Fighting for Love

Deserves better than 7.6

I enjoyed this drama and I liked all the characters and how they were portrayed. Not the greatest drama for sure but pretty much all the criticism that was voiced in other reviews applies to all recent Chinese historical dramas.

I'd say if you were attracted by the tags attached to this drama (Strong Female Lead, Disguised As A Man, Orphan Female Lead, Revenge, ... ) you may very well find, as I did, that this drama delivers some welcome little twists to what you've come to expect from similarly tagged dramas.

I particularly enjoyed the interactions between the FL and SML and would love to see the two actors paired up again in another drama. After finishing this drama I also feel inspired enough to check out some of Zhang Tian Ai's and Wang Rui Chang's other dramas in the near future.

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Forgettable

The story starts off with a familiar arc. Strong female lead, disguised as a man, seeking revenge. She inadvertently gets caught up some drama and befriending some prominent people.

The FL herself shows some promise early on. She is quick-witted and shows some martial ability. She also has a sense of justice that makes her easy to root for. The show does a poor job in really explaining why she is so talented in some things, especially military affairs. Through flashbacks we see that she had potential as a VERY young girl, but she was removed from any environment where those skills might grow at a very young age. So, it's unclear why she is suddenly seen as capable of training and leading soldiers. Additionally, some of her tactics are just kind of terrible. The deeper that I got into the show, the less I cared about her which was particularly unfortunate because she was still the most interesting character in the series.

The ML is fine. I don't have anything good or bad to say about him. Typical playboy with little life experiences thrust into a position of power. Likeable enough, also completely forgettable.

For fans of romance there is a love story, and even a surprising kiss that happens pretty early on. This was one of the least authentic parts of the show as the two characters expressed extremely strong feelings for each other despite really not having spent very much time with each other to that point. Just another example of something that did not seem to fit the story's context and foundations.

Other familiar tropes are a king looking to kill off potential successors creating internal court politics while there is an external threat in the format of an enemy army.

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Could be a little more realistic!

“Fighting For Love”,

So this a story of two people on merging paths to each other. I am only a few episodes in but the story is well written so far. Some of it is not so much words but the expressions and actions of the actors are so believable. The drama is well written I find myself listening to the dialog and not fast forwarding a lot. So, for me there is some intrigue about where it is going.
Acting:
Now that I am at end of this drama it has been fairly good. There is no shortage of plots and palace intrigue. There is a large cast and what seems like a big production. The story is not new with a strong woman pretending to be a man. The FL handles her part well and her played down looks helps with the part. In the beginning episodes the acting was really good, and I take my hat off to the emperor he is superb. The ML could have been a little better with the acting. He plays an aloof playboy prince that is not mature and does not know anything about responsibility. So, it is up to the FL to guide him. Their relationship does not take long to develop as they become friends first.
This drama has a lot a battle scene a little more than I like, because they lack that wuxia element, but they move quickly. The production of the battles are done well. I would not call this a wuxia it is just more of a drama.
I have binged most of the drama it does draw you in with the curiosity of who, what why and where is this going in he end.
Story:
The story is not original but is written well and does draw you in to watch. It has a lot of twist and turns. The last three episodes are rushed so much so I thought it would be a second season. I don’t know if everyone will stick around for the end or even appreciate the ending. I for one did not like the ending. I did not like the direction the story went in for the final episodes. This I more on a personal level and observation. I am all for the independence of women and that being able to forge your own path. I liked that the writers kept her personality of women in that she always knew she was a woman. She was forced by her circumstances to act as a man. I also liked that she was not portrayed as a woman that was physically stronger than men but she did work at being smarter.
Rewatch:
In conclusion I would not re-watch this. However, being that I binged most of it would suggest that I like the drama overall. It could have had a better ending, but I think that is how most people feel about endings these days. (They suck).

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I loved the show until I didn’t

I expected a war drama centric to the FL and her journey from a commoner to grow into a general who marshals her troops. The synopsis and first few episodes pointed towards her being smart, savvy, daring and upright and while that remained until the end, somewhere along the line the center piece of the drama shifted from being about her to being about the ML.

*SPOILERS*
The ML who didn’t deserve to be one at all. He either couldn’t make a decision for himself or conveniently looked the other way when evil deeds were conducted in his name. His seemingly first interaction with a woman, one not his mother or masters, had him falling for her in the most shallow way. He laughed when he heard about her tragedy. He knew why she wanted revenge yet bound her to himself despite having being caught up in court politics and a marriage himself. He hid the truth and colluded with people. Despite this, he got everything along with glory and praise. I don’t mind a well-done evil ML or even a weak one but somebody who is praised from the starting to almost the end without lifting a finger or even engaging his brain for anything he achieves is not my cup of tea.
*SPOILERS END*

The under utilisation of the acting prowess this drama had is a travesty. In one scene, the FL walks into the palace to defend her people and that’s one of the only few glimpses in the latter half of the drama (except the last two episodes) of what we deserved to get througout. While we didn’t get a satisfactory journey from commoner to army marshal for the FL, as a marshal she was compelling and demanded respect. Even though most of us have trife with feminine looking leads being passed off as men and nobody expecting anything afoot, here the FL’s body language acted like a man despite looking petite enough to be a woman. She carried her scars like battle armour, prideful and always aware of the power she yield in the army. In my opinion, she had the most reason to misuse that, but she didn’t. Despite being driven by revenge throughout, not once did she hold back from saving somebody in need. Though she did use Zhu and Chang for her needs, she was loyal. She wasn’t without fault but she remained the most endearing and inspiring character in the show that was supposed to be about her.

The SML, relegated to being a support cast, demanded attention in every single glimpse of his on-screen. We deserved so much more of him; this loyal, strong man who was brutal yet willing to go to any lengths for those he considered his own. I don’t understand why it was decided to reduce screen time for a lead that was nuanced and complex from what I have read until now in the novel.

I don’t mind directors and script writers deviating from the source novels as it gives them an opportunity to fill in plot holes and explain anything amiss. However, when a well-loved female centric novel gets adapted into a (at one point) harem drama and her love interest is modified into a support role, surely somebody needs to step in and question things. It’s a double shame as the show had immense potential in the first 2/3rds and had us hooked waiting for the next episode only to disappoint us in such a manner. The first 23 or so episodes are interesting and would hold your attention. Beyond that, I was left scratching my head at anything that transpired on screen. The pointless deaths and loose-ends would probably annoy me for months.

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I never read the novel, but i've finished the whole series, i think Zhang Tian Ai has played the role very good as a Great General A Mai, and Zhang Hao Wei (Shang YiZhi) as the only son of previous crown prince (in disguise), he played so funny character in this series, the story tells a clever young woman who wants to do revenge of her family's tragedy and the only way to do the revenge she has to join the army disguised as a men, with her talent of war strategy and hard work, she got promoted from an infantry till a Great General, Zhang Tian Ai when she disguises as a man she is SO MAN, and when she wears female clothes she looks very pretty as well, Zhang Hao Wei as Shang Yi Zhi plays the role very good too, from a naive spoiled young nobleman and because of the situation he's forced to be a King, eventhough all he actually wants just to be with A Mai, but the condition made him had no other choice except accept to become a king, he never give up to make A Mai stay on his side at all cost, but the palace life is not suitable for A Mai, I think the ending is not as bad as others said, i think that's the best way for A Mai and Shang Yi Zhi, she is still a royal concubine of the king but they serve the country and the people in their own ways, i can't imagine if the ending would be A Mai lives in the palace happily ever after naaa.... or Shang Yi Zhi follows A Mai to the army and leave his throne naaa..... or both of them find a place to live together ever after and don't care of their country and their people naaa..., i think this is the best ending for them, maybe if there is a season2 the story can be advance, maybe one day AMai can forgive Shang Yi Zhi's betrayal, and they have sons who can be a king and a great general, so that they can retire and be together :)

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Is the ending a hint for S2?

I watched in hope I will get to see a strong female lead and it did surpass my expectation on how Mai work really hard to got on her position now. She have a strong character and what i like the most is that she started from the bottom! So it’s not the “typical” Mary Sue story, if you want to watch the character development of the female lead, I would really recommend this drama.

But I cannot hide my disappointment on how the story only focus on the love interest rather than putting the whole plot together pieces by pieces, slowly. It seems that the love between Shang Yi Zhi and Mai seems to be forced to happen that fast. How do I get to this conclusion? Because Mai had been disguised as a male all these years, and catching feelings with a man (a himbo) she just met was so questioning to me.

All through the 34 episodes, I’ve been wondering if Yi Zhi is really the male lead. Why he didn’t have that heartthrob chemistry with Mai? And for the last two episodes my questions had been answered. It is sure a plot twist for me, and I would rate this drama 8.5 if they didn’t waste all the previous episodes just to make us feel things about Yi Zhi and Mai romance story.

There are some important parts of the story that prevent me from giving 8.5 rating too, some are how they try to fast forward some conflicts, they don’t even bother to retell the story on why would Qi Jing want all the children born that year dead (which I think was an important part of the story, because this was mentioned a few times), the story on how Chen Qi come to Beimo and obtained his high position after killing his godparents was never mentioned until the end of the episode, and we see some Beimo palace conflicts and how strong the Chang family but we never truly “see” them, again it was mentioned a few times but we didn’t get to see them again. 😂

But there are some other things that made me truly disappointed about this drama is that there was supposed to be 3 male leads here. But I accept that one was supposed to have a brotherly bond to Mai. But Chang Yu Qing had a lot of potential to be the one with Mai. But he only had a few screen times even though he was titled as the “Main Role” here, along with Tang Shao Yi.

I don’t know if they will continue the relationship or not in S2 (if it ever happens though). How come that I see more chemistry between Mai and Yu Qing, than Mai with Yi Zhi? But I still hope that they will make a S2 to answer all my questions (again, if it ever happens).

Lastly, Mai is such a baddie and I don’t really think the male leads here deserve her. 😂

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Stupid ending

Wrongly classified as "romantic comedy"when it's a full 100% military movie
Annoying banners,song lyrics covering subtitles of the conversation
The story was good but the writer overused the recurrent theme of killing unnecessary good people for the sake of "viewer torture"which loses it's attraction after the second time and becomes BORING , STUPID,OLD FASHIONED and LACKING in IMAGINATION
To keep insisting on the theme that people becoming heartless when they gained power is also stupid. Gone are the days that old fashioned drama and stories that REPEATEDLY insist on unnecessary death of good people based on some stupid honour and stupid personality change including leading characters just for the sake of "tear jerking"lacks creativity and REAL understanding of human nature and the art of story telling.
Other than the good acting and directing, I feel it's overuse of stupid actions on the part of the writer. The story is ok but not top brilliant simply because of the insistence and overuse of above technique,it's a FAIL because of that. you can watch but the last few episodes was stupid

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Rather it should be fight for family

When the story started, the characters of the female and male leads were quite engaging. I particularly liked the male lead's character. Initially, I thought he was a type of playboy, but he exhibited a certain innocence. He followed whatever the elders told him to do and never used his own judgment. I believed that as the story progressed, some tragedy would occur, transforming him into a rude, strong, stubborn, ruthless, and sensible person. However, nothing of the sort happened. Though he showed anger, it had no significant impact. He never got into a single fight, yet he became a king. Seriously, what direction did the story take?


Moreover, I enjoyed the chemistry between the leads, but they did not end up together in the end. The power of love and obsession was not evident. Although he married someone due to unavoidable circumstances, he did not return to his true love. On the wedding night, he went to the bride's chamber and apologized for being late. He then drowned his sorrows in drinks, and in his drunken state, his wife took advantage of him. I never expected the story to take such a turn. Usually, in similar stories, when a king marries out of helplessness, he remains genuine to his true love while fulfilling his responsibilities as a husband. He would typically reveal the truth about his love story to his wife.

Overall, this story was not worth watching.

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"Fighting For Love" tells the story of Mai, a woman who disguises herself as a man to serve in the army. Over time, she gains recognition, rising to the rank of general.

Mai is surrounded by men, but there is one who simply cannot stay away from her: Yi Zhi. Their relationship grows and eventually, the two fall in love. The romance between Mai and Yi Zhi is not the focus of the drama, but it is an important part; it is their story that builds the rest. Yi Zhi was an essential part of Mai's journey; he was the one who treated her with affection; his love was what changed her, made her feel like a woman; but as he gained power, Yi Zhi became a different person. In that scene where Yi Zhi says he would kill his empress and all her concubines for her, it was clear how much he had changed, but the truly shocking moment is when he lies to Mai and ends up killing Shao Yi. I really didn't expect this from him, especially since he knew how much Shao Yi meant to her, but I think his jealousy got the better of him in that moment.
That's why I really don't care that the two didn't end up together, Mai was better off without Yi Zhi, because he made his choice.

Shao Yi really won my heart, I fell in love with him from the beginning <3
Yu Qing is also an amazing character, you think he's the villain, but that's not true, he's the enemy general, but he was never dishonest, it was just the consequences of a war.

This was my drama Cdrama of 2024 and what a fantastic experience it was to be able to watch this story. Mai is a badass character, a warrior who can defeat any man, very few times have I seen such an amazing woman. She doesn't need any man, that's what makes her great... she even rejected the emperor. Not just anyone can do this. HAHAHA'

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