OceanBlue132

Visually saying,this drama is a gem. Cinematography,color grading everything is extremely mesmerizing,all actors/ actresses were looking too good. Almost every scenario was captured in such a poetic way...it was just a feast for eyes.

Even the starting was captivating. The love story beween a butcher girl from a remote village and Marquis of Wan who is injured and under false identity was definitely interesting. The set up of Lin'an village was so good...story pacing was going just right. Both the leads were perfect, good looks paired with good acting.

But the problem started midway when the story shifted from a sweet innocent love story to war situations, palace politics,nasty villains were introduced. Suddenly it became evident our Marquis has little to none activity on warfield, we only know or presume about his past heroism...but in present time he was injured half the time,there was no such example of why he holds such a grand position. On the other hand his wife,the butcher girl who never set foot outside her village,never been in such situations suddenly became general after unbelievably killing enemy general so easily. None of this makes sense.... Or they couldn’t potray it properly, idk. The whole lying/hiding Xie Zheng's identity in the military camp and everyone helping him doing that on a funny note...not amusing. Also Fan Changyu never getting any consequences for literally drugging the Marquis of Wan for stopping him from going to war...unbelievable.

The last arc,political arc was the most frustrating one. So many things were happening all of a sudden, but there was no proper explanation. Weird edits,abrupt cuts,very very underwhelming ending of the villains, so many plotholes, side stories not being explored properly....it was a mess. It definitely needed some more episodes to cover up everything. The ending was not satisfying either, even the alternate ending was abrupt. Couldn’t believe a show that started with so much potential ended with such a bizarre tone.

Another thing I couldn’t digest.. The romanticisation of the relationship between Qi Min and Qianqian. Whatever it was, it was not love from any side. He was an abuser,r*apist.... Why was their scenes more intense,sensual than the main couple? Are we supposed to sympathise with him?? What was the director thinking??

However, it was a pleasant one time watch. I enjoyed the Lin'an arc so much,the female lead was definitely a showstealer,such a good potrayal of Fan Changyu. Zhang Linghe also deserves applause,he looked really good with her.