The sets and costumes and beautiful female actors draw the viewer in and keep them hooked. The fact many of the characters have multiple titles and names (and these often change over time) which can be very confusing and make it hard to follow. The English subtitles are terrible in places, as if a literal translation is being made, given the very different grammars Chinese/English this doesn't help and at times they grate on the historic atmosphere - referring to multiple persons as 'guys' is lazy and inappropriate. I know torture practices in ancient china were indescriabably awful and what is portrayed here by comparison is tame but it still comes over as revolting, as does the deliberate humiliation. By 50 episodes in I found the waring in the harem and spitefulness, not to say downright malice, too much. The Emperor, Dowager Empress and Empress are very flawed characters and the regime in the Forbidden City is irredeemable.

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The cinematography and choice of actors, particularly the succession of child actors who portray Jiang Shen and Liang Shen growing up into their teens and beyond together make this very seductive. The music is romantic and classical but the sound levels are somewhat perverse, at times drowning out dialogue (though I watch English subtitles I still like too hear Mandarin). The way this is written and directed it is deliberatly misleading (which adds to the drama/mystery) but just because the first few episodes suggest Liang an Jiang are half brother and sister [only circumstantial evidence is given] don't run away with the idea this is about an incestuous relationship. What ever way you try to view it, it isn't. Rather it's about the enduring power of famillial affection and shared experience trancending everyday life; comforts; consolelation and emparting a sence of belonging.
A succession of excessivly rich individuals join the drama and few of them have any redeaming features. Some of them are positively evil, yet when they are in trouble or hurting, they are the first to complain. Our supposed half brother and sister have one trait in common; they are too trusting and have no effective defense against those who mean them ill. In consequence they endure terrible emotional and physical hurt .
The medical aspects introduced to help the plot move forward are very badly done. It is muddling organic illness, ie brain damage, with psycological illness. It puts the subject of blood groups and rehsus factor as attributes of two of the main leads but does so very inaccurately, thus destroying credibility. A rehsus negative mother carring a rehsus positive child (fathered hy a Rh+ father) can successfully deliver a viable child and have successive pregnancies. Yes, there are significant risks both to mother and child but, with excellent medical supervision the dangers can be ameliorated; it is certainly not a black/white situation like the drama pretends. This makes me very angry. The female lead is saintly and lacks the capacity to defend herself. Her 'brother' has similar issues. The direction and editing of this drama has significant problems and the, at times very poor subtitling, fall far short of the expected standard. Strangely, for all those, it hooks you in and makes you want to keep viewing!

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