grumpylothcat

Elevator boy on a rampage

I really liked this drama for around 20 episodes - or more? All the characters are well played and the plot wasn't super fast-paced, but engaging, set up well. Characters were well rounded and believable. Plot was coming along nicely.
And then the ML transformed into a creepy dude who doesn't care if the FL wants him or not, kisses her without consent, grabs her by the throat multiple times, forces her onto a bed and: she starts catching feelings for him around that time.
Under the guise that "she was misunderstanding his intentions the whole time and now that she knows spoilery stuff about him, she isn't afraid of him anymore and realizes what a great guy he is". Except that he just demonstrated he isn't. He forced a kiss, he didn't stop, he strangled her.

Sure, there should be multifaceted, grey characters, bad guys in a story. This is the ML and this story is set up in a way that shows "hey, just be forceful and persistent and the girl will be yours" and I freakin cannot stand it.
She tells him off after they spent the night together, he asks her to marry him, she needs to think about it and he acts like a four year old who didn't get to keep his favorite toy. But that is the extent of it - after that she's back to liking him.

There's imo nothing steamy about their interactions, because they are all forced - from kiss one onwards. I despise this kind of narrative. I don't even want to give it one point, if it wasn't for all the stuff that they did great on before that.

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Lowered expectations

I hadn't seen any promo material except for the trailer. I didn't expect anything really - other than a kickass female general. The first 20ish episodes were solid, even though the plot developed rather slow and wasn't complex at all. I still liked He Yan claiming her life back so to speak. But the drama never really hit it off. The villains were laughable, flat, rather ambitionless compared to c-dramas I've watched and there was just not a lot going on, other than the ML and FL starting to trust each other more.

And that was it overall. Almost no cool fighting scenes, especially not by the FL - I hoped for that and was really dissapointed. There were a few stocky feminist catchphrase teaching moments, telling the audience that women can do anything they set their mind to. Being strong and doing whatever you want as a woman would only get you killed most of the time in real ancient times and even now, irl femicides are rampant. So while I appreciate the message and think it is important to show strong females in any kind of situation onscreen, the fact that everyone kind of just went along with He Yan doing whatever she liked doesn't tranaslate into the real world well.
The thing I liked most was the contrast created between Xiao Yue and Chu Zhao - showcasing the difference between a man who loves his chosen for what she is and accompanies her on her journey and a man who just wants to posses and manipulate.

From around ep20 onwards I got impatient and the last 5 episodes felt too rushed but too long at the same time. Which is also when the emperor transformed from bland but reasonable to villain-y, but clueless how to handle a situation.
The ending resolved everything in an okay way, but I was still a little bit annoyed because of what happened before the last episode - the drama created between FL & ML wasn't necessary and out of character, since it could have been resolved by them talking to each other.

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The big reveal is the big turning point from which everything goes downhill

This is certainly a slow-paced, understated drama from the beginning - and sometimes it slows down even more. So it's not for people who enjoy faced paced action centered stories. But even I didn't expect anything like that, I found it incredibly sloooow.
SaveI stayed and kept watching because the impeccable acting from ZX and really cool side characters.

But then, the big reveal came .... DON'T read if you don't want any spoilers .....

and I don't even know if I want to watch the ending. I'm at episode 36 and about to give up on this drama, because the big bad was just revealed and in a matter of half an episode turned super pathetic and boring. I am seriously pissed at the moment. The motif behind ZBWs actions is just paper thin. Like... you get bullied as a child and suddenly want to turn whole nations into zombies? Wtf.

I might pick it up again when I have calmed down, but I certainly will reduce my rating based on this part of the plot alone.
Since my partner wanted to finish it, we did. I was bored out of my mind and didn't like the last 4 episodes at all, because they felt rushed but actually not much happened - especially the tear-jerker sequence where ZH meets his family was wasted on me, because the ML is must so bland, I don't feel for him at all.

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