The Good:
1. The main actors are tremendous! I started watching because I liked Wallace, but in the end I fell in love with Cecilia. They played the main characters perfectly portraying the chemistry and forbidden romantic tension between the emperor and the doctress. Although these actors were awesome, just like in any other drama some of the supporting cast got the side-eye.
2. In a long drama like this it is difficult to tell if days, months or years are passing, I liked that the drama gave hints to the timeline of how much time had passed so we wouldn’t be confused.
3. Overall, the story line was particularly thoughtfully written and didn’t stray too much from the main story of the happenings around the doctress. At every turn she was learning something new, meeting new people and being a total bad a@#.
4. I love a strong female lead character. This drama had one of the strongest female characters I have seen in a long time. Once she learned how to bat an eyelash and flirt a little she was unstoppable!
5. The character development was remarkable and well planned. I was so happy to see so many characters developing and having “life”
The Bad: Well… There isn’t much bad to the drama but in 50 episodes you find stuff wrong.
1. I HATED their lace front wigs, they didn’t match the hair colors for women and above all I saw clothes tags. smh. I couldn’t focus on what some of the characters were saying because of bad lace-mustaches… and don’t get me started on Essen’s drawn on eyebrows!! Hair and makeup should be ashamed, but the costumer was extraordinary.
2. Plot dragging- While the story line was good; there were some plot drags after ep 25 or so. The emperors temper tantrum would last way too long, or the empress’ despicable plotting would go on for way to long and I would be forced to jump ahead.
3. The evil stepmother. There were so many evil stepmother/evil women in this story I was sick of them. These women were overly evil, cunning and had poor excuses. I understand that this is historical based but the evil women in this were almost overwhelming.
Overall- this is worth the time! This has a unique somewhat happy ending but don't get your hopes high. If you like historical dramas with strong female characters, or if you just like strong female leads this one is for you!
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- For the first half of the drama, the balance between romance and medical was really good. However towards the end, the romance got really complicated (rather than love triangle.. it became a square?) and confusing. The medical part of it pretty much got lost after episode 30.
- I enjoyed the medical parts of the drama more since the context of the drama was about how Yu Xian was the first imperial doctress and attempt to rid of the negative connotations for female doctors.
- It felt like the drama lost its point and was trying hard to push the romance.
- The ending happened very quickly and weirdly...
Characters/Actors:
- I felt the actors was well chosen
- There was chemistry between all 3 main characters but Yu Xian's personality was predictable - like the typical 'innocent and pure' character.
Music:
- i didnt pay much attention towards the music of the drama, but the song that was used during the romantic scenes was really nice
Overall:
- Overall its a nice drama to watch, at least first half. Its pretty long - 50 episodes, I recommend watching it when you have loads of free time. Since first half the drama got me waiting for the next since I was following it as it aired (2 episodes everyday), so you might get hooked initially. But around episode 30 - you probably will slow down.
- Its a Chinese soap opera - so if chinese isn't you first language you won't be able to enjoy what they say as much since they speak in the 'ancient' way. Even as a chinese speaker, some parts are hard to understand.
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I enjoyed the idea of a complicated romance, where things don't exactly turn out the way you want. I thought it was filmed beautifully, and the emphasis on a woman in a non-traditional field was somewhat realistic.
The pacing was slow, but usually slow pacing means a lot of clever dialogue and character development....I kept waiting and waiting...and no. I had to force myself to finish.
They heavily referred to the confuscius rules that made life hellish for women, which I liked because sometimes I think dramas ignore this bit of reality, but after a while it became redundant.
I liked the inclusion of tribal peoples. I found the ending to be weak, and her utter lack of expression was not satisfying. It did not seem to fit her character well. I think a lot of people will disagree with me, which is fine. I don't think that they should have picked Wallace for the lead because I think the short amount of time available to him to film may have impacted the story. Or not and I am just wrong.
To sum up, I think the best thing was the lovely scenes/costumes but this is so normal in dramas that it seems hardly worth commenting on.
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STORY - 7/10
it's kind of mind boggling to look back on how much has happened on Yunxian's journey over the several years in which the drama takes place. There are some points you're questioning character's sanity and there's huge amounts of palace makjang and the evil plotting to go along with it.
The story alternates between being interesting to cute to eye-rollingly exasperating and/or boring to heartbreaking to wanting to kill everyone and everything between those categories. As I've said before, it's really a roller coaster ride of feelings and despite the low points, I think it was enjoyable.
ACTING/CAST - 9/10
Honestly, I love Liu Shi Shi and I might be biased in saying this but I thought she kicked butt in this. There's not a lot you can do with Yunxian's character who's really virtuous and kind and basically a cinnamon roll but I think she rocked it. I've seen a lot of complaints about her acting and again, I might be biased but I think she did a fabulous job. Yunxian also reminds me a lot of her other historical roles like Bu Bu Jing Xin's Ruoxi and I love how I felt as if I was growing up with Yunxian throughout the drama.
Wallace Huo also deserves his own paragraph of praise because I love how he portrayed Zhen Qi's character progression. Both Zhen Qi and Yunxian evolve as characters as they go through their own trials and tribulations and in the end, I think they portrayed it well. Wallace has played unrequited love characters before and he always plays them so well that my heart is literally crushed while watching him as Zhen Qi. I really believe he did a great job in this and he is one of the major reasons why I stuck with all 50 episodes. He emotes very well and you can see how Zhen Qi grows into a better man.
The other actors and actresses also portrayed their roles well, most notably (for me anyway) the villains like Mei Lin and Qiyu's mother. When they were on screen, they had me plotting terrible schemes for them to go through. Then there were the characters who I loved to hate (Qiyu) and the characters I probably should've hated but ended up loving anyway (I'm looking at you, Ye Xian).
MUSIC - 8/10
I loved the music in this drama. It's not much songs really, just about 3 or 4 but they're incredibly meaningful and honestly add to some extremely emotional scenes. Definitely some of my favourite OST songs.
REWATCH VALUE - 7.5/10
It's 50 episodes long and I'm probably never going to rewatch the entire thing but I definitely have scenes that are my favourites and that will have me coming back to this drama.
OVERALL - 8.5/10
I quite enjoyed this drama particularly because of its lead characters, the female lead's passion for medicine, love stories (unrequited, triangles, squares) and its ending. The journey was a great ride and I'm happy to complete it and add to the favourites pile.
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By far one of the best Chinese historical dramas out there!
The story and characters are so well written.The story is hard and yet beautiful to watch some of the time. Still, I've watched it all the way through twice and marvel that both times I never once thought of "fast-forwarding" through the tedious parts that most historicals usually have. The Imperial Doctress doesn't have that. ever.
Fantastic acting and a lovely, with a bitter-sweet ending.
This one is a MUST for anyone who enjoys historical shows!
By far one of the best Chinese historical dramas out there!
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Great Great Drama
Ah! Where do I begin? I've watched this series last year and my overall rating was 8. Few months later I've watched it again. Well it 's really known that the most autocratic dynasty that ruled China was the Ming Dynasty. And this affects the lives of women due to neo-Confucianism and among other things. The rigidity and strictness that was being imposed on women was really designed to oppress the female species. Well I can go on and on about this. This drama is a story of a young woman who's desire in life was to learn to be a physician and heal patients. Of course she encountered mountains of hurdles along the way as men's mindset at that time was extremely primeval. The story is set during the Ming dynasty and the Oirat's several attempts to bring back the Mongolian rule. How the eunuchs' influence on the young emperor brought him his ruin that led him into Oirat's captivity and losing his position as an emperor to his brother. In the midst of it all is our heroine.This drama made me shed barrels of tears. First time I've watched it I sobbed plus it's exacerbated due to it's beautiful and heart-rendering OST. And it had the same result the second time around. Every time the OST is played on the background with Cecilia &Wallace on screen - knowing that the love is there but it can't become into romantic reality made me burst into tears. Others say that emperor Qi Zhen (Wallace) had unrequited love for Yun Xian (Cecilia) but I disagree. She loves him with all her heart without realizing it at first. Or it might be because she already committed herself to Qi Yu and the emperor had an empress. Such complicated relationships for these characters involved in the story.
Great choice of cast specially the leads. I've admired the works of Cecilia and I find her a good actress. I've watched her on Sound of the Desert, Scarlet Heart & Lost Love In Times. Oh God! All the mentioned series made me cry but they're all FANTASTIC. She is somehow great in finding chemistry with her on-screen partners. She makes you fall in love with her character and the men she's with. Except for Qi Yu. Ahhgghh! Hate him such an asshole. The actor is great but I never warmed to him. He is not handsome nor charismatic. Compared to Ye Xian (Mickey Yuan) I don't find him endowed with good looks as well but he has charisma. And Cecilia was even able to connect with him on screen. There were times I wanted to scream at Yun Xian to show more strength in front of her nemesis like the empress. But duhh...
Now, Wallace's acting is spot on. This is the first time I've watched him but damn his portrayal was superb. I love how his character has grown from being frivolous to a matured person. From a young emperor, to his captivity, to retired emperor. There were many instances that I wanted to find the director and scream at him. Good God! Ask him to hug Yun Xian or kiss her. What's wrong with more physical intimacy on-screen. So annoyed.
Critique: I really don't know Chinese Traditional Medicine and I did a little research since I'm curious. There's a lot of criticism about it in the medical field such as claims of purportedly healing efficacy. But hey every culture and tradition has its own idiosyncrasies. But what I can't fathom is the use of chicken dung and its effects as medicine. Eewww disgusting! And there were a lot of other dodgy medicinal ingredients featured in the series. Plus it was made worse with the subtitle because of the translation.
On the other hand, this drama is superb. I love it. Highly recommend it. How I wish the Chinese drama makers will make more of this kind of dramas - meaning serious with good cast appropriate to their characters. There's really very few of this category, there's mostly these teeny fluffy historical rom-coms.
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It is one the best I have seen.
It grows more complex and powerful with every episode.
The way the relationship between the three main characters evolved as their characters grew was realistic and moving.
The friendship, loyalty and love between the emperor and the doctress is built with layers of incredible experiences.
I know I will continue to re watch this drama again and again throughout my life.
The first time I saw this drama was a year and a half ago and I still think about the characters and their relationship with each other all the time.
It is also my favorite in regards to imagery.
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