The Imperial Doctress (2016)

This is a beautiful drama. It is very warming and it will make you feel a lot of things. I really liked and enjoyed every character in this series, every single one of them had a purpose. I really enjoyed Empress Dowager chracter even though she was a villian, but she was a great one, she was a really female empowering Empress. Yun Xian is a really amazing lead she is just very cute and warming she is innocent but she doesnt let anyone to mistreat her which makes the perfect combination, she is really empowering and beautiful character I think Ive never loved a female lead this much. Qizhen is just amazing he is a gentlemen and he always protected her no matter what, I would die for him. I really enjoyed episodes from 1-40. Last 10 were awful. Qi Yu character seemed warm and cute at the beginning but I started to dislike him a lot after. The war scenes were great, the romance is this drama is crazy. Theres 6 people involved. 3 men who loved her deeply at their own ways, of course her (yunxian) and the Empress. The empress was my favorite chracter after YunXian. The empress is the definition of a good woman, really humble, sensitive with a lot of empathy and lot of patience and love. QiZhen and YinXuan (leads) had a really nice and great chemistry. I love them and you will too. I really enjoyed this drama until ep 40. The medicine techniques are actually nasty (don't watch when eating pls) but they are really interesting too. Theres a lot of chracters along the way, some you will love and some, I would not say hate but maybe dislike. When it comes to Mei Lin, I think the actress did a great job. Overall, I would give this drama a 9.5. The series finale is so satisfying for me. I would watch it again in a few years since this drama changed me some way, it made me feel a lot of things and theres not boredom until almost the end. The music (ost) is great and it goes along well with the drama. I will never forget this drama because it really touched me someway special.

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If it's Wallace Huo's, then it must be great!

Great storyline, cast, direction, cinematography. Of course if it's Wallace Huo's drama, it must be great. I love the emotional intensity he brought to the film. His eyes are very expressive - that sexy teary eyes that touches my heart every time. He has great voice too! I've seen most of his drama TV series and I loved all of them. I love the air of superiority that he exudes especially with his enemy around. His eyes that can freeze the hell fire even with just one gIance. I love the scenes together with Yun Xian when the snow is falling. Every time is a moment to cherish. There's been always too much emotion but with the situation they were in, it's been impossible to articulate because Yun Xian's really a virtuous lady.

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All I can say is that the show was not really worth watching. I thought it would of added more history versus a love triangle that made no sense. Less focus on the evil that people were doing and more focus on the true story. I couldn't even watch it till the end.
As for the actors they were for a better lack of words mediocre. (I don't want to offend anyone who loves Wallace Huo he's okay) but i felt like the story line really had no heads or tails to make sense.
The only two actors that I really loved in this series was the Oriat that wanted to marry the main lead, and the emperor who clearly loved her and couldn't have her.
Not worth watching again either. Sorry

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First of all, I like this story very much because it portray greatly in the aspects of gender inequality of the ancient China. It includes many aspects that can be relate to our lives (eg, how much power can change people...)

Story: 10/10
In some aspects the story drags (as expected from usual historical drama with so many episodes) but overall the storyline is great. VERY GREAT. as said above, those are some reasons I love this drama. Unlike other dramas, it was very very well made and the storyline ain't all about fluffy, cringy, cliche romance. The plot twists are great and in the end what happened to the villians are just so satisfying. Many people disagree when I thought the ending was good and happy. I can't give away too much at this stage. But let's just put it that for me it is a happy ending. The path Yun Xian (Liu Shi Shi) took in the end was right for me, personally.
The romance...it's complicated and many may not like it because it is not typically the kind of romance that is potray in most asian drama. But, for me I think that it was good enough because in the end I didn't really watch the story for the romance but the storyline itself.

Acting/Cast: 10/10
I'm a big big fan of Wallace Huo and Liu Shi Shi. I watched every dram they starred it so I'm happy the have a drama together. That was enough for me to give it a 10. Of course as expected from them they'd do a great job in acting out their characters. Chemistry is on spec and sides character do their roles very outstandingly.

Music: 9/10
I love love love love the OP and END, and OST. Very much. The end.

Rewatch Value: 7.5/10
I gave it quite low despite having enjoying the drama because it is long and once you watch it, that's it. It wraps up and there was no reason for a rewatch.

Overall I RECOMMEND :) for those looking for relaxation, comedy, extremely fluffy romantic happy drama. this might not be for you... but if not then watch it!

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This series is neither too bad nor too good. I chose to watch this one solely because of Liu Shi Shi and Wallace Huo but I was a little disappointed after not seeing two of them together very much in this one.

Story
It was okay up to episode 40 th but it become suddenly dragging after episode 40 so that I became so bored.Sometimes, I even feel like Yun Xian ‘s sentiment for Qi Yu is unnecessary. The story can be so beautifully written but instead it became dragging with unsatisfying ending.

Cast
Both Liu Shi Shi and wallace huo’s actings are top notch. But Qi Yu didn’t leave any good impressions on me after watching.

Music
Both of Lala Hsu’s songs are awesome, especially “Being Forgotten”. Overall, the osts are not bad

Rewatch value
Definitely “no”. I can’t suffer such kind of torment again. If I want to see Liu Shi Shi and Wallace Huo together again , I would rather watch The Vigilantes in Masks.

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A Historical Medical Romance

IMPERIAL DOCTRESS was a very enjoyable Chinese drama set in the era of the Ming Dynasty. This series had great plot and characters and really left a lasting impression.

Yun Xian is a determined young woman with a lifelong dream to become a female medical practitioner or "doctress" in a era exclusively dominated by male physicians. I really appreciated the theme, both of medical history as well as the female absence in practices that was much needed. Due to injustice towards her family, Yun Xian is striving to right the wrongs of the past by saving lives.

This was an excellent historical medical drama. The cast was superb and very memorable. I'm a huge fan of both leads, Lui Shi Shi (Cecelia Liu) and Wallace Huo, and they both have a chance to exceptionally shine here. The premise, story, costumes and settings were are very fascinating. The music was great as well. This was a very memorable and rewatchable show. I love historical dramas, especially ones with medicine as a theme. Ancient medicine is so fascinating to me. It may seem a bit slow in the beginning but if you give the show a full chance it will grow on you deeply by the end. Loved it.

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Educational

This drama is not unique in the world of C-Dramas. It talks about the struggles of women and how men underestimate them. But the female lead is interesting, in that she follows her goals while also pursuing romance.

Although I hated the SML, the yearning between the emperor and the FL carried me through. This was helped by the amazing music, and the emperor helping the female lead to achieve her dreams.

I believe romance is done best when the couple help each other. The FL and ML could not be together, but they supported each other. The romance carried me through, and I loved it. Not a boring moment.

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Hang Yunxian is an aspiring female doctor in a time where women were under lock and key to keep their "virtue" intact. Her grandma secretly taught her medical skills and she learned by absorbing by those around her, regardless if they are well known doctors or poor witches. She combines all this knowledge and applies it to the rich, the poor and everyone in between to become one of the top doctors of her era.

This is a mix of political drama, history, inner palace intrigue, romance, and fantasy. The story, while not well written due to character inconsistencies and character depth and pacing issues, kept the story interesting enough to keep watching. Liu Shishi had a lot of chemistry with Wallace Huo, made obvious in the last episodes where his yearning just makes your heart tremble.

By the end, I truly hated Zhu Qiyu. He had no redeeming qualities after he forced himself on Hang Yunxian. The writers glossed over it and tried giving him a redemption arc that really fell flat to me. Zhu Qizheng was an interesting male lead but both him and Hang Yunxian were too hard-headed to be compatible as a couple. Yexian would have been an interesting option but he appeared too late in the game and Yunxian was clearly never interested.

I was actually quite happy with the ending. It felt realistic because Zhu Qizheng put the good of the people before his own desires and Yunxian put herself and medicine first before love. Only when the kingdom was stable and after his wife passed could Qizheng go and find the person he had yearned for those twenty years. I probably wouldn't rewatch, but if you are a fan of historical dramas or the actors Liu Shishi and Wallace Huo, this is certainly a worthwhile watch.

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My first thought about this show was that wow, this is long, after mostly watching Korean dramas with 16 episodes I was a bit afraid I will get bored of this. However nothing was further from the truth, this show is very much worth watching, it never gets boring and there is always something new it shows us.

Story: Basically it is about Tan Yun's journey from early adulthood till her mid-ages when he gets married to the then-current emperor and we can see her struggles to become a female doctress in a time period when only men were allowed to practise medicine. She nevertheless never gave up, we see a lot of fails and successses of hers, she always collects herself and stands up stronger than ever. She become proficient in medicine, her life long passion and gets recognition and respect from fellow male doctors. Her character is based on a real Ming dynasty female physician Tan Yunxian and the Empress Hang who lived a generation before Tan. Now the story also kind of mixes the story of these two time periods, so we see Oirat invasion, the capture of the emperor etc etc, but all in all it does contain quite a lot of historic accuracy, not to mention the show creators also did research on ancient medicinal methods, so this part was very well done. The show can be divided into 3 main parts story-wise, first Tan Yun's time with her family and learning medicine, second the Oirat invasion and her and the emperor being captured by the khan. Here we see a lot of scenes of daily lives of the steppe people who has their own costumes, and during this time she really grows up and becomes a survivor. Third part is the return to the capital and her becoming noble consort than empress, this is mostly about the new emperor who was in the beginning a naiv gentle man but we see how power and some influential political people ruined him and made him greedy.

This is what the best part of the show is, character growth and development is huge, not just for the main actress but for everyone! We never get bored of them because we see how their struggles and circumstances made them change (sometimes for the worse), develop etc. The love story is not really the most crucial part, yes she did marry the younger brother, however it is obvious her real soul mate was the original emperor, with whom she only gets a chance after both his wife and her husband dies several years later. There is a minor love-line with the Oirat khan Esen, I really shipped them, would have loved to see them together, but oh well.

Music, visuals: For the other part of the show, the music is not really special, it's nice but not something I would remember to mention, however it is obvious the show is low budget. I have never seen such bad costumes in a show before, you can clearly see the gluey attachment of the wigs!!! The fight scenes, especially the one with the wolves, oh dear lord, like watching WOW in its earlier stages, just worse. So visually it's really bad, especially for a show that aired in 2016 and not like in the 1980's. One warning though, don't watch while eating, some of the medical scenes are downright disgusting, so if you are sensitive, watch it after eating. A lot of people complained about the last 10 episodes, as it is indeed more slow-paced, but still it has value as it shows how humans change due to power. The last episode was a bit dissatisfying, and a bit weird, I didn't really got why she had a miscarriage, she was slightly pushed by her motherinlaw, but I never got why in chinese dramas they are so overprotecting pregnant women, just because a bit of a push you don't die and don't loose a baby, and you can certainly do more than just lie in the bed! It was weird for me and didn't make sense, and the same goes for why she really married Zhu Qi Yu, when at the time it was clear he was not the sweet loving man anymore. Anyway apart from this it is a great show and I think it really teaches us about life and how to overcome difficulties and never stop pursuing our dreams.

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I love how this drama portrays a strong female character that is a doctor in ancient times where women usually have little rights. This would probably remind you of something like Dae Jang Geum. If you liked that show, you'd probably like this too and I think this one is more thrilling because there's more drama and plot twist. The main leads are amazing in this drama. Wallace Huo acting as the Emperor that was charming and benevolent that fell in love was on point. Can't help but fall for the Emperor that was willing to do anything to help his loved ones despite what he has to go through. Also, who doesn't love it when the Emperor goes outside acting like a normal person and get into misunderstanding with the heroine. It's probably cliché but who cares since it's fun.

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To long and ending was terrible...

I admit that I watched this for Shi Shi and found her character quite Stoic; a lesser person would have given up long ago!

As said by others, the first half to three-fourths was very good, although I didn't like the pairing of Tan Yunxien with Empress Hang:

Historical fact vs the series:
Yunxian lived to be around 93-94 years old, while Empress Hang only lived to be about 29-30 years old...

Empress Hang was preceded by Empress Wang (Not Mei Lin) and followed by Empress Qian...

Hang was originally the concubine of Prince Jingta and was promoted to consort when the character played by Wallace Huo was captured by the Mongols , not after she returned to the palace when both her and the Retired Emperor escaped.

Consort Hang's son was made emperor, which promoted her to Empress, not her husband. And Yes, she did deliver rather than abort! As stated on another review, a little push would not have caused her to miscarry.

IMO, the whole captivity part should never have been portrayed in the series, but it was an interesting part but not historically accurate at all!

The series itself:

It seems that there was no one 'man enough" to control the first Empress Dowager, the royal female characters in the series were allowed to run wild, sort of. Some historians consider the Empress Dowager as being under the Emperor himself, but this series says otherwise.

I thought all three actresses of the royal family portrayed themselves as villians quite well; one can see why Mei Lin was such a nasty person, after the two other Empress Dowagers and her father got through raising her to be self-centered and greedy. It still blows my mind that after Yunxian saving the royal ladies' lives, they still plotted against her the way they did! And for Mei Lin to beg Yunxian to save their husband's life after she poisoned him...unbelievable!

The younger brother's character fell in love with Yunxian out of gratitude for saving his life, and his actions led her to agree to marry him; and for the emperor to back off her courting after seeing Little Brother loved her, showed me early on that his character was more mature than he acted at the time. However, the court players and the royal women turned Little Brother into a greedy Emperor, and as he said, he got what he deserved from Mei Lin ultimately.

The only good part about the Mongol imprisonment was Little Sister, who treated Yunxian as an equal; although there is no historical fact to this part of the series. The scenery was beautiful and a nice break from the Forbidden City.

Most of what else should be said has already been said by other reviewers; I recommend the reading of the other reviewers to fill in the rest of the review I planned here.

The story was good but artistic license spoiled the historical facts...

The music was great, but not perfect...

Had I known how it would end I would probably not have finished it.

I am glad the two remaining characters did get together, but it left us wondering what happened after the final scene ended!

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