Story of Kunning Palace (2023)

Peace is like a dream, why not fight till I'm damned

Do you believe in second chances? This drama tells the story about a girl who used every way possible and everyone around her to become an Empress. This Empress had a terrible ending and died horribly. Now she is back to the time before she went down the path of no return, and decides to fight against her destiny.

The best part of this drama to me, are the three male leads.

Our 2nd ML, Yan Lin is a bright and cheerful lad and the son of a Marquis. He is upright, and dotes on the FL endlessly in the start of the story. I think he has gone through the most character development in this drama. By the end of the story, having gone through much turmoil, he has matured a lot. But he still hasn't let go of his principal characteristics: upright, loyal and bright. This is how character development should be done!

Our 3rd ML, Zhang Zhe comes from a meager background. He has climbed the social ladder merely through his own talent. He works at the Ministry of Justice, quite befitting his just and unwavering character. From start to finish, in every lifetime, he never once takes sides in politics due to personal reasons and only supports the truth wholeheartedly. His romance with the Fl strikes a chord in me. I really like the dynamic between a high ranking noble lady × weak but talented poor scholar. I love the scene where they meet on a rainy day and they leave with their sight still lingering on each other.

Our ML, Xie Wei is the mastermind of most of the plots. He has ulterior motives and is dedicated to taking revenge. The more you get to know his character, the more you fall in love with him to the point that by the end of the story, you get addicted to his character. Can I just say Zhang Linghe is beautiful beyond measure, he looks otherworldly like a peach blossom spirit. Dark mysterious and beautiful ah! At first I was more interested in the 3rd ML with the FL, but as the story goes on, the differences between ML and him becomes greater. ML truly is willing to sacrifice his revenge, his hand (matters a lot cuz he's obsessed with playing guqin) and even himself for the FL. He's cold at the beginning but as soon as he starts falling in love it's like every scene they're together in combusts into fire. Best ML I have ever seen in drama ever. I just wanna watch more of Zhang Linghe T^T.

The FL is not as interesting as the MLs but Bai Lu is a good actress and it's easy to place yourself in her shoes, so it works out.

I love the side characters. You Fangyin and Boss Lyu's love story is soo sad. Love all the people by the ML's side— his bodyguards Jian Shu and Dao Qin and even the fake Xue Dingfei. Love the princess (I ship her 100% with the FL lol). I'm glad they didn't make the FL's sister the stereotypical evil character. Instead she has her own personality, storyline, and development. I really love her color palette and dressing style, goes super well with the character. The other side female characters are cute too (especially the astrologer, super funny).

The villains got so much on my nerves. But it's their job so idk. That Xue Shu is a damned b**** idk how they managed to cast someone that looks and talk evil all the time. I don't feel bad for her one bit. Her brother can go to hell too and so can their mom and dad. Evil family.

Anyways watch this drama, if you wanna look at beautiful scenery and even more beautiful people! 10/10 would recommend.

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drama gets better as story progresses. Got dark vibe.

Story of Kunning Palace - 9/10 -historical cdrama

after quite long time watched historical cdrama. Sadly this drama is just type I hate ful of intrigue alike to korean historical dramas.
Firstly I didnt really like this drama it was dark and even though first eisode made me remember :The Romance of Tiger and Rose: the vibe couldnt be more far away.
Vibe is very alike to :My Journey to You:, but that drama managed to catch mine interest from get go, guess mainly cause Esther Yu and Lu Yu Xiao where both of them are mine favs and their roles was very different from usual ones they plan and they managed to slay it.
Bai Lu and other characters in Kunning palace ... lets say it wanted at least 10 eps from me to grow fond of them to continue watch.

ok shortly first 10 eps I planned to rate 8/10. Till 30ep I planned 8.5/10. And last 8eps + special managed to perusade me for 9/10. Must say I practically binge watched it in one day.

Ok review was too long. For plot and genre just check out MDL.

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This is the Best Chinese Drama of 2023 for Me!!

I love everything about the drama!!! The directors were able to pieces this drama together very well despite ending with 38 episodes. I did wish it was longer because it was too good for it to end early.

I love all the main casts because everyone did their part very well especially Bailu and Zhang Ling He. I’m a huge fan of both actor and actress. I am very happy that I was able to see these two worked together!!! ( q v q )

I want to thank all the casts, directors and staffs for the beautiful drama. It’s been awhile since I have fully watch through a drama without being bored. Thank you for that!

Also, I’ve enjoyed watching this drama with my fellow watchers. Thank you for the great jokes and laughters. You guys are the real MVP for posting and sharing links relating to SOKP. :D

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Very enjoyable revenge palace drama.

The revenge plot was really well done and overall pacing of the story was great. Watching all the machinations in the imperial palace/harem, secrets slowly coming to light, and plotting of our cunning Male Lead really made this an enjoyable series. We also had a very smart Female Lead who was able to take care of herself no matter where she ended up. She was never a damsel in distress and despite not being physically powerful, she used her smarts, wits, confidence and strong personality to get herelf out of sticky situations. Also, this is one of the few cdramas where the Emperor actually has common sense and isn't immediately influenced by rumors or accusations. Honestly you probably wouldn't think this should matter since the Emperor is not a character we would care about unless they are the main lead, but it does matter when the story revolves around the palace. So I had much less frustrations watching this drama because everybody that mattered in the plot line was actually smart and did their jobs as you would expect them to. This overall made the drama more enjoyable compared to other palace themed dramas. There was just one character death I didn't like, it was so unecessary to the story aside from wanting to make viewers sad, so I didn't appreciate that at all.

In terms of romance, even though they I liked the pairing, I found the romance lacking a bit from the main couple imo. I personally felt more romance between the FL, Second Male Lead and even Third Male Lead because we got more healthy moments of affection/love shown between them. We only got to see more romance with the main leads towards the end, but even then it was more of a domineering type of love that could make you feel uncomfortable to watch. So I wish we also got to see more sweet moments between the main couple; or at the very least I would have liked to see FL be more expressive of her love with the ML like she was with TML. Granted the FL and ML's personalities and story lines don't really give off sweet vibes so it also makes sense that their love was more on the intense/obssessive/toxic side.

In addition to having a smart Emperor, other unique things I liked that weren't necessarily present 100% of the time but we did get to see were:
1) Bestest boy ever Second Male Lead who only wants the best for his crush and isn't possessive of her; 2) Non-competitive sibling relationship between the FL and her sister; 3) Healthy friendships between FL and other women; and 4) Parents apologizing to children.

Overall very satisfied with the revenge plot but would have liked to have more romance from the main couple. Bailu acted really well, crying scenes were so emotional. ML needs to work on his expressions but overall great job from him too and the rest of the cast.

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Very Entertaining Story

This one features a FL who goes back in time to fix mistakes made the first time. The supernatural element is gotten around by the censors by having this actually be a story that the author is creating. This has modern scenes framing the story, but these modern scenes are short and add nothing to the plot.

The FL is capable and strong. Because she lived this life before, she is able to use her knowledge to change or attempt to change fate from the first time. It’s interesting because in changing circumstances, things don’t play out like she expects. We get just enough glimpses of her past life to see the difference but we aren’t overburdened by flashes of the past.

If you don’t like a dark hero, then this is not the drama for you. Xie Wei is not your typical Chinese drama lead. He is scheming, ruthless, and legitimately mentally unwell. The translation was schizophrenia but his illness get closer to PTSD. Nevertheless, though he is super intelligent, he is hampered by this fugue state he gets in when it snows. I felt the actor playing him overdid it with the crazy eyes at times. But overall his character was interesting and intriguing.

The romance is slow burn. It doesn’t really ramp up until the last 10 episodes or so, though there is enough of it throughout the show to keep even romance fans like myself interested. Highly recommended.

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Maybe I'm not mastermind of chess of destiny but I will save as many pawns I can this time...

Story of kunning palace is one of the best time travel cdramas.....
1) ✅the fl is not meek character. she's a character that can do anything to achieve her goal. Though she made bad choices in her first life and manipulated people....but she got redemption by loving people who are important to her life .
2) ✅ the male lead is ruthless manipulative character and Zhang Linghe did terrific job portraying his character .
overall theme , action scenes, all are top quality.
4) ❌ the drama couldn't fill up the intensity of the plot from the first episode, I expected more intense plot.
5) ❌Xie Wei didn't reborn so , why didn't he made the same choices in the first timeline, so he could avoid death of first emperor and stop falling the power under Xue family .
6) ❌if the protagonists change then why would the antagonists stick to their original plan ? Even Xues are weak but Lord pingnan shouldn't have fallen under Xie Wei's trap so easily. The villains are not interesting.
7) ❌rather filling up the drama with non scene annoying romance with the second male lead ( who ain't better than wooden log ) they could have shown more schemes and romance between the main leads .
8) ❌Character of Xue ning sometimes burden the main plan of Xie Wei. I would rather prefer the fl being power of ml not weakness. There was no reason for her to follow the war when she can't fight or scheme . Rather than being kidnapped and hero saves beauty plot she could have rested at home .
9) ❌the production and director didn't did great job on pointing the weightage of scenes.
10)✅✅✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ although I pointed out many flaws, nothing is flawless and this show is worth watching and entertaining at the end of the day so I highly recommend this drama...

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I guess people still like bad boys.

This series was on my watchlist but it wasn’t quite the time to watch it but the hype and rave reviews made me watch it ahead of schedule and I will say that overall I can totally understand the reason for the hype.
Don’t get me wrong I liked the drama in the totality of what it is and although some arcs weren’t properly fleshed out (I won’t go into details here as someone else already did so read review by #PeachBlossomGoddess for further details if interested) it was still a good drama, aesthetically pleasing drama. I completely agree that ZLH was overacting sometimes but honestly i didn’t mind it at all, I can’t totally understand why people especially the ladies are into his brand of crazy (judging by many reviews I read), his ferocious deranged snarl looks where one for the record books and gave the likes of Wen Kexing ( my favorite male CDrama character tied with Mei ChangSu), DongFang QingCang and Wie Wuxian a run for their money.
My Girl Bai Lu always delivers and that chemistry was off the charts, I wish we got more of them as a couple but the ones we did get was definitely worth it.
As much as I liked the drama for some reason I didn’t crazily love it and I only give 10/10 to a drama I love and will definitely rewatch.
I highly doubt I will rewatch this but never say never.
Rewatch value 6/10
Overall value 8.5/10

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binge-worthy

This is one of my 2 favourite dramas of 2023 (the other being The Blood of Youth). Would regularly watch 3-5 episodes at a time, probably took me less than 2 weeks to get through entire drama from start to finish.

For me the sign of a good c-drama is when I don't fast forward through scenes or episodes or just drop the drama entirely. This drama had a great story and the plot moves forward every episode, never once had the urge to skip scenes. The cast was excellent and there was not a single actor or character that annoyed me or felt out of place. It's about a lady that goes back in time to try to fix the past. It is a similar concept to Bai Lu's other 2023 drama (Till the End of the Moon) but Kunning palace is far superior to that one. It does a good job of inter-twining her past life with the present as she seeks to change outcomes. I could nitpick at some of the familiar plot devices used in this drama, for example, the evil empress dowager or the corrupt high-ranking official but there was so much that was good about this drama that these can be over-looked. Also liked the music in this drama and how it was used, they don't overdo it with the song interludes which was a nice change. Finally, the ending although a bit predictable was very satisfying and much better than many of the c-dramas from 2023.

This drama is a definite binge watch, once you watch the first few episodes you will be hooked

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A Bit(?) of Dark Romance

It was a slow burn romance but with a twist, a bit of dark romance. To me, they were perfect for each other. One was direct to the point and the other one needed a push even tho it was obvious through her actions that she likes him. This drama was about FL given a second chance to right her wrongs and how ML fought his ways to survive and to do justice to the poor souls that unjustly annihilated for the sake of power and wealth.

ML, Xie Wei, a ruthless, righteous man and a meticulous strategist. Ofc he was cunning too, being raised by a violent rebel wld do that. I'm in awed by his plans that seemed to be 10 steps ahead although there was few things out of his control. It took sometimes before he realised his feelings towards FL but until that time, we can see unconsciously he protected her, wld make something to bring her pleasure and willingly wld die for her. Though he can be aggressive when he was jealous *rolling my eyes.
He was quite fierce when he chided FL for being reckless. Idk their interactions with each other sometimes frustrated me too.

FL, Jiang Xuening, quick witted but short temper woman who was caring and wld do anything to protect the people she loved and closed with. She was not afraid to be punished for speaking the truth. She had this unapproachable aura but when you are sincere to her, she repay it ten-folds. I like her no-nonsense approach when she wanted to accomplish her missions. She was intimidated by ML's personality and the shadow of who he was in the past life. So that was why it took sometimes before she had feelings for him. I think what ML did for her, moved her.

I'm really loving all OSTs in this drama especially the one by Jane Zhen, Zhou Shen and Bai Lu. Idk why I became a bit teary when I listened to Bai Lu's song. It just so soft and delicate I guess.

The period costumes in this drama were quite stunning. I definitely love the bright and the pastel colours of FL's dresses.

As for 2ndML and 3rdML.... Yan Lin, you are the best! You are so sincere and understanding. Zhang Zhe, I like that you hold on strong to your principles of being righteous but willing to hear what FL advised to you. Also, you know when to move on.
I definitely enjoyed watching ML's subordinates antics, Lyu Xian, Dao Qin and Jian Shu. They were so hilarious when they talked with each other. Shout out to my precious Lyu Xian, you definitely deserve to be happy. SCRIPTWRITERS WHEN I CATCH YOU!!

The ending was my kind of ending where I got to know how was everyone's life was going. I really appreciate that they wld do that. I am not fond of abrupt happy ending. Give us a closure after all the suffering and sobbing.

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A Familiar Idol Drama

In many ways, familiarity is an recurring element for Kunning Palace. The FL was an Empress of evil deeds in her past life that transmigrates into a do-over life, intent on fixing her mistakes. So the setting, the people, and even many events are portrayed as familiar events that add tension to the story.

As for my personal viewing experience, Kunning Palace also felt familiar‒A Familiar Stranger familiar. In fact having conscientiously avoided idol dramas‒costume or modern‒A Familiar Stranger was an rare exception that I attempted and enjoyed, perhaps mostly owing to its short mini-drama length. With Kunning Palace as the much anticipated big-budget drama, I joked to myself that all I'm looking for is AFS quality and I'm willing to turn my brain off for the ride. And to my cursed prediction, A Familiar Stranger is basically what I got: from the haphazard blinding lights, to the spinning shots, to the predictable OST that conspicuously serenades every modestly emotional scene, to the paper-mache world-building and story that I didn't dare staring into for the fear that even a lingering glance will set the whole world ablaze.

And sadly despite the modest expectations, I'm not sure if Kunning Palace matched the quality of AFS. Despite being a low-budget production shot in a pinch, AFS had arguably better production quality, better average acting quality, and better tropey romantic sizzle. And most of all, the short 3 hour run time and fast pace made all the irksome issues much more palatable.

To be fair, Kunning Palace is not a terrible show, and solidly above average for an idol drama. Unsurprisingly, a lot of people liked it, and liked it a lot. If you are not congenitally allergic to idol drama like me, the sets, costumes, pretty actors, and decent trope execution will be lighting up plenty of dopamine and serotine. And just some modest improvement to the script, acting, and cinematography would have made this a decent watch me. But as it is, the negatives slightly outweighed the positives, and multiplied by 24 episodes the cumulative enjoyment debt had become too much to overcome.

Complaints:
❌Kiddie level political schemes and too many plot issues
❌On-the-nose tension and dramatic moments, reinforced by even more on-the-nose dialog to make sure the audience understood the obvious
❌Too much try-hard acting; too modern line delivery, dialog, and general vibes
❌Amateurish cinematography and editing choices, the director feels like someone that likes to inject random effects into his Powerpoint slides to look professional

--Category Ratings--
- Overall - 6
- Plot - 5.5
- Theme / Message / Impact - 6
- Acting - 6.5
- Visuals - 7
- Audio - 7
- Rewatch - 5
- Accessibility - 7.5
- Subtitle quality - 8

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