A smooth and addicting watch, recommended. A romance (no skinship necessary) set in a decent historical/political thriller. Nothing better for a summer binge (30 hours!! 40 eps at 45mins ea.) A woman is the protagonist of the story (Cdrama seems better at this than Jdrama or kdrama--why?). Is this a story about revenge (the FL motivation) and power politics (the ML/bro of emperor motivation) or about justice for women and a peaceful govt for the people? You decide.

Underlying themes:
1. The power of rhetoric to turn reality on its head. The powerful use it in most dramas, here the weak can, but only in the context of relative social stability.
2. The unspeakable crimes which women endure behind closed doors (including the suffering of hostages). Some survive with the essential integrity of their character intact, but some survive only as monsters, permanently damaged. All human beings deserve compassion because we all suffer, even these.

A powerful screenwriter (Ren Ya Nan) makes justice and various forms of real love possible in this show for a series of imperfect beings. The violence is therefore bearable within the theatrical frame.

Astounding slow simmer between the leads; ML actor Wang Xing Yue (Duke Su, Xiao Heng) does not use a voice actor and whenever in his mellifluous and emotional baritone (?) he says "a'Li" your heart will flutter. And that is even before the two acknowledge their love -- by gaze only and in the middle of a really good fight with very bad guys!!!!!

FL actress Wu Jin Yan (Xue Fangfei/Xue Li/Jiang Li) does use a voice actor and she also uses the serious nature of her part well enough to paper over the large age difference between the leads (34/22), helped along by judicious camera work. But never fear, their acting is so wow that after a few episodes you won't care. Every time they look at each other, suddenly the world goes silent and you realize you are holding your breath.

first posted september 2024 on Viki