This series shouldn’t even be called a TV drama because this is a naive person’s utopia with no mega villain, and the villain should actually be the ML because he’s much more interesting than the ML.

|A plot without a true villain and where the “villain” overshadows the ML|
As much as I love Li Hongyi, I feel bad for him because he was relegated to the role of a spoiled prince that’s still finding his footing/power after growing under the tutelage of possibly one of the BEST ANTI-HERO/VILLAIN in the whole Cdrama verse. The problem with having the best anti-hero is that almost half of the characters know that he’s not a true villain and you get frustrated because only the ML and FL are the only ones creating an imagined villain or problem for themselves.
Since the show didn’t have a truly villainous person in it, you’d expect the internal conflict between the ML and FL to be more dramatic because the FL is not really your typical Cdrama heroine. But the sad part is they put too much emphasis on the FL being too funny and failed to give more light on her inner qualities that the ML got to see. I’d say the FL had more valuable interactions with the side characters than the ML which is such a waste.
Lastly the main conflict of the story about how the FL and ML became the “emperor and empress”, falls flat because the problem they solved were not as epic and life changing as you’d expect and the “anti-hero” was always giving them clues or helping them secretly so any breakthrough the FL and ML had wasn’t as satisfying.
In the end, the conflict was not enough to call for 36 episodes. I think if they made it 16 episodes the might have made the story more cohesive, titillating, and have a sense of urgency that we need.

|Meh Chemistry but good rapport between the cast|
I think the cast had fun with the show seeing the easy and good rapport between them. Jackie Li and Li Hongyi looked like they could be friends but I never felt the “heart wrenching love” that most Cdramas aimed to portray. If you compare Li Hongyi’s Xuan to his Qia Yue, Xuan doesn’t even come close to Qia Yue’s feet in terms of his great love, conviction, and strength of character. Jackie Li may be the perfect actress for her character but the show failed to show her inner qualities more dramatically to make us believe that Xuan had no chance of resisting loving her. I’m not sure if the actors were uncomfortable with it, or maybe the director or screenwriter couldn’t feel it, but choosing to have Xuan kiss Jinfeng mostly on the forehead sure cooled any ember we had for the ML and FL. Cute & chubby women also deserve passionate kisses! But the problem with the story is that they didn’t create scenes that called for one so everything just felt Meh. I hope the screenwriters watch Bridgerton with Penelope’s story so they can get an idea on how to properly give chubby girls the passionate love affairs they deserve.