Roni Thomas

I fell in love with this production from the first episode. The plot twists, extravagant clothes and beautiful (yet cold) locations kept me glued to my seat. Weiyoung and Tuoba Jun stole my heart, and I thought Tiffany Tang and Luo Jin were perfectly matched. The makeup rendered them flawless, and Tuoba Jun was amazingly handsome! I couldn't wait to catch his scenes. Their performances were beyond convincing, and all the characters were terrific in their respective roles. The subtitles sometimes did take you away from what was happening, so about mid-way through--episode 2-- I went back and watched all over again. Yes, I did notice some things I missed initially. This is arguably the BEST production I've ever seen, and I still want to watch it over and over again. The ending destroyed me. I had a feeling---based on the scenes in the Intro, that Tuoba Jun wasn't going to be around, and it was difficult watching him die. Tiffany Tang was definitely the true heroine in this story. She was incredible, believable and all the men fell for that smart, courageous woman who knew how to handle herself (and people) in any situation (rare in the time of Chinese dynasties). I don't know if Season 2 would be as good without Jun. Maybe end Season 1 as a Weiyoung dream?