Which one is better, this or Perfect Marriage Revenge? Especially romance. I like PMR but have been reading mixed…
depends both have their ups and downs Imo, MMH could've been finished in 12 eps too, but 16 eps made it drag out more As for romance, MMH develops it late since in the beginning the FL is fixated on how to get revenge There's misunderstandings that develop between the couple in MMH but it eventually resolves.
I feel like it is dragging and can't help but watch some things in 2x speed. The revenge for this FL feels like a slow process, hopefully it's satisfying. The FL's character went through all that trauma in the past and she still has a soft spot for soomin in ep 8. She came to her senses after being stabbed by her again. Then starts crying after witnessing them cheat again. I was hoping she'd have a stronger resolve & mindset after knowing what she's been through.
I don't mind watching dramas similar to each other. I watched this and felt some similarities with Perfect Marriage Revenge. But I feel like the FL's character there was better written than the FL character here. In PMR, the FL also relies on the ML just like the FL here, but in there she stopped her marriage and took the man her sister wanted. She also did her best to get back at her step mom. Over here, it's like a long process of wanting her friend to be with her ex husband. She's like waiting for him to break up with her and marry her friend and it drags out. Then they add Yura which drags out more. They could've just focused on developing other characters story like eunho & huiyeon or ms yang & mr lee.
30 episodes in and this FL character has no development. The episodes in the start showing them as kids was fine,…
Honestly, I pitied the 2nd ML Ji Chong and felt bad for Yao Ji too. FL kinda becomes like a damsel in distress and then she's so naive which gets irritating when she easily trusts people. The only time they make her strong is last ep with a magical pill that makes her strong... Another issue of this drama is when they cut things out and things don't make sense - seems like yao ji had attachment to prince bo for long time then why the assassination attempt for a position? makes no sense. ever since she was let out by the king, she didn't try to assassinate him, she always tried to do whatever she thought was best for him cause she likes him - never know the proper story how the king killed off the first prince, did he make his lieutenant betray him on purpose or what?? - that episode where yao ji went to a snowy mountain to save bo like what did she do??? and what adoptive father & tribe... why give us all these details if we dont get a proper backstory
Im also not a fan of "let's be cruel to the other person we love just to protect them and silently suffer" trope. Or the fl having no self respect at times... the difference is if he wanted to push her away it didn't have to be with those crazy methods, like taking off her clothes or humiliating her in public. Which is why I sincerely HOPED she would be with ji chong who was at least respectful in that manner and said he would only touch her when ready. But then I knew it was impossible.
I had to skip through the scenes of the main couple in the last eps, I just lost interest in them. I just wanted to see the ending, I had a feeling they both would die which should be sad, but I didn't care much
glad ji chong and bao na can accompany each other.
30 episodes in and this FL character has no development. The episodes in the start showing them as kids was fine, but now she is still a kid living in her fantasy world. The naivety they depict is suitable for kids, but you'd think someone who's older would know somewhat about the world. She was too spoiled maybe, but after that first major incident in her life she should've grown up a little....
a lot of things were predictable. That ending was to be expected tbh, although it's sad I think it's the best…
Their daughter would be raised by SY and XJ anyways and it's up to them whether or not to tell her who her real parents were. There was no alternative they gave us to make it a happy ending. The only way to revive Linchuan was the FL's sacrifice. Although some of the rules were confusing. The main threat to Linchuan was FY and he's gone. Most likely, FQ would be emperor again & then XJ and his father are in Shuoyun. They wouldn't harm Linchuan. The ML did hurry in delegating tasks to Chun and his bodyguard. That's why it was expected for him to commit suicide. If his daughter knew that he's the father and chose to live with him, then perhaps he would've lived. But he's alone without his wife so it makes sense. Not the best decision, but understandable.
a lot of things were predictable. That ending was to be expected tbh, although it's sad I think it's the best way to end it. Ngl, almost teared up even though I knew it would be a sad ending
I'm surprised the doctors were prescribing him propofol instead of having him try trazodone or other benzos but then they would've jailed him for possession of benzos and all these things become addicting at one point.
Surprising that they didn't meet the Cop Baek Dong jin in the present 2021 some things they just didn't explain properly. Why does HJ& YY's son make that time machine and what "choices" was he referring to in the end? How did HJ survive the blunt force trauma on his head & who did it to him? Was it really HJ's father YW? Cause there was a scene of him telling chairman yoon about him being upset that his son was dead and how the grandfather didn't treat his son right. Also YW claimed that he wanted a kid of his own to treat him better than how he was treated as a child...But then HJ said his dad was sweet but not as affectionate since he lived apart... Also what made YW start killing again... He killed those people in the village, then in all those years that he visited HJ in SK, he didn't kill people but then suddenly kills the FL's mom and his son the year after that??? It just makes no sense. If the father was abroad in the US, wouldn't he have killed people there too cause of his mom abandonment issues???
It was going well at the start then near the end it starts dragging again. The politics just make it more boring in the end. They could've just cut off a few things and wrapped up the drama in 30 episodes. LCF was kept alive for too long. This guy is slightly smarter than LN's two scheming brothers, but the main characters keep forgetting about his existence. After realizing he betrayed them, they don't even put the effort of having someone find him and get rid of him. Someone who was sick magically heals with another country's magical drug. It's also like how the ML can be pierced by an arrow and be stabbed, but manage to survive. Unrealistic things just to drag the plot. And just more unnecessary misunderstandings between the main couple. Cui Lin forcing LN to be CP & LN expressed his hesitation in front of his friends but not CL. Then when he finally becomes CP like CL wanted, she doesn't expect her family's army to disband... like there's no communication between the two! Also how naive they show LN to be. He doesn't expect his brothers to be that bad to kill their wife or each other...but CL is able to see that
It feels like a waste. It started off nicely, but then it turned into a mess. Typical bullying story, HS kids using drugs and having sex wildly, teen pregnancy, rich kids, slap on the wrist for bullies. I read someone's review about simps for JY which explains the two ML well. KH having a soft spot for her when she was a BYSTANDER. Yes, I agree with him he shouldn't have used that intimate video, but still he should've held her accountable too. That post credits scene isn't worthy of a S2. It seems like they also blurred JY's mom's face too. We never know the story behind JY's mom & dad or what RA meant about how his mom tossed out his dad. It's not significant to the story but they mentioned it and seems to deal with how they were brought up. RA & JY's relationship is weird. They had cute moments but then you see RA's jealousy is too much and he's manipulative in a way. But JY has no issues with it. She still likes him & her world revolves around him & she's desperate to protect him, even using KH, knowing he has a soft spot for her.
The typical case where a FL gets reduced to nothing by having her make questionable decisions & end up in situations…
So much time was wasted on the cases and there were some cases unrelated to Mu Yan too. Also, from the beginning when we saw how the CP and the King were talking, it was very clear CP WY was not a good guy because of their bias towards Qi people. The way the CP acted when HZ was in jail too & he seemed to know too much about Qi people. Like how Inspection Bureau was unable to detain HZ in prison in beginning & he managed to escape, but in Imperial prison he could not. They knew how to counter Qi people. It took the characters THAT LONG to suspect CP WY. Except for CL- she did have doubts in the beginning regarding him. I was disappointed tbh because I was hoping my suspicions about CP from the start were wrong but nope, it was too predictable. No plot twists except for MY being CP. But that became obvious near the end. If CP is mastermind how did he access MY Qi's stone & give it to SJE, I only thought it had to be because he's MY himself. Cause MY can't be held prisoner so easily since he can fight better. Also the CP was aware of things as if he had extra senses...it only made sense. Like how he knew people were hiding instead of his bodyguard??
Also it seemed like they would constantly forget in between cases to search for Mu Yan. The whole plot of SJE's uncle Hu's death was so unnecessary and to drag that out just to have the same plot device of creating a major misunderstanding of the main couple. They barely explained about Qi people till the end. Like oh the Qiyuan stone can regrow & so on. But still lacking details. They didn't explain where Mu Yan ran off to, they just let him be. He's still alive with half of his stone. Also the drastic change in MY's character. Did he really not care about his friends? He didn't even do anything for Ke Yuncha either when he should've known that he was in that city..
Since when has HZ been training to swim? That was like the most rushed explanation ever. He suddenly conquered his fear of swimming! How did he get that fear in the first place? Also how is CL unable to open a door sealed shut by HZ? She's almost as strong as him. How does the King agree to Qian-Qi agreement?? He was so biased about it before and he suddenly agreed? WJ becoming CP doesn't really change anything cause the King never favored him...
Never explained SJE's illness. It's forever an unknown mysterious illness. Why was the ember/flame able to sustain her life somewhat. Doesn't explain why the flame makes her cold though?? If it's a flame shouldn't it make her warmer. It only warms her up if HZ touches her because the flame is related to his tribe?? We didn't even see the ember but somehow her father magically inserted it & her mom magically removed it too. How can HZ stone heal her? She took doses of his stone before but it only helped for a little while. Now when she gets the whole thing she recovers, no side effects..
The typical case where a FL gets reduced to nothing by having her make questionable decisions & end up in situations where she's a damsel in distress so she needs the strong ML to protect her (this is excluding how she needs the ML to warm her up due to her illness). I don't know if that's her real voice, but it feels like a voice I've heard often in other C-dramas...but that whiny voice doesn't help. Well, after finishing this, the second half felt draggy. Chi Lan was the best female character written in here. Also the romance between the CP WY & CL would've been better to watch. Sadly, it wasn't developed. The writer left so many plotholes. They wasted so much time in the beginning to give a sloppy ending and rushed explanations.
I'm usually not a huge fan of melodramas. If I end up watching these genres, then it takes me days to finish or I drop it. This drama is one of those rare melos that I end up binging. Some characters I could relate to and felt sad for. I was rooting for them till the end. So glad it ended that way.
While this drama had flaws in writing and left me with unanswered questions, I liked it overall. The FL excessively…
What I found strange was in the episode where GJS mentions LZS's name to his parents and how he was from the Luo family in Jingling, his father had this expression on his face as if he had an idea about who LZS is. I thought he'd urge his family to move earlier because he suspected something, but nope. It wasn't until they receive news that their backers in court are losing power that they considered moving. GLH also acted strangely when he heard that LYR went to Jingling to visit her maternal grandparents house. It only made me speculate that perhaps GLH is LZS's father, but he didn't appear to be that type of person. Although the old merchant who saved LYR & GJS stated he recognized the jade to belong to GJS's father next to a burnt body, I still assumed perhaps GLH is alive because there were mysteries about him.
When the main couple tries to flee to Youzhou by foot, what bothered me was they knew they were entering a state (Qingzhou?) suffering from famine. Although they disguised themselves as homeless people, did they not know carrying a bag of food openly will cause them issues?? Couldn't LYR just hide it under clothes and make it look like she was pregnant or something idk. When they rested in that forest, it was raining. Rainwater may not be the best, but it's still water, so I thought they would've refilled their bottle with that before entering the desert (also why 1 bottle?). "Luckily" they made it through the desert with GJS feeding her blood.
As for Youzhou arc, I'm glad they didn't spend much time on bandits. What was stupid though was GJS snooping into Zhao's storage without a mask in his job uniform making himself easily identifiable, leading to LYR's kidnapping...They could've introduced SM's character in another way instead of reducing the main lead's intelligence & having them make mistakes they usually wouldn't. YY's character development starting after she killed WSQ, Concubine Yue finally being punished, YSA's development, GJS&LYR drinking their marriage wine above the tower - were some of the best parts in this section.
For the last arc, FY going mad with his inferiority complex was expected. I already had a bad feeling when he made things worse for GJS by punishing his colleagues. It was only a few weeks after FX took the throne & FY was already feeling jealous of GJS & forgot what GJS did for him& how he considered him a brother. What bothers me how FX let someone like LZS be his son's tutor. They gave a silly explanation how LZS had to be given a position cause he showed loyalty to the new kingdom. They could've given him some other position & kept a watch on him. They all knew LZS was manipulative, it wasn't that hard for him to control FY. Another thing was I understand the group wasn't as close to FY & treated him as a kid, but if they found out XF worked for LZS, couldn't they have warned him in advance before he became the tutor? This is the guy who tried trapping you with gambling & killed so many families. If LZS becoming the tutor was inevitable, why did they (or at least his father whom he would trust) not warn or advise FY beforehand? The addition of Empress Dowager & Princess YS was another plot that felt unnecessary. FX could've just married her off earlier. They dragged YS going after GJS- a married man for too long. One thing I never understood was how they kept using LYR's status as a commoner to make her feel threatened. And I wondered since when she was a commoner. Didn't they mention her maternal family was a noble family? The Su family? Although they died, it doesn't make them lose their nobility? I kinda liked GJS's uncle. I had a feeling once he was shown, that he must be LZS's real father. The relationship between him & GJS was entertaining to watch. It seems like GJS takes after his uncle. Though the uncle is more experienced. When the uncle revealed he loved LZS's mother it was already a given that he was the father. The revelation near the last episode wasn't shocking. But what confuses me is how did LZS mistake GLH as his father? Why did GLH act that way when he heard of LZS's name & Luo family? How did the sister JR (GJS's mom) not know of this beforehand and her husband seems to have known something?? But this was about HER brother. That wasn't explained. They tried to come up with some pity story for LZS but it failed. I couldn't care about it since he killed so many people. Him also dying by his father was I guess the best since he started all this chaos cause of his father abandonment issues. Also the Zhou family being wiped out also felt unnecessary. If QWZ had some soldiers with her to fight why didn't she order one of them to evacuate the rest or do it herself? Also how can soldiers act without a written edict? I will say though I was rooting for General ZGL to kill FY. He was so real "kill FX's stupid son" FY definitely deserved to suffer. If not dead, he should live as a commoner not a rich idle man. Being manipulated does not wash away the crimes he committed. He had a choice. He chose the wrong one multiple times. Initially, I wasn't fond of General ZGL's character but I eventually liked him. He is the type of friend you need. Someone who is real & won't sugarcoat things. Unfortunately, FX was too blind with his love for his son. If FY was ZGL's son, he would be set straight. It made sense why he was so harsh on ZY in the end though I still didn't like how he treated ZY initially.
It was nice to show GJS reunite with his friend CX near the end. But there are some characters the writers forgot about. LYR's step siblings who her mother decided to care for. One was married off & we knew she wouldn't be shown again. But the other 2 were forgotten. Also I was expecting to see LYR reunite with the previous members of the Gu business when she decided to be Miss Shiyu or open rouge shops..I'm hoping they were the ones who were running her business, although they never showed them after they helped her with military provisions.
The ending was touching, seeing how GJS's son is a spitting image of him who talks the same way he did with his father. It's sad GJS's father isn't alive to see how his grandson talks the same way as GJS did. I thought they'd at least build a cenotaph for him cause they didn't do it because GJS's mother felt he would still come to her.
While this drama had flaws in writing and left me with unanswered questions, I liked it overall. The FL excessively crying in certain episodes was sometimes annoying, but bearable. Her other traits made up for it. As for the ML, it was one of the best character development. I believe there were 3 arcs - Yangzhou, Youzhou, & Eastern Capital My favorite was them being in Yangzhou. Near the end of the Yangzhou arc is when it starts becoming more political and by the last arc it is heavy in politics. One of the nice parts of this drama is seeing their struggles in this journey & how the couple overcome obstacles together.
Overall, it's okay. While there were similarities to other dramas (like Goblin), I didn't mind it cause the FL's character is done in a much better way here. However, this drama started to drag around ep 11 for me. The writers also wanted to add every cliche possible. I feel like this could've ended well within 12-14 episodes. Once it became obvious NSM was the mastermind, it felt like it took ages just for the characters to find out themselves. The one thing I'm glad about is no last 5 minute reunion. JGW reappeared in the beginning of the last ep and everything else for the most part was tied up nicely. But, there was no explanation about how NSM survived the jump from that tall building.
Imo, MMH could've been finished in 12 eps too, but 16 eps made it drag out more
As for romance, MMH develops it late since in the beginning the FL is fixated on how to get revenge
There's misunderstandings that develop between the couple in MMH but it eventually resolves.
I was hoping she'd have a stronger resolve & mindset after knowing what she's been through.
I don't mind watching dramas similar to each other. I watched this and felt some similarities with Perfect Marriage Revenge. But I feel like the FL's character there was better written than the FL character here. In PMR, the FL also relies on the ML just like the FL here, but in there she stopped her marriage and took the man her sister wanted. She also did her best to get back at her step mom. Over here, it's like a long process of wanting her friend to be with her ex husband. She's like waiting for him to break up with her and marry her friend and it drags out.
Then they add Yura which drags out more. They could've just focused on developing other characters story like eunho & huiyeon or ms yang & mr lee.
FL kinda becomes like a damsel in distress and then she's so naive which gets irritating when she easily trusts people. The only time they make her strong is last ep with a magical pill that makes her strong...
Another issue of this drama is when they cut things out and things don't make sense
- seems like yao ji had attachment to prince bo for long time then why the assassination attempt for a position? makes no sense. ever since she was let out by the king, she didn't try to assassinate him, she always tried to do whatever she thought was best for him cause she likes him
- never know the proper story how the king killed off the first prince, did he make his lieutenant betray him on purpose or what??
- that episode where yao ji went to a snowy mountain to save bo like what did she do??? and what adoptive father & tribe... why give us all these details if we dont get a proper backstory
Im also not a fan of "let's be cruel to the other person we love just to protect them and silently suffer" trope. Or the fl having no self respect at times... the difference is if he wanted to push her away it didn't have to be with those crazy methods, like taking off her clothes or humiliating her in public. Which is why I sincerely HOPED she would be with ji chong who was at least respectful in that manner and said he would only touch her when ready. But then I knew it was impossible.
I had to skip through the scenes of the main couple in the last eps, I just lost interest in them. I just wanted to see the ending, I had a feeling they both would die which should be sad, but I didn't care much
glad ji chong and bao na can accompany each other.
some things they just didn't explain properly.
Why does HJ& YY's son make that time machine and what "choices" was he referring to in the end?
How did HJ survive the blunt force trauma on his head & who did it to him? Was it really HJ's father YW?
Cause there was a scene of him telling chairman yoon about him being upset that his son was dead and how the grandfather didn't treat his son right. Also YW claimed that he wanted a kid of his own to treat him better than how he was treated as a child...But then HJ said his dad was sweet but not as affectionate since he lived apart...
Also what made YW start killing again... He killed those people in the village, then in all those years that he visited HJ in SK, he didn't kill people but then suddenly kills the FL's mom and his son the year after that??? It just makes no sense. If the father was abroad in the US, wouldn't he have killed people there too cause of his mom abandonment issues???
LCF was kept alive for too long. This guy is slightly smarter than LN's two scheming brothers, but the main characters keep forgetting about his existence. After realizing he betrayed them, they don't even put the effort of having someone find him and get rid of him. Someone who was sick magically heals with another country's magical drug. It's also like how the ML can be pierced by an arrow and be stabbed, but manage to survive. Unrealistic things just to drag the plot. And just more unnecessary misunderstandings between the main couple. Cui Lin forcing LN to be CP & LN expressed his hesitation in front of his friends but not CL. Then when he finally becomes CP like CL wanted, she doesn't expect her family's army to disband... like there's no communication between the two!
Also how naive they show LN to be. He doesn't expect his brothers to be that bad to kill their wife or each other...but CL is able to see that
Also, from the beginning when we saw how the CP and the King were talking, it was very clear CP WY was not a good guy because of their bias towards Qi people. The way the CP acted when HZ was in jail too & he seemed to know too much about Qi people. Like how Inspection Bureau was unable to detain HZ in prison in beginning & he managed to escape, but in Imperial prison he could not. They knew how to counter Qi people.
It took the characters THAT LONG to suspect CP WY. Except for CL- she did have doubts in the beginning regarding him. I was disappointed tbh because I was hoping my suspicions about CP from the start were wrong but nope, it was too predictable. No plot twists except for MY being CP. But that became obvious near the end. If CP is mastermind how did he access MY Qi's stone & give it to SJE, I only thought it had to be because he's MY himself. Cause MY can't be held prisoner so easily since he can fight better. Also the CP was aware of things as if he had extra senses...it only made sense. Like how he knew people were hiding instead of his bodyguard??
Also it seemed like they would constantly forget in between cases to search for Mu Yan. The whole plot of SJE's uncle Hu's death was so unnecessary and to drag that out just to have the same plot device of creating a major misunderstanding of the main couple. They barely explained about Qi people till the end. Like oh the Qiyuan stone can regrow & so on. But still lacking details.
They didn't explain where Mu Yan ran off to, they just let him be. He's still alive with half of his stone. Also the drastic change in MY's character. Did he really not care about his friends? He didn't even do anything for Ke Yuncha either when he should've known that he was in that city..
Since when has HZ been training to swim? That was like the most rushed explanation ever. He suddenly conquered his fear of swimming! How did he get that fear in the first place? Also how is CL unable to open a door sealed shut by HZ? She's almost as strong as him. How does the King agree to Qian-Qi agreement?? He was so biased about it before and he suddenly agreed? WJ becoming CP doesn't really change anything cause the King never favored him...
Never explained SJE's illness. It's forever an unknown mysterious illness. Why was the ember/flame able to sustain her life somewhat. Doesn't explain why the flame makes her cold though?? If it's a flame shouldn't it make her warmer. It only warms her up if HZ touches her because the flame is related to his tribe?? We didn't even see the ember but somehow her father magically inserted it & her mom magically removed it too. How can HZ stone heal her? She took doses of his stone before but it only helped for a little while. Now when she gets the whole thing she recovers, no side effects..
Well, after finishing this, the second half felt draggy. Chi Lan was the best female character written in here. Also the romance between the CP WY & CL would've been better to watch. Sadly, it wasn't developed. The writer left so many plotholes. They wasted so much time in the beginning to give a sloppy ending and rushed explanations.
When the main couple tries to flee to Youzhou by foot, what bothered me was they knew they were entering a state (Qingzhou?) suffering from famine. Although they disguised themselves as homeless people, did they not know carrying a bag of food openly will cause them issues?? Couldn't LYR just hide it under clothes and make it look like she was pregnant or something idk. When they rested in that forest, it was raining. Rainwater may not be the best, but it's still water, so I thought they would've refilled their bottle with that before entering the desert (also why 1 bottle?). "Luckily" they made it through the desert with GJS feeding her blood.
As for Youzhou arc, I'm glad they didn't spend much time on bandits. What was stupid though was GJS snooping into Zhao's storage without a mask in his job uniform making himself easily identifiable, leading to LYR's kidnapping...They could've introduced SM's character in another way instead of reducing the main lead's intelligence & having them make mistakes they usually wouldn't.
YY's character development starting after she killed WSQ, Concubine Yue finally being punished, YSA's development, GJS&LYR drinking their marriage wine above the tower - were some of the best parts in this section.
For the last arc, FY going mad with his inferiority complex was expected. I already had a bad feeling when he made things worse for GJS by punishing his colleagues. It was only a few weeks after FX took the throne & FY was already feeling jealous of GJS & forgot what GJS did for him& how he considered him a brother. What bothers me how FX let someone like LZS be his son's tutor. They gave a silly explanation how LZS had to be given a position cause he showed loyalty to the new kingdom. They could've given him some other position & kept a watch on him. They all knew LZS was manipulative, it wasn't that hard for him to control FY. Another thing was I understand the group wasn't as close to FY & treated him as a kid, but if they found out XF worked for LZS, couldn't they have warned him in advance before he became the tutor? This is the guy who tried trapping you with gambling & killed so many families. If LZS becoming the tutor was inevitable, why did they (or at least his father whom he would trust) not warn or advise FY beforehand?
The addition of Empress Dowager & Princess YS was another plot that felt unnecessary. FX could've just married her off earlier. They dragged YS going after GJS- a married man for too long. One thing I never understood was how they kept using LYR's status as a commoner to make her feel threatened. And I wondered since when she was a commoner. Didn't they mention her maternal family was a noble family? The Su family? Although they died, it doesn't make them lose their nobility?
I kinda liked GJS's uncle. I had a feeling once he was shown, that he must be LZS's real father. The relationship between him & GJS was entertaining to watch. It seems like GJS takes after his uncle. Though the uncle is more experienced. When the uncle revealed he loved LZS's mother it was already a given that he was the father. The revelation near the last episode wasn't shocking. But what confuses me is how did LZS mistake GLH as his father? Why did GLH act that way when he heard of LZS's name & Luo family? How did the sister JR (GJS's mom) not know of this beforehand and her husband seems to have known something?? But this was about HER brother. That wasn't explained. They tried to come up with some pity story for LZS but it failed. I couldn't care about it since he killed so many people. Him also dying by his father was I guess the best since he started all this chaos cause of his father abandonment issues.
Also the Zhou family being wiped out also felt unnecessary. If QWZ had some soldiers with her to fight why didn't she order one of them to evacuate the rest or do it herself? Also how can soldiers act without a written edict? I will say though I was rooting for General ZGL to kill FY. He was so real "kill FX's stupid son" FY definitely deserved to suffer. If not dead, he should live as a commoner not a rich idle man. Being manipulated does not wash away the crimes he committed. He had a choice. He chose the wrong one multiple times.
Initially, I wasn't fond of General ZGL's character but I eventually liked him. He is the type of friend you need. Someone who is real & won't sugarcoat things. Unfortunately, FX was too blind with his love for his son. If FY was ZGL's son, he would be set straight. It made sense why he was so harsh on ZY in the end though I still didn't like how he treated ZY initially.
It was nice to show GJS reunite with his friend CX near the end. But there are some characters the writers forgot about. LYR's step siblings who her mother decided to care for. One was married off & we knew she wouldn't be shown again. But the other 2 were forgotten. Also I was expecting to see LYR reunite with the previous members of the Gu business when she decided to be Miss Shiyu or open rouge shops..I'm hoping they were the ones who were running her business, although they never showed them after they helped her with military provisions.
The ending was touching, seeing how GJS's son is a spitting image of him who talks the same way he did with his father. It's sad GJS's father isn't alive to see how his grandson talks the same way as GJS did. I thought they'd at least build a cenotaph for him cause they didn't do it because GJS's mother felt he would still come to her.
I believe there were 3 arcs - Yangzhou, Youzhou, & Eastern Capital
My favorite was them being in Yangzhou. Near the end of the Yangzhou arc is when it starts becoming more political and by the last arc it is heavy in politics. One of the nice parts of this drama is seeing their struggles in this journey & how the couple overcome obstacles together.