Before proceeding i'll let you know that i watch yanxi palace after ruyi's royal love (different drama with similar focus-the same emperor and era), so i'll admit that i might be biased. That being said, let's start!

Yanxi palace tell the story of a palace maid wei ying luo, and her life in the qing imperial palace. It's a palace drama, so you can expect a lot of intrigue and scheming, fortunately for our heroine, she is smart, ambitious, and really got some backbone to survive. For you who are tired with damsel distress then this is the drama for you, the pace is also pretty fast unlike a lot of other costume drama that tend to drag things around, it's good drama for people who aren't used to this genre. All in all i think yanxi palace is quite an entertaining watch. The set and costume (the jewelries!!) are exquisite too, however, i feel like the cinematography is flat and boring, especially compared to ruyi and other drama like winter begonia (same maker). Yanxi palace just like many chinese cotume drama was shot in hengdian studio and the costume design was amazing as well, so i don't think the problem is caused by lack of effort or lack of money. I won't lie and say that i'm an expert, but i guess the lighting and the way they shot yanxi palace is not as dramatic and tasteful as the other two, therefore it doesn't really have the same nuance and grandeur the others successfully created.

The other problem that i have with yanxi palace is the simple writing for the character, wei ying luo is not a typical chinese drama heroine, and yet she's still a mary sue. Every step she makes is perfect and deliberate. I get it that she is the main protagonist, but i feel like in every situation that arise, the external factors really support her. For example, in the earlier episode wei ying luo is discovered by the emperor while punching the so called "spiritual tree", the emperor initially want to punish her, but she weasel her way out by speaking up the reason why she was punching the tree. It's a very simple scene, but if the action wasn't done by her and instead a side character, the emperor probably would't give her a chance to explain it in the first place. Another example would be when wei ying luo tricked one of the noble ladies in the first episode, i think it's a bit unrealistic because it was her first day in the palace, therefore she obviously doesn't know the emperor's character, then how does she know that her trick will works ? What if the emperor turns out to be a frivolous man that care about nothing but beauties, and decided to overlook the tricked noble lady's mistake. The protagonist halo is too strong.

The side characters are also a bit too simplified. i'm not sure whether if they do it accidentally or purposefully to make the main protagonist look even smarter, but everytime the empress have some troubles, there's wei ying luo to smooth the wrinkle. Either way i'm a bit disappointed with the writing, especially because court drama is always a good place to showcase abundant cast and their skill, as well as nice friendship/ally between the court ladies to overcome the antagonist, and they didn't maximize it.

That being said, yanxi palace is still a good drama to watch if you have a lot of time, there are even some impressive lines that i really like. Please don't let my complains immediately damper your will to watch it, as many of the problems that i faced while watching it were caused by my personal preference (and i'm a very nitpicky person).