The world-building in this show is probably better than any other historical series I've ever seen. The depiction of the opulence of the Tang Dynasty was stunning in conjunction with the stark corruption of its elites and the plight of the lower classes. I was also really struck by the diversity in Chang'an. I generally find shows like this to be hard to watch for me because the difference in living conditions by social classes (at one point it's mentioned that a lot of poorer people just don't live to older age) deeply angers me.

The plot for this show was good until it wasn't. It made sense and had interesting twists and turns until about 80% of the way through. I think this show would be better if it were only 40-42 episodes long, as the end had a lot of padding, requiring characters behaving in ways that made no sense for them. I accept that the writers were somewhat limited (and forced to move the plot in a direction I found unfulfilling) because of the desire not to completely alter history, but regardless, they definitely needed to come up with a more concise ending to this story. It took far too long to end.

I think the show could have made better use of its characters, or at least written the ML in a less repetitive way - we don't need to hear him repeat the same lines over and over. In such a vibrant city, I think there could have been a broader and more interesting story with more time given to other people. I liked the fact that there were so many characters in this show, but I think it would be even better if we had seen those characters more often from a different perspective than the ML.