Before I start, I watched Story of Yanxi Palace then I watched this, I did the same thing again with the rewatch. I rewatched Yanxi & right after rewatched this again.
I didn’t review this after watching it the 1st time. Now I’m reviewing after the 2nd watch.
Having watched both twice I still prefer Story of Yanxi Palace majorly because IN MY OPINION Wei YingLou is the greatest female character ever made anywhere in the world. Wei YingLou is everything i am. She’s so fearlessly badass, she’s extremely loyal to the people she loves and most of all is not shackled by useless emotions that have been designed & perpetrated to keep women obedient. She’s cunning and ruthless and that’s one of the reasons I love her. I love you forever my most iconic Imperial Noble Consort Wei YingLou aka Empress aka literal QUEEN.
MingLan was ruthless when she was pushed to a corner and she’s super smart and calculating, she knew to guard her heart, and I really liked her character a lot.
This series is the definition of character development. The main characters were so fleshed out (this is the most fleshed out character driven series I have ever watched) we knew who they were, what their motivations & desires were, their short comings and strengths.
Our power couple did turn out relatively well and “normal” when you realize that the both of them came from families that were competing for the worst family of the year awards. Gu’s family ended up winning the award in a landslide..
The only thing that irked me was that we didn’t get to see how Molan was treated upon entry into her matrimonial home, I badly wanted to see the shock/heartbreak on her face as she entered and saw a very pregnant concubine chunke (Sue me I’m petty like that). Also the demise of Gu TingYe’s stepmom was so anticlimactic. I feel she died so easily. I wanted her to experience real long drawn out pain/anguish but alas it wasn’t so, like I said sue me, I’m petty like that.
People need to stop telling women when and how to feel anything. A lot of men in this show & in the real world will be dating/sleeping with different women and not love any of them. When the women are now seeking for the men’s attention, these women will be called clingy (especially in C & K Dramas) but when a man falls in love with a woman she is automatically expected to reciprocate those feelings, like she should be grateful and happy that he loves her, (that was one the foolishness that pissed me the hell off in the VIKI comment section where I watched), the audacity of a woman to not reciprocate a man’s feelings simply because he’s handsome & loves her, gosh the travesty. *Insert sarcasm*
I do thank God I wasn’t born in that era because I know I wouldn’t have survived it, so in my opinion, the good/kind women of the era portrayed in this series are definitely the real MVPs.
If indeed they had such evil vile scheming women then in that era, then damn, too bad, because it seems like women supporting women have been a farce since the beginning of time & I can’t see any end to it. At least that time they were not dressing it up prettily like they are now. #MeTooMovement my ass.
All that being said, shoutout to MingLan’s girl squad they were literal goals. I loved each and every one of them.
The best scenes were when the sisters (Big Madam and Madam Kang) fell down (happened at different times/scenes) Gosh I watched those several times.
Nanny Chang’s rant to Madam Kang that caused her fall was so epic, it was a masterpiece.
To end this, it was a really good series and I will be back in a few years to rewatch again.
But for now, adios to my scheming power couple…..
Rewatch Value 10/10 ( I have watched twice and will rewatch again)
Overall 10/10