Chang'an shi er shi chen

The author of the original novel is the best novelist (maybe one of the best if you want to nitpick) and the show kept all its spirit and visualized all the elements from Chinese culture in a splendid way! Bravo! (It's not a paid endorsement.)

Well written, great acting, awesome plots and smarts. Highly recommended. I binge-watched this for a couple of days.

Consider it as the Chinese version of GOT . The epic background stories, excellent acting,directing,scene,and of course the wonderful sound track. Though it's a little difficult to understand the old Chinese language for modern Chinese people, Netflix could do a good job in the translation.

My favourite show in 2019 so far. Loved the cast, the set up, and the storyline. They have created an absolute beautiful Tang Dynasty in this show. Very joyful to watch.

A high-quality series with dynamic scenes, action in almost every episode and no wire fu. Chang'an life, architecture, and crowd scenes are well covered. I can't comment on the historical accuracy, but the attention to detail seems more thorough than in other Chinese series I've watched.

The show has many pros and the script is not one of them. The plot twists are predictable. They focus on the main character until the last episodes, where the focus shifts towards the secondary characters. As a result, it is not clear who to feel for and why.

It is commendable that there is no division into good and evil. However, there are so many characters and not one of them opens up completely. They try to use flashbacks, but it doesn't work well: here are some tough guys today, and here's a five-minute dive into the past. Now I know them well enough to drop a tear! It would be easier to sympathize with Zhang Xiaojing if he was the main character in more than just the first 2/3 of the series.

The last 1/3 of the script seems to have been censored and rewritten due to some political reasons. The conversations in favor of the poor look ridiculous. Officials lecturing the emperor in the presence of the crowd, seriously?

In short, the series raises the quality standards for subsequent shows. It's nice to watch and never gets boring. Personally, I won't watch it again: it doesn't evoke any deep emotions because of the flaws mentioned above.