Well Rounded

For the storytelling, I surprisingly really liked the balance between the OTP romance, the political struggle and the side characters on this drama. I personally don’t dig the prolonged side characters romance story cdramas often give nor the often long-drawn power struggles featuring countless ministers and princes you don’t care for. But I can’t stand anything too fluffy without a convincing set up when the plot is politically driven. This, managed to stay focused yet convincing throughout (except first episode perhaps, where they lacked context horribly). In short, I like the length lol.

THE ONE THING I LIKE BEST about this drama is how it’s NOT TOO ANIMATED, the characters were actually all normal people without being too unrealistically lively, silly, cold, villainy, etc; and the prod team breathe life into the dramas by little scenarios like (minorrrr spoiler) how they went to the court palace at the wedding night cos Feng’s curious (without neccessrly any consequence), even in ancient turbulent times people course of actions during idle times don’t differ too much from us, this drama recognize that and it’s what made it poignant. As they allocate the screen time for those instead of happenings, the drama itself was rather the ‘platonic’ type, I’m a sucker for those but I can easily see it could be boring for some.

Some side characters make illogical and questionable decisions I could get by. I rather like how the FL is an obedient girl, as I’ve always wondered how a Confucianism-taught noble could turn out to be a rebellious brat with modern ideas in many other historical c-dramas. As for the conclusion of this drama, I myself was satisfied, it ended how a prequel should.

As for the production, this is an obvious top tier. The SCORING is movie-worthy, and I dare say the best I’ve seen in c-dramaland, the canon reprised for a costume c drama? That was also interesting. There’s no room for doubt in the acting and it’s useless to sing more praises as they are.. BL and RJL . A big applause to BL though for proving people wrong for typecasting her, Shiyi was meek and even when she’s angry, she stayed resilient but not fierce; there’s no trace of her previous demoness role ppl seem to be worried about lol. The directing is on par but not too special.

Overall, it was definitely a good watch, but rewatch value is not high as the plot is nothing new, it’s just very nicely executed.

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Best of its kind

So far the most well executed drama of its genre in my opinion. I waited a long time for this and worried that it would be too draggy, yet it delivered more than expected.

The concept is nothing new but this one is exceptionally well executed. Each repeats were 'useful' without feeling like too much of a coincidence. It was TIGHT without feeling prearranged, something that a lot of inception movies and series fail to do. They were smart in that no ends are ever loose because every lives are important and they sold that point.

The main characters were great, dumbness was NEVER a plot device in this drama, and I thank the scriptwriter for that. Zhao Jinmai's acting was exceptionally stellar, Bai Jing Ting did good as expected. For the rest of the casts, Lao Zhang was played so charismatically, Lu Di's part acting could be improved but he was a lovable character.

I don't think any of the music stand out to me (FL would beg to differ lol). But at least nothing felt out of place.
The -0.5 is for the 2 episodes towards the end, don't get me wrong, the ending did the drama justice, but the last 2 episodes did falter a bit.

But hooray that it didn't drag, that's such a breakthrough especially in c-drama scene, I hope more will follow suit and respect the story like this instead of ordering more filler episodes to make the budget worth.

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Unrealistic relationship for a modern setting

Felt obligated to write a review since I reviewed the first season (One and Only) and loved it. This one? not so much.

The tone of the drama is similar/same to that of One and Only, and that's where I have a major problem. There's this detached feeling, a gap and a constant lack of communication, yet an unyielding trust between the two of the leads, which worked in the ancient period, but IMO I don't think it works for the modern period. The two characters constantly make leaps of faith without basis I can't picture anyone I know take, and it makes both the modern Shi Yi and Zhou Sheng Chen so unrelatable and ungrounded even if I tried to keep in mind that the drama has established them to be quite the eccentrics.

It might just be that I live in the modern world, and I, just like the rest of us, can only assume and romanticize the olden times. Or it might just be true that in the olden times -and by olden time I mean it can even be as near as the republican era- people have less choice and little ways of communication, so I think of One and Only as far better even if the two are similar. I give props to them for having that continuity though.

Music is still bomb, I love the acting too since I love both actors, not so much the characters and the relationship progression. I tried to enjoy the story but ultimately failed and said adieu.

All this is just my opinion though and I can imagine someone else enjoying the drama. But this is definitely not a proper dating book.

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A saeguk that didn't shy away from romance

Best thing:
The drama managed to focus on romance whilst recognizing that romance is just one part of the character's lives. It's such a simple thing that they did so right. It's seriously such a rare quality as in many romance saeguk: they either show too much beside romance just to show off the character's virtues; or make the characters seems like crazy people who only live to love (UGH the countless lovestruck emperors and runaway princesses wagering their country for love).

Another great thing is how the female lead helped the male lead A LOT. I like this situation much better than the protagonist being the debtor, which is more often the case.

Nope:
If it weren't for the icky court lady cult plot(???) this would have scored higher. Yet that part was so nonsensical and forgettable and long that if it weren't for how good the OTP is, this would have scored so much lower. They could have gone a thousand other ways with the court lady thing, yet they chose such a nonsensical way. It's not weird because it's a cult, I'm saying that this particular cult is so damn ?????

The rewatch value is especially high with this one, there's the feel good aspect and the skip button. Another note, this drama reminded me so much of Moon Embracing The Sun. I'd have to say Red Sleeve is the better one between the two still.

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War: Between ideals and lives.

Have watched this drama a few times over the span of few years. I gave it a 10 despite numerous flaws that would usually turn me off, mostly because of its not so naive approach on the subject of war.

Blind patriotism is common in depiction of wars, propagandas are expected and seemingly unavoidable, yet this drama managed to walk the fine line between loyalism and humanism without abandoning either. There's a scene which stood out, where this one Japanese guy was persuaded to surrender by a reminder of how precious life is. That scene was a mind blowing one, one where I realized how aware and brave this drama production is, IMAGINE being a Jew and recognizing an active NAZI could also be a victim of war in their own right, that's the westernized scenario of this drama and it takes so much to do that.

It is sad that in 2022 this topic is still relevant, I didn't think that in my lifetime I would see people having to contemplate this once more to make their lives decisions.

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