Made an account just to make this review. I feel A LOT of dramas here and ESPECIALLY on the V site are way overrated by 2 up to 3.0 points. Like what you see that is rated 8, I would realistically bring it down to 6. I think people rate high because they see beautiful actors and get star struck and fans jumping up and down.

Anyhow, waited many years for the uncensored 82 episode Taiwan version to have passable subs up and finally it was. I had very high expectations: Wanted Great story, great plots, a lot of very clever scheming, a very smart FL as the whole story revolves around her brilliance, some great romance and a lot of oogling over how beautiful, smart and awesome the FL is with great victories. I wanted to see her become the Empress and just own it.

I can say is all of that fell extremely flat. The only thing I like thus far is the FL does fulfill the role in terms of beauty and nice dresses. The story, the characters, the romance, the acting, the scheming or lack of it, absolutely horrible. The story has been dull and boring. I've watched it and thought to myself "wow, whoever wrote all this, this is one of the WORST Kingdom / harem show I've watched thus far", especially for all the hype it got. The first Emperor had almost no presence and to have him be around for such a significant part of the show is a horrible idea. I've watched stuff like The Story of Yanxi Palace or Dong Yi (which drag in some areas and isn't perfect) but it is LEAGUES better than this. I would trade up beautiful costumes for a good story any days. It's nice to have a very beautiful FL, but to fail this badly is totally not worth it. I'm flabbergasted as to why this show has such high ratings and fan base.

I made this review to shove some reality back into these glowing reviews. 10/10 for this? You got to be joking me!