Zhen Huan Zhuan (The Legend of Zhen Huan/Empresses in the Palace)

Episodes: 76
Synopsis: 
          This drama follows a young girl named Zhen Huan as she enters the palace to be one of the emperor's many concubines. As she gains the favor of the emperor and moves up in social ranking within the palace walls, she has to face numerous challenges and schemes that threaten everything she has. She has to learn to use her wisdom and wit to hold on to the emperor's favor and to deal with the other women in the palace.

Review: 
        This drama was extremely popular when it came out and I recently just watched it. This drama follows a clever and beautiful girl named Zhen Huan as she lives the life of the emperor's favored concubine. It was extremely interesting to watch the way she deals with problems and the interactions she has with all the other wives in the palace. This drama focuses mostly on what goes on within the palace and what goes on with the emperor's women and it was such a fascinating drama. At first, I was interested and liked watching it. As it went on, it scared me how scary these women can be to scheme, manipulate, and hate on one another. All the drama within the palace roots down to jealousy whether it is of affection from the emperor or of the power other people hold.
       This drama shows that despite being admired by many for being the wife of an emperor and for living a life of luxury, the women of the palace are often plagued with feelings of doubt, jealousy, and loneliness. There is the constant worry of one day losing the favor when one gets favored the worry of never getting favored when one doesn't get favored. These negative feelings and ambition for more power and affection cause these women to start competing with one another, acting cautious around friends, and fighting off plots that other women set up.
        In this drama, the most arrogant and hateful characters can't be hated because they are so human. If you take into consideration what they have to deal with in the palace and all the feelings they suffer with, you can see why they did the things they do. When they explain themselves and their feelings, your heart breaks for them because the palace just isn't as glamorous as it seems and being highly ranked or most doted on isn't the safest thing at times.
         I also like how this drama has things like affairs because I've always wondered if all these women were loyal to the end even when the emperor didn't visit them or when they start to lose feelings for the emperor. I also liked how it focused on women and just how smart, virtuous, powerful, and witty women can be. Despite the ugliness of competition, these women were all smart, well-respected, and many of them got more powerful as they continued life in the palace. It was nice to watch.