Legend of Mi Yue (2015)

PRECURSOR: I was able to finally watch this because there were english subs available on youtube (actual subs, not just straight translations of the Chinese subtitles); However, halfway through (around episode 45) the subtitles ran out, so the second half of the drama I watched just with Chinese subtitles. I understood enough to get the major points of the story down, but definitely missed out on most of the politics talk/etc. (Still feel confident that I understood the majority of what was happening plot wise at least).

If you watched Legend of Zhen Huan (which I'm sure most people who watched this saw that one first), you're definitely gonna feel like this is just another version of that. Same lead actress, same director and production crew. Similar story (following the life of a young girl who becomes a powerful Empress Dowager). I will definitely say that while the similarities are clear, the storyline itself felt very different in many aspects. So don't just skip this because it feels super similar to Zhen Huan!

**Definitely going to have a lot of comparisons to Zhen Huan (since that one was the more popular of the two).**

STORY:
-This story really ranges through the ENTIRE life of Mi Yue. It begins before she is even born and shows the precursor to why people treat her a certain way later on in life. It goes through her years as a young princess in Chu and continues on through the power struggle when she becomes Empress Dowager and even through her regency and later life. That was one thing that I probably would have enjoyed seeing with Zhen Huan (but the actual sequel deals with the later half of her life when the Qianlong Emperor is (well) emperor).
-Because it covered the whole 100 or so years of her life (she lived from 338BC - 265BC - damn). There were definitely certain parts that felt a little lagging, but it was still well paced enough that I wouldn't feel the need to skip chunks of the story (As many people - at least I did during a rewatch - will skip the nun story line of Zhen Huan).
-Whether or not it was fictional or actually closer to history, I really wasn't a fan of the person she became after she becomes regent. It wasn't even the power that annoyed me, but how she dealt with the conflicts with Qin and Yi Qu. (Not going to say more because it'd be a spoiler - unless you know Chinese history). It felt like the character was backtracking in personality because she had become so strong in later life.
-I think there was a good balance between showing us her relationships with everyone to the inner harem fighting to actual political fighting. (Zhen Huan was majority inner harem fighting and that can get tiring).
-Overall it did a good job showing us her life (again not sure how historically accurate it was, but it's TV) and felt like a very good portrayal.

ACTING/CASTING:
-Sun Li really is the ultimate empress. I've only seen her in these two dramas, but the characters definitely had their differences and they didn't feel like the same person - so props to her. She's a beauty who isn't afraid to be ugly which really pushes actors to a new level because their expressions and emotions feel real. When she cries, it's not the delicate tears falling from her eyes that many other actors will do, but its full on sobs and snot and greatness.
-Liu Tao - I definitely think it was probably partially her and partially the director that wanted her character to act that way, but honestly I kind of got annoyed at times with her character. She's a fabulous actress with a good track record, so it doesn't diminish her abilities, but there were times when she would be in anguish over her child or something and the way that she would cry out for her husband and just really irritated me. Overall I still think she did a great job showing the life of Mi Shu as well. (As you again see her from childhood until essentially the end of her life).
-Everyone else - no one else specifically stood out to me as beyond excellent, but everyone else did a fair job as well. No one majorly bothered me in any way.

REWATCH VALUE:
-Honestly not sure if I'd rewatch. The length doesn't scare me so much (I made it through all of Fan Bing Bing's 90 some odd episodes of Wu Ze Tian) and I actually enjoy the epic lengths sometimes. But something about the show didn't have that same captivating feeling that Zhen Huan (sorry for the endless comparisons) had. It was definitely a good drama, but there's nothing pulling me back to watch it again and again. The schemes and what not against her were intriguing the first time through, but it wasn't intricate enough to warrant a rewatch (think Nirvana in Fire scheming - that's the stuff you want to watch again and again). The relationships were good but nothing making me yearn to see them again. Overall good, but not good enough to be mind-blowingly great.

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