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.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
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.
Was this review helpful to you?
Worst Generals Ever
After watching the first few episodes, I realized that I needed to turn off my brain so that I may be able to tolerate the show because there really wasn’t anything else on. Besides, I am a fan of ML & FL so support - Yay! But damn Gina! Each episode hurt my brain worst than the previous one. This show had so much potential but squandered it away with bad dialogue, bad acting, bad logic, and bad plot. The villains were never a threat because they were all so stupid! ML & FL were both embraced & squeezed tight by the power of Main Lead Halos. I never felt any tensions or feared that they were ever in danger because both leads were just soooo smart & soooo strategic & soooo strong! They were the worst generals ever. FL and her posse leave the military base w/out permission- no problem!! Commander & his cross dressing low ranked soldier leave to do stuff away from military camp! Sure!! When the commander leaves to do PLOT, his cross dressing low ranked soldier takes charge instead of the second in command Shen? How useless was the second in charge that he needed the FL to draw him a defense map to protect his own base?? Huh??? And why are the FL & ML crying & hugging & loving each other in the middle of a war? Why did she lose her composure when she thought her Dudu died??? PEOPLE ARE DYING KIMBERLY!! And why did my boy chu, who was the most “rounded” character, have a tantrum/meltdown when he knew and witnessed first hand how much the ML & FL loved each other??? Was he surprised?? EVERYONE KNEW!! Why the manufactured drama ?? And why did some folks recognized that she was a girl and some didn’t recognize it?? How did that makes sense?????? There were random deaths but I didn’t give a damn because the writers & director didn’t give me any reasons to feel sad for them. This was such a bad show. Even the romance, which I enjoyed in the beginning, fizzled halfway through. The revelation of her identity should have been more emotional but it fell flat- and then all was forgiven a hot second later after a few emo glances?? Urgh! So disappointed!Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
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.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
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 scriptsWas this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
weak and warm
I haven’t watched many Cdramas, but this one was definitely the worst. The script was very weak, it was 36 episodes of boring conversations, purposeless characters, and where are the action scenes? It felt like a low-budget production. I didn’t like either of the two protagonists, she had no charisma and was a weak actress, and he seemed like the Ice Man, with a stiff, cold, and uninspired performance. The villains looked like fools, where was the sense of fear they should instill in the protagonists? That never happened. There were several random characters, like a courtesan who appeared out of nowhere just to tell the protagonists the truth, and the woman was constantly lost in her character, sometimes acting like a woman, sometimes like a man, and for the viewer, it was hard to tell because at no point did she look like a man… What I wanted was a story of revenge, but that was left behind to make room for a bland romance.I thought that actor Zhang Kang Le's character had too much screen time, which only makes sense if they are promoting the actor for future dramas. His character was boring and didn't add anything interesting to the story.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Nothing Legendary About This ‘Female General’
The title Legend of Female General is completely misleading. Instead of delivering a powerful story about a legendary woman leading her army with wisdom and strength, it turns out to be just another cheesy historical romance. From the title, I expected a strong female lead who could inspire, command and outwit her enemies, but that’s far from what this drama shows.The female lead is betrayed, nearly killed, and robbed of her victory by her own relative. When she finally returns to the army, instead of reclaiming her purpose, she wastes time doing silly things, flirting with the male lead, and conveniently forgetting her original goals. To make things worse, the “disguise as a man” angle is completely unconvincing, her appearance, voice and mannerisms are fully feminine, making the entire premise hard to take seriously.
If the writers only wanted to make a generic love story, they should have chosen a more fitting title rather than misleading viewers with the promise of a legendary general.
I’m not sure if the drama follows the novel or if the script was altered, but if this really comes from the original work, then perhaps the novel itself also has issues.
The romance is another downfall. It feels painfully cringe-worthy, both leads lack depth in their performances.
The FL never once convinces me she’s a general, while the ML delivers a cold, one-dimensional performance like a robot programmed to act “romantic” whenever the script demands it. Even in their most intimate moments, there’s no spark, no emotional weight, just mechanical execution.
Overall, this drama feels like a product of rushed mass production. China seems to be pushing out as many dramas as possible these days, prioritizing flashy visuals and high budgets over meaningful storytelling. Unlike older works that carried depth and substance, this one is like a beautifully plated dish with no real taste, nice presentation, but completely flavorless.
Was this review helpful to you?
1
1Brainless Temu level production. 2025 Disappointment.
What an utter disappointment for me. There was nothing and I mean nothing legendary about this drama. I love Zhou Ye and Cheng Lei, in fact I was beyond excited to watch this drama as they are my dream pair, but this drama was not it. The title is extremely misleading.What this drama showed me is a silly female lead who never proved to me that she’s a legendary general. Was she a good fighter? Sure. Was she smart? Sure. But that’s because her opponents were clowns most of the time or conveniently outsmarted by the script. What makes a hero legendary is seeing their journey from zero to hero. Their struggles and pain, to ultimate victory. The female lead from the start was already smart and a great fighter but she spent a big chunk of the drama acting like a ditzy soldier. She didn’t improve on anything much and didn’t suffer as much as I would expect from a legendary character. Everything was just too convenient. On top of that, when it was her big moment to shine, she was turned into a damsel in distress, saved by the male lead. Worse, she would be crying on the battlefield, that she had lost her hubby, while the battle was still raging on.
The production is at an atrocious Temu level. The script must have cost $5 because of how ridiculous it was with tons of plot holes. The writers even tried to add in some inspirational pinterest quotes but it all felt flat. The set designs, editing, and some of the costumes looked low budget. Which was shocking considering all the high quality marketing, posters and trailers before airing. Truly the only saving grace were the main leads.
The comedy was unexpected but fine. However the angst was as flat as an iron board. The drama set up so many opportunities for angst and endearing emotions but delivered me nothing. The female lead has hidden identity + gender but all the big reveals were so anti-climatic. There was an important scene where the female lead has to prove to the army that she can be their general but the fight was off screen!!! I suppose part of the viewing experience is to use our imagination to believe she is really badass.
As a hopeless romantic, the love story was ok but something was missing. The second male lead had too much screen time in the second half for no good reason.
The fight scenes were mostly unimpressive (with some exceptions), and in general very short. In the initial episodes, the fight scenes were poorly edited, in the later episodes the visuals improved but there was zero emotional impact as the enemies were a bunch of NPCs. The final battle was great but only lasted 5 minutes and 90% of it, I had already seen in the trailer.
In conclusion, the drama was beyond silly, beyond brainless, the plot holes were too much to count. I couldn’t take anything seriously, and if the drama was aiming for full satire, it would have achieved that but nope. The only saving grace were the leads. With great frustration, I award this non-legendary drama as my biggest 2025 disappointment.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Too much expectation, greatly disappointed
After waiting for a long time to watch a female warrior drama and the author is Qian Shan Cha Ke herself, expectation was sky high. The story of an identity swapped female general , revenge and fight to reclaim her title was indeed promising. The trailer and the poster also gave good impression but the whole concept of a female warrior got lost in the way of "paving for Commander Xiao's trust". We only get a glimpse of the past mighty general Feihong. The current he yan unfortunately cannot meet the unmatched general on the battlefield in my eyes. The whole concept got lost somewhere in the name of romance which was also not anything that can spark fire.The fl and her stepbrother's visible size differance and no one ever questioned how general feihong got 5 inches tall and buffer in a night is concerning. He rufei is told to have cognitive problem and he suddenly got cured By Xu jingfu's magic potion?! and the fact that he was staying at Yunhua temple with the identity of he yan meaning Rufei should've disguised as a women but we never see him doing that. Xu Jingfu was portrayed as a cunning man , there were so many choices and yet he kept the dumbest imposter general by his side.
The fl is mighty only in the past. In the present unfortunately she doesn't carry the temperament of a general. This drama should've been sold as a love story. The main problem people are disappointed is because if you are selling a hardcore , revenge filled women centric story then you better deliver it. There were a lot of questionable points throughout the story but all this could've been overlooked if we got a good closure. But wtf happened at last few episodes?
Chu zhao was a gentle character from the beginning who called out his own actions , he didn't want to sugarcoat his action in the name of anything else. And what they made of it?? A lovesick fool who abused his power, broke trust of his allies. A character who respected he yan from the beginning suddenly wants to trap her cause he can't see her unite with her lover. Looks like writers of different minds got together to write this story and combined it together without reviewing. The emperor suddenly switching back forth from villain to a matchmaker didn't make any sense. His worry for consolidating military power is valid but then he is suddenly bestowing them marriage without any condition because they won a war? Speechless
Now let's talk about goodside. I liked the song and Cheng lei. The ml looked really good as a general. If anyone is his diehard fan you can watch it. If you want a bubbly romance disguised in a action/ warrior-ish drama you can watch it
but there are better things out there and this one is certainly not one of them
Was this review helpful to you?
This is the first show in a long while that I was able to binge the first 20 episodes easily. Romantic triangles! Forbidden lovers! Woman pretending to be a man! Highly competent people! All executed well with solid action scenes, believable romance, attractive people.
But as it hit its midway point it slowed, and it moved into the 'ideal man' and 'ideal woman' do always the right and moral thing for the country type of drama. And then took a bunch of plot ideas and shot scenes and kind of did ???? for the last episodes.
This is common for modern dramas, to really fumble the ending which is unfortunate, but I do think the bad ratings are going a bit too far. The first 20 episodes were like if someone had taken all my favorite C-Drama scenes ever and strung them together in a plot, in the best way possible, and I haven't been so entertained by a C-Drama in a very long time.
Was this review helpful to you?
Love the choreography of the fights - one of the best I've seen for war fights
It has a few telling plot twists but the pace was good, character development and back story is relatable. I usually don't write reviews here but I really applaud the choreography of the fight scenes, including the different moves a female has to make to leverage on centrifugal force and kinetic force to counter balance the lack of sheer strength compared to a male. All the different weapons and moves were interesting too and I'm glad they didn't make her also perfect in typical noble lady tasks, unlike other female heroine/general shows where the female is unrealistically perfect. This one shows consistency in character, recklessness, perseverance to get to the level she is at.The chemistry between the two main leads is amazing. The eye contact, expressions, moves, etc were so good, bold and reckless at times, shy and hesitant at others. Definitely one of my favourite female heroine dramas to-date!
Was this review helpful to you?
In what could have been a female-empowering action saga became a simple romance
Overall, the problem with the show is that it was billed as a Mulan-style epic with a grand, slow-burning romance on the side, so much of the audience started watching with the expectation that it was just that. Romance-wise, the chemistry between the leads, Cheng Lei and Zhou Ye was immaculate—as a matter of fact, as a love story, a lot of LOTFG is great! Yearning, decent angst (without the frustrating dragging), the lovestruck gazes, the kisses, the list goes on.But a female-empowering action saga, the show was not. Other than the typical idol drama repetoire, like the pale/immaculate skin on the battlefield with a small dab of blood, lack of gritty visuals, and Zhou Ye looking very clearly like a girl (all which I can usually let slide), I feel like the main issue was the editing, as I could sometimese sense how the producers hurriedly cut whatever number of episodes the show originally had to 36 episodes, ~35 minutes each. I haven't read the original novel, but I felt that much of the "fluff" in between major plot points was cut, resulting in disconnected moments, like He Yan and her master's bond, not being translated properly on the screen. Oh, and also the fact that the show made Xiao Jue look like a fool right from the get-go for not recognizing that He Yan had been switched out by the real He Rufei.
But onto the specifics about the show...
The good:
The action scenes were amazing! A few select shots with wirework felt awkward, but the battle/war atmosphere felt immersive and dramatic. The music—both the OSTs and the instrumental background music—was great too (I added them all to my music playlist, haha). The casting for the characters was immaculate as well, which is why I feel like this cast was wasted on the script (and maybe the directing could have been better tbh). Although I saw Cheng Lei catch some flak for his acting, I feel like he plays the hardened, reserved general type of character so perfectly. Even with just his, you can feel all his emotions. Zhou Ye was amazing too!
The bad:
For Zhou Ye, I really feel like she could have pulled off HY better with her own, deeper voice without a separate dubber. Also, I think the script ruined HY's character, because for all those "cutesy/ditsy" moments, it undermined the believability that she was a so-called strong general. It painted the image that for a woman to be a strong general, she needs to be unbelievably/unrealistically physically strong (e.g., defeating 10 men at once), not emotionally and mentally mature. And in my heart, I feel like Zhou Ye could have pulled off that fully hardened character too... Also, for the dubbing in general, I feel like the breathing noises were awkwardly loud in some parts for absolutely no reason, and sometimes the emotions didn't match the face perfectly. The only cast member I have a bone to pick with is Zhang Kang Le—I haven't seen him in past works, but he was so emotionless, I felt like he had one emotion on his face during the entire show. Even his face card couldn't save his acting. And Chu Zhao as a character, too—he fell into a stereotypical jealous 2ML mold, and although they tried to make him complex, it felt very surface level.
But anyway, like I said, I think the reason why people have been reviewing this drama so negatively is that everyone had high expectations. If you want to give it a watch, I'd say go ahead, if you're looking for enjoyable visuals, badass vibes, and romance. If you're looking for something deeper and more meaningful, then maybe pass.
Was this review helpful to you?
