Wrenne

I just discovered that WeTV has two pages for Oath of Love one with one ep and one with 2. The one with (TV ver) added has both episodes subbed and the second is VIP you can find it here

https://wetv.vip/play/y0ge6xm2pzrcd49-The-Oath-of-Love-(TV-Ver.)/g0042mctemr-EP1-The-Oath-of-Love-(TV-Ver.)

But obviously since we didn't get two episodes overnight, we can't assume that WeTV and Tencent are running on the same schedule. So I was interested in what time WeTV released that single episode without the usual extra eps for VIP subscribers.

I see a lot of people have replied to WeTV on Twitter asking why there are no VIP episodes on only one released so far. I wonder if they will reply because it's hard to believe they wouldn't want to take the extra VIP money.

So I see WeTV only released one episode - what time was that? Midnight China time like the free one a day route? They have it tagged for VIP but what is the WeTV schedule, it seems it's not the same as Tencent as people expected.

Is that 10pm on Tencent the same for WeTV? That's 1am tomorrow for me. But I guess I'd rather be a bit behind than falling asleep😴🥱

I don't think I can get excited for this again until I'm actually sitting there watching it screen in front of me. But damn I need an XZ drama to enjoy because I need to overwrite the neurons in my brain that were scarred by Ace Troops.

It's the only thing keeping me watching. I really did appreciate how once he was in charge of the Tiger troops his leadership and confidence really stood out. But it's still annoying that GL turns up, often out of character, to share the scene when it could have been done differently.

It often feels like GL is a different character from scene to scene simply because the script needs him to be there and do a certain thing for the plot.

And I've had no idea how much time is passing or how long they've been in the army. So it was a relief to see that footage of the Gulf War and some actual information that it's the mid-90s where I'm up to - GYY just got married (ep 28).

Mind you, I'm starting to think the drama may be aimed at that surplus of single males that China has, sending them the message that if you join the army you can probably find a wife. They seem unusually focused on hooking up the characters.

I'm finally past the half way point of this drama and I'm starting to wonder if we're supposed to be realising that the character of Guo Liang has learning and personality disorders? Is that why he gets favourable treatment? He obviously does not understand the concepts of respect or privacy, he jumps in to meddle in the affairs of others like a child, and he seems to be able to choose where he wants to be in the army and is indulged, tantrum or otherwise.

I have a huge personal dislike of the way he thinks he's entitled to snatch the private mail, or even farewell messages of others. There was a scene in an episode (22?) where GYY and JNZ where having a private moment on a riverbank. There were two moments when I totally expected the camera was moving to show us GL hiding in the bushes because he's just that incapable of getting a clue. I was actually surprised when the scene ended without him forcing his way in.

Dare I hope that in future episodes, even though GYY has only a smattering of scenes they can be with other characters?

I know what you mean, I can't forget the ridiculous line he had in the first episode about being able to tell the other guy was impersonating an officer because his uniform didn't fit! How do you be able to tell that when they're all dressed in a potato sack?

I'm the same, so I'm taking it slowly and have finally reached the halfway point. But as much of a struggle as it is to watch, even skipping a lot of stuff, it is worth it to watch XZ because he's excellent.

Isn't that what happens when a drama finishes? People go and watch other things.

Thanks. I'm still going, only up to episode 18 so far but still going. I find it so frustrating that there are scenes that really work and then others that make no sense. It makes me wonder just how much they butchered the original intent of the drama to minimise the screen time for Gu Yiye.

And even at this point, I've just become conditioned to tune out whenever Guo Liang appears on the screen. I don't know where his storyline is going but I have no interest in finding out, so this drama has forced me to do the one thing I hate most, watch at the highest speed possible to find scenes I actually want to watch.

But I'm determined to not let it defeat me because we can only wonder at all the good work Xiao Zhan did that we will never get to see.

I don't know what happened behind the scenes with Ace Troops but it does seem strange that CCTV had announced it as part of their lineup for the Centenary of the CCP and then dropped it.

From what I saw it was due to screen in August and then didn't. But Oath of Love seemed to be planned to air on the back of AT in September. I figured AT came to XZ during those difficult times as a project to display his patriotism and commitment etc etc which may have restored his reputation a lot in that time of such national focus.

However, when it didn't happen (for whatever reasons) I think Tencent had a major rethink about where they were with OOL and in the end decided to be extra cautious about it. So they decided to pull it at the last moment, which was very disappointing.

I don't think fans can help because popularity is a big part of the problem. For some reason being entertaining and popular is not a good thing in China and the rules for entertainment keep changing. I guess in a society where conformity is crucial, mediocrity is essential because you have to have a level that the most average of people can attain.

You know, it also worries me that they don't need to give him better dramas because his fans are going to support everything and rate it highly regardless. And that makes it harder for him to prove, which he shouldn't have to, that he's not only a soulful actor but an engaging screen presence.

However, I think this drama started out as one thing and then changed and got edited into something else that changed the character focus, and like you said, led to the strange 'alphabetical order' listing.

I can't give it 10 stars just because XZ is in it because that's not a rating on the drama itself. And I feel in the end if you don't enjoy the drama, leave a review with your actual thoughts, how you love him but weren't satisfied with the drama.

It's one of my concerns that many people feel being a fan means voting everything 10/10 all the time which in the end makes fan votes meaningless because a drama is not a popularity contest if you're rating it for what it is.

Xiao Zhan is the only reason I'm watching this drama. He never disappoints but the drama is a slog. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who wasn't an XZ fan, and I'd give a fair amount of warning to anyone who was.

I also wonder if the audience appreciates that the Wangji we meet in those first two episodes is the one who has been living over a decade without Wei Ying before we go back to meet the one who is yet to get to know him.

I'm still totally baffled when I see people comment about Wang Yibo as Lan Wangji and say they think he took a while to settle into his character. But doesn't everyone know that they don't film episodes in the order that they screen and his first scenes were in the middle of the series.

The first episodes we see are not the first episodes they filmed so isn't it more likely that it took the viewer a few episodes to start to get an idea about the character and appreciate his performance.

I've seen people who claim to have worked in the industry say the same thing and they KNOW how dramas and movies are filmed.

I would say that that first episode is a fairly good indication of what to expect going forward at least for the first batch of episodes. Maybe try again later but this isn't a good military drama, and I'm still trying to work out if the point is that the Chinese military were a mess of incompetence, corruption, favouritism and anti-intellectualism. And whether that's supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing.

I guess that's what happens when you film something and then try to edit it and turn it into something else when you screen it.

Maybe that's what they ended up with when they started cutting so much out?

I'd say if you got something else you're planning to watch, watch that. I've found it a real struggle to get to episode 11 because it seems a whole lot of scenes have been cut that would make the story flow, and we just end up being told who the characters are without being shown how others came to those conclusions. So it ends up swinging between 'this has to happen for the plot', and 'where did that come from?'

However if you really just want to watch the MLs maybe you'll enjoy just seeing them on screen.