moodygirl

The blood ruby and the little white fox are treasures presented by foreign lands seeking the Emperor's favor. Wan is busy treating the Empress Dowager's ill wind condition and gets rewards galore. Chi becomes one of the prizes to be won by some exotic princess in an archery contest. Wan better hope her arrows go astray.

Child abuse has consequences, but not everyone who is abused turns into necrophilic murderer and cross-dressing is mostly a benign pastime. Pomp and pageantry during the New Years' celebrations at court. It's hard to follow all the palace intrigues between empress and concubine and their respective offspring. The young noble ladies are also in competitive mode. Wan and Ning are amused as they watch the play. Chi is busy strutting his stuff and bolstering the emperor's ego.

"Revenge is a dish best served cold". This phrase by author Pierre Choderlos de Laclos seems appropriate here. Four corpses for Wan to deal with in this episode and she gives them her all. The murderer has just cause and a beautiful voice to sing opera. Most of the minor characters only manage to get drunk and/or vomit from hangover or watching the coroner remove various organs.

Ep. 16 it's time to party. The stage is set. The players are in place, let the performance begin. Ladies are ardent participants, while the males on display strut their stuff; be it wealth or valour.

Ep. 15 asks can ice be melted by hot passion? The heart surgeon's motto was 'practice makes perfect' except it didn't. Fraught with tension this episode was a long struggle to hold on to sanity and firm ground. The tug of war between life and death was never-ending but it was fought by valiant souls and they emerged victorious. Now we hope that love prevails.

Ep 14 I'm gutted about how this drama is putting all the women in danger. YanChi is galloping off on some useless pursuit while Wan is digging up carcases and possibly her own grave.

Hypothermia can kill you if you're exposed to the cold too long. Luckily a steamy bath lets us oogle YanChi's chest again and can help unthaw frostbite but the rest of his frame he is determined to cover up to keep ShenWan guessing . The herbal garden is full of mysteries and potential danger. Her Seniors don't seem all they are cracked up to be.

Ep. 12 is the trip North to the Capital. It gets really cold and white with snow, but that's not the only chill in the air. Getting shelter at Dr. Sun's place looks fraught with danger. Are there really 'mosters' or is it just more human caused evil? His Highness better gird his loins and squeeze his horse's flanks to prepare for times ahead. The drama really has great visuals and the soundscapes make it properly creepy.

Ep. 11 starts out with flames take engulf the Qin residence and dole out well-deserved justice. Case closed? Plans are made to head to the Capitol. His Highness experiences some jealousy and tries to be the type of man she admires, but a new admirer arrived to escort her.

Ep. 10 and this batch of murders is giving up a lot of information on an evil family. Revenge is stalking them one by one.

Young girls seem to be expendable in every culture and victimized by both powerful men and powerful women. It's good that these victims are not forgotten and justice is sought in their name.

Despite all the positive comments, there seems to be a concerted effort by a groups of people to bring down the ratings everytime it goes up.

Yes, I noticed that too. My only wish is that neither male nor female actors are bullied to constantly lose weight so the cameras make them more attractive. I don't find this attractive at all.

Just watching ep. 4 and am finding it hard to watch Ao Rui Pong out of costume. I hope his slender figure is not caused by enforced starvation due to demands of production team or the self-belief that this is a good look for heroes. If so, it's criminal; how could anyone endure the demands of making this type of action drama without proper nourishment that gives a person endurance and the physical strength needed.

There must be a determined set of people wanting to tank this drama. Don't let them.

How?

Ep. 2, those camera shots inside the corpse's body were great. Everybody except YanChi was grossed out. One cased closed. Now let's see who killed the headless bride.

Just started this after watching A Dream Within A Dream (great) and The Princess's Gambit (flawed) and it's already putting me off at the very outset. Just how long do arrows have to be to go through two bodies (Mom & Dad) and still stick out at eithe end for over two feet?

I've watched this to the end reluctantly, but at least the last few episodes were a little more action-packed. The middle was a draggy muddle. I liked the leads but the writers and director made it so they just couldn't get their romantic act together. Most of the supporting characters were well developed except for the sad sack of the Prince infatuated with the 'maid' who turned out to be evil and really annoying. The sand cave episode was the tense battle that was needed toward the end, but my ratings went down again when the drama chose to put him into suspended animation for a torturous time while we had to wait for the flower to bloom. BORING.

We should really ratched up ratings to 9 because it's outstanding and unique even in the time travel genre. This drama really did turn out to be a dream. Clever, funny and action-packed. The actors were all really enjoyable and the production was exceptional. Loved the soundtrack especially the various styles of music accompanying the fighting scenes in the last two episodes.