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Story of Kunning Palace has one of the best pacing of any 2023 drama. The storytelling is intriguing, with suspenseful arcs from the very first episode. The show does a great job of introducing the many characters and establishing their motivations. For the first 30 episodes, the twists and turns, as well as Jiang Xuening's personal growth, captivate the audience. The female friendships are beautiful and the discussion of female power is interesting.
The romance isn't the main focus of most of the show. In the beginning, Jiang Xuening struggles with her best friend's romantic feelings for her, while trying to save him and his family this time. In order to achieve this, she begins to plot with her teacher Xie Wei, but only in the last arc does she develop feelings for him. Instead, she longs for her former love, Zhang Zhe, an upright official with a strong sense of justice. One of the main themes of the show is that Jiang Xuening is not a good person, not in this life and certainly not in her last, but she is trying to be better. While Zhang Zhe is not a good match for her, the scheming and violent Xie Wei is. The story of Kunning Palace is not about love, but about intrigue, friendship, ambition and doing the right thing. It's only in the last 8 episodes that there is a real romance, and then the show loses its intrigue.
I was rooting for them right up until the moment their actual relationship developed. Firstly, I'm generally not a fan of the trope of men forcing themselves on women and women giving in until they like it, even if it's under the influence of trauma. Is it reasonable for his character to react that way? Yes, it is. Did the writers have to make him do it? Absolutely not. Especially when it is all framed as sexual tension. They were great as partners in crime, but at that point, is just using trauma for the sake of drama.
Overall, Bai Lu really stole the show. She was absolutely perfect for the part. As for Zhang Linghe, his performance again lacked nuance, but it was better compared to other shows I have seen so far. As for the side characters, the only other one that really stood out for me was Lui Xiening as Princess Le Yang/ Shen Zhi Yi, as well as the scheming Xue Yuan (by Huang Haibing) and his sister, Empress Dowager Xue (by Liu Min). These two were such great villains!
The romance isn't the main focus of most of the show. In the beginning, Jiang Xuening struggles with her best friend's romantic feelings for her, while trying to save him and his family this time. In order to achieve this, she begins to plot with her teacher Xie Wei, but only in the last arc does she develop feelings for him. Instead, she longs for her former love, Zhang Zhe, an upright official with a strong sense of justice. One of the main themes of the show is that Jiang Xuening is not a good person, not in this life and certainly not in her last, but she is trying to be better. While Zhang Zhe is not a good match for her, the scheming and violent Xie Wei is. The story of Kunning Palace is not about love, but about intrigue, friendship, ambition and doing the right thing. It's only in the last 8 episodes that there is a real romance, and then the show loses its intrigue.
I was rooting for them right up until the moment their actual relationship developed. Firstly, I'm generally not a fan of the trope of men forcing themselves on women and women giving in until they like it, even if it's under the influence of trauma. Is it reasonable for his character to react that way? Yes, it is. Did the writers have to make him do it? Absolutely not. Especially when it is all framed as sexual tension. They were great as partners in crime, but at that point, is just using trauma for the sake of drama.
Overall, Bai Lu really stole the show. She was absolutely perfect for the part. As for Zhang Linghe, his performance again lacked nuance, but it was better compared to other shows I have seen so far. As for the side characters, the only other one that really stood out for me was Lui Xiening as Princess Le Yang/ Shen Zhi Yi, as well as the scheming Xue Yuan (by Huang Haibing) and his sister, Empress Dowager Xue (by Liu Min). These two were such great villains!
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