Divine Aria

So after all that she suffered, she's ready to be back already? Is her depression better? She wants to avoid stressors and triggers of dissociative conversion disorder(less likely to recur only after 6 months), but has put herself back into the spotlight only barely after a month. Not sure how any of this makes sense.

So glad you finally checked it out and ended up enjoying it too. It's def one of my most favorite c-dramas ever.

I was super interested in the plot from the start, so maybe it's just not your cup of tea. I found the dilemma of Changge being torn between her desire for personal revenge VS her love for her country so intriguing. That kind of plot has so much potential for character growth(the drama has a lot of character growth, actually). And, of course, I was invested in the relationship between her and A'Sun, so I loved the drama from start to finish. If you don't care about any of that, then it's prob just not the right drama for you. I like TLB for all of its positive messages despite revolving around a war and the premise of revenge. Also love that it touches on so many different subjects and isn't solely about the relationship between the two leads(though I love them).

Sun and Changge have a really respectful and mature relationship, and they view each other as equal partners. They can have adult conversations, listen to, and learn from each other. It's not the typical, cliche relationship you see in the majority of C-dramas where they're always quarreling and male lead is forcing himself on female lead . And there aren't any bedroom scenes. Maybe that's why you didn't see them as lovers. It wasn't a problem for me. I personally prefer positive, healthy, and respectful relationships. But I understand that we all have different preferences and tastes.

Because twice, she was intentionally shot NOT to be killed, and once was a fake stab by herself and Gongsun Heng's bodyguard(Xu Feng) to trap their enemy.

It's not that they're not giving him lead roles in historical dramas. He's one of the top actors so he's pretty sought after, but Wu Lei himself just has not been accepting drama roles the past year. He has worked on multiple new films for the theater: "Decent Things", "Donji Island", and "The Decisive Moment". Wu Lei has his own studio so he can afford to work as much or as little as he wants to and to pick only the projects that he's interested in, and he doesn't want to just do idol dramas but to be a serious actor who can appear in all kinds of box office films(theater releases).

Not sure how you would define a good romance. TLB isn't romance-heavy, and there isn't really any skinship in it. If that's what you're searching for, it might not be your cup of tea. There is def a love story(more than one, actually), but the story also focuses on other things. IMO, it has good mesh of a lot of different topics, a good balance on romantic love, war, loyalty, revenge VS forgiveness, right vs wrong, etc; and that's why I personally love this drama.
Relationship-wise, it isn't just about romantic love, but love between various family members, love for one's country, love for one's people, love/friendship between enemies, etc, etc. The drama's strongest point is its character growth aspect. Maybe try a few episodes to see if it's your thing.

I'm so glad you were able to see it. I've wanted to see this forever. Should have known you were the right person to find and message for a link. Too bad it got taken down :(

She was raised like a son, had interests and often did things not typical of females of her time so she would run around dressed in male clothing. It's not clear in the drama, but in the original manhua, Changge is a 14 year-old tomboy who could fool people into thinking that she's a boy. And that's how she disguises herself for much of the drama because of her family situation. Although, I don't recall that she was ever referred to as a Prince. Her father was the Crown Prince and heir to the throne, so maybe that's what you were referring to from when she first met the ML. One of the characters might have made a reference to her father.

Explain what you mean by wanting to have her cake and eat it too. Girl suffered so much. Not sure at all how she's getting her way every time. Her plans didn't always work. She failed at multiple points in the story. We have those complaining that she's a Mary Sue and always succeeds/gets her way. Then we have those complaining that she was too weak, stupid, and failed too much. Kind of strange how people's views about her are so polarizing.

She's def second lead. The main plot of the drama isn't about her.

I'm happy with it too. I don't even know what the big deal is with actors/actresses really kissing. It's all just acting either way. It doesn't make the characters more or less in love with each other. At the end of the day, Sun and Changge still kissed. And the birds were sweet. Like, I can't see bird couples now without thinking of Sun and Changge :)

Um...2nd leads didn't get a real kissing scene either. Why do some keep living in the fantasy that they did? They were leaning in for a kiss and the scene just faded out on them. I'll take the passionate birdies over a faded out kiss any day, tbh. The only pairing that got a real kissing scene was Mimi/Mujin...but then again, they deserved to have one since they didn't end up together.

Nah, it always happens in C-dramas. It's the same director who has directed a lot of other well-known dramas(Ashes of Love, Story of Kunning Palace, Eternal Love of Dream, Blossoms in Adversity, etc). I highly doubt his directing was only "stupid" in this one. They would all have a similar directing style.

They just met for a couple of months? Maybe you forgot that, up to that point, they've both already been risking their necks for each other and saving one another? Regardless of time, they've already gone through a lot together. That's the point. If someone's putting their life on the line for you over and over, it's natural you would develop trust in them and start caring about them too. The two have clearly already established a relationship of some kind(like friends or something akin to family) even though they're still on opposing sides of the war. Sun would be able to trust that Changge wouldn't rat him out because she already put herself into danger to save his life before. And he the same for her. Why would she go through all the trouble of risking herself to help save him in the first place if he's someone she would just throw under the bus on any given day? Sun is a pretty logical human being. As for the gambling with his soldiers' lives...that's a strange argument to make since he's already doing that without Changge. I mean, his men fight and risk their lives daily for him. It's what they do. With or without Changge, they would still be risking their lives for him. In fact, it's clear that his men have also come to care about Changge. His men were the ones who insisted that they all go save her when she was taken by She'er's people. Calling someone "love-blind" for wanting to protect someone they genuinely care about(and someone who actually has value to him because they've also protected him at some point or other) is pretty unreasonable.

Amazing. Super job with the editing. Love Changge, A'Sun, and TLB. Thank you for sharing!

I know people like to talk about Changge's plot armor, but I don't think it's as bad as some are saying. I'm guessing you're talking about the number of times she was shot or stabbed and still survived? If you think about it, only one time did an enemy truly shoot her to try to kill her. All the others times weren't people trying to kill her but intentionally shooting her to let her live/escape. Shuyu shot her to let her escape from Hao Du. Ashile Sun intentionally missed her heart because he didn't want her killed. And when she was stabbed by Xu Feng, it was a fake stab because they were plotting to trap an enemy. The one time she was truly shot at and luckily didn't die was when she was leading the wolf tribe guys away from Sun and Eagle division during the grassland arc. Also, how was the plot in the grasslands unbelievable? Are you talking about Changge's attempt to prevent them from attacking Tang? Her attempt to save Luo Yi who was a loyal general to her father? Or are you talking about all the chaos and in-fighting within Ashile Tribe?

Happens in every C-drama and many, many works of fiction, actually. I think viewers sometimes take things like that too realistically and seriously. You're allowed to use your imagination a little since it's a work of fiction. Just imagine that they're talking loud enough for us viewers to hear, but not loud enough for the guards over by the gate to hear :)

They were also the most boring parts of this drama for me(and a little too cliche), but that's not to say that they were bad. They didn't detract from how much I enjoyed this drama. At least they had good character development :)

Agreed. What I love about TLB is all the positive and inspiring messages it carries about friendship, family, love, loyalty, understanding, and forgiveness despite being a series about war, enemies, and revenge with several tragic events. I love the amount of character growth in this series. The bad characters aren't truly bad, or at least have a valid reason to be, and the majority of them even redeem themselves by the end. I also love Sun and Changge so much; both strong-willed, courageous, unselfish, impactful, and capable characters who are just as awesome individually as they are together as a duo. Healthy, understanding, and respectful relationships FTW.