For better or worse, in the history (?) of C-Dramas, there was no situation when the FL is more powerful/more…
Yes, she was, but her husband wasn't strong at all. That's the conundrum.
The moment the husband or the love interest is a strong/powerful fighter on his own (as part of "Power Couple"), he will always be presented as the stronger one, typically leading to him saving the FL over and over again, making her look weaker and weaker in the end.
This show was far from my favourites (it had some great moments, though), but watching a farce known as "The Romance of Female General", it made me appreciate how good Ma Si Chun was in portraying the female general in "Oh My General".
I like Smart Female Leads (He Yan should be one of them), and I understand the writers having to complicate things in the storyline.
However, as we hear He Yan's thoughts when she is thinking over things and making plans, I would really expect her to consider the pros and cons of revealing her identity to the ML by herself, probably around the moment when she started to gain his trust.
I would understand if she persuaded herself not to do it, but for a capable Female General, I'm bothered that she didn't even consider a move like that. I guess, Lu Songli spoiled me too much with her decision-making skills.
However, I'm bothered by a million things in this Drama, so it's just one of them.
After a few months of watching Micro Dramas, it remains very high on my Top List.
On many levels, it's done better than Big Dramas featuring Strong Female Leads, as unlike "Journey to Love" and many other shows having FLs of this type, the FL here is clearly the best fighter in the Drama (on top of being very smart and composed), and she pretty much does everything by herself, despite the ML being very powerful too.
The whole show is well written, logical and well produced for a Micro Dramas standards.
I'm quite late, but I finished it last night, after spending the last few months watching mostly Micro Dramas (and enjoying them a lot), which was temporarily stopped due to going on "Blossom" bender.
Overall, a very good show, a 7.5/10 for me (on a scale, where nothing is 10/10, Nirvana on Fire is 9/10 and shows like The Double or Journey to Love are 5 or 6/10, for different reasons). I guess, I'm more Douban than MDL :)
However, after Episode 1, I expected even better, as it was possibly the best C-Drama opening episode I've ever watched.
I like watching Dramas with all-around capable FLs, and here Dou Zhao is, one of the best you can find in the Big Productions.
However, yet again, this time after Episode 5, I was expecting her to be even smarter/stronger/more capable. She is great, but she is not Lu Songli. I guess, no one is.
Typically, I hate the MLs (too young, too wooden, etc...) and want to get them killed every 5 minutes (hello "The Double"), but Song Mo here was actually fantastic, clearly my TOP 5 of MLs ever (where #1 is the ML from "The story of Minglan" and the ML from "The Double" is close to the bottom).
Who is stronger and more accomplished, General Feihong or General Fengyun?
For better or worse, in the history (?) of C-Dramas, there was no situation when the FL is more powerful/more accomplished than ML if both are presented as strong fighters. "The Romance of Female General" of course, takes the same, safe approach.
Female Leads in "Journey to Love", "Princess Agents", "Who Rules the World", and many others were strong, but based on the number of times saved by the MLs and vice versa, injuries happening to them, ease of killing opponents and overall accomplishments, they were always weaker than Male Leads (sometimes not much, but still it was noticeable).
The moment someone presents me a Drama with a different dynamic, I would love to watch it . So far, it's only possible to watch it in Micro Dramas, and even there, it's extremely rare.
"The Queen of the Battlefield" is IMO the best example of how it could be done properly. When it the Big Dramas, the MLs are constantly saving supposedly Strong Female Lead from falling/getting defeated/injured/everything imaginable, just to progress Romance, the Male Lead in the "Queen of the Battlefield" made sure she would be using wooden stick instead of a Spear, just to make sure she won't kill the opponent she hates in public.
The moment the husband or the love interest is a strong/powerful fighter on his own (as part of "Power Couple"), he will always be presented as the stronger one, typically leading to him saving the FL over and over again, making her look weaker and weaker in the end.
Of course, romance hates logic too :).
However, as we hear He Yan's thoughts when she is thinking over things and making plans, I would really expect her to consider the pros and cons of revealing her identity to the ML by herself, probably around the moment when she started to gain his trust.
I would understand if she persuaded herself not to do it, but for a capable Female General, I'm bothered that she didn't even consider a move like that.
I guess, Lu Songli spoiled me too much with her decision-making skills.
However, I'm bothered by a million things in this Drama, so it's just one of them.
On many levels, it's done better than Big Dramas featuring Strong Female Leads, as unlike "Journey to Love" and many other shows having FLs of this type, the FL here is clearly the best fighter in the Drama (on top of being very smart and composed), and she pretty much does everything by herself, despite the ML being very powerful too.
The whole show is well written, logical and well produced for a Micro Dramas standards.
Overall, a very good show, a 7.5/10 for me (on a scale, where nothing is 10/10, Nirvana on Fire is 9/10 and shows like The Double or Journey to Love are 5 or 6/10, for different reasons). I guess, I'm more Douban than MDL :)
However, after Episode 1, I expected even better, as it was possibly the best C-Drama opening episode I've ever watched.
I like watching Dramas with all-around capable FLs, and here Dou Zhao is, one of the best you can find in the Big Productions.
However, yet again, this time after Episode 5, I was expecting her to be even smarter/stronger/more capable. She is great, but she is not Lu Songli. I guess, no one is.
Typically, I hate the MLs (too young, too wooden, etc...) and want to get them killed every 5 minutes (hello "The Double"), but Song Mo here was actually fantastic, clearly my TOP 5 of MLs ever (where #1 is the ML from "The story of Minglan" and the ML from "The Double" is close to the bottom).
Female Leads in "Journey to Love", "Princess Agents", "Who Rules the World", and many others were strong, but based on the number of times saved by the MLs and vice versa, injuries happening to them, ease of killing opponents and overall accomplishments, they were always weaker than Male Leads (sometimes not much, but still it was noticeable).
The moment someone presents me a Drama with a different dynamic, I would love to watch it . So far, it's only possible to watch it in Micro Dramas, and even there, it's extremely rare.
"The Queen of the Battlefield" is IMO the best example of how it could be done properly.
When it the Big Dramas, the MLs are constantly saving supposedly Strong Female Lead from falling/getting defeated/injured/everything imaginable, just to progress Romance, the Male Lead in the "Queen of the Battlefield" made sure she would be using wooden stick instead of a Spear, just to make sure she won't kill the opponent she hates in public.