Thoughts / Rant about the Story of Yanxi Palace [SPOILERS]

I just finished watching the Story of Yanxi Palace. And here are my thoughts.. 

And I am not sure how I feel about it. The way they ended the story ..it was historically correct, but to me it didn't feel much of a satisfying ending. I almost felt like they pushed the story to a certain point for the sake of the plot and lot of characters were cut short because of it.

China has restricted the amount of episodes for period dramas, so that has been the main reason why Story of Yanxi palace felt so rushed towards the end.

But to me something else felt off, and I can't ignore my thoughts.

The reason why the drama felt so compelling and great was solely because of the main female lead. Character of Wei Yingluo is the feminist of Qing empire and we were rooting for her since the first episode. When she entered the palace as embroidery maid, she was fierce and didn't let anyone bully her. She had a drive and because of that she gained a lot of enemies and only few friends. I think this was my favorite part of the story, and I'm probably in the minority with this.

The next section of the story is around the Empress Fuca and Yingluo. They develop a heartfelt relationship, and the the empress keeps Yingluo safe from any harm. In this part of the story we truly get to see what a horrible system the harem and the eunuchs of Forbidden City were. The constant catfights just win favor for one guy feels frustrating at times. The concubines and consorts lack activity and they focus their boredom to schemes and jealousy.

Empress Fuca, played by stunning Qin Lan

The empress Fuca is different, and she is one of the only female characters in the show that is genuinely good and wishes no harm to others. She is very melancholic and sad because of her son's death but eventually she becomes strong again and takes responsibility of an empress seriously. She and the emperor have a relationship that is based on love.

Since I am just spouting out my thoughts, I will not go into details about the plot and how the story goes forward. Wei Yingluo wants revenge for her sister's death, and she develops feelings towards the Empresses's brother, Fuheng. This is one of the most frustrating part of the story, since the two of them have strong feelings towards each other and even the empress Fuca supports their marriage. But the marriage plans go south because the Emperor who has a childish crush on Yingluo, does not let them marry.

And because of that plot point it feels very hard to support the Emperor's and Yingluo's relationship in the later episodes. He is constantly changing his favorite concubine, treating Yingluo with a cold shoulder and acting jealous even when Fuheng and Yingluo have an innocent conversation. I understand that the story has to be about the Emperor and Yingluo in the end, but both characters were actually better before Yingluo became his concubine.

Emperor was more likeable when Empress Fuca was alive. He seemed to be uninterested with dallying around with the concubines and was more focused with governing his country. As we move forward with the story he is constantly jealous and keeps walking around the inner palace just to check what his concubine's are doing. Just by chance he walks in when they are doing whatever foolish stuff they have plotted to get his attention. Yingluo obviously plays this game the best, but it is clear that she is actually into him and even when the truth about Empress Fuca's death is revealed it wasn't Yingluo who found about it. It just feels creepy to me that they were so close, and the empress truly loved the emperor and she wanted Yingluo leave the palace and live a happy life.. But then Yingluo would actually enter the palace and become enarmoured with her late sister/protector's dear husband. It felt wrong to me.

It is also funny how the other concubines keep telling Yingluo how before no one could escape her wrath but she has become docile and never acts. And they are right, Yingluo that we saw in the beginning of the show would have definitely tried to escape the palace and perhaps even plot to escape with Fuheng. It is almost impossible to think that the imperial concubines and consorts are not suffering from stockholm syndrome. When they enter the palace, they may never leave and they can never have any other man than the emperor. Affairs were punishable with death. And the funny thing is, most emperors had thousands of concubines. So it's not like they most likely even knew most of them. Women were just mere possessions, forced to live their lives confined inside the inner palace.

Real and Show-Empress Nara, played by Charmaine Sheh

I loved the show and I think in a way it was criticizing the harem system the overbearing sexism in the society. Few characters mention it is a shame that Yingluo is not a man, because if she was she could become really powerful. The Empress Fuca clearly didn't enjoy the life of an empress. She had to conceal her true self from the world and act accordingly with the role of an empress. Her birth name was stripped from her (the empress is literally just called Your Highness the Empress and is given a new name after they die) and all her interests such as dancing she had to stop because it wasn't appropriate anymore. The emperor Qianlong doesn't understand this and they have an interesting conversation which afterwards he concludes as I never actually knew who the empress really is. 

It is not fair to hate the emperor and if I'm honest, I do like his character. It is just very hard for me to root for a lovestory that is being set in the harem, because in the end all the love scenes between the emperor and the concubines (even Yingluo) feels forced. This is the main difference between this drama and Empresses in the Palace (2015). In Empresses in the Palace the main female character despises the emperor in the end and just pretends to like him just for the sake of protecting her children. She conspires with another concubine to kill the emperor and she gets her revenge, but is also confined to live her days alone with all of her loved ones gone. 

Yingluo never seems to resent the emperor no matter what he has done to her. Neither does Fuca Fuheng. Both Yingluo and Fuheng just accept the emperor's mood swings and tantrums and even when the opportunity rises for them to escape, they stay loyal to the emperor. I do like this kind of love story as well though, since it feels like Yingluo and Fuheng were actually more like soulmates, and they will be together in the afterlife. Their love feels more real than Yingluo and the emperor's relationship. 

Towards the very end the emperor redeems himself in the eyes of the audience by staying true to Yingluo and telling her that he just wanted to make her jealous and he never trusted Chenbi. Nevertheles, after almost starving to death and living in isolation, Yingluo is happy to be back with the emperor and the scheming concubines. 

Yingluo and the empress Nara have a truce and the empress promises not to hurt any royal children, the truce lasts 10 years. In the end, the empress descends into madness. I think part of the reason is that her path to power was paved with the blood of her friends and enemies. She was one of the main machinators behind Empress Fuca's death and many others she killed with her own hands. She claims that her love for the emperor is eternal and again one might wonder is it really love or just fear. The position of an Empress is not easily threatened and in the end she is her own demise. She cuts her hair in one of the crucial scenes where the last deception is unveiled. Cutting one's hair is an extreme taboo in the manchu culture and the Empress Nara is taken away by the guards. 

Yingluo is struggling and almost dying, but Fuheng found her the antidote to save her life, and by doing so he died himself. Fuheng's friend Hailancha delivers the last plead from Fuheng to Yingluo, asking her if she can take care of him in the next life in which Yingluo says "Yes, I promise." Again, it feels cruel that these two never got each other, and Fuheng's love for Yingluo had stayed absolute throughout the whole story. He helped her to the very end, even when she became Emperor's concubine. We can only hope that they truly get to be together in the next life.

The Ending; Emperor and Imperial Noble Consort Ling

Noble Consort Ling (Yingluo) becomes Imperial Noble Consort after the Empress Nara is stripped from her title and she rules the inner palace. The last scene is with Yingluo and the Emperor, embracing each other happily. I do like their lovestory as well, especially in the very last episodes, but I can't just shake it off from my mind that I think the whole deal feels so forced..

We can are left to wonder what kind of love is between the main male and female leads and is the love between Fuheng and Yingluo more precious, or is it just different.

Overall, I loved the drama and the characters. It sucked me in from the first episode to the very last and I think the overall writing was absolutely excellent, much better work than what I could say about american TV shows nowadays..

This was more like a rant and initial thoughts that were in my mind so please understand that this is not a review. I recommend this show to absolutely anyone who likes period costume drama and romance shows!!