To be honest, I initially started watching Joy of Life because of Xiao Zhan and I was slightly disappointed to learn that he would only show up in the final 5 episodes or so. Despite this, I quickly fell in love with all the other characters, especially Fan Xian.

Joy of Life is a fast-paced show with very little boring moments. It is also very witty, filled with puns (that are difficult to wrap your head around sometimes) and scheming characters. There is a nice balance between the light-hearted comedy and the darker politics of the palace. Not all characters are who they seem to be, and the true enemy is hidden in the shadows, only revealed at the very end. While I think the plot is overall cohesive, the genre fluctuates slightly. Is it a historical fantasy drama? Mostly. Are there themes of science-fiction? Yes. It is difficult to summarise Joy of Life into one genre, because it has hints of several genres, including wuxia and science fiction.

Out of all the female characters, I think Fan Xian and Li Waner have the weakest chemistry. The show thrusts us into a sort of "love at first sight" between the main couple, and then slowly builds chemistry. I think they are cute together, but the chemistry between Fan Xian and Haitang Duoduo was much stronger and believable in my opinion. In the book, Fan Xian's relationships with the women is extremely different (from what I've heard, Fan Xian has a harem), but has been changed in the show. Quite a few things have been changed in the show (because of censorship), so the plot is slightly different from the novel.

Overall, a good show that balances palace/country politics as well as comedy.