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Super Strong First Half but Disappointing Second half

I don't know how to write a very serious review analyzing plot and pacing and I'm probably just gonna say a lot of what everyone else has been saying but I still wanted to write one. I didn't quite finish this drama because Netflix is a bit slow but I'm already disappointed and I feel like the last half of the drama has really fallen off compared to the first.
Initially, I thought this was gonna be the greatest drama I have ever watched. I went in with high expectations and I wasn't disappointed. The beginning half in the village was the most magical experience I've ever had with a C-drama. Just by watching short clips of the wedding scene and the scene where Changyu thought Xie Zheng had left, I knew this drama was worth getting a Netflix subscription for.

The visuals were stunning. In historical dramas, we mostly get the palace life because that life is supposedly more interesting and more pleasing to the eye. However, this drama did a great job at making the village life super interesting and visually appealing. The production crew? truly demonstrates that you don't need fancy clothes and jewelry in order to live a happy, meaningful life. The camera work in the village was excellent and truly gorgeous. I wouldn't say the excellent visuals disappeared after the war began, but the visuals in the later episodes aren't as appealing as they were in the village.
The chemistry between the main leads was so incredibly strong in the village arc I was literally screaming whenever they had cute moments. I've never done this ever for any couple and when I see other people discuss how they do this for other couples, I just never understood how anyone could have such a strong reaction to good chemistry until this drama. The tangerine candy kiss is one of the most romantic first kiss scenes I have ever seen in a drama and was the scene that got me to start watching the drama. However after the whole thing where they separated, their chemistry was no longer the same. For me, they took a bit too long to truly get back together with Xie Zheng revealing his identity to Changyu and Changyu finally getting used to the fact that she's dating the Marquis of Wu'an. After they got back together, there just wasn't that spark anymore. They were still cute though.
But one of the things that this drama did well in was that I was never bored watching it. Usually when watching dramas, I feel a strong urge to skip certain scenes or have to force myself to sit through them. But it wasn't the case for this one, I was thoroughly entertained even in the village life where not that much was happening. In fact, the village life was more interesting than when they went to war. They also had a lot of interesting characters that I actually grew to care about such as Yu Qianqian and her son Bao'er, Sui Yuanqing, the gossiping grandma, and her gang of men. But at around episode 27, this drama took a bit of a toll on my mental health because I was realizing how badly this drama was going to mess everything up. It was so bad that I became angry every time I thought about it, but eventually I got over it. I think I became too attached to the drama. First they had Changyu kill that one general with 2 blows and received an internal injury. I was questioning how because she has no battle experience but I just reasoned that she had trained with her father in martial arts her whole life and she has been doing missions in freeing kids for months which probably allowed her to improve her skills. However, it would've been more believable if Changyu came out of it with a lot more serious injuries. But this drama affected my mental health when she killed Prince Changxin and only received some deep scratches. That's when I realized that the quality of this drama has truly decreased because they set up Prince Changxin to be this main villain in the show but he ended up looking like a minor problem. It also would've made more sense for Marquis Wu'an kill him instead because he was literally there and is canonically a better fighter than Changyu with more battle experience. Instead the drama had him going after Sui Yuanqing once again which is lame because we have already seen them fight before and Xie Zheng easily beat him. Sui Yuanqing should've been dead or at least a hostage there if Marquis Wu'an wasn't just sitting there and mocking him, giving an enemy troop enough time to come and grab him. Last time they were super quick to put spears around him but I wonder what happened this time. I also wish we got to see more of the full fighting potential of Marquis Wu'an instead of a ton of screentime for an abusive relationship. The only real fight scenes we got of him were when he was injured and when he won super easily against Sui Yuanqing. But after this, there's something wrong that I can't quite put my finger on. I genuinely don't know why I care less about the story now. It's probably because they tried to fit too much into such a small number of episodes but I can't find a way to directly link it to my growing apathy for the show.
As for the politics? I don't know. Honestly I never pay attention the political aspect of dramas but I did this time and I still don't understand the whole picture. I saw a lot of people saying that the politics of this drama are confusing so it might not just be a me problem.
The acting? I genuinely can't tell good acting from bad acting but I believe that Tian XiWei is a good actress. As for Zhang Linghe, his acting did the job. In the last few episodes I watched, I wasn't as moved by the acting as I was before.
I loved the music paired with the village scenes because it brought the village to life and it made the scenes between Changyu and Xie Zheng incredibly romantic and moving. The music is so good that sometimes it started playing in my head whenever I was outside experiencing life. My favorite music that played is probably the time where Changyu though Xie Zheng left her but came back and when they were talking beside the fireplace with fish.
I haven't finished this drama and I don't think I'm going to drop it entirely yet but I may just end up skipping through parts in order to get to the ones I care about because unfortunately I don't care anymore.
If I were to ever rewatch this drama, I would only rewatch the village arc.

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