I really like this show. I’m surprised that it’s not a hit and it’s received quite some bad reviews. I find that the production is of really high quality from the actors to the costumes and war scenes.

It starts off light and funny with serious undertones. The characters are all unpredictable so I don’t know what to expect next (which gives me some suspense).

Towards the middle, things get serious. I thought these fights were really good even though they were typically between the empress/concubine, prince/uncles. The backstabs, the wars, the tactics.

This seriousness continued right up to the end with even the next generation. All in all there are 4 generations of rulers in this series.

In the first arc, you see Tang Wei and the male lead’s journey up until they got married. This arc was funny, sweet and innocent. Then the 2nd arc goes into the male lead’s battle for the throne with his uncles. 3rd arc is his son’s reign, fall and reign again. I personally enjoyed the 1st and 3rd arcs the most and the 2nd arc is really good too (Zhu Yawen is an excellent actor). The 3rd arc had a lot of tough lessons to learn from and Lay portrayed his character as the fallen emperor really well. The emotions towards the last few episodes got me bawling (in a good way).

Favourite characters ? Yu Qian and Xu Bin!