YanXi Palace [Episodes 47-51] Recap + Review 

I completely lost it when I saw the thumbnail lol. Also, I truly loved this whole arc with the Emperor and Empress. Qinlong doesn’t love Shushen like he loved Rongyin or loves Yingluo. However these episodes made it abundantly clear that he does value, respect, admire, and genuinely care for her. He knows it’s an objectively smarter idea to just kill her father, and that’s what he should do. But he cares so much about her that he goes against the advice of literally everyone else and spares her father’s life. It’s truly touching to me. Also, I think that Shushen’s “I was faking it, I was in total control the whole time,” is partially damage control. I do think it affected her deeply and she just doesn’t want people to think of her as being weak. To me, her father’s death truly signified the end of Consort Xian and all the goodness in her. She’s completely focused on power and authority now, and heaven help anyone who stands in her way.

How Chun was not mortifingly EMBARRASSED, is beyond me.

Charmaine as the empress is just AWESOME. Dark Xian is really my favorite arc of the drama, whenever she speaks or simply appears I feel like I’m one of the bad, cool guys😭 Great recap as alwayss!

Honestly, Fuheng's character was sooooo annoying when dealing with Erqing. He could literally pull his mother aside and tell her everything that she has done and I'm sure she would kill Erqing herself. But noooo he waits until it's too late to say anything, to once again not explain why he acts the way that he does towards her. AHHH

The ErQing actress is amazing. She has this crazy character nailed.

The thumbnail, the Prince of Egypt reference, the post-ending Judge Judy scene, please stop😂😂😂😂😂 (please don't stop!)

EMPRESSES ON THE ROOF PART 2!!!! Omg let me tell you how I cackled at this line. 😂

Empress Xian is a realistic person, I guess. She's truly built from a good material, righteous, wise, and holds to morality. Yet everything was so tragic to her. Losing her roots (her parents), seeing the imposibility of finding true love from emperor... So she decided to stand strong and fight till the end. See the act of cutting her hair later is really something extraordinary, comes from also an extraordinary woman at that era

Yeah Ni Yuan playing the emperor is great . I can sometimes see his head veins literally popping out when he’s really angry . That just adds more suspense to the scene in my opinion

Xian 2.0 is so cool. She played everyone. So interesting that she is kind of a baddie but impossible to hate.

That lunch scene with the emperor is hilarious but also very revealing he calls out Yinglou’s kleptomania where she’ll ask for things or just takes what she likes but I also remember how he asked Rongyin to sit and eat with him but because of the rules she wouldn’t. Yinglou just refuses to comply then tells him he has to get used to how things are with her.He wants her to follow protocol but that’s not who she is which what he likes about her.

Notes: -There's a poem written on the kite Yingluo flies for the Emperor to find: 水仙子·喻纸鸢/Shui xian zi-Yu Zhiyuan (The Water Fairy Yu Zhiyuan), a Yuan Dynasty poem. The rough translation is as follows: "A long silk thread carries all its activities. I can control it. The paper-covered frame is free of attachments and empty inside. It is blown away by a gust of wind. The thread is broken and it floats to the far sky at the end of the world. I can't take it back, and I can't see its trace. I wonder whose house it has ended up in?" It appears to be a metaphor for a person (a kite) who leaves a marriage, breaking the 'thread' and leaving the kite-flyer behind. It's also likely related to the idiom "千里姻缘一线牵/Qianli yinyuan yixian qian"---'A thousand miles of marriage are connected by a thread'. -When Qianlong and Yingluo are painting, she 'ruins' the painting of orchids he's trying to teach her to paint by adding a mantis, and declares that she's going to be 'the insect that disturbs the orchid'. Given that orchids are associated with Chun, it's not hard to follow this metaphor. She also teases him about his putting stamps on the paintings he collects, specifically the 'Autumn Colors on the Que and Hua' painting from earlier. IRL, Qianlong was/is *notorious* for leaving tons of stamps on the paintings he had, to the point where art collectors have nicknamed him 章总/Zhang zong (lit. 'Seal Director') because of the sheer number he put on. -The blog I'm following noted that, when Li Yu is describing Yingluo, he uses the phrase 奇葩/qipa, which usually is used nowadays to mean 'weird', and they thought it was anarchronistic, but it turns out it's been used since the Han dynasty, when the poet Sima Xiangru used it in his work 'Meiren fu' (The Beauty) to describe a unique and elegant woman. In this case, its' meaning is closer to 'strange flower'. -Yingluo also sets off a bunch of Kongming floating lanterns with bells inside them, mainly to lure the Emperor away from Chun's palace (she yeets a Go board to the ground over this slight, a step up from the teacups customarily thrown in anger). Their name is related to the military strategist Zhuge Liang, who would use them to send signals to his army; his courtesy name was 'Kongming', so the lanterns still bear his name. -One of the consorts complains about one of the 'tricks' Yingluo used to lure the Emperor; having heard about the Ming custom of making carvings using fruit stones, she knocked down a treeful of plums. This, apparently, was a real thing, and not only plum stones were used, but also olive stones, walnut shells, and other small fruits. They were used to make small trinkets to wear as pendants, or they could be strung together to form a necklace. Suzhou was one of the areas famed for producing fruit stone carvings, mainly using Ganlan olive pits to carve small boats. Yingluo apparently couldn't get the hang of it, so she sent Yangxin palace a jar of plum wine instead. -Yingluo actually sits down to eat with the Emperor, which is normally a huge breach of ettiquette that even the Empress isn't allowed. She also tries to persuade him to try a specific dish, another big thing; this was for practical reasons, as Emperors were prone to poisoning attempts, so their meals were not only checked with silver needles, but also constantly rotated. They weren't allowed to eat the same dish more than 3 times in a row, again for fear of poisoning, and if they did it would be taken out of the rotation for several months. -Fuheng's heading out to deal with a rebellion of the Dzungar people (modern-day Xinjiang), which historically he didn't lead troops to comabt---a different general, Zhaohui, did, and eventually brought the territory under Qing rule (and also led to widespread killing of Dzungarian citizens but the drama glosses over this because it would probably make Fuheng's participation look really, really bad). -Xian's father Naerbu was already dead at this point IRL---he was already 60 when his daughter married the Emperor, and his nephew recieved his titles and honors on his behalf when the Empress was crowned. He did get a pretty sweet posthumous title of 'Duke of the 1st Rank', however, and said nephew got to be a Marquis. -We briefly see Yongqi as Yu checks on his homework: two lines from Confucious' Analects. The first is "Governing the country with moral principles is similar to the position the North Star holds. All of the other stars will revolve around it.", which is pretty self-explanatory: lead and the rest will follow. The other is "all of the words and meaning in the three hundred chapters of “The Book of Songs” can be summed up in one phrase - which is “pure thought”." The Book of Songs he's referring to here is the 'Shijing'/'Classic of Poetry', which was very well-known back then. The exact phrase used, "思无邪/si wu xie", translates to 'thoughts without evil'. -I feel like Xian is sort of a foil to Yingluo. Both are intelligent, clever women who have been dealt a bad hand in life, have experienced the deaths of close family members which led them to become more ruthless and more power-hungry, are manipulating the hell out of the men in their lives, and are willing to stoop to underhanded methods to protect those they care about and bring about the downfall of their enemies. The difference is that Yingluo knows when to dial it back and generally doesn't seek to kill people, while Xian has gone fully over to the dark side and views everyone as pawns in her game. -God, I would kill for an Ancient Chinese Judge Judy.

Charmaine is my favorite Chinese actress. Every role she plays is just perfection. Its also why I prefer Yanxi to Ruyi. The supporting actors and actresses are all fantastic. Ruyi here is what I wanted Ruyi to be like in the other drama. And yes, I do think the empress is going to outsmart YL. She has the patience to wait.

The way I cackled when “Deliver Us” flashed on my screen😂

Throwing in that clip from Prince of Egypt was chefs kiss ❤❤😂😂

I love empress Xian, i truly do. Even if in general and for a lot of reasons i prefer ruyi's royal love since it's more realistic to Yanxi palace, Xian is by far more likeable and realistic than bleeding heart, paragorn of virtue ruyi. Xian was truly a agood person like ruyi, noble and righteous in such an honest way difficult to be in a harem but those things that happened.... I'm team Dark! Xian

I always thought they did such a good job in the drama of making you hate Mingyu at the beginning while thinking Erqing is kind, calm, and totally together. Then they totally flip the narrative.

Is it me, or does Qinglian look like JiXiang 💀 I had PTSD flashbacks when I saw her saying that she didn’t do anything

QingLian also asked Fuheng if he could promise to be together with her on their next lives... but he couldn't make that promise, I feel really bad for her, she was dedicated, not pushy and all around nice, Erqing is such a monster :(

Your recaps are absolute gold - they make me want to rewatch Yanxi and Zhenhuan one more time The Judge Judy part made me lose it, I'm pretty sure my neighbours are wondering if I'm dying or laughing

The Legend of Zhen Huan was a dooooozeyyyyyyyyy I loved it ! Sun li showed out and in Nothing Gold can stay ( my overall favorite)

I think people underestimate how bad divorce was considered back then. It wasn't something easily done, so Fuheng was kinda screwed. It was a black mark on your entire family, and for a culture obsessed with image, that's a major issue. Killing a maid wouldn't be considered anything. It also made people think "you couldn't even control your own household, so you shouldn't be involved in things that actually matter." Fuheng is an official. Getting a divorce would tank the way people view him. So as annoying as Erqing is, it makes sense that his family wanted him to forgive her. Marriage was truly considered for life.

Qinglian, I think/I feel, is the most tragic character :( She deserved better :( I just feel so sad every time she is on screen, even on the scenes that she is just talking to Fuheng, I want to slap him into giving that girl a future now! I was fooled, by Erqin!! I actually believed she sent her home, I did. Because that would get her out of the picture and paint her in a good light for saving her from punishment....but of course, it is Erqin, she is 3 parts evil, 1 part smarts, the evil couldn't let her show even a sliver of mercy.

Buhahaha your thumbnails are so good 😂

I laughed SO HARD with the fiddler thumbnail 😂😂😂

The emperor was so mad at the empress for telling him some truths but I’m sure if it was yingluo it would have been a lighthearted and funny moment lol this drama is so inconsistent 😂 Btw xian is my favourite character as well I have a soft spot for the step empress irl

I find it interesting how the Late Empress, Rongyin, and Fuheng's view and servants are quite different than rest of the family. If Rongyin was still here, she would've be on Fuheng's side because she would never want to cause a servant to suffer that much. However, it's interesting that the mother and brother are much more cold-heart towards the servants even though they are in the same family. The mom raised both Fuheng and Rongyin, but she doesn't seems to have much love towards the servants as the other two. I guess the younger brother aren't very similar to Fuheng and Rongyin, since he may have inappropriate relationship with Erqing, his supposed sister in law.

I love the cast too, they are great but yes Xian is such a complicated character and it’s delivered perfectly

9:19 LOL this always got me about harem dramas. Like bad enough that the poor maid has to constantly hold the ~oh so delicate~ lady’s hand wherever she goes. And whenever the lady kneels the poor maid has to kneel WITH her (and when the lady faints she has to do all the exhausting work of healing her wounds) SUCKS to be a maid

Erqing is so frustrating! Everything about her. I was so sad about Qinglian. I know Fuheng is deeply in love with Yingluo but Qinglian was so kind and carring. I would have loved to see them together.

Xiannnnnn! I love her outfits in this arc too! Also the Erqing haiku! I'm dying LOL

The thumbnail is hilarious! And what's more? The ad after I clicked the thumbnail had lively fiddler music! Thanks very much for this recap. Now I understand better why some other commentaries I saw implied that the Empress Dowager is horrible - I thought it was just because of her denial in the showdown episode (after the fire) on the cruise. But your recap concisely put together how she wanted an innocent man put to death to save the asses of her circle.

I so love your cut-ins of Spongebob and other movies

I found it pretty significant that the emperor got involved with the horse riding case because he’s never got this involved in the “inner palace” intrigues before. It should be the job of Xian. He even goes to warn Chun which he never would have done even for Empress Fuca.

The Emperor denied Fuheng"s request to marry Yinglou because he said he didn’t want him to be married to a wicked calculating social climber. Yet that is EXACTLY what Fuheng got with the marriage to Erqing. He is so miserable.

I knew the prince would come back having seen this show before, and yet, I'm still pissy like I didn't literally know to expect it xD Screw him. All my homies hate him 😤 Also I don't remember if he knew Yingluo was a concubine yet, I don't think so, but man the audacity to go up and attempt that when you already know she murdered your mom for less xD Also, yes, Qing is the best girl in the harem and anyone who disagrees can fight me! (ง'̀_'́)ง Also, yeah, I agree I'm amazed Chun can even look at Fuheng after that misunderstanding xD Also, yeah, that stunt with the maid and what follows is where I started chanting for Erqings brutal murder. It's also telling that even Fuheng is wiling to look like a villain if it means getting rid of her. Also Fu-liability-eng I'm dead xD. That being said, while Fuheng being gone certainly benefits her, she could have easily convinced the emperor to give him something less prestigious but easier to convince him of. She loves him enough to want him to be happy even if it will *never* be with her. Also, seriously, Xian is such a compelling character but she rolled a nat 1 for family survival. I 100% believed he was guilty my first time through, and even rewatching through you, I had a whole rant typed out assuming he was guilty. Glad he at least did not repeat the mistake that was led to his wife and son literally dying. Also am I a sucker if I feel for the emperor here? Literally any large enough organization will have corruption, it's just about keeping it down enough to avoid genuine drawbacks, but now the one easy sacrifice is his father-in-law.....it's hard being powerful man 😔 Also, for all I enjoy the Empress Dowager being so chill here, it's also nice to be reminded from time to time that she was very mh a member of a harem at one point. Kitty has claws.

And now do you remeber the Emperor from Ruyi's Royal love who was always making an excuse for not supporting her, and watched silently how others plotted and schemed against her? He could just come to that girl, grab her chin, and watch directly into her eyes with a scarry "don't mess with me" face, and say: don't touch my woman otherwise I'll make your life hell on earth. Then leave and let her piss her pants. What was so hard about that?

15:00 😭😭😭 Charmaine is sooo good and Erqing has the prettiest smile

Your thumbnails are elite 😂😂😂 EMPRESS ON THE ROOF

6:59 yingluo peace was never an option 😂 after going after revenge for her sister, then loses the empress who I feel was kind of a replacement for her sister.

Man, the ending editing is great 😂

Fuheng's marriage was granted by the emperor, could he divorce Erqing without the emperor's approval? 🤔

Empress XIan is the master manipulator, she is amazing, how many people can intimidate you with a smile? Oh, Yu, I can only imagine how scared she must live. Empress Xian vs the Empress Dowager?! can that be even possible?

I feel like you would love to watch Royal Feast for the yingluo-fuheng ship 👌

Qing is precious ;-; ♡

I was rlly holding back on watching Yanxi palace bc i already have a few c-dramas to watch but your videos are changing my mind 😭

It's amazing how chun and erqing have the audacity about calling fuheng out about not liking them back when they literally had a hand in his sister demise I wish that they put some use of chun and make her kill erqing yingluo can't touch erqing just for fuheng as she would be in big troubles with the emperor but chun isn't and she could've showed some of her old skills even fuheng could've took some scheming lessons from yingluo and made it look like an accident

Omg the endind! I love your editing.

After watching the 3 dramas featured on this channel no other cdrama seems to be able to compare. Curious what u might cover next.

As an avid Prince Of Egypt fan at deliver us took me out!😂😂😂

Judge JUDY!!! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Yingluo is admirable and there's no way you can hate her and all that. But Hoifa Nara Shushen? 😭😭😭😭😭😭 I'm so obsessed with her character, she brings scheming to a whole new level, if Ruyi was like this then she would have definitely gotten rid of Wei Yanwan on the first day 😭😭😭😭 Shushen is the best villain I've ever seen hands down

I DIED AT THE END. WHAT WAS TAT ? ! ! !

Between Zhen Huan, Ruyi and Yanxi Palace I honestly think ErQing is the worst. I can understand the other character's motivations, but for me I feel like ErQing does it just because she can. HuanBi was irritating yes but she was never outright malicious to the point of torturing people discounting the books. Honestly, FuHeng would have had it so much easier if he decided to open his mouth and say something and set/stick to boundaries in the first place. Just poison her at this point. However, I do agree when the actress is being "true" ErQing she is phenomenal. I just love the arrogance. And Xian is such a good puppet master. When you grow up in a noble family like hers you have to know how to play the game early.

Can someone explain to that even in happy royal banquets and birthdays the harem women wear black dresses? For example during empress dowager's bday

“you unwashed jockstrap” should be tattooed onto Erqing's forehead.

Xian is my favorite character too !!! I am digusted about this historical accuracy they will have to respect about her .

Yeah, be nice to Qing you jerks! Oh, look, more proof that Erqing is and has always been garbage. She could have, at every turn, been a better person, and he would have warmed to her, but she was an unrepentent monster. That little nod to Fuheng was everything. I love that kind of relationship, where you're just looking out for each other with no expectation. Oh, yeah, I've always loved Xian, she's just brilliant.

Erging be forgetting she was once a servant herself and was promoted to this status because of her marriage why not js enjoy it and accept the fact that her husband just doesn't want her

Ah yes, the fall off the horse that was jogging around, was incredibly dramatic, and somehow resulted in a broken arm (right? She got a fracture?) I was under the impression Yingluo did that on purpose? Or, at least she knew Chun would make a move and so she made it deliberately worse

The story of the little maid was so sad :( it’s a short story but so shocking. The villains here really are something else but Erqing is the worst. It’s frustrating how fuheng couldn’t do anything because did the reputation of his family, even he as a man was trapped

Chun really messed in these episodes first by talking to Fuheng and embarrassing herself once again.. you are one of the emperors highly favored women and you just have to know why would he love Yinglou when you are better than her in every way? Just dumb.. then with the emperor back episode 42/43 I think the emperor says what he likes about her is that she’s relaxed, calm and never asks him for anything. And because she is freaking out about Yinglou she’s destroying her own image and forgetting to stay on message. When the emperor questions her saying it was obvious that she would have the most to gain from Yinglou’s death because she was the favorite she’s not calm nor relaxed in responding she even accuses the victim.. 🤦‍♀️ Also the music is amazing as it builds then swells when he drops her chin like that’s not just an idle threat it’s a promise.

🎉🎉🎉

Poor Qing lian. I really hoped she'd become Fuheng's concubine. That way she'd have a secure future and Fuheng would be married to someone who loved him. ( Of course, EQ would still need to go to a nunnery, we know QL would be treated worse under her if she became a concubine) Also about the boy not saying anything, considering how nuts EQ is, I guess she must've abused him enough (or he observed her) that he knows not to contradict whatever mommy says.

Xian lost my empathy when I saw her damaged her feet ( self inflicted) then pretending to love the little prince to gain the emperor’s attention,i can’t stand people that uses children in their plots it’s very distasteful and cruel especially when they don’t actually genuinely care about the children involved.

Xian didn’t even really mourn for her father and based on my translations is her father wasn’t completely innocent as he didn’t even report what was happening regardless of not being involved directly. Xian is a brilliant Villain but I honestly dislike her more than most of the others as she’s seriously manipulative and her drive is all to prove herself worthy to her dead manipulative mother. Sorry I find her despicable.

I'm just like... would it be so hard to just slip a little poison in Erqing's food like.... c'mon. like who is gonna investigate?

The end 😂😂😂😂😂

All FuHeng had to do is *tell his family* what a shitty person ErQing is, and he could have saved himself all this shit. Frustrating AF.

Even though Xian is using HongZhou, I secretly ship this toxic duo.

Er Qing... *Leave the room to scream profanities*. Did you not realize that you were a servant. The hypocrisy! The cruelty! The cheating! No wonder you were tossed to the side and ignored. Charmaine, love you girl. Personal favorite actress! And I feel so bad for Xian. She just got her fathers relationship back and he's actually innocent. It's that psychotic 'Sacrifice one for the good of Many' story. God, Ancient China was cruel and horrible. And I think this scene not only proves the emperors affection, it also started to ignite her own love. Other than Rongyin and her sister, no one cared for her like that. And Yu. OMG. Her long-term plan is beautiful but this woman cannot catch a break! Just can't. First; she nearly lost her life, then her baby, now she's being blackmailed and threatened. It's like that woman is a lightning rod for toxic people. Not that she can escape that in the palace.

Notes: wip ?. apparently Wu Jin'yan & Su Qing were in a 3040 (Republic-WWII-CCP)-era drama together???

PHD IN HONG ZHOU😅😂😂😂😅

I so much wanted fuheng to be with the maid 😢