I found this show riveting. I was asked if I had any disappointments/criticisms and no, I have none. My problem was reading subtitles that either disappeared too quickly or didn’t appear at all. Also, it was hard for me to follow all the characters names, and there were many. But that’s my fault. Someday I’ll watch it again but there are so many c- dramas and k-dramas that, either I missed or are new, I’d rather see first.

 Greer:

From the few full-length historical dramas I’ve seen that follow a female lead rising from humble beginnings to becoming a general, Princess Agents still stands out for its stronger storyline, well-driven revenge arc, and more compelling chemistry between the characters.

Are you going to watch the sequel Rebirth?

For me the 1st third was better - more humour, more rounding of characters.   The time in Lin'an gave us an introduction to the Marquis, to Changyu and some supporting characters.  However the promise this foundation provided didn't really materialise.  

The Marquis never really lived up to the set up - minimal fight scenes and almost no scenes where strategy and his cleverness were displayed, for a while the Marquis became an occasional player!    

Changyu remained parochial for the first half - her insistence on returning to Lin'an and reuniting all the conscripts from the town,  finding her sister, then finding QianQian etc., was frustrating - she was effectively in the military, although given free reign because of her relationship with the Marquis, but was irresponsible yet she hardly shows any regret.  Her repeated on again/off again view on her marriage was also annoying.  How many times does the Marquis need to reiterate he wants to stay married to her?  A couple of times is surely enough reassurance (you can have kissing scenes with committed people, not just those you're trying to convince).  She took a long time to "grow".

Perhaps the editing has something to do with the somewhat choppy nature of the battlefield/camp section.    Her fighting skills - she was taught a technique by her father and had butchering skills - but they were hardly battle skills as she only dealt with bullies in Lin’an.  She never learned tactics apart from 2 scenes where she gets some tips from Marquis (at the pond one night) and General He (when visiting) which were apparently enough for her to defeat the enemy.  She spends one day becoming acquainted with maps etc., and multiple days of tutors where she still can’t read and is “unteachable” - yet she is made a high ranking General (political move intially, but still with military responsibilities) with this limited experience and in ep. 38 can suddenly read.

The story in the capital became more disjointed. Heavy on the backstory particularly in the last couple of episodes. Little things were consequently missed like
- what happened to Ba’o? He was told to run at one point and then disappears for a few episodes, before returning as emperor at the end.
- Little explanation on QianQian suggested as a transmigrator, etc.
- Chengyu only makes a cursory (timely) appearance in the battle at the palace  (at least the Marquis was allowed a fight scene with General Wei).
Once again, is this the result of limited episode time/editing?

I also think the alternate ending time was a bit of a waste. Perhaps a real alternate timeline rather than “what if x had never happened” - it seems its only purpose was to show the ML/FL were fated? Having the Crown Price be ill at the sight of QianQian seems weird given the other timeline supposedly never happened and therefore his wish they never met has holes in it. I would have preferred the time spent finishing off some story arcs. eg. Princess Royal.

All these irritants are minor, but when added all together were enough to reduce the enjoyment level a bit. Instead of “OMG it was the best thing ever”, which I felt in the first part, it became “Yeah, it was good”.

No I loved the show beginning to end.

Now I can say it because I wrote a long spiel about it in the world MDL feed. My "comment review" was down voted all the way to page 15 or 16. It has 100 views but most are down votes. Like WTF? Are ppl not allowed to express different opinions but just say everything is great and perfect, nothing wrong with the drama or better yet; "it's a masterpiec!" Dear lord that word with ppl like this has totally lost its heft; Shakespeare, Band of Brothers, that kind of stuff are masterpieces. Anyways, I've aired out my grievances in several places. Those of you who haven't read my review on pg 15 or 16......feel free to and give some love so we can fight back against the rose colored glassses crowd! Thanks for reading 😇.

 AmelieLucan:

What is the world MDL feed?

The reason I started this discussion was because someone said they had criticisms but wouldn't post them on the drama page because anyone who did was called a hater. I've seen that before, but this drama really seems to have brought out all the rabid fans who can't take any but the most glowing comments. The irony is that the majority of comments about this drama seem to be about how beautiful Zhang Ling He is. Comments about the drama itself rarely mentioned his acting abilitites. 

I will just say that I found this comment page quite... different than say one for Legend of the Magnate or Swords into Plowshares and had no desire to engage. Thanks for creating this thread.

They neutered Xie Zheng in the drama, and while I kinda get why, I still wished they had kept him more in line with his character in the novel. Because Xie Zheng in the novel is a force to be reckoned with. He is extremely cunning, highly educated, menacing, ruthless, and has such aura. Everyone was wary or afraid of him. People cower and avert their gaze when he walks into a room. Even the emperor trembles in his presence. That scene in the drama where XZ cuts off the ear of that eunuch? That arrogance and the oppressive aura that he's exuding there.... that is how Xie Zheng is all the time in the novel. That's him when wifey isn't around. He's also sharp-tongued and sassy af. He can cut people down with his words just as ruthlessly as he does with his sword. I wish we could have gotten more of that.

Because he's so scary, you would never see anyone giving him lip like in the drama. When I saw CY's pig butcher squad getting in his face in the drama, I was so shocked. Like, wtf are you idiots doing, this is the Marquis of Wu'an. Do you have a death wish? But drama Xie Zheng just let them say whatever they want to his face, and just felt so wrong to me as a book reader.

As someone who read the novel and was looking forward to the adaptation I did feel that the writers defanged Xie Zheng rather drastically and many things I was looking forward to were not in the drama - I was particularly looking forward to their separation arc when Xie Zheng thought her father was responsible for his father's death and Xie Zheng's struggle with it and that was glossed over completely.  And we were robbed of the epic final battle. Oh well.