Fated Hearts

I hadn’t planned to start watching this yet.. Really, I hadn’t.. But somehow, I fell straight into its trap... I thought I would just take a quick peek at the first ep and before I knew it, it was six in the morning five episodes down and no way to stop.. It’s that good, no wonder the ratings are so high..

Whenever I watch an enemies to lovers kind of story, I never get tired of that slow shift when they slowly grow into each other.. They begin to learn things about one another.. Their deepest secrets, the softest parts that were never spoken about, the little facts and even their weaknesses.. The enemies to lovers trope here is done exceptionally well.. It’s neither rushed nor slow.. I would say it’s perfectly executed.. After what happened in the first two episodes, I was curious to see how they would ever go from enemies to lovers.. Seriously, they hated each other so much and he really did torture her pretty badly..

FYX and FSG’s love feels incredibly strong and almost beyond ordinary, something that truly left me amazed.. There are so many small, subtle moments that quietly scream how deeply they love each other.. Their love is the anchor that holds the story together through all the tumbles it takes.. Fu Yi Xiao’s emotional and moral journey, from someone bound by loyalty to a woman willing to risk her place, her safety and even her heart for the truth and for her supposed enemy is deeply compelling.. Her transformation mirrors that of our ML Feng Sui Ge, the prince shaped by vengeance and duty who slowly learns that power without compassion is just another kind of cage.. Their love is forged through loss and courage and through the painful realization that sometimes, love itself is the most defiant act of all..

Something that really stood out for me in this drama is the couple and their relationship.. I know I am writing too much about them, but bear with me.. Their relationship isn’t like the cliche ones you see in most dramas.. Their relationship is completely and sensibly balanced.. They respect each other’s strengths and weaknesses.. Both are capable, confident and competent individuals who don’t lose sight of who they are just because they are in love.. This is what I love about the writing, they are intentionally kept as equals.. Neither is portrayed as weak or dependent and she never becomes someone who needs the ML to protect her.. Even the ML understands her strength and intelligence, he lets her take risks when she has to, never forcing her to hide behind him or stop her out of overprotectiveness.. That’s what I hate in most dramas, when they fall in love and suddenly all that ruthlessness or individuality disappears and they just turn into fools in love.. But here it’s not like that at all, and I absolutely loved it..

Visually, this drama is undeniably beautiful.. They have done wonders with the cinematography, framing and color work.. The direction isn’t flamboyant, it’s careful and deliberate as if the story itself is afraid of revealing too much too soon.. I do agree, though, at times, the pacing falters as if the director momentarily loses sight of which emotion to frame, grief or resolve, tenderness or deceit..

The supporting characters were good as well.. I really liked the ML's team.. They were utterly loyal till the end.. But I feel the show spent too much time on the other side characters who didn’t really deserve that focus.. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but personally I didn’t enjoy it.. Nothing about those parts felt worth the time and none of the characters made me want to keep watching.. There was hardly any real character development, maybe with the exception of the Emperor of Jinxia.. But again, that’s just my opinion..

Talking about character development, one character was a complete disaster from start to finish, the Princess of Susha.. She was frustrating to watch, constantly making poor choices and falling for the wrong man.. What she needed was a knock on the head, not sympathy.. In the end, she literally got a sword to her stomach from the very man she loved and sacrificed everything for.. She never had any clear motive and kept walking straight into her own downfall.. Even her revenge felt so shallow, what was she even avenging?? The story tried to frame it as if the SML wronged her, but he was honest from the beginning that he would never love her.. Then she went on to team up with another terrible man in the name of revenge.. The Emperor and the princess were just two broken people making things worse for each other.. He was an awful person, much like the SML.. His last minute redemption does count as character development, but it doesn’t make him a good person nor does it turn their story into some tragic love worth mourning..

The ML at least had one sibling who had some sense and did the right thing, the Second Prince of Susha.. Despite being raised on lies and manipulation, despite having every reason to protect his mother and hold on to power, he still chose what was right.. He stood by his brother when it mattered most.. He has my absolute respect..

All the other characters had fitting endings and every arc was wrapped up really well.. Feng Sui Ge got his revenge on everyone who wronged him and his family, every backstabber met their fate and it was incredibly satisfying to watch.. And through it all, Fu Yi Xiao stood by him, protecting and fighting alongside him, just as she promised she would..

I wanted to mention a few other things..

There was one thing I think they overdid, the face filter.. It was just a bit too much.. They really could have eased up on it.. At some points, CZH looked like he might melt if the sun hit him..

These Chinese historical weddings are just so beautiful.. The attire, the colors, the whole aesthetic, it’s pure bliss to watch..

I have to mention the torture scene, when she tortured him, he seemed to enjoy it a bit too much for it to be called torture.. The man was out there thriving in pain..

There have been quite a few female general characters this year and a lot of talk about who did it best.. But now, we finally have a clear winner.. Hands down, the title goes to Li Qin and her character Fu Yi Xiao.. She was absolutely perfect, fierce, graceful and beautiful.. The way she carried herself was simply sublime..

Overall, this drama was an absolute feast to watch.. I would have rated it a solid 9.5 but all that beautiful buildup led to what felt like a small firework.. Don’t get me wrong, I still liked that firework and thought it was beautiful but deep down, I was hoping for a grand finale of explosions, a huge, epic scale war to end it all.. And also, putting a character who didn’t do a single right thing throughout the entire drama in charge of a country was just plain ridiculous.. She never once showed intelligence, responsibility or even basic morality.. There was no real character development that could justify giving her the responsibility of ruling Susha, that was a huge misstep on Feng Sui Ge’s part.. Chengyang on the other hand, showed far more potential and leadership qualities.. For these two major reasons, I couldn’t bring myself to rate it any higher than a nine.. As much as I wish I could give it a perfect score, these two glaring flaws held it back for me..

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Meeting, Falling in Love, Staying Together, Standing Side by Side, & Never Parting.

Enemies to lovers done the first time the right way. This has become my favorite drama of CZY (though not character as that's forever I believe reserved for LZ), I knew he could do a general but the ruthlessness of his character more out of necessity to survive in his surroundings as the first prince was very much brought home here. I'm proud of him; he exceeded any expectations I had. I knew LQ could handle herself in her role as I have seen her in them before and many of the supporting cast. So this series really for me was following the leads mantra of meeting, falling in love, staying together, standing side by side & never parting.

Pros: CZY's character or FSG was my favorite and not because I follow him but I honestly wasn't sure he could pull off a ruthless general or the Killer God of Susha as it was his first try but now I can say he has--for me at least--joined the ranks of ZLH, WL, and LYN of men who could burn the world to the ground as a general but at the same time do so for the woman he loves. And his FL or FYX could be an equal partner for him because she was a general in the enemy country as well and her skills aren't to be trifled with. When they fought together later on, their tacit understanding was seamless, which was beautiful to see. Their chemistry was red hot even when they hated each other. He fell first but she wasn't too far behind and their sparks for each other really flew with that first kiss when she confessed first. FYX was the type of woman who didn't just wait around, she knew how she felt and knew he felt the same. He had some jealous and funny moments before the official confession that made everyone around them get it but not say anything. It was too funny. Even the audience was like "we know, dude!" LOL!

They started out as enemies from kingdoms constantly at war with each other but her losing her memories from being literally shot off a cliff and barely surviving plus being hunted by assassins. An ancient Doctors Without Borders type of place saved both of their lives as she had shot him with an arrow before all that happened to her. It took a lot of physical fighting especially lashing and biting for them to call a truce which thankfully happened early on. Anymore biting each other and I would have called this a vampire flick lol! She lost her memories after being betrayed by her then supposed lover (XJS or Nutsack as I called him because he played an equally obsessed with FL SML in another series) another prince of that kingdom who was in cahoots with some masked man from his kingdom who was for some reason allowed to give them orders. Funnily enough who the masked man turned out to be was spoiled by the show, when they released a poster of the characters one of which was holding the mask and otherwise easy to guess. But the dude couldn't fight himself to save his life and if he went against nutsack, would have gotten his ass demolished.

Betrayal was the name game here first for FYX with her amnesia that cleared pretty quickly and sworn brothers as one betrayed everything and her when he tried to kill her especially when the main reason for it arrived as a marriage alliance so it sped things up for her and a miracle doctor treating the emperor helped her with a very risky surgery. But another thing I liked was that all the negative stuff like amnesia or misunderstandings between our leads was cleared up pretty quickly. Even FSG's own amnesia after he was betrayed by his best friend MRY aka mask man and his father who professed his loyalty to the emperor yet killed innocent people brutally (still waiting for someone to avenge Eunach Ma or say something about it), was essentially ready to throw all of that away to keep his treasonous son alive; planned and nearly executed FSG; it was brutal and violent even burying him alive, his amnesia after they brought him to the Storm Alliance, saving, blindness, and amnesia maybe took 2.5 episodes. It was dealt with accordingly.

The amount of harm and betrayal FSG went through just the series let alone was staggering. This man never did anything to anyone and just wanted his kingdom and the people to prosper but the gunning for the throne and back games just made it nearly impossible. Just about everyone was corrupted included the emperor or his father. For the most, he was a good emperor but as a father, he knew what happened to his mother, was there, covered it it up, and kept the murderer around to hone FSG as a ruthless leader; when that came out, and how everyone who didn't submit should be killed even ordering FSG to kill FYX who read him to rights, was disgusting and I'm glad both told him essentially to go fuck himself. He was a horrible father to FSG and didn't deserve an amazing son like him. Towards the end even FYX asked how a kind man like him could exist in a world where he's faced so much betrayal even from people who were supposed to love and protect him. But I and many others believe he received all of his mother's genes, after all it was she who established the Storm Alliance.

At first I thought the Storm Alliance was nonsensical and should be placed in the cons but than I read what another viewer in the comments wrote and I had to agree, their time with the storm alliance was a time for FSG to obviously recover but also understand the real meaning of the word family. Also there was a decades old misunderstanding thinking his father ordered the raid on Storm Alliance so many of its members wanted revenge on FSG even when they didn't really know who the real culprit was (it was the PM and his private troops; but these folks already hated the emperor for what happened to FSG's mom so just blindly point and shoot; they were stupid but at least when they turned against each other for the strict rules, FSG and FYX brokered the peace and he promised to find out the truth, which he did). His was broken thanks to the murder of his mother by the PM and the cover up by his father just to make him ruthless enough to take the throne. No one in his family was actually "normal" save for his younger half brother who never wanted the throne either but who's mother and grandfather--the same PM--were trying to do everything in their power to him on including killing both the emperor and FSG to do. He also had a younger sister but that's a mess for another paragraph. It was FYX, his brother guards, the Q something battalion that got slaughtered while trying to keep the chasing goons away from the carriage carrying the barely clinging to life FSG after being dug up from his grave, and the entire Feng battalion, some who were killed for not supporting MRY the loser who couldn't fight but the rest of the battalion submitted though under pretense until their general returned. As FSG said himself, FYX was the most important to him along with his brothers in the Feng battalion because though not blood, they were his family. FSG spent most of the show trying to find out the truth behind his mother's death while at the same time warding off attacks of the PM, the Empress, and MRY's faction. So now having FYX and before they fell in love, he was also helping her uncover her memory and then she helped him with his.

There were so many really great nuances in this series the most recent was when FSG regained his and how that click happened. The director showed the imagery in his brain and his face from moment to moment and it was great. Same as when FYX remembered it was nutsack who shot her off the cliff in the first place. It was a pendant he wore when he first arrived for the marriage alliance and randomly met in the street, after a shooting match, she saw the pendant and remembered and signaled to FSG to help her even though they weren't together yet. They already had that seamless tacit understanding even back then.

I just wanted to say about the ending, though they more less closed out the majority of the characters well, I'm actually happy with the ending. FSG never wanted to become emperor regardless just like his brother who went into seclusion after finding out about all of his mother's crimes. He was Regent as he left his sister to govern but put her on probation for 3 years and in those 3 years if she did well, he'd crown her as empress otherwise he'd name a worthy successor. Plus he brokered a 10 year deal with FYX's country not to fight but let the common people settle down. No matter what, he was still in charge and his kingdom was the powerful one. But he and FYX went to live quietly somewhere as they showed them just relaxing on a mountain top, chatting and shooting arrows. He promised her the grandest wedding in 3 years while she said if he didn't behave, she would deal with a feather duster so that was a cute ending.

Plus, I love the fact that usually when kids are gunning for the throne, everyone is cut throat and this is the probably first drama I've seen where siblings genuinely love each other, even though the sister was a lost cause eventually after hearing the death of her father and brother, she thought he was dead, and then learning he was alive, understood how much he meant to her. As for younger brother he never did a bad thing to his older brother, no matter how much crap his mother and grandfather filled his head with. So this is the first drama where all the siblings genuinely love each other in that kingdom. Meanwhile, in lunatic kingdom, you have siblings trying to kill each other from a young age for the throne and other things. In ML's kingdom, the ones that were doing all the cut throat fighting to stick their kids on the throne, were the parents because they never asked the kids what they actually wanted and neither brother wanted the throne so it's quite unusual, but I'm glad to see that kind of sibling love for a change.

There were a plethora of villains in this story but PM, serial killer dad, and nutsack were the best. The first two as veteran actors they made their roles believable especially serial killer dad of MRY who was more believable with the mask and the computerized voice than without it. When it was revealed (though most of us already knew) it was him, it was more like ok no big I can be myself and I'm crazy so I'll join the lunatics. It was a good role for him as he's usually in protagonist roles so though not as top as the three he still did a good job, though his father's switch between loyalist to serial who gets pleasure out of the kill was Ted Bundy all over again. And Nutsack, he's an obsessed with FYX lunatic, who had a hard life (being poisoned not helping) that didn't excuse him from all of the evil he did including to the FL. But he expected to win her back like his delusion was the highest of the story up to the moment FSG and FYX killed him together. Never dawned on him that they were done the moment he shot her off the cliff. Also, emperor lunatic who would kill a person if the air wasn't up to his liking but fell in love with XY because she didn't behave like a dog but would talk back to him and be head strong made him all happy and it made me just want to go bathe. The actor himself did phenomenally well considering he too usually plays protagonists so his first lunatic morally grey antagonist was very convincing and he did a great job.

I love fight scenes and we had some pretty awesome ones especially when FSG was involved. The final fight scene between him and Nutsack was awesome. You could tell that Nutsack had great sword skills that actually matched FSG's though still on a lower grade but FSG won that battle alongside FYX because he also had more strength and he threw nut sack around the room and basically wipe the floor with him. I thought that was awesome and FL coming in at that last moment really helped a lot as well. I do really wish also there was a better moment with FSG and serial killer dad when he realized that the emperor never intended to kill him nor his son, but they assumed it and did all those horrible things to FSG and the assistant to the emperor who still wasn't avenged well I guess he was when FYX shot the arrow through serial killer dad, but no one mentioned him. Nobody even knew where his body went. Wish we got to see more of the fight scenes we saw BTS not just in flashbacks. Costumes were gorgeous and FSG's home as well as lunatic kingdom interiors were just beautiful. OSTs ok.

Cons: His sister and the entire lunatic kingdom was just no for me. Her growth in survival after the slap and giving herself to the emperor lunatic but she spent all the time breaking her brother's heart because she fell for nutsack at first sight yrs ago without knowing or caring who he really was and no matter how others tried talking her out of it, she just saw life through rose colored glasses, even threatening to kill herself to her brother to help nutsack escape. She lowered herself to such a place where she was willing to give him a one nightstand which was cheap and nasty. It wasn't until he slapped her for being the real bitch for falsely calling FYX a bitch and saying that she was in love with her brother but still toying with him; than & after a few more incidents where she found out about her father and brother being dead did she finally start to think about revenge and survival. Survival I understand but she was in enemy country thinking she was going to get revenge? Girl, sit down. Getting pregnant by the emperor and then when nutsack started his plan, he essentially stabbed her and no more baby or babies ever; honestly though I felt a bit sad for her, she reaped what she sowed. She did have blood on her hands even if just one person. I'm glad she spilled all of that to her brother. So though we saw her survival growth, I couldn't bring myself to bond with her character.

A plot hole that I found was they never explained how Nutsack and MRY met in the first place and why MRY was allowed to give nut sack and Weiran orders like he was their boss. MRY couldn't fight to save his life so if he went head to head with nut sack with a sword, he would've been dead in under 50 seconds. We also saw what happened to him when FSG fought and killed him just with his hands forget swords. So when exactly did they meet and how was never explained. We got great back stories on a lot of characters, but that important one somehow fell through the cracks. Also wish they would've shown whether MRY harmed that short minister that's an opportunist that though he helped the young brother emperor he also led MRY to the secret hideout of FSG. Though he swore he wouldn't tell, I guess he lived because he told MRY where FSG and company was, but I think younger bro should've realized that something was off and I hope he either retired him (off with his head) or took him from his position because the future would not be so bright with someone like him but then again with the sister governing, he probably doesn't have a very long time left as a minister of anything. She could smell a rat a mile away.

Plus, nutsack kingdom was edited weirdly to just randomly show up while we were getting the main story. Sometimes the timing was just off. And the one OST "Don't Cry" was played like the thing just wanted us to vomit it. At the end it played and was cut suddenly as danger BGM had to come. Did the sound editor not know that sometimes silence or just soft instrumental music was enough? Less is more in this case really! The fake woods were obvious but then I don't how much of a budget this had. Otherwise, I had no other issues.

Would I recommend it? 100%! It's an amazing series that I couldn't even write everything I wanted because of the 10K limit (do they seem to have lifted the limit cap); but this is what you want to see in an enemies to lovers series!

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