Suliabryon

For REAL. I'm here for it. I loved his reaction when she started to change clothes in front of him. Dude's been locked away for 500 years and bent on one thing only - escaping and vengeance. Suddenly she crashes into his life, fails to meet every low expectation he has of people in general, and keeps acting like no one he's ever experienced before. He has NO IDEA what to do with any kind of attraction, which should be interesting when we get to the kissing parts. I'm just going to link this BTS of one of those that You Tube kindly showed me today, because I think the vibe of the scene embodies the dynamic perfectly and I hope like heck they keep the way he grabs the blankets in the final cut.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc1Nl8aoPLE

🤣 And you know he doesn't really mean it, it's just the most efficient way for him to bypass her reluctance because SHE believes it, lol.

This actress is new to me, and I could not agree more! She is freaking ADORABLE. I love the juxtaposition of her modern world view and determination to be lazy and his serious-as-a-heart-attack tortured soul and bent on revenge, anti-hero vibe. It's a great dynamic and the actors are really selling it.

I think so, yes! I think he's testing her (if you mean the very latest episodes) but I think yes, he knows she is at least attracted to him.

Hi, uh yes, I know what "realistic" means.

Here's the thing. There is not a single lead actress they could have cast that could have made the audience actually believe she was a man. Any "lead actress" is going to be beautiful and feminine and MUCH physically smaller than her male costars by default, just like Bai Lu in Military Arsenal Academy. (She wasn't believable dressed as a man either.) I've actually seen A LOT of c-dramas with this trope, and it's never believable, based on their facial features and physicality alone.

It's actually a term called dramatic irony where the audience has information the characters don't - in this case, we all know it's obvious the FL is a woman, while the characters in the show do not. It allows for moments of tension, humor, etc. that otherwise could not happen.

I understand others feel the actress here and the directing/production have made it seem obvious that she's a woman pretending to be a man, and some viewers can't suspend disbelief and just go with it. If it bothers them SO much, I just wonder why they have kept watching. But then again, I never understand why anyone makes the effort to come to a show's comment section like this just to post negative comments, especially about the actors. But maybe that's just me.

I'm also not sure why we need to be curious about the FL's character. We know her story pretty much from the beginning. Our investment in her is seeing her rise back up to a position of strength and her quest for revenge against those who used and then betrayed her. Our curiosity is in things like her history with the ML, which is being shown in bits and pieces, and when and how the ML will find out who she really is, etc. Don't get me wrong, after 15 episodes, I'm ready for everyone to know she's a woman. And it seems we've finally reached an arc where at least those closest to her do and where she gets to act in the role of one. I'm glad for that, but not because I'm relieved not to have to watch her performance as a man. Because I'm ready for the story to move forward.

I see a LOT of comments complaining about realism in these dramas. My first response always wants to be "You must not watch a lot of historical c-dramas." Or maybe not many dramas at all, lol.

Hmm, well I stand corrected! Still only one or two exceptions, and I'd be interested in the circumstances of how it happened, but I've edited my comment to indicate the extreme rarity vs. saying it wouldn't ever happen. Thanks!

Wow, this comment section is all over the place! I'd just like to point out that dramas adapted from novels rarely seem to follow the novel exactly, and it seems from what I'm reading here that things were changed really early on, so I'm kind of confused why people are upset to find the drama to be different from the novel. Maybe treat them as completely different stories. IDK, I understand if you loved the novel being disappointed, but as a c-drama viewer I came to accept a LONG time ago that there is often very little correlation between original material and what makes it onto the screen, even more so than in western adaptations.

So, there is that. Also...IDK, I REALLY don't get the complaints at the focus on the main couple. I personally thought the pacing to get to where we ARE actually focusing on them more in the recent episodes (14-15) to be slow. FINALLY we are moving them forward, and we're halfway through the production!

I'll just add that I knew going in that a certain amount of suspension of disbelief would be necessary to enjoy this drama. Mulan, which is where this story seems to draw a lot of inspiration from, was not a general, and her story wasn't nearly as romanticized as Disney would have us all believe, lol. And the likelihood of a woman ever becoming a general in ancient China is {edit} extremely rare. Honestly, the likelihood of a man as young as Cheng Lei becoming a general is also unusual. Generals were, historically, mostly older, seasoned veterans. Not twenty-something, hot, single men "in want of a wife" to coin a phrase from another romance genre. So...I really don't understand why everyone is all "so unrealistic!" as if historical c-dramas are EVER realistic. Unless diagnosing illness by feeling someone's pulse suddenly became reliable when I wasn't looking. Or maybe coughing up blood isn't actually an immediate indicator of some really dire internal bleeding and imminent death. Just saying, a LOT of this genre requires hand waving and suspension of disbelief.

I think this drama has been really entertaining so far. I'm enjoying the episodes and loving both the main couple and various side characters. The scene where she finally gets to confront Ding Yi and kill him was fantastic and a great payoff, especially since XJ witnesses it and we see him hearing what she says. Yes, finally getting clues as to her real identity! I love her squad of friends among the recruits, and how Feinu keeps interrupting them and catching them in awkward moments together. I'm already invested in the physician and healer who don't want to marry each other in an arranged marriage and have deep misunderstandings of one another, but are also clearly perfect together.

YMMV, of course.

This is my hope! Okay I'm going to watch a couple more eps and if I get hooked I'll hope for the best!

This, 100%! Chemistry is hard to explain. It's more a feeling you get from the characters. It largely comes from the way the actors play off one another, but is definitely helped by a good script. However, even the best script can't help if the actors have no chemistry at all. Sometimes, if two actors dislike each other IRL, it can come across as having no chemistry at all, but sometimes it can also help the chemistry somehow and they can hate each other IRL but have amazing chemistry when they act because of it. Because "chemistry" is the connection the viewer feels from them on screen. Lack of chemistry is sort of like watching two blocks of wood act together. You just feel nothing from them.

And as @Vivaishere said, it doesn't have to be romantic. Some of the best chemistry I've seen hasn't been romantic. For example, Ji Chang Wook and Wi Ha Joon in The Worst of Evil. Even though one is a cop going undercover to take down the other, a gang leader, you spend the entire series on pins and needles about the inevitable ending, because the chemistry is so spot on, you know in another life they would have been brothers.

Okay, I watched the first episode. It didn't instantly grab me, but I've just come off another excellent crime solving drama, The Coroner's Diary, so maybe I wasn't quite ready for a different one right away. I'm going to keep watching because I love the actors, and hope it grabs me in the next couple of eps, but I have a question: I know the characters are rivals, but is Deng Kai the actual villain in this? Like a real villain? Or more a rival that might later become a reluctant ally, ala his role in Love of the Divine Tree? (Which I loved, btw.)

I ask because I adore him, and I'm not sure I want to get invested in a drama where he plays a complete villain.

ha ha, no worries!

Yes. It's off Youku, IQIYI, and Tencent. Only on Viki and a couple others I don't watch regularly so I can't remember the name of. Someone else will chime in, I'm sure.

I know, but someone already linked to the correct drama in comments above. You can find which one it is there.

OMG thank you! Mydramalist to the rescue once again!

Okay, so this is not about this drama, it's just I got to this one while trying to find a different vertical drama, and I'm hoping someone here can help. I stumbled across this drama on YT, and I can't believe it got past the censors. Anyone know the name or either of the actors? I'm SURE it's going to get pulled because of the subject matter, and I'm curious if there is a version somewhere online with better subs.

EDIT
..aaaand sure enough, the video was pulled shortly after I shared this. Fortunately, I saved it and uploaded it purely to share so others can help me find the title or the show with subs somewhere, as the download doesn't have them.

https://youtu.be/4S7Kh48YYco

I've heard the drama itself "is not a romance" and more of a hero's journey, but a lot of times there are still romantic subplots in those, so we'll see. I like Yang Yang anyway, and with both him and Wang Duo in it, I'll at least check it out and see where it goes.

If you scroll down to guest roles it's this guy: Chin Shih Chieh
Mo Ju Ren / Doctor Mo [Han Li's master]

I'm living for the day Wang Duo can have an arc that ends well, maybe even a ML role, but that isn't going to be this drama. Oh, well, having him and Yang Yang in the same drama is already a win.

I've been anticipating this drama for so long I'm having a hard time starting it tonight. Like I have some weird anxiety about it being good, IDK. 😂 Don't come at me, Who Rules The World is among my favorites and I adore Yang Yang and Wang Duo. People who don't like YY's acting can scroll on by, thank you.

Someone who has read the apparently INCREDIBLY LONG NOVEL...does this have an HEA? I guess even if the novel does, who knows "when" in the novel the ending for this will be, or if we'll get a S2...I'm just going to have to go in and hope for the best.

I know this isn't a romance, and I'm fine with that, just wondering if there is romance subplot(s) in the novel?

@maidenesque I realize this is an oooold thread now, but have you SEEN the new promo stills for The Immortal Ascension with Wang Duo?! Looks like he's playing...a bad guy? But he's also pictured opposite the SFL so I'm going to hope like crazy he has some kind of complex storyline in this and maybe even an actual romance arc, we'll see.

See you over on The Immortal Ascension page, I assume you'll be watching it. 😂