Story of Kunning Palace (2023)

An Interesting Reverse Harem Romance

Chinese heartthrobs Bai Lu & Zhang Ling He are in the news for all the right reasons. Following the success of her Xianxia romance “Till the End of the Moon” and her current on-air drama “Only for Love”, Bai Lu is obviously a fan favorite. Similarly, Zhang Ling He has been riding high on the heels of his recent IQIYI releases “My Journey to You” & “Tiger and Crane”. Adapted from the web novel “Kun Ning” (坤宁) by Shi Jing (时镜), “Story of Kunning Palace” depicts an arrogant Queen’s journey as she falls from grace, commits suicide and transmigrates to the past to redeem herself. Surprisingly, both Bai Lu and Zhang Ling Zhe are playing roles that are morally grey. Bai Lu’s character in “Story of Kunning Palace” might seem quite similar to her portrayal in “Till the End of the Moon”. But Jiang Xuening is definitely different from any of her previous renditions. Zhang Ling Zhe recently played a grey character in “Tiger & Crane” and his “Xie Wei” has similar dark undertones. It seems both actors wanted to try their hands at playing shady characters and, shockingly, they are good at it. Directed by Chu Yui Bun, the show has a star-studded ensemble and is based on the concept of a reverse harem. Yes, that’s right. Jiang Xuening has quite a few admirers in this storyline and the show majorly focuses on her burgeoning relationship with each of them.

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https://kcdramamusings.wordpress.com/2023/11/10/story-of-kunning-palace-first-impressions/

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It was almost good-ish but..

Despite similar plot having been explored in many other dramas, I had high expectations for this one due to its impressive production quality. The beginning showed promise, with events seemingly aligning in the FL favor, and I largely overlooked the family drama subplot. Initially, it appeared that Xue Ning and Yan Lin's relationship might evolve romantically, only for her to opt for friendship instead. The pacing was pretty good at this point, I was impressed.

Suddenly, Xue Ning becomes fixated on Yan Lin, determined to protect him from all the dangers of the world, without fully understanding the motivations behind his past actions, including his betrayal (if I recall correctly, he even assaulted her?).

While she remained wary of Xie Wei from the outset, Yan Lin received a pass despite his association with him. She vilifies Xie Wei without considering her own stance.

The introduction of Zhang Zhe felt underwhelming after much anticipation. Xue Ning's sudden fixation on him, resorting to her previous tactics to win him over, seemed driven more by a desire to validate her goodness rather than genuine affection. Her moment of self-reflection following Zhang Zhe's mother's second death felt forced, especially considering her subsequent emotional outburst, which contradicted her established character. But when Xie Wei showed up and hugged her, it became evident that it was merely a setup for the introduction of Xie Wei as the new romantic interest.

As for the "plot", up until episode 25, Xie Wei seems to be in the palace for revenge. As for Queen Dowager, she seems to have had played a part in the conflict that started it all. Xie Wei is trying his best to keep Yan family safe while trying to remove the obstacles and that's where we are now, and by the looks of it, I think it will continue for at least the next 5-6 episodes which I can't endure.

Overall, the series was passable entertainment until this point, but I find myself reluctant to continue beyond episode 25. What I anticipated as a revenge-driven narrative devolved into a clichéd toxic romance drama prioritizing runtime over plot development. Nonetheless, it earns a 6.5/10 for its commendable performances and high production values.

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Incompetent ex-Empress

The female lead was an empress in her last life, and for becoming the empress. she must have gone through rigorous training, and study. I thought that she would be a master in these subjects, but why the hell is she so incompetent? I mean, how is this even possible? How the hell did she even become the empress? Even if someone conspires for the phoenix coronet, they must have talent but how did this useless girl take the position?

It's baffling, one would expect her to be a master strategist and adept ruler, given the prerequisites for such a role. However, her current incompetence raises questions about her past accomplishments. The narrative appears inconsistent; for someone who secured the coveted title, her lack of competence seems implausible. It challenges the credibility of the storyline; it left me pondering how this seemingly inept character managed to claim the throne.

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Intriguing story with a touch of romance & passionate kisses!

I liked this unique storyline where the FL goes back in time and tries to undo all her previous mistakes. And for some events, no matter how much she tries to change it, it still happens anyway. But with perseverance, she continues to work against fate and changes the outcome of the people she cares about.

Towards the end, it was no longer about her undoing her past misdeeds so the story fell flat for me. And when the ML and FL started to acknowledge their feelings for each other, it was very stingy on the romance but instead gives us some passionate kisses and even a bedroom scene before marriage.

Overall, it was entertaining if you don’t expect too much. Thankfully, the ending was an happy one.

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If you came here for Bai Lu and Zhang Linghe, I suggest you leave right away. The show didn't really focus on the love between the 2 which I didn't really mind. I'm at least glad that the entire drama didn't revolve all around love. You don't really see any chemistry between the main leads until like past episode 20.

There are some characters that I just loved throughout the entire show. Not only their looks but they managed to pull off the acting of their characters so well. I love the princess's personality and this is my first drama I've seen her act but she did a really good job, and her personality is pretty hard to despise. Yan Lin also did a spectacular job. It just such a pity that they didn't end up together. I feel like Jiang Xuening shouldn't have wasted so much time with Zhang Zhe if she was going to end up leaving him.

The story also took a lot of time to explain what was going on. Basically it's a simple and basic plot. Empress Dowager's family has a lot of power in the court, and wants to take over. That is literally the plot, and Jiang Xuening gets reincarnated will all her knowledge in her past life as empress to stop all bad things from happening.

The show was mid, wasn't super good but not too bad., there are like literally 2 kissing sceneces betwwen the main leads and that's about it.

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Overall the story was nice.
Some parts were rushed especially towards the end but it was not terrible.

The romance would have been more entrancing if it hadn't started so late. IDK why the authors decided to spend more than half the story dwelling on the "love" story between Ning'er and Zhang Zhe.
Also, Zhang Zhe was soooooo boring to me OMG!!!, I wondered why she was so infatuated with him. He was stiff like a wood half the time they interacted.

Back to the ML and FL, I am not one for toxic portrayals of love in any shape or form but something about Zhang Linghe /Xie Wei made me close my eyes every time he was rough with her.

I am very impressed by Zhang Linghe and his portrayal of Xie Wei. I found him to be such an emotive actor, leaving the audience immersed in his character's trials and tribulations. Although he is relatively new and young, I see him achieving great things in the future.

This was my first time watching Bai Liu and I am not going to lie, I expected a lot more from her because of her reputation as a solid actress. I found her acting to be mediocre at best. She is not terrible but she needs to master her emotional scenes. Her character annoyed me a little (dwelling on Zhang Zhe) but Ning'er was ok overall. I liked her spunky and daredevil attitude.

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gosh... the editing...

the acting and story are good, but the editing really made me feel very uncomfortable when watching it.

I discovered editing like this when watching The Long Ballad, so I thought this drama was edited a long time ago, but it turns out this is a new production. I'm quite disappointed because of this.

For me, editing is as important as the actor's acting, so I lowered my rating on this drama even though I was waiting for it because it's Bailu's drama. I really liked her in the drama TTEOTM, the first xianxia drama I watched.

then the make-up of the female players is also not neat, especially on the lips. Like the make-up stylist didn't pay enough attention, even the make-up for Bailu was the same, I couldn't focus on watching because of this.

in some episodes, I had to skip a lot of things because they were so long. especially in episode 12 during the coming of age ceremony, it takes 1 episode to argue in the same place.

I'm satisfied with the ending but why is Bailu's clothing style less attractive in the ending? Her make-up this time is beautiful but not her clothes

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Hooked right from the first episode !

For a long time time, I was looking for a historical c drama which make me fall in love with it in a instant.
And for sure, I fell in love with this series from the very first episode.
I am loving it.
And you will also found it intriguing if you are into historical twist and turns drama.

Story - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Cast - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Acting - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Each and everything about this show is on point.
It got me hooked from the start and after a long time I am feeling such a way with a Chinese series.
Bai Lu and Zhang Liang He’s chemistry is sizzling.
Just go for it.

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Convoluted but engaging!

Since the presentation at the beginning of each episode is a short summary of the plot, I don't think it's spoiler when I say this drama involves a little bit of time travel. We have a leading lady who goes back in time, with her memory intact, for a re-do at family and court life. The drama, tho, starts the story like you are already in episode 5 and the viewer has to catch up. In my opinion this made the first third of the drama a convoluted, sometimes hard to follow but the characters were interesting enough to keep me engaged.

I appreciate leading lady it's smart and an equal talent as her male counterparts. This is important to portray because the world she involves herself in is controlled mainly by man, so in many ways she has the upper hand when they underestimate her and she can be sneaky without them realizing what hit them. Of course, except for leading man and a few of his friends. They see her for her smarts, beyond the beauty and noble title. Which is nice. That is not to say the drama has some red flag here and there but, if I am honest, I am on vacation right now and I just took this story for what it is: a fun period piece with endearing characters and some intense chemistry.

The latter two thirds of the story were far more interesting. We already know our players, where they stand and who they are trying to take down. Now it's a matter to see how this chess game will unfold, which personally I think it's the most fun for this kind of stories.

Overall, I really enjoyed this drama.

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Similar Plot of Nirvana of Fire

Story of Kunning Palace, trailer was very eye catching and only if they could add more episodes. As expected, it’s remind me of Nirvana in fire. These are just nitpicks that I found kind of irritating me while I binge watched this drama. I love both actors and actresses though.

Problems I saw while watching the drama: Although I really like the two main leads, it was hard to watch because the writers couldn’t really pull the strings for FL to actually like him. I only see ML’s love for her. I also have more trouble of watching the way how they wrote Female Lead. Bai Lu acting pattern I’m starting to get tired of watching the directions of her character roles (maybe I watch a lot of her dramas, I see how each character manner/are almost same.) I was very irritated to hear her running movements are similar to her modern dramas. I found it annoying that she screams too much during the last episodes when she tries to reason with Main Lead about her feelings. (Directors failed at directing) (I haven’t read the novel so I don’t know if they changed anything but when it is adaptations it probably changed
) They really failed writing her character. As for Main Lead his acting was not as good as how he was in Love Between Fairy and Devil. His new role it was okay but improved just a little along the way. I think the best parts was him acting out as a lunatic was pretty good! He still had weird and funny facial expressions when he delivers his lines.

Overall I’d wish they had done an even more better job with the character of FL lead. It wasn’t explained in a good way. Other than other characters were great!

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