I was watching this in its premiere but stopped watching in the middle because the story got boring (as normally happens with those long episodes Chinese drama). Do not make this deter you to watch this drama. Since now the drama is finished, you can always binge watch it so you certainly will not experience my boredom back then.

The drama spin a tale of kingdom that ruled by eunuch. The focus of the drama is how the rightful monarch tried to take back authority from the eunuch faction. The politic itself was good, but it was no Nirvana in Fire level. Still, it was good enough. The villain was also very real and his defeat was handled with respect. I hate it when the villain defeat is caused by his/her IQ plummet somehow in the end of the show. Fortunately, that did not happen in this drama. Qiu Zhi Liang was wonderful villain and it took lots of sacrifice from the "good guys" camp and lots of strategy to finally bring him down.

Cheng Yi was stellar here as ML. His acting here taught me how "dying" should be acted. His death pained me. Even after watching last episode multiple times, his death scene always bring me to tears without fail. Qi Yan had a very bitter life. Never got to live for himself. His life was filled with responsibility and promise toward dead men. It was sad that he did not get to enjoy the fruit of his labor, but his death was a release in a way. The most important thing was he was dead with knowledge that he was loved.

Even though romance was not the focus in this drama, I admire how romance relationship between ML and FL was portrayed here. FL started as naive but she was as stable as a rock in her trust toward ML. Many times Qi Yan deliberately acted as bad man toward Cheng Ruo Yu to drive her away for her own good. But Cheng Ruo Yu kept on believing in him and trying to understand him. And when people said to her that Qi Yan had harmed her family, she was still willing to understand him. Some people perhaps will say this is a stupidity. But in my eyes, this is true love. Cheng Ruo Yu truly loved Qi Yan. She looked to his heart and accepted him whole, his identity, responsibility, weakness, and sin. Her love was just that big. Due to this, no one could ever drive a wedge between them. She had this unwavering trust, and she always patiently waited for Qi Yan to come to her himself to explain things.

Nowadays, lots of drama depicted FL as abrasive woman. Dare to love, dare to hate, as people like to coin them. However, as I see it, those FL are only dare to hate. They will be the first to interrogate and doubt their man at every instigation. They are the queen and even though they are in the wrong, the man should be the one coax them. Honestly, as a woman myself, I am tired watching those type of FL. It needs more bravery to love than to hate. Love means open your heart defenseless, to sacrifice. Therefore, the way Cheng Ruo Yu loved in this drama, is so very refreshing. She loved wholeheartedly, without sparring herself a chance to defense herself. The FL acting skill was a bit lacking indeed, but it did not take away the good side of her character.