The Longest Day in Chang'an is well-written, the characters are complex and the politics are intricate. While the first half of the show literally had me on the edge of my seat because of the fast-pace and suspense, the second half is a bit slower. It focuses more on our characters backstories and on politics. That does not mean the show gets boring during the second half though. It just shifts its focus. By the time we got there I already cared about quite a few characters. So, I loved that we got to know them even more in the latter part of the show. Something I really enjoyed about the characters was how multilayered they were. Each of them had their own ideologies and motivations and while I did not always agree with them, I loved finding out more about their pasts. Trying to figure out the motivations and getting to know the different layers of them, was one of the things I really enjoyed about this show.

The cast is excellent. You can clearly see the effort the production team put into finding the right actors.
I really need to praise our two main leads. Lei Jia Yin as Zhang Xiaojing is incredible and takes you along with him throughout this whole journey.  Jackson Yi is ridiculously talented at such a young age and I loved how nuanced his portrayal of Li Bi was.

The cinematography, the sets and costumes are gorgeous. Everything looks stunning, and I found myself rewinding a lot, just so I could watch a particularly breathtaking shot again.
The production team paid a lot of attention to details and historical accuracy. You can see this in pretty much every shot, and I was constantly impressed by it.

I do realize that I'm basically telling you this show is perfect, but it's not. One of the biggest problems was the sound engineering. The music is often way too loud while the dialogues are sometimes so low that you can't really hear it. And while I really appreciate that almost everyone used their own voice, some parts were clearly dubbed in post-production. It is just awkward when the voice changes into the dubbed version mid-sentence. At times, I thought the plot and politics got a bit convoluted and even a bit preachy at the end. The last 8 episodes are not as good as they could have been. But that never took away from my overall enjoyment.

This show is probably not for everyone. It takes some time to get into it, and you really have to pay attention while watching. That being said for me this show just worked. You could easily watch this as a beautifully shot historical drama full of suspense and action. Or you can watch it while savoring every shot, paying attention to how well-crafted the sets are, the little details in each scene, the poems, the songs, historical facts and so much more. It's really your choice how much you invest into this show. And that truly was what I loved about it so much. I found myself researching about Chang´an and the Tang dynasty or other details that caught my eyes while watching. And that is something I really appreciate.

Going straight to my all-time favorites.