What a magnificent series! It's based on real historical characters, filmed in a reproduction of the Forbidden City at Hengdian World Studios, and uses huge resources. The costumes, jewellery, ornaments and sets are sumptuous. The characters have real depth and interesting development, and the plot is very elaborate. The most interesting are the main characters, especially the LF, Wu Jin Yan, who plays a very intelligent (the most intelligent) and very fine character. 70 episodes (6 more if you add Princess Adventures) go by very quickly, I binged it to see how she comes out of it (if she does).


Spoiler:

The chemistry between her and the Emperor is perfect, she plays with him like crazy. It's so well done that you wonder at the end if she only loved the second lead (Xu Kai) and after having her heart broken, played with the emperor only for her to survive. There's a happy ending between the emperor and her, but we're very sad that Xu Kai didn't survive.