Overall I really enjoyed this drama. I kept thinking that some aspects of the visual style and directing choices reminded of a Sanjay Leela Bhansali film. But I must say that I was disappointed by the ending, from the gratuitous/pointless deaths of the Duke’s body guards to the needlessly ambiguous ending.
I am aware that the director’s original ending (in which the male lead clearly died) was leaked and caused controversy. Then, on top of that, a fuller epilogue of the official ending was available to viewers for an extra fee.
With all this in mind, the very last scene of the Duke running toward a waiting Xue Fangfei seemed tacked on, as if something was quickly filmed to get some kind of ending out there. How come we didn’t even see the Duke’s face? Just how much time has passed since our male lead went to fight at the border (I mean that tree that he and Xue Fangfei planted together was quite sizeable)? And why create such an ambiguous ending? The scene in which Xiao Heng appears when the female lead is brushing her hair and then suddenly disappears could be taken two ways: the female lead is imagining this scene or our male lead’s spirit has appeared to her. The fact that it had to be clarified that our lead was indeed alive and that he and Xue Fangfei went on to have a child in an episode numbered 40.5 (available to paying viewers) upsets me. Other viewers mentioned that our male lead clearly survives in the original novel, so why did the director decide to film an alternate ending? Was it just for the drama? I don’t mind when a character’s death makes sense, but to change an ending and kill off a character just because?
All of that being said, I did like this drama. I just wish the ending had been written and shot differently.