Hime

I did not spoil myself but since episode 1 the rational part of me knew exactly who that body belonged to. I tried to stay positive and think maybe it will be someone else since they have played me in so many other dramas and it is not very common for one of the main characters to die. But this time I was right, and I hated that I was right.

Plus, I had already watched the actor playing the male lead here in the drama 18 Again and he is so convincing when crying that I just end up crying with him. T T

This drama completely destroyed me because of how real it was.

Ouch, this was so real. Usually dramas find a way to defy logic to keep viewers happy but this one was refreshingly real. What you see is exactly what you get.

That made the drama not only realistic but also heartbreakingly tragic. I will need to do some healing after watching this. Maybe watch some kitten videos or a fluffy rom com.

Ah I knew there had to be some form of censorship at play. That makes sense then. You are right, this is a good drama. It is a shame that such important scenes were cut. I wish I could watch it how it was originally intended to be. Aside from the crown princess, there were scenes cut from when the main leads were supposed to make up and I dont really know what happened to the FL’s sister and so many other characters were only mentioned or had a short scene that left so many questions. What a shame.

What you said is true but the deaths were the least of the problems. I am used to Chinese historical dramas being tragic. The main issue for me was the loss of trust/misunderstandings that happened around ep 30 and that remained almost until the end. There were also some sub-plots added that I found unnecessary. And the scenes that were cut were necessary because it was very noticeable when it happened. It felt like they originally thought the drama was going to be longer but then were told they could only air 55 episodes so they had to start removing things and rush the ending. A lot of those scenes were between the main leads and it made me wonder how things went from A to C, since B was missing.

Btw, you should probably tag your comment as a spoiler since you mention the name of some of the characters that die.

Exactly. I dont understand why people are saying that this should have a rating of 9 or more. First, it is very rare for a drama to have an average rating above 9. And second, this one definitely does not deserve such a high rating. The concept was interesting, but when rating a drama there is more than just the original idea to take into account. Pace, story, acting, music, editing, overall execution of the idea, every single thing plays a part in making a good drama.

The idea was good, but the execution not so much. So I am sorry, but this drama does not deserve all the hype. Idk if its because of the cast or what, but this is definitely overrated.

Like you, I also wanted to enjoy this, but I felt it was really draggy and I was bored most of the time. :(

I was ok with it being slow paced and even kind of boring at times. The chemistry between the leads was great, the ML had incredible character growth and most importantly I enjoyed watching the FL being one step ahead of everyone and being able to navigate through the Palace thanks to her kind and wise words/actions. I also liked a lot of the supporting characters and hated some too.

Unfortunately, somewhere around ep 30 things started to go downhill. I found myself skipping a lot of scenes and wondering what is wrong with these writers.

Overall, its a good drama. But it could have been a great one. I think it would have probably been better had it been 40 episodes or less. I see this happening to a lot of Chinese historical dramas. To keep the story going the writers will add unnecessary sub-plots and tragic deaths which really lower my overall enjoyment.

Also, I could tell a lot of things were edited out and it really impacted the story. I felt like something was missing in between 2 scenes and that would leave me confused thinking I skipped something I shouldn't, but when I went back there was nothing there to begin with. Some characters also did not have proper endings or what happened to them was only mentioned. Again, had they kept it shorter and they wouldn't have to edit out these important scenes and rush the ending.

At first she did not really hate him. I think she was just scared he would blow her cover. But then he started chasing after her like crazy. Having an obstinate man chasing after you when you have no feelings for him would be annoying to anyone. He would push, pull and hug her against her will. Also, she already liked someone else, so his advances were even more unwanted.

So in my opinion, she did not actually hate him at first, she just found him annoying and wanted nothing to do with him. At most she would be available for a friendship, but being friends was clearly not his intention and she knew that so she thought it would be better to keep a distance from him.

I liked some things about this drama, but found it unnecessarily long and draggy. I am also still angry at what they did to a certain character in ep 38-39. It felt like the writers did it just to add more tragedy to the FL’s life, like she even needed more of that at this point. It was cruel and did not add much to the story.

Overall, an average drama. If you are out of Chinese historical dramas to watch, then watch this. Otherwise I am sure you will find something better to watch.

I cant imagine dropping a 36 episode drama at ep 24. I just hate leaving things unfinished even when I am finding the drama is dragging. There are some dramas that made me actually skip to the last episode for that same reason. This was not one of them, but I did skip a lot more after ep 24 or so.

If you dont like too much drama, it might have been for the best. The 3rd part of the drama was extremely dramatic and I cant remember when was the last time a drama made me cry so much. Xiao Ning really is unlucky, she has such a miserable life that it is impressive how she can find positive things in so much negativity. I really admire her character for that.

I enjoyed their relationship and how much she helped him find some light in his dark world, but there were some supporting characters that I think took to much screen time making the drama draggy for me. I also thought the last few episodes were too heavy and the drama would have probably been better had it ended around ep 24.

Its ok. It was just a misunderstanding.

Didnt sound like you were. Usually I can tell when someone is using irony or sarcasm. Here it sounded like you were actually angry at my comment, even though I said I liked the movie, just that it could have been better and that some people might not enjoy it.

But anyway, if you were kidding, then its all good.

First, I watched this in 2017. At the time there probably was no transcription for the letter or missing subs, something that made me only understand what had really happened after reading a review by a native speaker.

Second, I am not the only one who thought the ending was unclear. Just read the comments, yet I am the only one you so politely attacked.

Third, what you did is against MDL’s policies. If you want to be in a community, learn to be respectful first. I am open to different opinions and views, but that was not what you did here. You just bluntly attacked me for no reason instead of commenting about the movie.

Yeah, humans are very complex. There are some really nice selfless people out there, but there also people who do things that are so evil that we, as normal human beings, are unable to comprehend.

Some people are born without the ability to feel empathy or care for anything other than themselves while some people never become evil no matter how much stuff they go through. So although I agree the environment surrounding a person plays a huge role, it is not everything. Some people are born that way and become murders no matter how happy of a family life they had and even if they never suffered any injustice.

Just recently I watched a video about this guy who was super close to his younger sister who was only 4. One day he just killed her in a very brutal way while he was still a kid himself. Turns out he was a psychopath and was wearing a mask the entire time. He never loved his sister, his mother or anyone else. He was born unable to feel empathy. There was nothing that triggered him to do it. He had a happy family life, in fact he was the favorite kid out of the 2, he had everything he wanted. One day he just decided to kill his sister, just like that. He also tried to kill his mother one of the times she visited him in prison.

This could have been a super interesting drama...but it had way too many flaws. It was overly dramatic, especially in the second half. The writers tried to make all the drama easier to swallow by adding "comedy", but 95% of it were poop/fart jokes that were far from funny. Honestly, they were in every episode and in some episodes they happened several times. Never saw a drama mention sh*t this much.

And another issue I found was that the plot lacked any sort of logic and had an ending that was far from decent. It was quite bad to be honest.

This first few episodes were interesting, but it just went downhill from there. So unless you have nothing better to watch, you might want to skip this one.

Let me know if you find this one subbed. From the comments below it seems it was subbed on YouTube at some point but it has been removed.

Yeah, there have been Taiwanese dramas I really liked. I can remember 2 or 3 that were actually in my top favorite dramas. But at the time I left this comment the Taiwanese dramas I was watching did not leave a deep impression so I thought it might be Taiwanese dramas in general when it was actually just a few that were not that interesting.

Yeah, I had no idea about all these things, even the age gap I only found out after I finished watching. He looks a lot more mature. I thought he would be at least 25, but he is only 21. What is in his contract? A no kissing clause or something along those lines?

You said a lot so I dont even know where to start. lol

So, for the romance part, I know she is young, but when that fake kiss happens she has been through a lot and is supposed to be a lot more mature since by then she had gone through a lot of character development. Like I said in reply to another comment, it is the fake kiss that bothered me. I would rather there was no kiss at all than what they did.

About the other couple, it was the fact they spent more time together and their bond felt stronger and the romance more real. For the main couple is was the ML liking her all along while she only realised her feelings later on. They also spent a lot of time apart so I felt like their romance was not as much as it could have been so I found myself rooting for the second couple (the princess and the soldier) since there was not much going on for the main leads.

When I mentioned I was not satisfied with the explanation they gave us, I did not meant how she went out for revenge. I meant how the uncle took the throne and her mother killed herself when there was no need to, it all felt very convenient but lacking logic and the wow factor was missing. Idk how to explain, I just wasnt impressed by how that part of the plot was handled. It was just the way I felt.

Yeah, I also wish there was more romance and kiss scenes. What I meant is if they are going to give us this kind of kiss scene, then I would rather have none. For me there is no point to doing a fake kiss. You either do it properly or you dont. Seems kind of harsh but that is how I feel about kiss scenes. lol