First of all, before I dive into a long review of this drama, I want everyone to look at the headline above. Yes, the title is ‘RUYI’S ROYAL LOVE IN THE PALACE’, from the title itself we know this is the love story of a girl called Ruyi that happened inside the palace. Fyi, this is my first Chinese drama that I watched, that introduced me into the world of cdrama. I guess, it was worth it. Long ass of episodes, a heartbreaking drama with full of scheming, betrayals, self-reflection, falling out of love and regrets that it’s too late to emerge.

To sum up, this drama is about a girl named Ruyi who have a childhood lover and later on become her husband who was at the same time the emperor of the kingdom, named Hongli. In their younger days, they vows love towards each other and promised to stay by each other’s side through tough times and happiest moment. Ruyi wants nothing but love from her husband. However, the journey inside harem is not as smooth as everyone ever dreamed of. It fulls of scheming, betrayals, pretending to be so called ‘nice’, abusing powers, and gaining the emperor’s affection. Ruyi, in her best intention, try to stay away from all these immoral values. But, as a concubine inside the harem, she can’t avoid from being schemed and hurt by other women who have jealousy towards her. This is where she realised how tiring it is to be a king’s woman but at this point, her love towards Hongli was still stronger as ever. She wants to accompany and be there for him, because she knows how lonely the title of emperor that her husband had to bear. To cut it short, years goes by, and scheming inside the harem getting more intense, and everyone was affected and even the emperor slowly losing trust on Ruyi. This is when everything started to fall apart.

This drama tell us that no matter how much you love someone, your love alone can’t change that person to become the best version of himself. Ruyi thought that the love she have for Hongli would stay deeper even after years changes. But when she looking back, the person who he loved back then was no longer exists. It is just an arrogant emperor who thought everything he did was right, lustrous and easily swayed. From this point, she gave up on her love and wanted to be in peace and free as she used to be before she marrying into the palace.

Aside from her love story, this drama also portrayed the life inside the harem, the struggle of the empresses and concubines to gain the emperor’s favour and to usurp the power. It’s a unique story that shows not only a love story, but friendships, family and even various cultures. I was amazed with the beautiful traditional costumes and how different it is with one another. I love the traditional instruments played by the concubines, the opera song, the food, the setting, etc. It was beautiful and portrayed realistically. 10/10 for the cinematography and the efforts from production team.

In addition, the acting from Zhou Xun is outstanding. No wonder she was listed as one of the Four Dan actresses in China. I love and love the way she portrayed herself as Ruyi, how she bring this character to alive. Wallace Huo’s acting is equally good. I hated his character tho, and that’s mean he nailed the character of Hongli. Other side roles are doing amazing job for their respective characters. I hated the evil characters and I pitied some of the innocent characters that was keep being stomped in this drama. Everything was perfectly written and portrayed. And yes, it’s a long drama but it’s worth every thrill, heartbreak, pain, anger and tears that being poured.

Imo, a lot of people fail to understand what this drama is all about. For those who give up just after few episodes because it was boring and pointless, I hope you find a courage to give it another try. This drama is engraved in my heart, I love every bits of it. I still remember the line Ruyi said to the emperor, the last time they met each other; “Flowers bloom and flowers fall, there is timing to them.” She wanted to remind Hongli that their love and marriage were happy at the beginning, but have a sad ending at the end.
This drama is truly a masterpiece and one that would stay in my heart for a long time.