Who rules the world in my mind will always remain as a drama that failed to live up to expectations and the potential it had. the foundation of the story was solid: two famous martial artists in the jianghu world that are actually secretly royalty bond as they engage in a game of thrones in a bid to see who will rule the world
unfortunately the writers failed to match up and deliver a coherent script. i will discuss the cons first and then talk about what i liked about the show

cons:
1. false marketing. i doubt its just me but this show was very much promoted as a wuxia show and the initial eps had all the makings of one as it was featuring two wuxia heroes one from a cultivating sect. however it quickly abandoned its classic wuxia settings for a palace political storyline. it went against expectations and jarred a lot of people including me.

2. the writers are obv not familiar with writing intriguing political conflict coz literally all of the politics in this is incoherent. random alliances, random wars, random resolutions. ofc there were a few fun but not necessarily well written political games like when heifengbaixi went undercover or feng ju's coup but the moments were few and far between

3. the latter half was just a mess of weird pacing, editing, ooc behavior of supporting characters, plot holes after plot holes. just a whole mess. langhua almost killing bai fengxi for no reason, huang chao's unnecessary proposal to bfx, how the trio finally managed to break into imperial capital even tho huang chao failed coz yu wuyuan was using innocent people as buffer to hold him at bay. ywy randomly finding out bai fengxi is feng xiyun. they elevated the scenes that didnt require an elevation and suppressed the reveals that required an elevation. so many logical fails throughout this show that even a watcher like me that likes to switch off my brain for entertainment couldn't stop noticing the plot holes

pros:
1. heifengbaixi: this ties in to the cons. the writers were unable to recognize their strengths ie, romance. since they are incapable of producing a thrilling political drama they should have done what theyre best at and given more space to romantic relationship between the two leads. cdramas rarely have this kinda couple that have no stupid misunderstandings, no third act breakup. this is one of the best heterosexual cps ever coz they're twin flames, equal in every way with a relationship built on mutual respect, tacit understanding and deep friendship.

2. yang yang and zhao lusi have great chemistry and work well off each other. with the script being a snooze, the main attraction of the show remains these two people. they fit their roles and theyre engaging to watch. i doubt anyone would continue this show past ep 20 if these two werent the leads

3. the budget was proved via set design and cinematography. everything looked really royal and the shots were really pretty

4. since i have lambasted the writers this entire review, i want to end it on a positive note and give them kudos for the one thing they did right: foreshadowing. right from the chess game with old taiyin the script already insinuated that feng lanxi would never be the ruler of the world. in the chess game machination when faced with the question of what all he can sacrifice he cut all the strings surrounding his life except one: bai fengxi. once again in the chess game with huang chao, he lost to him on purpose coz his priority will always be bai fengxi. this is what makes the love story at the core of wrtw such an admirable one coz as ambitious as feng lanxi is, his greatest ambition will always be to be by his lady love's side. so even tho the ending is a bittersweet one as he hands over his whole life's work and dreams and ambitions to huang chao and retires to spend what little time he has left with his wife, it is an understandable choice as he has always been telling us in very unsubtle subtext that his greatest dream is not the world, it is bai fengxi.