Disappointed
Legend of the Female General is a competent wuxia drama that does a great job utilizing the cross dressing trope.
The FL of this story is a resilient and tenacious juggernaut who really does an amazing job of holding this drama together.
Zhou Ye was a phenomenal casting choice who brought an arresting androgynous vibe to her role as a man and subtle but unyielding femininity as a woman. I can't think of anyone taking her place. She along with Bai Shu were definitely my favorite to watch on screen. I don't care how rotten his role may be, Bai Shu can do no wrong.
I really liked all of the cast, most of the characters were distinct and memorable. I really cared for everyone, even the side characters.
All of the technical aspects were mostly on point. The music was great, both the sung tracks and the bg ost did a lot to add to the ambiance.
I LOVED the costumes, I don't know much about historical accuracy, but everything fit so well and looked good! There were multiple times that I paused to look at the way a sleeve fell, or the crisp layers of a collar… I can tell that the costumes were made to fit each main actor pretty well.
Though I wasn't always a fan of the cinematography, I did quite enjoy the martial arts choreography. The way that moves would be executed and filmed were absolutely amazing! There were so many cool moments that I found myself replaying over and over. I don't think I've liked fight choreography this much since I watched Blood of Youth.
Okay so the plot…
This show is good (just good) for the first 20ish episodes. Things start going downhill fast after that. Once we reach that point the pacing gets thrown off even more and moves at a breakneck speed just so it can tie things up.
The beginning tested the limits of my suspension of disbelief, but it was still fun and engaging. There were multiple points of tension that had the potential to pay off in a satisfactory way. Once we get to the parts that should relieve our tension and resolve our expectations, they're dealt with in the most nonchalant way.
This show hinges basically on one villain who looms over every evil happening like a curse. If something bad happened then it's his fault, and even if it wasn't his fault he still has something to do with it and benefited from it. I felt that this conflict was boring and predictable at times. Characters blame him so often that he might as well be the devil… Yet the show resolves his tension point before the final episodes and instead decided to add another villain to raise the stakes.
Because of this switch we have multiple stupid things happen because multiple characters lose their brains.
I think that the 40 episode limit is one of the worst things to happen to costume dramas, the length limits have some people speed running the story. I imagine that if this show had 50-60 episodes then we could have dedicated more time to seeing how our FL became who she was and invested more time into her struggle to survive and excel. We don't know about her connections to anyone other than a quick catch up at the START of the show.
At the start of the show they had flashbacks to her younger years that tried to give you more backstory but they are abruptly dropped after only a handful of episodes. It was frustrating to basically watch the show blind with no investment in her past struggles and connections.
It's not a deal breaker but I never felt that this show was a real political drama, the one note villains and the ease with which everything is resolved is baffling. Everything felt a little shallow, the conflict, the social commentary, and even the comedy at times.
I genuinely started laughing when they started speed running the entire point of My Dearest's drama during the Rundu arc. That drama had 21 1+ hour episodes and STILL couldn't fully get its message across but this show attempts the same in 3 30 min episodes. 😭
The romance was a good slow burn that did a lot of lifting to keep me engaged. Zhou Ye and Cheng Lei are true talents who build up their love in a steady and satisfying way… Until the end.
I would recommend this, and I do see myself watching this show again. Still not LLTG, I need someone to save me.
The FL of this story is a resilient and tenacious juggernaut who really does an amazing job of holding this drama together.
Zhou Ye was a phenomenal casting choice who brought an arresting androgynous vibe to her role as a man and subtle but unyielding femininity as a woman. I can't think of anyone taking her place. She along with Bai Shu were definitely my favorite to watch on screen. I don't care how rotten his role may be, Bai Shu can do no wrong.
I really liked all of the cast, most of the characters were distinct and memorable. I really cared for everyone, even the side characters.
All of the technical aspects were mostly on point. The music was great, both the sung tracks and the bg ost did a lot to add to the ambiance.
I LOVED the costumes, I don't know much about historical accuracy, but everything fit so well and looked good! There were multiple times that I paused to look at the way a sleeve fell, or the crisp layers of a collar… I can tell that the costumes were made to fit each main actor pretty well.
Though I wasn't always a fan of the cinematography, I did quite enjoy the martial arts choreography. The way that moves would be executed and filmed were absolutely amazing! There were so many cool moments that I found myself replaying over and over. I don't think I've liked fight choreography this much since I watched Blood of Youth.
Okay so the plot…
This show is good (just good) for the first 20ish episodes. Things start going downhill fast after that. Once we reach that point the pacing gets thrown off even more and moves at a breakneck speed just so it can tie things up.
The beginning tested the limits of my suspension of disbelief, but it was still fun and engaging. There were multiple points of tension that had the potential to pay off in a satisfactory way. Once we get to the parts that should relieve our tension and resolve our expectations, they're dealt with in the most nonchalant way.
This show hinges basically on one villain who looms over every evil happening like a curse. If something bad happened then it's his fault, and even if it wasn't his fault he still has something to do with it and benefited from it. I felt that this conflict was boring and predictable at times. Characters blame him so often that he might as well be the devil… Yet the show resolves his tension point before the final episodes and instead decided to add another villain to raise the stakes.
Because of this switch we have multiple stupid things happen because multiple characters lose their brains.
I think that the 40 episode limit is one of the worst things to happen to costume dramas, the length limits have some people speed running the story. I imagine that if this show had 50-60 episodes then we could have dedicated more time to seeing how our FL became who she was and invested more time into her struggle to survive and excel. We don't know about her connections to anyone other than a quick catch up at the START of the show.
At the start of the show they had flashbacks to her younger years that tried to give you more backstory but they are abruptly dropped after only a handful of episodes. It was frustrating to basically watch the show blind with no investment in her past struggles and connections.
It's not a deal breaker but I never felt that this show was a real political drama, the one note villains and the ease with which everything is resolved is baffling. Everything felt a little shallow, the conflict, the social commentary, and even the comedy at times.
I genuinely started laughing when they started speed running the entire point of My Dearest's drama during the Rundu arc. That drama had 21 1+ hour episodes and STILL couldn't fully get its message across but this show attempts the same in 3 30 min episodes. 😭
The romance was a good slow burn that did a lot of lifting to keep me engaged. Zhou Ye and Cheng Lei are true talents who build up their love in a steady and satisfying way… Until the end.
I would recommend this, and I do see myself watching this show again. Still not LLTG, I need someone to save me.
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