gmat6594

I loved both but don't think that it was objectively bad. Thank you.

People confuse the drama Generals and CEOs with fighters and but they should really act as managers. By the time you reach generalship, if you are in the thick of fighting, something has seriously gone wrong. I enjoyed seeing He Yan being a kick ass fighter. And I think that this was more of an idol romance drama. Enjoying this over other dramas coming out recently.

I tracked them by the middle portion of the hilt.
21:22 He Yan leaps from her horse to join Xioao Jue. We see the middle portion of his sword hilt and it is dark colored.
21:41 He Yan joins him and the both charge the enemy. You can see the green middle portion of her hilt.
22:40 both release their swords. The white band is nearer to the end on He Yan's sword. Xiao Jue's sword has a darker portion near the end.
22:41 We see both hilts mid flight. He Yan's is green and Xiao Jue is black. He Yan has a wider white band and Jue's band looks thinner.
22:42 Xiao Jue grabs the sword. The white band is close to the end. I would say that it is He Yan's sword.
22:42 The sword that He Yan grabs has the dark portion near the end and a thinner white band further away from the end.
22:49 Hey show He Yan sword's hilt. The white band is still away from the end.
22:49 Jue sword's hilt shows the white band close to the end.
22:54 After the stab, He Yan grabs her sword. Black mid portion gold end. The white band is masked by her fingers.
22:54 Jue grabs his sword. The white band near the end of the hilt can be clearly seen.
23:54 Both raise the swords and the white band is further from the end on He Yan's sword but closer to the end on Jue's sword.
Sorry. That's my take on the sword switching.

You know, both he and they will end up in the borderlands. Best case, he becomes an uncle to their daughter. Worst case, he becomes an uncle to their daughter. lol

Kinda true. He Yan starts with the sword with the white/light colored hilt and Xiao Jue with the dark colored hilt. 22:41, the swords twirl around and then Xiao Jue grabs the light colored hilt sword. They stab with the same swords and raise the same swords at the end. So they don't show them switching swords back.

Hanli. Peeked at your view/to do list.
A Familiar Stranger (2022) 18 ten minute episodes. Mini drama. Ryan Cheng is about the same character here and Ke Ying is the FL/ She was forced to swap her face with Kay Song' character. The women are not fighters, but have hearts of steel. This drama is very well regarded. The male director Zeng Qing Jie and female screen writer Zhao Lin duo know how to tell a story and bring out better performances from their actors. ZQJ directed Blossom (2024)
Qingchuan's Veil of Vengeance (2025) another mini drama has very good fight sequences. The FL, Christy Guo' General Mo Qingchuan is a good fighter. Strong, intelligent, strategic and stone-hearted when need be.
Dominion and Devotion 92025) A Prince chosen by the Head Eunuch to be the next Emperor. "Did you get the Emperor that you wanted?" Can be interpreted in different ways.
Female Zhang Zhi Wei was screenwriter and director for both mini-dramas. .

She realized too late that part of his machinations were directed at her and Xiao Jue. Once you peg someone, you keep them in that category until they really betray you. She was his end game. Xiao Jue realized early on that he had moved from her friend to competitor.

She didn't considered it from a romantic point of view. He had been friend-zoned from the beginning.

About a week ago two preview sites like cbiz reported the ending. And both said that He Yan would lay down her armor and devote herself to Xiao Jue and child. I wondered about that. Both sites are unreliable.
Ep. 36 has our lead couple being allowed to marry as generals and to defend the borderlands together.

It would appear that the gang survives. He Yan ans Xiao Jie can be married as generals and protect the borderlands.

A new decree permitting them to marry as Generals.

He is banished to the borderlands.

Cloud777,
I've thought about Li Kuang's plan in ep.26. The writers kept how people, woman in this case, can be forced by circumstances, by expectations on proper behavior, to feel that they have no choice but to comply. He Yan and Ms Qi Luo talk about the rescued women and then Ms Qi Luo, tells He Yan about her debt of gratitude to Gen. Li. But the conversation is really a comment about the double standards for women and men. Then and even now. Then Gen Li asks his concubine (wife) to sacrifice herself in leading the women in a feint. It sounds like they will attack ahead of his sortie, but that plan really makes no sense. They will be cut down quickly and so will his attack. A pointless banzai charge. A more realistic, yet still futile plan would have the women seem like they are evacuating the city, perhaps early dawn so that their bright clothing can make them easily identifiable. The women run away from the Wutuo Army but are chased by them, breaking ranks. That is when Gen Li sorties, hoping to take advantage of the confusion. It is in part, the plan that He Yan and Xiao Jie actually do. Two points not mentioned. He is willing to sacrifice his wife. And he willing to die leading his attack. And Gen Li's men may not want to die either. But the narrative is the the unfair treatment of women and the weak. I'm fine with that. Even with He Yan and her gang, there is no hope for any plan to succeed. Until Xiao Jie and his battalion arrives. And the battle is won by a change in tactics and the super hero like fighting abilities of He Yan and Xiao Jie, in leading the charge, breaking the shield wall and killing the Wutuo leader. We should not treat Gen Li so harshly as he was dealt a rotten hand with no chance to succeed, save die valiantly, if not foolishly.

At the end, marriage, kids, family. Will both be together in the borderlands? Will that be how he will walk by her side? Will she lay down her armor?

Off topic because this drama is about the female experience. But combat and death opens a part of human experience that not many are privy to. Different from but no less than civilian deaths in war.
I read about a MASH nurse receiving a wounded helicopter pilot. Despite their best efforts, he died. Then a chopper landed and the two pilots inquired about their friend. Being told that he had died, they sat on a bench, to digest the news. She watched them and noticed tears coming down. No bawling, no sobs. Just quietly crying together. After a while they got up and thanked the nurse and flew off. The nurse made the comment that she felt jealous, resentment. That men in war showed a side to each other that women were not privy to. I think it was a vulnerability without weakness, a closeness that men who faced death together shared.

A Vietnam vet who worked with wounded and dying, sometime after the war was invited by friends to watch a vietnam war movie. He reacted strongly against it. He said that it wasn't realistic. That the dying was not like that. There was crying and calling for mama. He walked away and didn't come back until it was over.

In America, the Secy of Defense must be a civilian and usually not former military because of the danger of the generals and admirals getting to much power. So the Minister of War might focus on the political side. They have generals to give advice or clarification. Hitler, Churchill and Lincoln are examples of leaders with military experience that carried over to providing instructions on how to prosecute the war. Some good, some bad.

Ep. 3. The flashbacks on his mystery woman. Ep. 6 He pours out his heart telling the story of the fireflies and she ends up nodding off. He notices the scars on her shoulders and wonders if and then knows that she is the one. Never mind her face. And in the darkened room as she went to hug him, SHE closed the door to give them privacy. Watched and re-watched many times.

Thank you. I never felt that she was caustic. but that is probably just me.
I've been around strong women most of my life. I will look out for that as I finish the drama.
My Auntie May was pretty strong. I've been told that my kindergarten teacher could tell you more about my Aunt than about my Mother.
In my 30s, in a department store, I did something to anger her and she delivered a tongue lashing in public. Then and now, I knew all of the things that she had done for me, so I bit my tongue. in respect for her

I peeked at your watch list. He was in A Familiar Stranger. A favorite with many.
He was nice in Follow Your Heart. (2024)

The theme of the drama is for a female to reach her full potential as best as she can. If she were to return his love in equal intensity, then it would probably detract from her goal of becoming a general again and to reclaim her legacy. Would it seem like she is riding the coat tails of the ML? And writers like the angst of a triangle even if we don't. My thoughts.