Happy TV watching weekend with the long weekend ahead. This is the perfect drama to add to your watch list. I will say it’s the perfect family drama (if you want to watch it with your family) or just be selfish like me and watch it by yourself.
This show is a few years old, but it’s one of my favorite period dramas with 73 episodes. Don’t be afraid - you are going to love every moment of this series. Every time I re-watch it, I find so much joy in it. This story is one of those slow build, but not boring at all. Every episode has you falling in love with the different members of the Sheng family and all other families around them.
This story is about the sixth daughter of the Sheng family, born from his third concubine/wife. Any story with concubines always intrigues me. If you are a little nosy like me about the goings on of a family’s inner circle life in historical times, than this is the drama for you. The director, screenwriters, set designer and even the costume designers did a great job. I was invested in the final outcome.
The first two to three episodes are from Minglan’s childhood, the family dynamics and the drama in-between. The rest of the episodes continue to present life.
What you should look forward to in this drama: The strong and smart female lead in a world where being strong and smart wasn’t attractive or desirable. I love how everyone is using their brains to outsmart each other. It was the game of chase that I enjoyed. Strong characters, revenge, family drama, jealousy, competition, wives and concubines, siblings, royal family, business, marriage, scandals, greed and so much more.
Fashion:
Costumes were based on the Song Dynasty: rich silk clothing, robes with very wide sleeves (loved them), and my favorite were the fans.
The color palate and the mood were beautifully done. You get a soft/cool color palate in the beginning; as the show continues you get deep rich colors of blues, pinks and coral pinks, warm tones. Also the candle light effect was amazing (I heard a rumor that all the night scenes where shot in candle light). This whole show gave a really good balance of feminine and masculine in the end.
Let me know what you think about this series.
