Welcome back to me! Lol. So after a total of 83 days days, I finally completed this one of hell of a ridiculously challenging drama. And I would say "Whoah! That's a LOT". I don't even know where to start at this point.

Anyways, let me start this by going through the most problematic aspects of this production as a whole, and that is...the Direction and Writing itself—Dang! I can't even count how many times I complained about how bad both are throughout my entire experience of this drama. It's a combination of bad writing and amateur direction which resulted into a complete chaos. A terrible, ludicrous and disgraceful show to be very honest.

One thing I cannot understand is how are people giving this a Perfect 10 when it doesn't even deserve an 8 or 9, more so a 10!? Like, the heck are those people thinking? This drama feels like a food you want to throw away after taking a big bite of it expecting it to be delicious but turned out to be one of the nastiest food you have ever tried so far. I got fooled so bad by the good reviews and the fact that Jeremy Xu is here. I definitely did not expect him to have this kind of stupidly absurd drama on his arsenal. This production did him dirty! No wonder he's decided to retire. Geez!

The story per se maxed the hell out of my patience and drained every little piece of tolerance I have had stored as a back up. One of the MDL reviews I read stated that they finally matured after the first 10 episode and from then on, has started acting more matured and attentive. BUT I am here to counter that! Like what the hell does that person meant by episode 10? I was on Ep.26 and is still complaining on what is the director and writer thinking while supposedly directing and producing this drama? 85% or more of the events that's transpired does NOT make sense at all. The direction was straight out BAD! It was like a scratch paper of an amateur director trying various things to gain experience. It was not even bare minimum, it was lower than that—a total lackluster and disappointing show.

This drama is in a competition against itself on how ludicrous it is. Each and every episode, something absurd always happen—like several times!! Which never failed to surprise me and got my eyeballs rolling non-stop each time. It's fascinating how can it topple its previous episodes on that specific category every single chance it gets, which made me grief so hard on how ridicuously unrealistic and nonsensical those scenes are! Its consistency on that entire area was bewildering to the point it has become disgusting over time.

Another major aspect I can't bear to overlook because of how deliberate it was are the times they just do not conform to the Palace rules and etiquettes. Few examples are:

× Ye Ning Zhi (FL) arguing with the Empress even when she's just a Maid at that time.
× Not bowing to both the Emperor and Empress as if they're of the same status and even suddenly leaving their presense without proper "Farewell" salute/bow.
× The multiple occasions where she acted on her own whim as if she's not on the palace grounds and many more.

I mean, I understand that they want her to portray this lively, free-spirited and vibrant character but she just went too far that it has become an impertinent and insolent action as time passes by. I am sure all people in their era knows how different the Royal Palace is and how you should be "Treading on thin Ice" while you are there but she's different. She doesn't seems to care about all that and I guess the Director wanted her to appear as someone "Unique" but to me she's more of an ignorant and mischievous person who went to the palace to get killed. She was clumsy, careless and doesn't even follow the common rules. She would have died already if it was on a different "Proper" period drama. Her writing got so exaggerated that I feel frustrated and irritated watching her.

The way it was presented to us/viewers seemed like they meant to do it that way. Maybe to stand out or something? I don't know if it's some kind of marketing strategy and/or promotion to gain publicity but surely they captured my attention...in the most awful way. I mean, I understand negative publicity is still publicity. However, I believe there should be a limitation to that...right?? 1-2 times is alright, 3-4 is fine, 5-6 a bit much, 7-8 excessive, 9-10 overdoing it but 11-20 and even more? Isn't that just straight out being rude and stupid? This drama's such an insult to those intellectually analytic people. It's as if they've abandoned their common sense and have decided to go on with this drama without considering such things, which is techinically the most important basic ethics out there. Oh God!

Lastly, is the incompetent Emperor who never fails to disappoint till the very end. He's such a disgrace that watching him infuriates me. Also, it's funny how Ning Zhi feels like the one running and front lining the palace against the Royal Princess because both the Emperor and Empress are ill-tempered and rashed! Hasty and doesn't do much thinking when they do things.

Overall, I would say that this production meant to showcase the growth of the Female lead—as someone who rises from the lowest rank to become a spectacular figure head; and they accomplished that at the very end but at the expense of ruining the entire context of the show because of the foolish route they've chosen to proceed with to finish this drama.

Story - 5.0, I am still trying to give credits (Happy Ending + the healthy relationship between the Empress Dowager, Empress and Imperial Consort) where it's due at this point. But aside from all that this drama can be categorized as nasty trash. The way it disrupted, disregarded and ruined all the basic common knowledge in the Royal Palace will forever leave a foul taste on my mouth. Unacceptable!!

Acting/Cast - 7.0, I got no issue with the cast, their acting otherwise made me feel some things a lot of times. I do not know if they were merely following the directors guidance and instructions but most of them acted as if this is some kind of a "Role" they're trying hard to play. I mean, the acting was there but the obvious effort to deliver it was very evident all throughout, which threw me off countless of times. P.S. I am not used to Jeremy Xu being all smiley and playful at times so seeing him here brings me utter joy and fascination.

Music - 9.0, Honestly, the only thing I truly love about this drama is the OSTs used. Opening Song is sorrowful which helps set the mood of the drama + the insert music on each scenes are neatly done too. I just want to include this here as well...Dubbing reminded me of Chinese drama's decades ago which are always obviously dubbed.

Rewatch Value - 1.0, NOPE. NEVER! I will never put myself on the same situation again where I would lose my passion and appetite in watching dramas just because I stumbled upon a ridiculous nasty one.

Overall - 5.5, Considering everything, this is the best I could give for this drama as a whole. The story could've been promosing if they didn't incorporated so much nonsense and did not blatantly go against the basic norms. I can never recommend this drama to anyone. This is definitely one of the toughest drama for me to finish. I endured a lot. Geez! Never again.

IF you find my review helpful please let me know.