by reading other comments in this comment section. But for some reason people keep replying to my original comment and this is turning into a very long discussion. Anyway, the conclusion is I liked it, but I was not blind to its flaws, while some people think this was perfect and deserves a full on 10 rating. It comes down to personal preference. There is no wrong or right here.

Let’s end the discussion here for the sake of our fellow drama watchers or they wont be able to read any other comments without scrolling down for a while.

I agree. I usually dont waste time writing long comments about dramas I did not like unless I hated it and need to rant. But I think you got my original comment wrong. I never said I did not like the drama, much less the actors. In fact for me the acting was the best part of the drama. I liked the drama, I just did not love it. I felt it could have been much better and that the expectations I had when I first started watching were not met.

So in other words, I liked the drama but not enough to think it deserves a better rating than the one it already has. That is what I was trying to say with my first comment.

I kind of skipped through the whole thing since the subs were not great and the story itself was not interesting for me. I dont know what I was expecting when I left the comment above 4 months ago. Maybe the synopsis was different.

Thank you anyway for letting me know where to find it subbed.

True. The ratings alone say little about a drama. I have watched dramas with ratings above 8 that I rated 6.5 and dramas with ratings of 6.5 that I rated 8. Some people rate without watching or after only watching a few episodes, other people rate based on the cast, so ratings are not always accurate. There are also crazy fans that will give high ratings to idol dramas that honestly are mediocre just because their idol is there and people that give low ratings to great dramas just because their favorite actor/actress is paired with someone else.

I have never given a 10 to a drama. I think the highest rating I have given to a drama was a 9 or 9.5. A 10 means that drama is a masterpiece and has no flaws, but usually even the best dramas have some sort of issue so I have never felt like giving a 10 to a drama.

For me, any drama I rate 7 or higher is worth re-watching, that is how I know which dramas to pick when I go through my completed list.

I have read a comment saying 6 episodes were cut, now you are saying 11, one thing is for sure, something was missing. I liked the drama but did not love it. All those scenes that were cut might have made the difference between me liking it and loving it. I might have understood better the characters’ reasonings and motivations. The censoring that is going on with Chinese dramas really messes up the overall enjoyment we get from watching them. :(

I agree. At first I thought I would hate QYZ, that she would be some sort of jealous greedy evil sister that would also like the male lead or something along those lines.

But actually I found her to be so pitiful, even more than the female lead. Her death was definitely fitting for her character since she loved her little sister and sacrificing for her was something she would definitely do, but at the same time I thought it was unnecessary for her to die. I think it was the only time I felt like crying while watching this drama. Her character deserved a happy ending.

The last 2 episodes I skipped almost everything since she was dead and I knew the ML was going to die too and it would be just the FL alone at the end. And it went exactly as I predicted, except the reason for the ML to have to die only made the story even more ridiculous. Sigh

Really? I dont understand why people do that. I rate a drama for the story, the characters, the acting, the production and the overall enjoyment it brings me.

It is unfair that people are giving low ratings to a drama because they are crazy fans. I dont understand these people. Its like they are saying "I am your fan but you can only act alongside who I want". Very selfish fans.

I think they released the subs for the first 12 episodes on the same day, so the other 12 will probably be released this week all at the same time too.

A lot of cdramas are not as good as this one, but I have also watched quite a few that were better throughout the years. So I agree that there are other cdramas out there that are not as good as this one, but there are also some that have a better written plot.

About the rating, it is not always accurate, but it is the result of all the votes. A lot of people gave this drama a 9 or even a 10, but there were a lot of people who gave it a rating below 7, which is why the rating went down. The rating is the average of all the votes, and the majority of people must have given it a rating of 7 or less for it to go down. One person cannot decide the worth of a drama. There are a lot of dramas that have ratings near 9 or even above 9, if this one doesnt that is because most people dont think it deserves such a high rating. That is how ratings work.

They cut 6 episodes out of this drama? That explains a lot. I did find a lot of inconsistencies in the plot. I guess they were caused by all those episodes that never aired.

Like you said, this is my opinion. Everyone is entitled to one. And clearly most people’s opinion is that this was good but not good enough to have a rating above 8.

I agree with one thing you said tho, the acting was top notch.
That is why I feel the actors deserved to play characters with better characterization and with a better storyline. I like a lot of the actors that played in this drama and have watched them in several other dramas and unfortunately this will not be one I will remember them for.

Btw, maybe that was not clear in my first comment but I never said this was a bad drama. It is a good drama, just far from amazing. The acting was really good but the storyline did not meet my expectations as I have been watching dramas for almost 12 years now and have watched a lot of other historical Chinese dramas that had better storylines.

People be here complaining about how the overall rating went down but I think it was only fair and natural for that to happen.

Although the actors did a great job, the plot was full of flaws. The characters often did and said things that were not very logical but the writers still tried to convince us they were being extremely smart and had a hidden reasoning behind their illogical (aka dumb) decisions. One of the most obvious instance of this happening is how there was a main villain in the story but all the characters that were supposed to be fighting against him were having a pillow fight while he was just watching and laughing as the feathers were flying everywhere.

The romance was underwhelming. The ML got on my nerves several times with his self-sacrifice bs that benefited no one. There were like 1 or 2 kisses in a 49 episode drama when the main leads started liking each other pretty early on. The FL was his doormat just like he was the eunuch’s doormat. Sigh

And the ending followed the same pattern. Just like I expected, they went the tragic route. The problem is I have watched several dramas that go the same route but that managed to make me cry and remember that drama for a while. This one made me yawn because the ending was not only predictable but by then I felt no empathy for the characters as the script completely cancelled all the effort made by the actors.

So, my final thoughts: the actors did a great job, the writers should probably take some time off and travel somewhere to get inspiration.

Yes, I dont like that kind of drama either.

Personally I think 5-10 episodes before the end is the perfect time for them to get together, but then they must stay together and there should not be any unnecessary conflict, like exes coming back, lack of trust and misunderstandings, monster-in-law against their relationship, ...

Thankfully this one managed to stay away from all those clichés.

Definitely. I prefer a good slowburn romance rather than a fast paced one. The only thing I dont like is when there are entire episodes in between where the main leads dont even interact at all and if you add all the scenes together you end up with an actual fast paced romance but that had a lot of filler scenes in between.

Some of my favorite dramas had the main leads only get together in the last episode or near the end of the drama. I find that dramas where the main leads get together in the first 2 or 3 episodes tend to get kind of boring and are probably going to have misunderstandings and/or breakups to keep the story going.

So for me, in terms of romance, this drama was just my cup of tea. ^^

I also found the beginning to be quite boring and slow, but believe me, it gets better. Actually, for this drama, the second half is a lot better than the first. Usually it is the other way around. A drama starts well and then it goes downhill. This one starts slow and kind of boring but then it just keeps getting better. I did skip some scenes here and there, but the main leads together were the best.

I will be honest. I almost dropped it after watching the first 2 or 3 episodes. Those episodes were like 90% the female lead playing on her phone and they had not even met in person yet. But I waited and after a while the pace picked up and although I did find some things boring and skipped a little bit, overall I really enjoyed the drama.

I liked how the main leads did not start a relationship right away but when they got together, they got together. There were no silly arguments, misunderstandings, other people coming between them...it was just them being together without any unnecessary drama. I also liked how a lot of clichés were avoided when it came to exes and meeting the family.

I definitely recommend this one if you are patient and are able to get through the first few episodes. I promise, it’s worth it.

Anyone knows when the other half of the drama will be released?