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Now these are a strong/smart female characters!
Surprisingly, this drama went better with each episodes instead of worse.
The plot is pretty simple and conventional, goes through a bunch of tropes and the beginning is really predictable.
But the strength of this drama is really in the characters.
Ok, let's get it out of the way: Chang Le is a total Mary Sue: unbeatable fighting skills, can pick any lock, but also outwits people on palace etiquette while not even being a noble, knows how to play music, really smart, there is nothing she can't do. Except picking her makeup apparently because gosh that lipgloss was distracting in a historical setting (there's even a scene where Li Che gets a visible stain on his cheek x) ).
But all the other female characters were amazing: strong, smart, kind, nuanced. No cat fight over a man. The mini love triangle is never really one; I've been waiting for so long for a foreign princess rival that actually helps the main couple instead of trying to tear them apart! In this drama the men are actually the damsels in distress, such a refreshing change. Even Zhu Yan who is not the fighty type has her strength with her wisdom, kindness and common sense. This drama shows that (female) characters can be smart, figure out the evil plot without being kept in the dark for 20 episodes AND still be interesting.
There are 3 couples and romance was actually disappointing for me. The main couple went from friendly arranged spouses suspecting each other to life-death lovers in the span of one episode that was super dark and dramatic for no good reason and out of nowhere. No real romantic progression and I didn't feel the chemistry. I couldn't take the amount of cheesiness of their relationship at the end.
Zhu Yan and the 5th prince were your typical Romeo and Juliet tragic lovers from enemy families which is ok, just not my cup of tea and gosh they were overall naive, soppy and stuffy.
Nong Ying's character was great, nuanced, never black nor white, capable but not perfect, but her romance with Gong Sun Mo felt forced and would have better been brought up more gradually.
The OST was ok, I really liked the more modern song by Eleanor but the others didn't really stand out.
TL;DR: no groundbreaking plot nor amazing romance and chemistry but really refreshing change in female characters depiction.
The plot is pretty simple and conventional, goes through a bunch of tropes and the beginning is really predictable.
But the strength of this drama is really in the characters.
Ok, let's get it out of the way: Chang Le is a total Mary Sue: unbeatable fighting skills, can pick any lock, but also outwits people on palace etiquette while not even being a noble, knows how to play music, really smart, there is nothing she can't do. Except picking her makeup apparently because gosh that lipgloss was distracting in a historical setting (there's even a scene where Li Che gets a visible stain on his cheek x) ).
But all the other female characters were amazing: strong, smart, kind, nuanced. No cat fight over a man. The mini love triangle is never really one; I've been waiting for so long for a foreign princess rival that actually helps the main couple instead of trying to tear them apart! In this drama the men are actually the damsels in distress, such a refreshing change. Even Zhu Yan who is not the fighty type has her strength with her wisdom, kindness and common sense. This drama shows that (female) characters can be smart, figure out the evil plot without being kept in the dark for 20 episodes AND still be interesting.
There are 3 couples and romance was actually disappointing for me. The main couple went from friendly arranged spouses suspecting each other to life-death lovers in the span of one episode that was super dark and dramatic for no good reason and out of nowhere. No real romantic progression and I didn't feel the chemistry. I couldn't take the amount of cheesiness of their relationship at the end.
Zhu Yan and the 5th prince were your typical Romeo and Juliet tragic lovers from enemy families which is ok, just not my cup of tea and gosh they were overall naive, soppy and stuffy.
Nong Ying's character was great, nuanced, never black nor white, capable but not perfect, but her romance with Gong Sun Mo felt forced and would have better been brought up more gradually.
The OST was ok, I really liked the more modern song by Eleanor but the others didn't really stand out.
TL;DR: no groundbreaking plot nor amazing romance and chemistry but really refreshing change in female characters depiction.
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