A serious historical drama

Hello everyone!

I watched a lot of dramas in the past, but these last years I'm struggling so bad to find interesting stuff. 

Right now I'd like to watch an historical drama (with romance; both Korean or Chinese) without the comical part, I mean, it's fine if there is some humor in it, but I want something more on the serious side, with a lot of struggles and some angst. In the past a lot of them were like that, but lately I only find more funny stuff and I'm not in the mood for that. Can you give me some advices? (From around 2021 to 2023, since I know most of the ones before that year)

Anyway, my list have a lot of the things I watched already, just to have a further hint, I'm looking for something like "The Rise of the phoenixes", I know it's hard to find something like that, but even just with similar vibes it's fine.

Thank you all, have a nice day!

 angeliviki2022:

Under the Queen's Umbrella (S. Korea, 2022) is very serious with some comic relief here and there, but it's a real struggle for power between the Queen and the Queen Dowager. And bodies are accumulating as they make their moves.

Love Like the Galaxy: Part 1 and Part 2 (Chine, 2022) were excellent. I binge-watched in 5 days, which is an absolute record for me. Lots of angst, actions scenes, gore, political machinations, palace intrigue. The characters are complex; no one is purely good or purely evil, making them so much more real and interesting to me.

Thank you! I've already watched Love like the Galaxy, but I wasn't too excited about it, IDK why. But I haven't see yet Under the queen's umbrella, does it have also some kind of romance in it?

 emeraldarrows:

All of these are serious with no comedy:

• The Princess's Man 
• A Dream of Splendor
• Lost Track of Time (fantasy elements)
• Bloody Romance (some wuxia elements)

 I've already watched all of them :') But thank you!

 emeraldarrows:

Hmm, well, the most obscure drama I can think of is Buried City to Shut All Lights. It's not very popular, but I really loved it, and it's definitely one of the saddest dramas I've ever seen (the sequel movie does have a happy ending, though.)

Oh nice, I still haven't watched this one, thank you so much *_*

I think Dae Jang Geum might be of interest.  Plenty of struggle, based on a true story of a real person, it caught my interest and held it to the end, despite the fact that I can't stand sageuks.

The Bridal Mask 
The Slave Hunters 

Have you tried Pledge of Allegiance, yet?

• The Sword and the Brocade
• The Promise of Chang’an
• The Song of Glory
• The Rebel Princess
• One and Only
• Ancient Love Poetry
• Stand by Me
• Jun Jiu Ling
• Novoland: Pearl Eclipse
• A Dream of Splendor
• The Legend of Anle