SPOILERS....



Overall, I was very disappointed with part 2: They had some amazing scenes: Pretty much all of the emperor, empress, consort Yue, and 3rd prince scenes were awesome!

I also loved the arc where CSS, YSJ, and 3rd prince team up to help exonerate LBY. Those episodes were amazing and the FL was consistently smart again during this period. I remember saying to my sister, "we're back with part 1 FL and why couldn't she have been more like this for the entirety of part 2?"

But the arcs after this were almost all terribly rushed and edited. The Lou Ben arc in particular was a complete disaster! Probably the worst edited scenes in this entire drama...the events just happened because the writers said so. More attention and care to the script was needed to come up with a reasonable explanation for why Lou Ben acted in that manner. Someone of his talents and patience wouldn't have committed those acts without something happening that's life threatening to his loved ones. And if he had this dark/twisted/"ambition over everything" side, the drama should have revealed it to us.

And don't even get me started with the most retarded scene of all: The LJT carriage scene where CSS, despite not trusting her, still rides with her alone and ends up almost killed had LBY not come to her rescue. That scene was horrendously written and it makes CSS seem extremely dumb since she clearly doesn't trust LJT, yet chooses to be alone with her anyway without any protection. Like, huh? I thought LBY taught you some moves and if you're unable to even handle a physically weak female, how were you able to lead soldiers and protect villages? Again, this scene was nothing more than a cheap way to make LBY look heroic and to hasten CSS's eventual forgiveness.

Which leads me to the other retarded scene where CSS repeats her mistake: Despite being suspicious of Lou Li (Lou Yao's stupid cousin) and having never gotten along with her, she chooses to go with her alone anyway without any guards (she could have taken any of the dozens that were behind her). Why do the drama creators constantly have the FL purposely placing herself in danger when she had no reason to do so? Why does she constantly go off to dangerous places alone despite knowing she lacks martial arts skills? And what was the point of her previously asking LBY to teach her self defense skills if she never intends on using them in crucial situations?

Not only that, shortly after arriving at the Lou residence, she's constantly eyeing Lou Li with suspicion and wouldn't even drink the soup laced with poison. Yet she still does nothing but roll with whatever Lou Li wants, ending up trapped with YSS and ZJ. The idea that a braindead girl like Lou Li could have successfully lured one of the smartest drama FLs is so laughable and ridiculous -we have truly hit the bottom of the barrel.

If the director needed to get the FL into the trap to continue the story, he could have done so without sacrificing all her brain cells. Seriously, the FL's character in the later episodes of part 2 was so inconsistent, constantly vacillating between brilliance and retardation, that it gave me whiplash. The drama successfully turned her into a walking plot device, being whatever the plot point demands her to be.

The subsequent underground reveal was also rushed: I tried to hold back my laughter when LBY just came leaping down when the last time we saw him, he was still outside and didn't even mention the Lou residence. It's like entire scenes were skipped just to get to the showdowns more quickly.

I also really hated using LBY's near death to force CSS into finally forgiving him: It was done really badly and felt cheap. The drama writers fit his whole regretful speech and near death experience all in one rushed scene to reconcile the leads. I felt nothing as I couldn't even take his near death seriously: LBY was able to take down dozens of guards with only a few followers, yet couldn't even handle a frail woman holding onto his leg? He does nothing to shake her off and only stares up at CSS, waiting to die and see her reaction. It seems the drama creators wanted to make that scene touching, but instead, it felt so unbelievable and laughable. Once again, horrible writing and execution.

The drama writers pretty much went with my worst nightmare: Using lame near-death experiences as a shortcut to speed up the leads' reconciliation. This is pretty much the least satisfying and cheapest way to force a forgiveness in any romance. And it's definitely not enough for our leads' specific situation: LBY abandons CSS when she's already a character with trust issues due to being abandoned by her parents for 10+ years. This is not something she can get over after two near death situations (not to mention they're two of the worst written/executed scenes in the drama).

Overall, the pacing in part 2 was uneven (certain scenes stretched too long while others were too short) and certain arcs like Lou Ben, Cheng family calamity, and the last few episodes all felt rushed and sloppily written. It's like the drama creators ran out of time and decided to just give us all the payoffs without the proper setups, which effectively made everything feel unearned.

I also hated all the whitewashing: No way would grandmother Cheng ever say that she'll save all her treasures to use on CSS (completely out of character). The mother trying to reconcile with CSS also felt forced and shoehorned in just because the writers wanted to tie everything up with a neat bow. If the writers intended on making everyone regret their actions, they would have had to put in a lot more character work and heartfelt interactions to make it convincing. But what we ended up getting felt completely half baked and unbelievable.

Yet, even with all the writing inconsistencies and uneven pacing, I still could have been satisfied had the drama creators continued to deliver on the romance.

Unfortunately, the romance later on was too passive and subdued for me, kind of boring. After five years, I wanted to see LBY really fight to get his girl back, but instead, he stayed too passive and never lost control. That's just not exciting nor is it true to his character.

He's somebody who lost his whole clan as a kid and found it extremely hard to connect/fall in love with anyone. Thus, once he finally found the love of his life, he tends to be extremely possessive and protective. No way would he remain this subdued after five years of being without his girl.

In the novel, as soon as he's anywhere near the FL, he loses control and would end up going after her. That's the LBY I know and love. Not this passive guy that's content to never make a move unless she wants him to...LBY was never the type of guy to watch from afar and keep waiting. He could delude himself into thinking he'd be able to "do the right thing" by letting CSS go only if she's not in his vicinity. But as soon as she comes into his sight, all hell would break lose and he won't be able to stay away from her. Such is CSS's effect on him.

Now, that version of LBY would have been really exciting to watch: Somebody who's very human and unable to contain himself after being starved of CSS for 5 long years. No way would he be as controlled as he was in the drama. Come on drama creators, where's the passion and desperation?!! Where's the emotional catharsis?!!!

The fighting/clawing and emotional groveling scenes from the book where LBY pleads with CSS to not be so cruel to him would have stimulated the romance like nothing else. It also would have given the actors more to work with and we could have gotten some truly emotional/angsty scenes from them, making full use of their chemistry! I wanted to see WL and ZLS go all out with their acting.

Instead, the drama creators made all their subsequent interactions too tame/subdued, effectively devoid of any tension. The romance simply fizzled out completely for me by the end. I couldn't believe how bored and checked out I was in their final scene together (felt long and stretched out too).

That last sequence showcasing everyone all happy/giddy felt more like fanservice and it just kept on meandering. I could have used another follow-up scene of the 3rd prince and LBY after their touching battle scenes.

In closing, I felt part 1 was much stronger than part 2 in terms of storytelling and quality of script. Even though the love story wasn't heavily underway and there were less intense plot points, the actual slice of life story presented was much better told. Other than a few minor quibbles (FL mother's repetitive criticisms, some unreasonable amplifying of bitch drama, and the FL's love revelation), I found the overall pacing and storytelling of part 1 to be pretty even and smooth. There weren't any arcs and story events I found to be sloppily executed or confusing. The FL's characterization was also much more consistent, unlike part 2, where she's smart one moment and foolish/sloppy the next. Altogether, much more care was taken when filming and writing part 1.

I'll still give the overall drama an 8.5/10 (very generous rating mainly due to my HUGE bias) due to the storytelling in part 1, our favorite royal trio/3rd prince esp. in part 2, the intense LBY trial in part 2, and how invested I became by its world and characters. I also loved the initial tension and buildup of the leads' romance up until the manor massacre.