What a masterpiece! I rarely give any show 10 stars, but even with it's minor flaws, this one earned them easily. The story is incredibly well plotted, well executed, and compelling, all the way to the (mostly) happy ending! Yes, 58 episodes is a lot, but things never get boring or monotonous, since the events span 5-10 years. Additionally, there are almost none of the usual period C-Drama cliches, and every single character is thoroughly and realistically fleshed out (especially the villains).
By far the most unique and interesting thing about this drama is it's sheer ability to keep you guessing. Due to the mystery of Princess RongLe's true identity (as well as the true identity /motives of some other key characters), you never know how much you should take at face value. Even when your emotions instinctively kick in over "happy," "sad" or "infuriating" events, you have this nagging feeling that you've probably got it wrong. The writers did a truly amazing job of telling a complex and heart wrenching story, while only dropping enough clues to keep the audience on their toes.
Despite that ambiguity, however, the storytelling is crisp and easy to follow, with few plot holes and near-perfect pacing. Even when the puzzle finally starts to come together (about halfway through), it is gradual, rather than instant, and steadily leads up to the final reveal in the last 5 episodes. As for the cast, although every single performance was excellent, I want to particularly acknowledge Luo YunXi, whose brilliant embodiment of tragic characters completely blows my mind every single time!
Admittedly, there are a handful of scenes (especially near the end) which have some minor issues (for example the obvious baby dolls in the climax scenes, and like, what human body vaporizes as soon as it touches a few flames?), but IMO they were easy to overlook, carried on the momentum of the storytelling.
ROMANCE RATING * * *: 5/10
Zhang XueYing and Aarif Rahman both did an outstanding job in portraying their characters and had amazing chemistry together. The only place this show stumbles (IMO) is in the physical romance department (which is kind of a big deal, since the core of the story is after all, romance). With such an epic love story, you would expect to see at least a few passionate liplocks. But the directors instead chose to keep things clean, clean, clean, skating by with some hugs and a handful of forehead /cheek kisses. Normally, I would deduct at least a star for this, but the rest of the show was so interesting and well done, it was hard to dwell on my disappointed thirst. And hey, if you're good with purely emotional romance, there's certainly plenty of that!
All in all, this is one of the best period C-Dramas I've seen. If you like this genre and have the time to invest, this breath of fresh air is definitely worth your while!
