I'm still in the earlier episodes compared to everyone else here. How do you guys even keep up? But anyway, you guys are watching the uncut version that's been floating around, right? I mean it is labeled as uncut but so far I still haven't seen any bath scene. This version is still edited though so no cleavage.
click to show/hide spoilers
First of all princess Gaoyang acts really weird. I think she's a little deranged because of her lover's death. In her dream where she saw Bian Ji, we heard a baby's cry. Is it Meiniang's unborn child? But Meiniang actually found that the queen did poison her with the poison hidden in the picture combined with what she drank from the cup of tea. So where is the truth? I know this is a little different from what historians say but it's very intriguing.
Finally Meiniang accepted to stay in the royal palace with the title of zhao yi (kind of royal consort right?) not because she loves Zhinu but only for her revenge purposes. She has no more scruple since she knows the former bixia wanted to kill her baby (normally his baby too!). Becoming the young bixia's consort is no more a moral problem for her, especially she already slept with him and was pregnant with his unborn child. At the same time she will take revenge on the former emperor and will destroy the Tang dynasty, exactly like the prophecy said. It's not history but the storyline here is very smart and thrilling. My hat off to the writers.
Now it seems Meiniang will also seduce San ge, the emperor's half brother. Is it also her way to take vengeance on the Tang dynasty?
I agree with you, sonny4T, there is something very wrong with Princess Gaoyang. After the last few episodes, it really doesn't seem like Empress Wang was the one who caused the miscarriage-- more like Princess Gaoyang trying to frame Empress Wang so that Mei Nian has a reason to stay behind and seek revenge. Making Princess Gaoyang the mastermind behind Mei Nian's transformation and all the trouble to come is an interesting choice.. in history, Princess Gaoyang gets sentenced to death, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's where the drama takes us once Mei Nian finds out.
The last few episodes (69-72) have not been fun to watch. There's SO much screaming and wailing. It might be more tolerable if the actors were more skilled, but Aarif Rahman really needs to work on not chewing the scenery so much. And all those skipped scenes! What's the point of coming up with an interesting spin on the story if you end up cutting out a whole bunch of scenes needed to understand the story?
One last complaint, I promise. Zhi Nu's San Ge needs to cool it with the bug eyes.
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://i59.tinypic.com/2vs3upc.png')
Wow I'm surprised not many people are discussing this drama. I actually like the drama despite its flaws. I agree with panda-pop with screaming/crying. Sheesh. Like I'm kinda over that stage. Plus I like Aarif but man he overreact in some scenes which makes me cringe. I'm watching the cut version with vietnamese subs so waiting for uncut to come bc honestly the transitions are so awkward. If anyone is watching with uncut version let me know where I can watch it. I heard TVB will come with uncut version so happy camper there.
I actually do admired FBB for this drama. It's been a while since a drama like this came out in China. Although there are definitely things that I wish she could elaborate more on. The costumes are definitely beautiful no doubt there. The storyline is like up down for me. Sometimes I like the integration with how history believed or portrayed Wu Zetian and other times I'm like please keep moving forward. It drags a lot or maybe the editing has to do with it? Or they dragging it purposely to milk the ratings? I remember that happened with Legend of LuZhen. Also I know people hate Wu Zetian but from watching a drama perspective I feel she is flawed like many other Empresses too. They all started out innocent but lust for powers later on through the crap they've been through. Right now I'm anxiously waiting for FBB to kick butt and give off those evil smirks/stares that I know she is capable of. I've seen played sort of villainous before so I'm just disappointed that it's been crying/weeping, waiting, etc. I want to see her bust out like Zhen Huan lmao. And I'm sad that she doesn't love the second king as much as the first. I hope they make it seems later on she truly does love him and that he's not only a pawn. Poor puppy he luuuurves her so much.
It's a shame there were so many cuts in the last episodes. I haven't seen when Meiniang was pregnant with her daughter princess Anding (?) and when she was born. I think the show took some liberty with history because actually Anding was her first daughter who was supposedly killed by Empress Wang unless I miss something. There are so many transitions that seemed awkward. It's pretty hard to understand what's going on, especially when you can't understand mandarin. I hope there will be an uncut version on youtube after Taiwan TV airs the serie.
That said, this show is so entertaining. This is my first Chinese TV historic show and I have to say I enjoy it very much. I came to watch Zhang Xinyu and I found Fan Bingbing. She's awesome. I googled FBB and I found out she was Blink in X-Men: Days of the future past. I remember her character in this movie, but there's nothing common with Wu Meiniang. FBB is gorgeous; she plays wonderfully. In fact most of the actors and actresses are good. The costumes are so beautiful although I doubt they were authentic costumes of that period. What I do like most is the beauty of the female cast. If the emperor's concubines and maids are all that gorgeous and hot I wish I would be emperor in the Chinese ancient time LOL.
The series is ending at a time when Wu Zetian is still relatively young and has not taken the throne as Emperor. Seems to set the stage for a Part II or even a Part III to tell the whole story.
You're right, Sehseh. However the unborn baby is definitely the series's creation.
And this chick Mǐn yuè 敏月? WTF? Was she a real historic character? She seems to become Zhinu's new girl. I've never heard about her.
The end of Zhangsun Daren is pretty sad. He didn't deserve to be suicided.
He got with her and her mother according to wiki and google translation
ps according to wiki there are rumors that the second son of Wu Meiniang, Li Xian isn't her child but the child of Meiyue's mother who is Wu Meiniang's aunt. Meiyue is definitely an actual historical figure who was killed by Wu Meiniang eventually. I brought that point up because since we missed the birth of her second son, maybe her second son isn't really hers.
Last edited by Bladebird; 02-02-15 at 11:33 PM.
We are now towards last few days of broadcast and the difference between her age now and that of the last episode is simply too huge to compress and tell the story of her actual rule as Emperor, and not Empress.
Quite an incredible compression of the last 50 years of Wu Zetian's life in just one episode. Actually her best part of her life.
655 Empress Wu
683 Death of Gaozong
690 Emperor Wu
705 Overthrown
Yes historically she was overthrown.
I lost interest after episode 75-ish when I realized Mei Nian and Zhi Nu were never going to be all that cute of a couple together (she's either trying to get revenge or doing his work for him or crying with him). Just quickly got caught up to episode 94 by reading Deer Drama's recaps, which are hilarious. Seriously, they're probably more fun than the actual episodes. #Umimpressed sums up how I feel about the last leg in this drama marathon.
does anyone know where i can watch the full version? not the hunan version
Im tempted to watch this drama, having just finished both My Sunshine, Lady&Liar I wanted to switch it up and watch a slightly more historical drama. How good is this one and how much of it has been subbed? I know chinese but some historical drama phrases always end up confusing me so I look at subs occasionally.
I watched the so-called Hunan version on youtube. The first half of the show is uncut. The episodes of the second half are cut to hide the hotness of certain love/kiss scenes and the sexy images of the actresses (no breast showing ) . The overall show also had many scenes cut off with no reason and that made the story hard to understand for many viewers.
I am still waiting for the Taiwan version where we could see the integral series.
Looks like they're finally coming out with the uncut version! CTV is airing it starting March 30, so the videos should trickle online pretty quickly after that.
zagakev, if you haven't started watching yet, I'd definitely wait for the full-length version. so many episodes/plot-twists just didn't make sense because entire scenes were omitted, like sonny4T mentioned. you'd think a 70+ episode drama would have plenty of time to tell the whole story..
even with all the scenes in tact, I doubt empress of china will end up being a great series. it's so pretty, in terms of production/costumes/actresses/music, but that's basically all it has going on. lan ling wang and da mo yao are two "slightly historical" dramas from last year I'd recommend over empress of china any day.
if you understand chinese, this 6-minute summary of the entire series can replace you actually watching it
does anyone know where i can watch the version that is airing in taiwan???