Let's start with how beautiful Liu Yi Fei is in this drama. And the whole production basks in beauty and elegance that you'd want to visit this particular period of the Song Dynasty if you ever get a hold of a time machine. I've read that the original story was written by a person who used to live in the thriving capital before becoming a refugee. He then recalls in this memoir the splendor of the life in the capital and the drama show us that. The pipa and the tea are cultural details I enjoyed learning about from this drama.

I didn't think Chen Xiao would measure up to Pan Er's beauty but it didn't take long for me to wait in anticipation for Gu Xian Fan to appear. I love the characters surrounding the leads, especially Chi Ya Nei and Chen Lian. Sun San Niang was strong and steady. Ou Yang Xu was the antagonist we didn't know we'd hate and pity. Son Yin Zhang, albeit the abrupt change in attitude towards the end, was pretty solid as well. Gu Xiao Fan's father could have been explored more, I thought he was a promising character.

The only thing I wasn't too happy about was the fact that Gu Xiao Fan was mostly side-lined in the last climactic moments. The drama started out with him so I thought they were setting up a predominantly romantic story but his role dissipated and the story tried to be grander than it started out to be. Anyway, I'll still rewatch this because it was simply delectable.