I'm on a binge-watch spree and I've been loving C-dramas.
I saw the trailer for this months ago and decided I will not watch it largely because of the comments about Alan Yu's acting. He is one of my favourites, if not my most favourite character in Ten Miles of Peach Blossom along with Zheyan so I was the most surprised when I found out the amount of dislikes towards his acting.

However I noticed how many surprisingly positive comments about the story in general, and his acting, there were in here. And even more surprised and intrigued when instead of going down, the deluge of the positive comments were consistent until the end so I decided to give this a try.

Going into here, it definitely it took me a while to warm up to the characters. Although I liked the general story and character traits, some details took longer to get used to.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

*SPOILERS BEGIN*

First off - there's the classic case in Chinese dramas of the female leads being exhaustively immature and annoying. There is a large difference between being naive and immature. The heroine is playful and outgoing in nature and her character was fun until she came down from the mountains. There, I found her actions really quite stupid and too impulsive for her own good. There were a lot of events that escalated a lot quicker than I could catch on or believe was necessary. A lot of the sequences regarding her actions and reactions were illogical.
Putting up a fight every chance she could get without thought was not attractive even more so when there really isn't a big reason for them. That really turned me off and made me think about dropping the drama.

Fortunately, there was a turning point for her character and the actress really delivered. In fact, she was extremely good on her more emotional scenes and it really pulls you in as a viewer.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Second, the fight scenes were Impressive. Probably up there with the best ones in that they were choreographed so beautifully and with perfect build up. My most favourite one that showcased this was definitely the fight in Mianyang. Again this time, the female lead delivered with her fight scenes and was convincing in her skills.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thirdly, Lin Fang was quietly attractive. At first, I found he lacked that powerful silent charisma this kind of character would usually have and it's one of the reasons I felt fine with the female lead and male lead being together in the beginning. He has however, must have been effective enough to find myself really being attached to his character later on. More than the plot, the main thing I will remember about this drama would be Lin Fang and Qing Hong, the female lead. I really loved the way he silently loved QingHong in his own way. The main scene that stood out for me was when he was helping her tie the knot on the jade heirloom QH wanted to give to Wen Yuan/Zisu as a betrothal gift. It was a subtle but the kind, gentle, loving and at the same time the look of surrender on his face was painful in its own way.

I had no problem with the female lead and second ML getting together (in fact, I was just wanting a storyline like this) but the problem would be the development of the romance between the actual leads. Although there was no doubt later on that she loved Lin Fang, the speed at which she admitted she liked him and forgot about the sml was not convincing. It was rather a lot more of a tell than show. Which was a shame because I feel like it was building up to be quite an angsty love story of does she/does she not love Lin Fang and of how would she show that convincingly enough to leave no one with any doubt. The direction there could have been a lot better and more satisfying.

The end of the feelings between QH and Zisu could have been more solid and clean cut rather than feeling that there were some lingering feelings, which at times felt stronger than QH's love for LF.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Which leads me on to the next one:

Lin Fang's poison. Again, what a shame and a waste of a good trope. Being poisoned in C-dramas is like amnesia in K-dramas. Cliche but if done well, there really is nothing bad to shout about.

As much as I liked Uncle, the poisoning could have been a good plot device to show more the depth of QingHong's feelings towards LF. I felt like they spent way too long in that place. The way the poisoning cure went felt a bit anti-climactic. It was always shown to be the big, dark cloud over LF's future, only for it to be magically solved away. Those scenes weren't less impressive but definitely not what you'd expect so it kinda fell flat.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Princess - the actress who played her has done a good job in still making her look lovable in the end. Did not like how her character was written throughout. She was such a selfish character and so out of touch with everything other than her own feelings that there was nothing to sympathise with her. Even the way Zisu fell in love with her wasn't believable. It sort of just happened when there was nothing lovable about her selfish ways. Definitely no development for her.
The rest of the characters and couples were adorable, especially Wen Rou and Xia Hou Ying. Xia Hou Ying just exudes a natural charisma which makes him so believable as a soldier. And they make such a good couple.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

And ofcourse, the OSTs.
Again, one of my favourite collection of OSTs! Much like with the rest of the drama, I did not expect this to have such good osts. They weren't utilised as much as I would like but they certainly worked when they played in the background. I especially like "Melting" (my favourite!), "Guang Hanguang" and also "Moonlight" which was sang by the male lead.
It felt like the director was quite ambitious in what he wants to portray and you could really see that in certain scenes, especially at the final battle and again in Mianyang. There was a strong message and that was visible in the way they very symbolically placed the dead Wang Dun at the emperor's chair.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The actors' performance are really one of the strong points in this drama. The amount of illogical actions, plot holes and at times the classic unnecessary deaths were frustrating but these were all covered up nicely by their performance. Especially Zisu, probably the most tragic character in this story also got one of the complete development here. He was devoted and wilful to start with but certainly reacts first before thinking. Later on, he proved to be determined and matured. The final battle showed him in his best form.

My favourite scene of Lin Fang would be at the chess battle. That's one of the best and unpredictable scenes in this drama which was really impressive and made me keep watching. It certainly was also one of the reason I didn't drop this. The contrast between how he and QH reacts towards their child in the end is also one of the best examples of Lin Fang's nature. His quiet and calm disposition really is comforting and confident in a way only he has.
There was so much potential for this to be REALLY good and the actors delivered however, ultimately, the direction mellowed down a little and took it down a notch. It never really built up to the peak I could foresee in the beginning. Still good but less of the promising impression I had at first.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Like others have pointed out, I didn't expect this to have quite a sombre feel in much of the episodes. Which was fine but the obvious effort to make it a bit more light hearted later on came at the expense of the female lead's evolution. Really loved her at the battle of Mianyang right until they jumped off the cliff, only for her to be back as immature as the beginning episodes. I get it is to show her natural characteristic but some of the lines she had did not come across in a playful, light way as I think they were hoping. They felt a bit more immature more than anything. Although not exactly like the first half, it wasn't a turn around you'd expect.

I'm not going to talk about much of the villain because it was just fine, nothing that's not already been shown in other stories, both in execution and story.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
*END OF SPOILERS*
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Overall, this was a good drama I'm glad I gave a try watching. Above essay is more of a nitpicking just because I felt like it had the potential to be as surprisingly good as Love and Redemption in regards to the overall quality of the story.

Takeaway those nitpickings and this drama is a show to watch and one where you just go with the flow. Taking it for what it is and just enjoying the story. I have certainly been attached to the characters especially to Lin Fang by the end, unexpectedly.

Apparently it is the female lead's first historical which is impressive. I'll be looking forward for more historical dramas with her. Her and Alan Yu has also got a nice chemistry with each other, and it would be interesting to see them together in another historical drama with slightly different relationship dynamics.