Zhen Huan has successfully recaptured the attention of the Emperor and is now back on top. With the experience of her miscarriage behind her, she is now a transformed woman. Zhen Huan spends the whole episode strategizing to strengthen her position in the palace. This time though, she is much more firm and will not be pushed around again.
Zhen Huan finally recognizes the severity of situation and her own naivety. She hatches a plan to regain favor from the Emperor with the help from some butterflies. The Emperor needs to decide marriage candidates to secure an alliance. The rest of the ladies in Imperial Harem are worried about their own future prospects with Zhen Huan's change in fortune.
While An Ling Rong has recaptured the attention of the Emperor and has now been promoted to a Noble Lady, her friend, the main character, Zhen Huan is still heartbroken over her miscarriage. It's been months but Zhen Huan's depression causes a rift between her and the emperor. These 2 episodes revolve around her friends, allies and even the Empress Dowager, trying to help push Zhen Huan to understand that she needs to snap out of it. Otherwise, more suffering and pain may be in her future. Only ...
The Emperor and Zhen huan are still grieving over the their child. He hasn't entered the Imperial Harem in a while. Both Zhen Huan and the newly demoted Consort Nian have fallen out of favor. The Empress sees this as an opportunity to have another woman capture the Emperor's attention. Who is she?
Due to Hua Fei's reign of terror, Zhen Huan unfortunately loses her child. Hua Fei is punished severely and the episode revolves around the aftermath of the miscarriage. It turns out, there are more sinister forces that caused the miscarriage beyond Hua Fei's arrogance and punishment. Instead, it is Hua Fei's, now demoted to be called Nian Fei, special fragrance called Huan Yi Xiang that is the root to many mysteries in the palace. Thanks to Zhen Huan's friends, the Imperial Doctor, Wen Shi Chu,...
The Empress got what she wanted or rather who she wanted. The Emperor and Empress leave the Forbidden City for a short trip but that means leaving the newly promoted Noble Consort Hua in charge. What will happen during her reign of terror? Spoilers starting roughly 21:40.
In this episode, the Emperor and Empress begin to lay their traps for their respective prey. Hua fei's brother is becoming increasingly insolent but the Emperor is aware of all his actions. The mother of the 3rd Prince, Consort Qi, is tricked into becoming a willing pawn for the Empress. Hua Fei is promoted to a Noble Consort but many are not happy about this news.
In Episode 27 of Empresses in the Palace, the main character, Zhen Huan is pregnant andjust in time for her birthday. The emperor is very excited to celebrate with her and even asks his brother, the 17th Prince, to help plan the festivities. It's quite a display and, of course, causes many of the other ladies in the imperial harem to be jealous. Unfortunately, the rest of the episode isn't as rosy. One of Zhen Huan's main friends in the palace, this cute and bubbly girl who loves eating sweets, ...
Our heroine is pregnant but plenty of people are seething at this news. Hua fei is upset that she's not pregnant and tries everything she can to become pregnant. We learn a bit more about old feuds and past miscarriages. Zhen Huan gets promoted to a Concubine but does she realize the danger she's in? Spoiler section begins at 27:50
A seemingly harmless garden viewing party at the Empress's palace ends in chaos when the Empress's cat "accidentally" attacks the pregnant concubine, causing her to have a miscarriage. This accident was orchestrated by none other than the Empress herself and her new pawn, An Ling Rong. In a surprise twist, Zhen Huan, the main character, finds out she is also pregnant. While she is very pleased, it's clear that her pregnancy will attract a lot of unwanted and harmful attention.
Episode 23 and 24 is focused on the plague that rocks the imperial palace. Even though everyone is trying to find a cure, Consort Hua manages to infect Shen Mei Zhuang with the disease as a way to get rid of her for good. Fortunately, Zhen Huan steps in and asks her friend, the imperial doctor, Wen Shi Chu to help. Zhen Huan is also able to help clear Shen Mei Zhuang's name after the fake pregnancy scandal。 She shows the Emperor evidence that Consort Hua was the mastermind behind everything. How...
Hua Fei's side hustle is working quite well for her. She is making a fortune accepting bribes. Everyone at the Palace more or less knows what's happening but will anyone stop her? Meanwhile, Zhen Huan and An Ling Rong continue to drift apart. It's almost the New Year so the concubines head to the opera! We'll discuss Peking Opera and exactly what the ladies pick to watch. Only in this drama do they make us do so much research on opera titles and stories to understand how they're trying to talk t...
Hua Fei humiliates the main character Zhen Huan and An Ling Rong after summoning these two ladies to perform for her and the Emperor. We analyze the two poems that were performed. This humiliation, coupled with the fact that a cute, younger concubine named Chun Er is becoming closer to Zhen Huan, creates deeper chasms between Zhen Huan and An Ling Rong. By the end of the episode, we start seeing An Ling Rong turning away from Zhen Huan and joining the Empress's team. Elsewhere, further evidence ...
In this jam packed episode, Zhen Huan finally wins a round against Hua Fei. She unknowingly flirts with a handsome Prince and confronts a backstabbing sister. Even though Hua Fei seems to have regained favor, it's not all flowers and roses for her. The Imperial Court and Imperial Harem are closely linked. Does anyone understand the pieces on the board?
It's looking like Zhen Huan has solidified her position in the Imperial Harem as her friend An Ling Rong gains favor from the Emperor. Hua Fei plots to destroy Zhen Huan, using the princess as a pawn. The princess's mother has no choice but to agree. After a few close calls, Zhen Huan finally realizes that there's a mole in her palace. Who could it be?
Things are getting desperate for some ladies in the Imperial Harem. New alliance need to be made while cracks are starting to from in others. Zhen huan must push another woman into the Emperor's bed. Who does she choose? How do they do it? To catch the Emperor's eye, you need more than just singing and flowers.
All the excitement and happiness around Shen Mei Zhuang's pregnancy unfortunately turns out to be...fake. She's the victim of a scheme to get her killed and she fell for it. Her "fake pregnancy plot" was uncovered right in front of the Emperor and he has her punished. Zhen Huan tries to protect herself from the fallout and save her friend but has to endure humiliation from all sides.
Zhen Huan just dazzled everyone with her dance the last episode but Hua Fei steals her thunder to regain favor with the Emperor. An Ling Rong receives some bad news about her father. The three ladies must weigh their options to save An Ling Rong's father. Alliances are created and cracks are formed. Who wins this round?
The ladies of the Imperial Harem have settled down in the Summer Palace. All seems quiet but Hua Fei's not going to stay out of favor for long. There's a birthday celebration for a princess and we get to meet a lot of princes. At the birthday bash, Zhen Huan performs one of the most iconic dances of the drama. Will that be enough to secure her favor with the Emperor?
Following all of the recent drama, the Emperor decides to take a summer retreat with several ladies in his imperial harem. They head out to the beautiful Yuan Ming Yuan (圆明园) Gardens. Zhen Huan and her friend, Shen Mei Zhuang, marvel at the luxurious amenities of this summer palace, which unfortunately, no longer exist today. Though calm on the surface during this trip, we see displays of the Emperor's dangerous paranoia towards everyone around him. Elsewhere, Shen Mei Zhuang is eager to obtain ...
Episode 11 of Empresses in the Palace sees the main character, Zhen Huan, and her friends putting on a show to root out the main culprit behind the plot against Zhen Huan's life in the last episode. The ghost show is successful and causes the main antagonist, Hua Fei, to lose an ally. This episode is very fun to watch and we have an even more enjoyable time discussing ghosts, superstitions and traditions around death in Chinese culture and history.
Zhen huan investigates a murder attempt. She finally decides to enter the battlefield that is the imperial harem with surprisingly good results
We discuss episode 9 of 后宫甄嬛传 Empresses in the Palace. Zhen Huan has received a lot of attention from the Emperor, causing much strife within the rest of the Imperial Harem. There's a murder attempt to one of our main characters and it becomes quite obvious that life within the Palace is perilous.
We are discussing episode 8 of 后宫甄嬛传, Empresses in the Palace. The Emperor and Zhen Huan finally have a romantic getaway. The Emperor spends much of this episode showcasing how much he favors her, much to the dismay of the other concubines in the Imperial Harem.
In Episode 6 and 7, the Emperor is enjoying spending time with, what we're calling as a Level 1 opponent, Yu Ying Er. She is a maid that is pretending to be the person the Emperor overhead in the plum garden. But of course, we know that person was actually Zhen Huan. Yu Ying Er is now a favored concubine in the Imperial Harem and is flaunting her favoritism everywhere, much to the annoyance of not just the rest of the ladies in the Imperial Harem, but also the Empress Dowager. Unfortunately for ...
It's winter time and the main character, Zhen Huan, is still "sick". This results in disrespect by not only her own servants, but servants who are supposed to provide her with much needed materials to survive through the cold. Luckily, her good friend, Shen Mei Zhuang, steps in to help. Meanwhile, at the New Year's Celebration, the Emperor decides to take an evening stroll to see plum blossoms. He overhears none other than Zhen Huan in the garden making a wish but wasn't able to catch a glimpse ...
In this episode, Zhen Huan decides to feign illness to avoid attention from the Emperor and confrontation by the other concubines after discovering remnants of a sinister plot against the previous inhabitant of her pavilion. We discuss this sinister plot and how it's related to Chinese medicine. In her absence, Zhen Huan's close friend, Shen Mei Zhuang, starts receiving attention from the Emperor. We learn that she loves the Chrysanthemum flower and delve into why that is and what it means about...
Zhen Huan and the newly selected concubines are settling into the palace. They quickly find out how deadly and dangerous the imperial harem, or hou gong, can be after just one formal court greeting in front of the Empress and Hua Fei.
In Episode 2, we discuss Zhen Huan's deliberation by the Emperor and Empress Dowager as to whether or not she has a spot in the palace. The latter tries a few interesting tricks to keep Zhen Huan from gaining entrance while the Emperor is smitten Spoiler alert: Zhen Huan gets chosen to become a concubine. We also meet the rest of the ladies in the Imperial Palace which makes for an entertaining tea time discussion.
Chasing Dramas analyzes the episode 1 of hou gong zhen huan zhuan (后宫甄嬛传), Empresses in the Palace. The show begins in 1722 during the Qing Dynasty under the reign of Yong Zheng. We meet several key players in the palace and learn about how ladies are selected to be concubines in the imperial harem
