Legend of the Female General

A spoonful of sugar helps the dodgy script go down

This show aimed high, but ultimately missed the mark. Much of the blame lies with the script.

Let's take a step back and look at the fundamentals. Early plot progression feels like bullet points in a presentation. It leaps about rather than flows.

Our FL went from hero to zero in a few scenes. Her whole backstory was summarised on the back of a napkin and took about as long to play out on screen.

Two issues are soon apparent. Firstly, this drama is based on a web novel, but it cherry picked key scenes and subplots. It feels like we are doing a high-level storyboard walkthrough with thin lines connecting the scenes.

For instance, the FL in the novel died and soul swapped with a girl from a poorer family. This is fundamental to her story arc and eventual growth. Our FL didn't die so her history and skill base stays the same. It is more a sidestep than a rebirth. It fundamentally changed the depth of her struggles.

Secondly, whatever tracking device the FL is using, I want one! Any time the FL is in mortal danger, either the ML or her sifu will come to her rescue. It is uncanny.

A case in point, the BLIND FL "stumbled" up a mountain while being chased by her assailant. Really? After falling down a cliff, she is found by her sifu who happens to be tramping there. The plot armour is next level!

There are also serious plot holes. The FL was forced to take on the identity of her stepbrother, He Ru Fei, since she was a child. I have nightmares about masks now, just saying.

Her brother returns at the start of this series. Pushes her aside unceremoniously and subsumed all her glories and merits. He then poisons, blinds and tries to silence her with extreme prejudice. That's brotherly love!

Then this "fake/real" General He arrives in court to accuse the ML's dead father of traitorous acts. The man has a different voice, is a head taller than the FL. How can the ML not notice that?! That plot hole is big enough to drive a Big White Truck of Doom™ through!

But wait, there is more! The first dozen or so EP has the FL playing Mulan in a training camp. We have all the cliché moments. They are low hanging fruits.

My jaw dropped when the ML suddenly realises the FL is a girl the moment her chest touches his back. Holy Mother of Drama Gods! How? Did the FL not bind her chest? She dressed as a man every day and nothing "shows". Inconceivable!

I almost sloth quit several times by this point but I hung on with grim determination. Sunk cost fallacy is real, my friend.

The show changed tack and sends them on an undercover mission as a married couple. Yes, you guessed it. All the couple/dating tropes got an airing. Oh, the sugar highs, I gave it a second chance. I'm weak, ok? Don't judge me!

I can't deny our OTP have their swoon-y moments. It did drag on a bit too long, nothing new there. We finally get a proper confession (drunken ones don't count, apparently) and the skinship blossoms. It was rainbow and unicorns for a while, but another problem loomed large, the pacing.

Normally, we would get a final confrontation with the antagonist just in time for the HEA ending. In this case, it happened several eps too soon. We did get an episode of fan service, and I can't complain. There is no way we are going to get 4 eps of fan service. I'm not that naïve.

Sure enough, the show hit us with the angst train. To wit, the SML manipulated the King so that he can wed the FL by royal decree, thus sundering our OTP.

To cut the story short, the FL marched into the palace and told the King this is total BS. Think Éowyn in the Return of The King. ;) Instead of sending her to Siberia, he capitulated. Just. Like. That.

Our leads ends up in a de facto arrangement and sworn to forsake all others. Geez, that's a win-win for His Majesty, not! Did we just wasted an episode?

The ending arrives as predicted. I'm not going to spoil it. One hint, the show came full circle. ;)

It pains me to pen this. I had high hopes. It should be a slam dunk. When it is good, it is very watchable. The battle scenes are mostly style over substance, but they are impressive! The romance is sweet with a decent amount of skinship. Acting is decent. The sets, costumes and OST are all above average. It just needs a good, solid script. Did no-one proofread it?

So close, yet so far. Peace.

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It showed what is easy, tells the obvious and avoided what could have been great!

The genre listed for this drama is Romance, Wuxia, Drama, and War, which sounds very legendary on paper, except that it managed to dip its toes in all four without actually excelling in any. This is just a guilty pleasure romcom.

I came here for some sweeping war chess and tactics, and of course a razor-edged female general we were promised in the trailer and the poster. I kept searching for the "larger than life" hype that I created in my head but sadly I was disappointed.

He Yan, on paper, is everything I expect from a strong female lead. Brave, witty, with a moral backbone and we get to see glimpses of it in the flashbacks. But somehow the balance between "female general" and "romantic lead" was off almost all the time. Here is where the drama falters the most for me.

We were told she fought her way up the ranks disguised as a man, surviving in a brutal, male-dominated world of war and yet in present, that struggle barely showed. She kept acting too cute.
Yes, women are allowed to be warriors and be happy and thriving in love but for it to feel real, the transition needs to carry that weight. I missed the awkwardness, the hesitation or even the tension. I wanted to see push and pull, the conflict between her desires and the hardened exterior that she might have built over the years of disguise. That would have felt earned.
But it looked like the writers got the amnesia trope themselves and forgot all about her past when it came to romance. The aegyo (lack of a better word) like behaviour undermined the whole dark and serious vibe of the drama I was expecting.

Also that whole arc where the FL pretends to be her brother really demands a huge suspension of disbelief. But I feel they did a good job with keeping her makeup to minimal to atleast make it look believable.

Coming to romance, the sparks existed, but again, it was too mild and easy. The angst, the longing, the courtship lacked passion. I wasn't excited for them to get together. I knew they were the leads and things just kept happening. Even the key moments felt dull. It wasn't bad but nothing to run home about.

The drama also wanted to scream women's empowerment, but like everything else, it just tells and does not show for it to actually make an impact. It was just all about the grand speeches. There was one scene where she was supposed to fight to show her talent in front of the army, and I was excited to finally see that fire but they cut it away and came back when it was over. If you want to sell me a hard-earned battle warrior, show her that way. There were other fight scenes too, but none of them left any impression on me.

Also, the focus on side characters who made minimal impact on the overall story was a baffling choice. I feel there was a lot more to explore about the lead characters especially the male lead. But instead I feel I know SML better than him. The SML in my opinion got the most fleshed story. It was unpredictable and he was given so much depth as a character compared to the leads. And the whole princess and master storyline was just not needed. Some deaths felt completely pointless, added neither the shock value or the story value. I was just confused.

And can we please take a second to talk about last 4 episodes. What in the world kept happening. The character arcs were already weak but somehow they manged to destroy that as well. I am still confused about a few things as why we needed that. This includes all fronts from comedy to romance.

Production-wise, this was below average. The overall set design lacked a certain richness. The poster had better colour grading, and the overall colour palette of the drama felt muted. And whoever is in charge of the blood effects should retire immediately. I mean, what were those ruby red lipstick swatches. Nothing disappoints me more than when a tragic moment is happening and fake blood on the actor's cheeks kept distracting me. Also, the dialogues were as lacklustre as the production.

Acting-wise, this is my first time seeing the leads, and I feel this shouldn't be the story I should be judging their acting on. Ryan Cheng served with his visuals, and Zhou Ye was bubbly ( a little too much) but did show us the few glimpses of a strong warrior when the script allowed but I was expecting more. Zhang Kangle, as Chu Zhao, impressed me the most. I liked his portrayal of the antagonist part. He carried that whole cold and cruel aura with justice. The rest of the supporting cast also did fine, but I wasn't too immersed in the story to comment here.

Overall, this was a huge miss in my books. It's wasn't just about one or two incidents that can be overlooked for overall enjoyment, but it's the constant repeated choices to chip away at the integrity and heart of the story, i.e. the journey of the female general. There was nothing legendary or "general" about it. It's frustrating not because it is unwatchable but it constantly kept reminding me what it could have been.
Will I recommend this? No.

Thank you for reading my review! <3 I hope you like the drama more than me. Please take my opinion as one of many if we don't seem to agree :))

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Mostly good but the minor issues were...something

I think the biggest highlight for me was the relationships between the female lead and the friends she made while trying to avenge herself. The second highlight was her relationship with the male lead. Aside from that, the minor issues towards the end of this put a damper on the show for me. Let me list them down below.

1. Chu Zhao being able to get away with so much and distance himself when doing wrong until the end. (It took way too long for him to be punished.)
2. The emperor being extremely easy to manipulate despite his age.
3. The emperor still wanting to find fault with He Yan despite everything that has happened. (I'm referring to after her brother got arrested, and he was then saying nonsense about how she joined the army instead of coming forward with the truth, like sir...please be serious for a minute. No one would have believed her, especially given the state she was in.)
4. That random ass marriage degree.
5. Yan He's random death.
6. The emperor.
7. Oh, did I mention the emperor?

Were there other issues with this show aside from the last couple of episodes? Yes, but I decided not to mention them because, well, this is an idol drama. Therefore, nitpicking at things such as "how a general should look" seems...odd. Anyways, if you are looking for something fairly lighthearted with a minimal amount of character deaths, I recommend this drama.

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Legend of my undying patience with this show.

Me during the first few episodes: Why are these episodes so short? Why aren't they 45 minutes long?
Me during the last few episodes: Why are these episodes so long? Why aren't they 30 minutes long?
That would sum up the decline of my enjoyment as I was watching the drama.

I want to be perfectly clear - I am not one of the people who were unable to enjoy it because of their expectations. I had zero expectations, I saw no promo materials. I went into it blind and willing to accept whatever they threw at me. I just did not expect them to start throwing bullshit.

It started well. Solid set up for the female lead, explaining why she needs to climb the military ladder from the bottom. We had fun “mulan-esque” plot lines that made me sing “I'll make a man out of you” as she was kicking ass during the practice. The tension between her and Xiao Jue was great. And then it slowly started to hit me how little generaling we have in this story about a female general. How the drama does not really have much plot, not substance. How the most interesting character is actually the second male lead. How the villains are empty shells that make me feel nothing.

Why did it happen? I think every plot line, every interaction, every motivational speech and feministic message did not have proper set up. Things just happened and we moved on to another scene. They kept telling me how bad women had, how she is this brave and strong and the idol for all the other women, but I did not really see much suffering or discrimination. Don’t get me wrong - inequality was clearly visible, but they presented with dialogue a completely different level of suffering than what was actually shown. It left me with a feeling of dissonance.

Not everything was bad. Outside of her preachy monologues I actually liked He Yan a lot. I appreciated how she was not this cold, stoic man like warrior. She was witty, cheeky and at times even bubbly. She had a bright and fun personality, but also knew when to focus on work. That made her far more enjoyable to watch.

Even if underdeveloped, I also enjoyed Song Tao Tao and Cheng Li Su. They served a good contract to both leads. Tao Tao had little to no physical strength, but was motivated and because of her knowledge in poison, was not a defenceless damsel in distress. Cheng Li Su might have seemed like a spoiled nuisance, but was also loyal and dedicated.

Sadly, that’s where the positive aspects end. Sure, the acting was good, but does it matter when the writing was not? I don’t even want to talk about the production value. What was that crayon blood? They did not even try to fake the injuries and wounds - they just smudged some red pain on their faces with artistic vision. Yes, Cheng Lei looked hot with that fake blood, but it was still too fake to ignore. There were also issues with the continuity of the shots (eg. blood being there in one cut, and not in the other from a different angle). The whole last arc (last 3-4 episodes) were so ridiculous I wanted to cry.

Overall, I should have dropped it, I have no idea why I finished it (I do, Cheng Lei’s face).

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Fantastic start but fizzles into silly romance tropes to a boring end

Zhou Ye has become fun to watch in period dramas & is quite a kick-ass action star. She can handle strong female roles with ease, as she did in the delightful Back From The Brink, which is why I will try to ignore the painfully brain dead character she had to portray in Love Me Love My Voice. But seeing that she's in a new historical action drama was exciting news.

Legend of the Female General follows He Yan, a Mulan-like daughter of a noble military family who does not volunteer, but is forced in early childhood by her family, as tribute into military service. She takes the name of her invalid brother, He RuFei, who is hidden in a temple to convalesce in her name. As she grows into adulthood, & with her identity always hidden behind a mask, she carves an exceptionally successful career to become an awarded general until an infamous incident results in the death of her mentor, & makes her an enemy of her mentor's son, Xiao Jue. It is at this time that her brother recovers from his childhood illness & returns to society to reclaim not only his name but also the credit for his sister's merits, while he & their father seek to erase her existence.

He Yan survives the assassination attempt & goes on to seek vengeance & to exact justice for her former mentor, right alongside his unsuspecting son Xiao Jue. Together they rebuild the wrongfully disgraced Xiao army &, of course, grow a romance. In the process, He Yan seeks to rediscover herself in her true identity.

After such a gutsy beginning, the middle of the drama pauses the action while the heroes go through a series of romantic tropes which left me wondering just how He Yan would uncover the parts of herself outside of being a natural born soldier. Would she actually answer her own question of who exactly is she? Can she answer this when she's apparently too busy being infatuated with Xiao Jue? She tries to explore the more feminine functions of cooking & sewing but fails, & unfortunately there are too many scenes where she lectures others about how women are just as capable as men. Why do we still need these speeches when there are now so many dramas with strong female leads?

Luckily, by Ep22 this silliness ends & we return to He Yan's continuing battle toward finally confronting her family who tried to eliminate her. Although in the home stretch, as she finally gets justice, the dialogue once again gets very preachy, with one episode composed almost entirely of speeches on loyalty & virtue. This show could've ended at 30 episodes.

A well executed female-in-male-disguise story never seems to get tiring, although I sometimes wish a show would cast an actress who is more realistically boyish looking (Western dramas are much better at doing that). That aside, the fight scenes are very good, with enough just intelligent intrigue to keep the story moving along & keep us rooting for the main characters, at least for the first 2/3 of the show. The final third dragged on too long, being puffed up with more romance tropes, & an inexplicably bizarre scene in which a highly skilled martial artist can't defend against a weak girl with a short blade. I initially had a high rating for this show but by the second half my opinion went into freefall. If you fast forward through the end it will be an entertaining watch.

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Beautiful couple bad production

I LOVE the main couple!

I also read the novel and I would have preferred that they stick more to it to a certain extent without making it about rebirth.

Unfortunately, liking the couple is not enough. I don't know if they wanted to prioritize one actor debuting or something but with the shortening of the number of episodes, they should have focused on the couple more in that case. The additional drama was not necessary.

Positive points:
- Cheng Lei does a really good job. I am impressed with him as an actor and would like to see him again in a well produced drama. Hopefully, his next drama will be good. Even if I really like him as Xiao Jue, I am excited to see him develop in other roles.
- I like Zhou Ye. This role was really good for her however, I think she could have done more if she had a little bit more experience. But I still liked her as He Yan. I think with a few more works under her belts, she will be a great actress.
- Their chemistry was great. I would have loved to have extra clips of their lives.
- The war scenes were mostly good even if they could have had less battles but more quality in the scenes.

Not so positive points:
- Production was not that great. They had a great couple, a good novel as source but they did not do it honor. They did not even show Xiao Jue's realization process, what happened to He Yan, the details, the pain that she felt... all the details that makes him angry and sad on her behalf. They only showed him say it. That's what's makes it disappointing.
- Villains are not convincing. I would have loved to have more subtility in their actions.
- Chu zao was too much in the front of the story. As the story and the episodes were shortened, it became too obvious. In scenes that were meant to have only the main leads, he was there. If the drama was 45 episodes, it wouldn't have been that noticeable but as it is 36, it messed up the story adding unnecessary drama and messing up the flow.

To sum up, it is worth it for the couple: Xiao Jue and He Yan are great. Xiao Jue is a great character that should have been more fleshed out. I hope someone write fanfictions about this couple to feed our fantasies. 😂😂😂
Watch it, you won't regret it but don't expect a really good story. Just enjoy, a good couple and their cute moments.

8/10 just for the couple and the action. Without the couple, this is a 6/10.
I will re-watch Xiao Jue and He Yan's moments.

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A Sword-Grabbing Saga That Will Tickle Your Bones

The Legend of the Female General is a hilarious drama that I enjoyed immensely. Its entire premise is a crater-sized plot hole, so if you can't suspend disbelief big time, best give this one a skip. The title makes its mythic, Hua Mulan-esque aspirations obvious (Mulan, of course, being a legend herself). The indisputably romantic and lyrical Chinese title, 锦月如歌 (Song of the Brocade Moon), makes it clear this is more Art of Love than Art of War. And in that, it delivers in spades as a sword-grabbing saga that will tickle your bones.

For me, the unwitting humor here far surpasses that of A Dream Within A Dream (which I dropped), which tried so hard to be a parody it was more stressful than amusing. This drama comically embraces a bunch of the best, most incredulously well-loved tropes with abandon and just runs with them, not caring if they are well-stitched together. While I found it a nonsensical riot, I totally understand why it's been panned.

To preserve their military status, the (dumb-dumb) He family swaps out their sickly, all-important male child, He Rufei, for their robust and completely expendable daughter, He Yan. They couldn't find a big and tall girl, so they made do with a short, scrawny, and chesty one. She grows up wearing a mask and achieves glory as the redoubtable General Feihong, whose military successes are so awesome they make the real He Rufei wish he'd been born short and scrawny sans boobs. He stages an epic recovery at the height of her fame and swoops in to steal her glory. Of course, no one notices the one-head height difference because this kingdom is a classic Darwin 101 example of a state doomed to extinction. After reclaiming his name, he arranges for her to fall off a cliff, evidently unaware that no one dies falling off a cliff in a Chinese drama.

Disguised as a man, He Yan later joins the Yezhou army led by the no less renowned General Feihong—her old classmate, Xiao Jue. Suspecting "he" is a spy, Xiao Jue gives "him" the hot side-eye many times until the thrust of his mighty sword is parried by a pair of boobies. Yes, shame on me! I loved all the dirty jokes and naughty-but-nice innuendo that had me gawking at my big-screen TV with a stupid, lovestruck grin. I wasn't bothered at all that the cross-dressing "pretty boy" He Yan went full-on girly on Xiao Jue with her shameless flirting and half-innocent innuendo.

The truth is, I don't dislike trashy idol romance dramas when they are made like this. Most of the time, I drop them because I've seen the leads go through the same tired motions with so many other pairings that the chemistry feels contrived. There is nothing more nauseating than the dreadful dead-duck stare that so many third-rate traffic actors try to sell as infatuation. This drama works because I was hooked by Zhou Ye and Cheng Lei's chemistry. I saw an explosion of sparks every time he side-eyed her and she ogled him right back like she was ready to misbehave. True story: after the hot moment of enlightenment in Episode 4, my old big-screen TV literally died on me, and I had to rush-order a new one.

I won't bother shredding the plot and logic holes—there are lots of them, and far more articulate voices have already gone to town on it. Undeniably, the compelling chemistry and strong portrayals by both Cheng Lei and Zhou Ye carry this drama, bolstered by solid performances all around. I was charmed by how naturally Li Qing brought to life the face-swapped role of Cheng Lisu, and his romance with Song Tao Tao was cute and funny. Chu Zhao is the best-written, most multifaceted character in the story. The conflict between his ambition and his morality is well-played by Zhang Kangle. I had to laugh at how Bai Shu totally hammed up his cartoon villain with wildly exaggerated facial expressions; he seemed to be having the time of his life.

By far the strongest aspect of this drama are the fight scenes—they are brutally intense, fast-paced, and thrilling. This director is known for problematic storytelling, but his action choreography is really something else. Some of the war tactics are creative takes on famous Three Kingdoms battles.

As for Zhou Ye, she is a total firecracker who absolutely lights up the fiery scenes as delightfully as she owns the cute, girly bits. On the surface, she may not look the part of a female general, but she certainly acted it in the fight scenes. Too many idol actors shirk hardcore action, daring to pass off a few showy twirls and wimpy sleeve-swats as fighting. As He Yan, Zhou Ye really wielded her spear and sword powerfully and vehemently; the strain of demanding moves was visible on her features. She is a professionally trained ballerina—incredibly strong and athletic despite her size. Not all generals have to be tall and physically imposing; many famous ones were more brain than brawn. Zhuge Liang of Three Kingdoms fame was skinny and runty with mediocre combat skills, wandering into battle with his fan. While the fearsome Cao Cao was a killing machine, both he and the unbeatable Yue Fei were allegedly quite short and possibly even stocky. Oh, the preconceived notions we have! What pains me most is that no one asks why cast such a tall actor as Bai Shu as He Rufei instead of why cast Zhou Ye as He Yan.

I'm not trying to deflect the well-deserved criticisms. This is indubitably not an award-winning masterpiece, but it won my heart with its cheeky adult humor, melting romance, gripping action, and overall engaging rehash of cheesy tropes. Even with my 9.5+ rated dramas, I'm not much of a re-watcher. But this is one of the few trashy gems with scenes I can see myself replaying when I'm bored. Happy to rate this 8/10 as a top-tier guilty pleasure.

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Even the beautiful Cheng Lei and Zhou Ye couldn't save this trainwreck

** I want to preface this by saying that I did not read the original source material so everything I'm about to say is strictly about the show. I also see these shows through the lens of a white American- my knowledge of Chinese history and culture is very limited and that might taint my perception. **

Firstly, like others have pointed out, this drama requires A LOT of suspension of disbelief. I normally have no problem doing that when watching dramas because I don't need a whole lot of realism to feel like I'm immersed in a show. However if you DO value realism, this is most likely not the show for you. We are supposed to believe that He Yan has been disguised as her brother for years and that nobody who spends a long amount of time around her has figured out that she's a woman. Even when her brother takes back his identity, we're supposed to believe that nobody has noticed that suddenly General Feihong is a head taller, dozens of pounds heavier, and his shoulders have doubled in width? Ok, scriptwriters... sure. I'll believe it for the sake of the story. I know that rebirth stories are harder to adapt because of censorship laws so you get a pass... this time.

Our two main villains in this show are Xu Jingfu and He Rufei, but they are both laughably bad. I can't excuse the writers for this one, they're that bad. Xu Jingfu at one point says "generals only ever want to go to war, they never want to try other strategies" but before that he literally worked together with an enemy to invade his own country, causing battles in MULTIPLE CITIES. Even he has no idea why he does what he did other than he "believed he was helping the country in the long run." You're telling me that his big strategy to stop the people suffering from war, is to help the enemy country invade on several different occasions and kill his own country's generals? I... don't even know what to say to that, genuinely. My mouth was just left agape when he revealed to everyone what his motivation was. I would say "make it make sense" but I don't think there's a way that you can.

He Rufei is another story altogether. I don't know if it was the shoddy script, poor directing, or poor acting but the only emotion that man showed for 99% of the show was just anger. We know why He Rufei wants to kill He Yan, but we don't know why he repeatedly aligns himself with Xu Jingfu. The crimes they commit together are serious, life-and-death crimes. So WHY are they committing them? What is their motivation? I don't know why they do the things they do so I don't feel like there's any reason to relate to their struggles. A good villain is not just blindly evil and murderous. You can have an antagonist that is murderous and greedy and power-hungry while also giving them redeemable qualities as well. The only time I felt a twinge of sympathy for He Rufei was at the very end of his life when he's lecturing He Yan and Xiao Jue. And the only likeable thing about Xu Jingfu is that he does the absolute bare minimum as a father, and loves his daughter. These villains are so one-dimensional it's painful. When Rufei is in prison, he laments the fact that He Yan got everything that he feels like he deserved and while I disagree with his view on it, that was the only moment where I felt any sort of sadness or pity for his character. He spends so much time being angry and wanting to murder He Yan that I forgot that he's also a victim in their story, and that's really a pity. I think if the writers had spent more time showing us his sadness at missing out on most of his own life, and less of him plotting to kill He Yan, that he could have been a really interesting character.

Both of those characters' flaws could almost be overlooked if it wasn't for the massive character assassination the writers did to my boy Chu Zhao in the last several episodes. His struggle was about choosing between loyalty to his teacher or loyalty to his country, and the whole arc is thrown out at the eleventh hour for half-assed angst between our main leads. Seriously, nothing that he (or the emperor) does in the last 3 episodes makes any sense. This is genuinely what ruined the show for me, otherwise it could have been an enjoyable- albeit, flawed- drama with attractive leads and a story that makes enough sense if you turn your brain off. But the writers couldn't even let us have that.

The deaths in this show feel cheap and show huge disrespect both to the characters and the audience. Every single character death in this show has almost ZERO emotional impact. The deaths are sad because death itself is sad, not because the audience is attached to or emotionally resonates with the characters. I had actually forgotten about He Yan's sifu completely until he showed up in an episode just to die by the end of it. It's the same case for the other deaths as well. The characters are supposed to be important to He Yan and Xiao Jue but the writers didn't show us that until the characters are about to die. They just show up suddenly after somehow consuming poison that is never explained, to conveniently hand over evidence that nobody knew existed until that moment, cough up some blood, and die. I felt no sadness, no sense of loss, and it didn't seem like the characters did either. He Yan cries for a few minutes after returning from her sifu's funeral and then he's never mentioned again after they leave the city.

And my last gripe has to do with the show's take on feminism. Now this might be a hot take... I don't think that writing a female character who beats every single opponent she ever fights with little-to-no struggle is a great example of feminism. In fact, I find it lazy. Yes, He Yan trained and worked really hard to get to where she is. There's no denying that she's a very strong martial artist. But it is impossible for 99% of women to go up against men twice their size and win with just fighting prowess alone. I'll compare He Yan to Disney's animated Mulan for a moment. Mulan doesn't make it to the top of the wooden pole in camp, or bury Shan Yu's army in snow, or disarm and kill Shan Yu on the palace roof top, because she is a better martial artist. She knows that she is physically not able to beat a man twice her size so she compensates by being creative and clever. THIS is something I would have liked to see from the writers of LotFG. I cannot believe that a woman who is 5'5 is beating all these generals who are a half a foot taller and a hundred pounds heavier. Making He Yan an unbeatable martial artist does not do her character justice. In her fights she doesn't employ any sort of creativity or ingenuity to gain the upperhand- she just beats her enemies with good old martial arts. I find it quite lazy. He Yan shouldn't be winning fights because she has plot armor- she should be using her strengths to take advantage of her enemies' weaknesses. I think this is what they were trying to show by making her use a whip in the beginning of the show but it's never made clear if that's her reasoning, and she also abandons the whip later in the show. I think that this mainly comes down to suspension of disbelief again- and I know I said I can usually forgive quite a bit but this show is genuinely asking a lot from me. I am a woman who loves to see another woman doing her thing and putting men in their place. But you know what I love more? Female friendship and sisterhood. I really wanted to see more of Song Taotao and He Yan's friendship. Scenes of her talking He Yan's ear off while she's training, or of the two of them sharing a meal and drinks in He Yan's tent. Show us Taotao picking out dresses and makeup for He Yan and them giggling while talking about their respective boyfriends- things that women do! Or a scene where they become sworn sisters or something? We have a couple scenes of this nature but I want MORE. Taotao stays at the garrison for a long time with the army and she does virtually nothing for the story in that time. She was such an underutilized character :( If they could just go back and get rid of the last 3 episodes of the show and replace them with scenes of Taotao and He Yan just being besties I could forgive (almost) everything.

I really wanted to enjoy this drama. I was super hyped for it and couldn't wait every day to watch the next episodes after they released. I don't think the story is great at all, to be clear, but it was ok enough to enjoy alongside the gorgeous leads and the comedic relief from supporting characters. But, as I'm pretty sure I've said many times already, it really all came crashing down with the last several episodes. It's a shame because without them this show would have probably been a 6.5 for me, heavily weighted because of Cheng Lei and Zhou Ye's facecards, but instead we're left at a 4. I'm usually an avid rewatcher, even of shows I think are just mindless eye-candy slop (I've watched Only for Love three times, oopsies), but I don't think I would even rewatch this. It's sad because I do think the 3 leads did a decent job it's just that they were given a dumpster fire of a script. I hope Cheng Lei and Zhou Ye are able to work together on a different project some day- with hopefully better writing.

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General of what?

Well, it's about China; we know the government may have censored some part of the drama for some megalomaniac reason, but unfortunately, I have to judge based on what I saw... The title of the work is eye-catching, Legend of the Female General, but what we see the least in these 36 episodes is this general. It's pure marketing; it's just another female character they try to make us believe is actually autonomous and independent in relation to the man... but at no point do we see that, partly because of the actress’s physical presence, which doesn’t convince much, and they chose not to show any part of our protagonist’s military life. The parallel plots felt weak and uninspired, with repetitive scenes like the one with Xiao Jue, where he gets beaten twice, and the emotional tension is nonexistent. Much of this is due to the actor’s performance, which could be compared to an iceberg. Scenes that should’ve been emotional were ruined by random characters just to drop information, and some flashback parts no one was really interested in, like the one with the master and the princess. I hope for better luck with future scripts

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a big 36-episode filler

I found it a very weak drama. In the beginning, it seemed like we were going to watch a great story of revenge and action, but it turned into an obvious romance. I've never seen a story with so much filler dialogue and bad characters. The supporting characters don't save any of it, and throughout the story, we see random flashbacks of characters that add nothing to the main plot and were just there to fill space. At the beginning, the protagonist is 'killed' by her brother but comes back to life with no explanation, because obviously, no one would survive a cliff fall. The villain, by the way, I think is the worst I've ever seen in these Chinese dramas. The guy seemed like a fool, and there was no reason for him to hate his sister. Would it just be his misogyny and jealousy? Okay, I can understand that. I also thought Chu Zhao had too much screen time, and I didn’t see why, since he’s such an annoying character. The action scenes were uninspired, and the man obviously saves the woman a few times. It was hard to see the main character of the title.

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Characterless Characters

Overall, it was a good series. I enjoyed watching it. However, there were aspects I didn't like and found faulty. Zhou Ye's female general character, in particular, despite having been a general twice, and having started from scratch in the military the second time, her casual behavior belied her previous status as a general. Her petty actions towards General Fengyun, forgetting she was a soldier, were unbecoming. You've been a general before, and you start as a private, and you have no actions that would indicate you've been a general before. How could such a thing happen? Then she defeats her opponents in combat. They understand that she's used a sword, a spear, and a bow, but she doesn't have a military presence. So, I don't understand why the scriptwriter created such a negative character. I think she should have been more dignified, upright, and had more presence. Okay, I understand she'll portray herself as a rookie. She might have feelings for the general. I agree. But I don't think this is the character of someone who has served as a general before, participated in wars, and been successful. So, the personality analysis is flawed. I saw the same thing with Zi Lan. This character changed character several times throughout the series. He was evil, then became good, then had psychological problems before and was afraid of fire. He has a story with his mother. He constantly acts with her in mind. However, I found it strange that such a person would kill someone without blinking an eye. Similarly, he would make the girl he was keeping with him do this. And these two make observations about people. You kill people, and then you talk about the good things. And the girl is a loser. She had a pathetic personality before. So, both characters have failed to find themselves, have psychologically damaged structures. These characters later become good. They kill their teacher, let's say, causing his death. They cause a rift between two lovers. Then they start a war with a rival country. The King listens to a character raised by a rebellious, treacherous Prime Minister. He appoints her as Vice Prime Minister. Just as he's about to appoint Prime Minister, he realizes his mistake, reverses his mistake, and puts this personality to the test. This person suggests to the King that General Fengyun, whom he highly respects, and General Feihong should not marry. This king, despite being particularly close with General Fengyun, separates them without consulting her or even consulting General Fihong. He annuls the marriage and attempts to marry the female general to Zilan. There's a character flaw here, too. In other words, the screenwriter deliberately made the characters characterless and then had them corrected. It didn't work for me. He followed the wrong path, making this king imprudent, for example. He nullified two generals who fought great battles for the country. He acted as if they were null and void. He belittled them. Then he said, "We made a mistake. Let's find the right path." These things didn't work. Unfortunately, I'm giving the series a 7.5, which I was going to give an 8. Despite it being a series I liked, I'm giving it this rating because of the scriptwriter's misguided approach.
I liked the chemistry between the leads. I liked their acting. Despite Zhou Ye's obvious flaws in the action scenes, and at times, he flew and dodged as if he were swinging on a swing, I found it successful. I found Zhang Kang Le and Bai Shu particularly good. Zhang Miao Yi, Li Qing, and Rao Jia Di (young actriss) were the actors who caught my attention. I recommend watching it for those who haven't watched it.

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