Reviews

Fun and Feels in the Middle, but will it stick the landing?

I'm temporarily without access to this drama, stuck at episode 32 (there would have been far worse points to stop!) and where some dramas I pause in the middle of fade quickly from memory, I can't stop thinking about this one. I'm usually leery of the whole "pulled into the story/game" genre--the added layer can be distancing and rob emotional weight. But so far this one has struck and excellent balance. On the one hand, there's hilarious parody of the serious historical drama genre (esp the kind with the cold cruel ML and the nice supportive SML, also with shout-outs to the jump-back-in-time subgenre and some other specific niches). Some of the tropes are combined in hilarious ways.But it also soon got under my skin. The FL is just as wary, just as holding herself back from getting too emotionally attached as I was as the watcher of this genre. She knows she's stuck in a story so she's determined not to fall for it...and it made me fall instead. The ML is brilliant. The casting was brilliant--especially using someone who'd so recently had a serious version of the ruthless and cold ML role!--but mostly because he does complicated and soulful looks so well. Various secondary characters are also very well done and themes of questioning what you think you know about people and about life are pervading the whole middle section.I really really hope they stick the landing and don't undercut everything they've built because in between the laugh out loud parody, there's something really moving and heartfelt here and I want to see that through for all these characters that are getting more depth as they go.

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I love smart FLs

FL is smart and the ML respects her. I love it! Our leading lady is composed andrestrained. She is making the most of the opportunity of the accidental meeting with the grand princess, but she is not self serving or a social climber.She has a mission. The usual jerk has made his appearance - a cancelled groomto be. Feeling very sorry for the headless bride. I did a little research and confirmed that autopsies were indeed done in ancient China as early as the 900's. Not sure why people are giving this series such low scores. The leads are beautiful and authentic. Their friends are lovable. And they are investigatinga headless bride!

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It's all coming together

Now that all the cast members and the various schemes they are working on have been properly established, the plot is really coming into its own. I struggled a little bit with the pacing in the first couple of episodes, but now it is flowing smoothly, and the web of motives and motivations is starting to really fill out.This episode does a wonderful job of introducing plot twists in a very natural way, and picking up threads from the very beginning which we didn't even know then would be plot threads (like the officer protesting the beheading in the opening scene becoming meaningful again.) It's an early taste of the show being very tightly plotted, as other comments promised, and I'm very excited for more.

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