what a sucky sucky series. i dont even know where to start. the acting was, on the most part, horrible. and a lot of the plot didn't make any sense. most of it was in the details, but it's the details that will make a series great.
let's see...first of all, the storyline: it opens with a prophecy about how wu mei niang will grow up to be the empress of china, so you would think that it has something to do with her rise to power, right? WRONG! it concentrates almost entirely on her love life and the catty power struggles amongst the women of the royal palace. they only mentioned her rise to power at the very end, where there was some narration about how the king was too sick to take care of the issues so she did it and that when he died and she became the empress. :censored:
i usually hate vincent zhao, and this time was no exception. i don't understand y he's in so many dramas. he's always so stiff when he acts. he's not good-looking at all. and i absolutely HATE the way he kisses. usually, i like "pecks", especially in asian dramas. [i'm not a big fan of pdas (public displays of affection).] for some reason, victor likes to be in dramas involving making out. blech! i do'nt know what effect he goes for when he kisses his costars, but all i can say is i cringe every time i see him kiss one of his costars. you know how asian girls are really small? well, i feel like he's about to swallow these girls whole or something. i'm like scared for them. lol. i only hope he doesn't kiss like that in real life. i'd feel sorry for his gf. and also, his hair turned white. i hate it when ppl's hair turns white due to something other than old age. i suppose that's more of the writers' faults than his, but still. it was one of the many things that irked me about this drama.
i also didn't like vincent and alyssa's relationship. but i don't know if part of that's because of my extreme dislike for vincent. 
however, some of it was alyssa's fault too (see below). some scenes of them were good tho. **SPOILERS** [you best skip the rest of this paragraph if u don't wanna know] like the furtive glances [even tho i did no think they were appropriate], when she thought he died 
[in front of his grave] and when he actually died [probably one of my fave scenes in the drama]. there's this one scene tho [well, it's really a set of scenes] that everyone seems to love, but i hate. it's where my nuong proclaims their love. she stands at a cliff and screams "vơ mỵ nương yêu lư quân ngưởng!! lư quân ngưởng yêu vơ mỵ nương!!" over and over. [it's a set b/c much later in the drama, quân ngưởng does the same thing] i think it might just be my distaste for pdas, but that was too corny for me. i like proclamations of love that are more discreet, more thought out, more setting up. i don't know... it just didn't work for me.
the only good thing about this drama was Alyssa. and that was only half good. i suppose i'll do that bad first. bad: her character. i cannot believe that ANYONE can POSSIBLY be that stupid. moreover, i don't believe that a woman who eventually became the first empress of one of the largest nations in the world in one of their most peaceful and prosperous periods could be that stupid. [and when i emphasize "woman," i don't mean to be sexist, but i meant to emphasize that china was {and possibly still is} a 
very male-dominated society and that it would be incredibly difficult for wu mei niang to rise to power. she would have to have mad skills, which she did NOT demonstrate in this drama] it's just so illogical. i mean, if you have what it takes to rise to power and successfully run a country, you have to be better at judging people's characters and intentions. ARGH!!! [btw, this was my main area of concern] also, i hate that she kept hanging on to lư quân hưởng even after she married the king(s). it's so unfair. i mean, i understand that she loves him, 
but she should've at least allowed him to go on with his life. she married the older king, and then the younger king, and even had a child with this man, and still, she's like "yeah, i still love you. stay with me always". wtf is that?!?!?! :censored: wat an unreasonable wench. i would maybe tolerate it in other characters, but not wu mei niang. someone who becomes empress must have a lot of ambition, and if you have so much ambition, you should not, and cannot, let your heart do so much thinking.
however, most of the problems i had with alyssa involved her character. her acting, though not superb, was rather good. i give her mad props. she's a good crier. [but not as when she sobs.] and she's pretty good with the eyes. [i.e. shooting ppl dirty looks, death stares, looks of love/longing, etc.] and she's so goddamn pretty. especially in this drama with all her beautiful clothes. *sigh*
actually, i also kinda liked dinh dinh's character. i thik the actress could have done a better job with the role, but it was definitely much more interesting than everything else in the drama. at some parts, i loved hating her. someone else and some better writing probably could have given her more depth though. like, show more of her internal struggle or something. anyway, i think she was by far the most complex and developed character in the series. the others were rather 2-dimensional. i think anne heung would have done an awesome job with dinh dinh. anne does a superb evil and a decent nice [think love is beautiful (đông cung quư phi), which is still one of my fave series cuz of anne and marianne's superb acting].
also, i hated the end, **SPOILERS** where dinh dai nhan and uyển nhi randomly find some guy that looks exactly like quân ngưởng. wtf is that? and then, uyển nhi dresses him up like quân ngưởng and makes him pretend to be quân ngưởng to go see vơ mỵ nương. imo, that was just the most awful thing to do to her. to bring back all those memories after such a long time. and what good is it gonna do?? it's not quan nguong. and plus, quan nguong look-alike just sees her that one time, and that ends there. viewers don't know what happens with them. if it was just a one time thing, or she keeps him by her side as whatever, or if they become lovers [EWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!] or what. she basically sees him and is moved to tears. i mean, touching, but it's like "....ooook. now what? what was the point of that?"
another thing i didn't get was uyen nhi. she's definitely a girl. and, according to my mom, a princess. but even if she's not a princess, why does she wear eunich clothes? :wtf:
oh, and i HATED the king (the younger one). so goddamn stupid. không lo việc nước mà cứ theo đàn bà con gái. hèn chi dân không phục là phải rồi! i hate how he clings to my nuong. and he always makes the wrong judgments and decisions. *grr*
bottom line: some ok-good parts, but not worth it.