Ning an Ru Meng started off very well and somewhere around the 15th episode I was convinced this was one of the best historical dramas this year, It certainly had all the right elements: a potential redemption arc, political intrigue, interesting characters.

Let's start with the positives: I enjoyed many things on the show. The flashbacks to the previous "life" were very engaging and well tied to the present. I enjoyed many of the characters and their little arcs. Among them the characters with the most engaging character arcs were You Fangyin (whose arc kind of ended very early on) and the princess (a very good performance from Liu Xie Ning). The political drama was overall quite enjoyable till the second half of the show, although a lot of it wasn't particularly complex or unseen before.

Now the negatives:

The romance. Yes, the “romance”. Replace the handsome Zhang Linghe with a not-so-pleasant-faced actor and many of the things he did to Ning will appear creepy. Yes, very very creepy. A teacher who has power over her - who can kiss her forcibly and make her cry. And how many times did Xie Wei do this? Episode 32, episode 34, ep 36. This toxic love story is sold to audiences at fantastic paces. In episode 34 Ning tells XW that she does not love him, so what is his response? Basically it was something on the lines of- “the things you’ve done for me prove you love me” and then he drags her outside and forces her to plunge a knife into his stomach. Hmm. Ning has done a lot of good things for many people- does that mean that she loves them all?

Well, that brings me to the person she actually loved for most of the show - Zhang Zhe. She loved him so much that she died for him in the previous “life”, and she retained those feelings. It soon became obvious that the two of them loved each other. So, circumstances allowed his feelings for her to grow - he was certain she loved him too, and in this life there were no real barriers to them being together. In fact, as it is established later on, her father would have readily chosen Zhang Zhe as a son-in-law. Yet, the novelist/screenwriter decided to put an end to this love story in the most ridiculous way possible. No-one breaks up with the one they love when their beloved is suffering. Soon after his mother died, Ning decides to break up with him and she chooses to do it by pretending that she never loved him, wringing his heart dry. It was absolutely convenient for the story not to show Zhang Zhe much later either, and neither do we watch Ning weep over him.

What was the reason for that breakup? Truly insignificant. In order to prevent him from hurting further, she hurt him even more. It truly makes no sense. Are the novelist and screenwriters suggesting that good people don’t end well? Evidently, one need not look further than Zhang Zhe to find that.

In truth the purpose of cutting short this love story short is to allow the male lead and female lead to get together. By episode 34 however, she herself says that she doesn’t love Xie Wei. Of course, everyone is busy convincing her that she DOES love him. The music is suggesting that, and all of XW’s crazy, obsessive behaviour suddenly appear romantic.

Show don’t tell- evidently the screenwriter forgot that.

Xie Wei kisses Ning’s forehead after she is flogged by Xue Shu. As I said earlier- replace ZLH with someone ugly and this won’t fly that well. Her father happens to see this and confronts XW indirectly, but XW’s reaction is hardly apologetic. Instead it’s almost as though he owns her. Then when he goes “crazy” he kisses her forcibly. The background music really presents it as the most romantic scene ever.

This toxic “love” story is presented as the most beautiful one and that is truly a concern. The wrist-pulling, force-kissing abusive ML is presented as an ideal partner? Is it 2023?

I think had this story been placed in the back burner I would have been somewhat okay with it, but when the screenwriter decided that the ML and FL must be together the plot turned to ridiculous mush. All the palace politics that had held my attention earlier dissipated.

This show started off solid - it was interesting, and then it nosedived its way into a toxic “romance” with the historical bits taking . The performances have been good, and ZLH may have received his best role so far. I really enjoyed several characters and I wish the show makers had spent more time on those character arcs.

Overall I am so so disappointed. and I think 8 is already too high.
(My actual rating: 7.75)