Daytimel

Plain, one-dimensional leads. The male lead being expressionless the whole time. The female lead being a man her entire time having no problems switching back to being a woman... and I thought "Lost You Forever" was bad. Flat villains with no real threat. No angst, no tension. The only character I genuinely liked was Chu Zhao, and even he was ruined just to give the main couple problems. The chemistry between the leads was okay but nothing special. They felt almost like the same person, just with one being shy and the other not. Nothing exciting, no development, no real communication.

The story had a good idea with the soldier troops, but they were barely used, maybe for two episodes at most. The rest was unnecessary extras, a complete waste of potential. If you are telling a story about a female general, then do her justice, because honestly, what did we even see? All the reveals were boring and completely deflated the tension. We expected big moments, but they delivered nothing. Characters stayed the same from beginning to end, with no growth. They could have at least added some angst, especially since the male lead seemed to like the female lead from the very beginning when she was still disguised as a man, but they even dropped that thread. The pacing was decent, but too many things felt unnecessary.

The script felt like it was written for children. We never even got to hear the male lead’s inner monologue about the female lead. Instead, they gave us focus on the second male lead, which made no sense if they wanted us to root for the main couple. On top of that, they shamelessly tried to copy scenes from "The Untamed", which I hated. And jokes on them, even with an emotionally constipated male lead, he will never come close to Lan Zhan.

The ending was rushed and unsatisfying, turning the second lead into a villain without properly leading to that moment. Everything was too black and white.

The OSTs and BGMs were excellent. Cinematography was okay, not the best but definitely not the worst. Casting felt off to me. Zhou Ye did not convince me as the female lead, I think an unknown actress might have fit better. Cheng Lei was fine, but his acting bored me. The real standout was Zhang Kangle, who was amazing in every scene he had, though that might just be my personal bias.

In the end, this drama felt like a waste of time. I think I need to stop expecting more from Qian Shan Cha Ke’s works. On the surface, she always presents a shiny feminist character, but she never follows through in a meaningful way. It’s like a beautiful book cover hiding empty pages inside. Pretty packaging with nothing inside