Shrimpy

I certainly hope we don't get more AX.
GYY and his career should be the focus, not his love life that's messed up anyway.

Yes, sacrificing himself for AX is not a good plot point because it's being portrayed as some great positive thing while it is anything but. It's retrograde thinking that has led to so much tragedy.

But at least it gives me nice discussion material. I can tell to myself that in the end, it fits GYY because the one thing that remains for him is the army. His whole character has been surrounded by loneliness and the only thing that he can expect from this marriage is being even more alone. AX is not a woman who can follow GYY in any way. She can never be a companion as a partner in life should. At least not realistically, though I am sure the writers will write them as happy lmao

But in this loneliness, the one true companion GYY will always have is the army. So I look at it through that lense.

I like the character of GYY but the writing for this drama is pretty bad overall.

They won't because GYY scenes were cut on purpose to make sure GL took over. Take comfort China at least changed some of the rules after this fiasco so it will be a little be harder to do this to people again and XZ will certainly have iron tight contracts in the future.

It's not believable for me so unfortunately that ship has sailed.

GL has shown his true colors. There is nothing that says that next time GYY has something that GL wants, he won't behave the same or worse. It doesn't actually matter that we probably won't see that because GL character has been established. He is only a friend as long as he doesn't want something GYY has.

Amazing how ep 25 flew by. I could almost swear it lasted about one minute and a bit xD

Works of art, by which we mean books, paintings, movies, dramas, are meant to be analysed. Characters like GL are never going to be liked because of their poor character.
If hjy ever plays a serial killer are you going to come here begging people to like the poor baby?

If you cannot handle adult talk, step away.

And yes, I would hate GL no matter who played him and I would be knocking on the script writers "door", as I knocked on Wang Juan's door at the beginning of this year and asking wtaf was he thinking.

The writer can decide to write the Earth is flat and everyone will just laugh at them.

In order to tell a good story a writer needs coherent plot and good characterisations. The writers here may have decided this or that but the audience needs to find it acceptable and believable. And here very obviously, they do not.

I have no idea where you got the idea that Chinese then were immoral scum but I can absolutely assure you Chinese of today do not find his character acceptable either.
And the romance is not the main issue, the rest of it is .

I really want to know how a main character like Gao Liang got past the review board.

Any military drama goes to a special one, that differs from that usual and the requirements are different. One of them is that nothing in it can reflect badly on the army. So who exactly saw GL and thought ah this horrid disaster is so wonderful, yes, this is what we want to represent us. Boggles the mind.
Oh and I want to know what the screenwriter was smoking when he wrote GL because this is classic villain behavior.

The character of GL is going to make me vomit blood and JNZ is not much better. I could rant for days. Junior high my foot.

I have watched Xiao Zhan for a long time and he has always had a very good grip on expressing "big", intense emotions. The breakdown scene was so well acted, with the shift between the emotions being very smooth. The final close ups really show his complete devastation. You believe he is shattered and as numerous people have expressed, they don't actually need any knowledge of the language to get completely sucked in and feel heart broken.

Small digression here but one, the behind the scenes footage of preparing for this scene is immensely interesting and at the same time shows how deep a true actor has to go but also how emotionally taxing it can be. I hope he has enough space to decompress after these moments.

Two, the doctor in this scene was such a good juxtaposition to the emotional state of GYY. He seems almost cold and callous but in fact, it's not only that he has no time in between trying to save and patch up the wounded but how many scenes like this has he already witnessed. It's a person used to tragedy, that is also a tragedy in itself. It's an excellent scene that in its apparent dichotomy actually shows the full tragedy of war, even though that may not be the knee jerk reaction of the viewer. But both, together, are a representation of the price of war.

Back to Xiao Zhan, what I do see as an evolution in his acting is that he handles all the smaller, more reduced emotional moments much more easily. It wasn't always smooth in the past but he is much more in control now. The hand clenching, the small startled jerk, the moments when GYY is trying to suppress emotions, the very obvious guilt and shame on his face.
The sense of weariness and loss of boyhood was so easy to see in some of those moments after the return. This in particular left a big impact on me. Big scenes are highlights but without these small, equally important, more difficult to master nuances, it will never be a full character picture. It's an evolution in his acting that happened prior to ADLAD so I have to say I am looking forward to TLP even more now (especially with that promising trailer that had an example of this subtle but impactful acting) and it is very interesting for me to analyse because good acting is what makes me personally a fan of someone.

A little bit about acting, I will put it below spoilers just to be sure.

It's breaking my brain a little. The main point about the wife/not wife is that if she isn't, then she has no rights to what follows after his death.

Another confusing thing is the time line. It seems like it was a six months skip but some are saying it's a year actually. I think it's because of that spoiler about the child because if six months, she couldn't have given birth. More confusion lmao

Don't worry, I understood anyway :)
I had to ask around on the Chinese socials about this because some of them weren't sure either, it's not just us. It is a little bit confusing.

No, it was just patronising and lacked reading comprehension.

Definitely not married. You are supposed to apply for permission then go through it. They got it but didn't hold the ceremony. It is confusing.

Believe it or not, I am actually aware of what war is. Shocking, I know.

And now comes the really difficult part. As much as I could not care less about GL, I find myself deeply involved in GYY story and I don't think I am ready for the tragedy.

Not married. Not officially.

No. GYY marries someone else, we just met her.
GL married JNZ.