Don't let the score fool you. This is a very watchable drama. It's consistently funny the entire run, something a lot of dramas can't pull off, and the female lead is soooooooooo feisty and go-getter. Those two things right there make this more than worth watching.

Not a lot really happens with all of the court politics and machinations for much of the drama, and I wouldn't put too much investment into that part of the story. It's mostly Yun Zhang suspecting Liu Xie of evil intent, and Liu Xie being shady but also making the audience question whether he's truly a villain or not. There's definitely plenty of fun moments and Liu Xie is infinitely intriguing, but it is a bit slow going at times. After about ep 29 (yes, pretty late in the story) is when things really start moving, and there's a lot of really interesting stuff that happens. I was honestly pleasantly surprised at how well they tied everything together. I would say this part of the drama has a very satisfying conclusion.

Probably the one thing you're going to hear the most complaints about is the lack of kisses in the romance. I don't know why the production team decided to go the route they did, why there weren't more kisses, why there were so many almost kisses, why the first kiss is her kissing the spot between his lips and his chin, but this is what they decided to go with. Am I happy about it? No. Does it ruin the drama? Also no. But it certainly doesn't benefit the drama. We at least needed a kiss fading to black on their second wedding night. (I mean, come on!) They do hug and link arms and hold hands quite frequently once they get together, and there's plenty of non-skinship related romance to be had between them as well, but I do still wish we had gotten one more true kiss. (I mean, come oooooooonnnn. Not even on the second wedding night???) Barring the lack of kisses, they are a fun couple to watch go from bickering to mild respect to open with their feelings for each other.

What really makes this drama work is the comedy and the female lead. First, it's incredibly funny. From the characters to the plot to the intentional irreverence, even the way they play with Chinese history. (This is not a historically accurate drama, lol.) I was constantly laughing at the hijinks everyone gets up to. Then there's Jinfeng. Love her. Love her, love her, love her. She shows up at the palace and makes the place her own, and it's very satisfying to watch. Without these two things, this drama probably would have suffered.

One Word Of Warning!!!!
This drama suffers from some bizarre, jarring cuts from ep. 20 to around ep. 26 that harm the overall flow of the story. Internet drama sleuths determined that the major cuts were to do with a subplot that didn't end up going anywhere, so the production team most likely decided to remove it. The problem is the episodes had already been uploaded to the internet when they made this decision, and making those cuts created confusion for other parts of the drama. They should have just left them in, and everyone could have side-eyed the dropped plot point and moved on. It might be worth rewatching some of those eps to help with clarity on the plot. The cuts took me out of the story enough, that I decided to rewatch about 5 or 6 episodes just to help me understand what was going on and give me time to get reinvested.

Overall though, I think this was a super fun drama, my third Chinese drama to ever finish. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for really good comedy that is consistent throughout the story, and a feisty, spunky female lead who makes everyone love her.