Wants to be about female empowerment, but misses the mark
With a talented cast and highly stylized but still engaging battle scenes, the "Legend of the Female General" is very watchable, but gets bogged down by some of its script and character choices.
Zhou Ye mostly pulls off the title character, though the playful and tough-as-nails sides of He Yan’s personality didn’t always add up for me. And it does require some suspension of disbelief to buy into her being able to pass as a man while unmasked. It doesn't help that the character is written in an inconsistent way — there are times when she has the presence and poise of a military leader and other times where she definitely doesn't.
While it’s refreshing to see a female lead with fighting and strategic skills on par with the men, male characters frequently come to her rescue at key moments and the borderline ridiculous level of plot armor that she has makes her capabilities less impressive.
Add to that a few too many lectures and monologues, and the messages about women’s worth and equality start to get a little heavy-handed.
Ryan Cheng is certainly leading man material and convincingly plays the brooding but anguished General Fengyun, He Yan’s current commanding officer and former schoolmate. Unfortunately, his character doesn’t have a whole lot to do other than look dashing and speculate about the FL’s secrets.
Overall, despite good performances and mostly good production values, it feels like something’s missing. It could be due to the meandering plot towards the middle, character development that could’ve gone further, or the romantic storyline that falls a little flat despite decent chemistry between the leads (although there is a particularly memorable and poetic profession of love in ep. 30 *).
* “I respect her, value her, and won’t let anyone slander her. She graces my view, occupies my mind, and claims my heart.” (swoon!)
Zhou Ye mostly pulls off the title character, though the playful and tough-as-nails sides of He Yan’s personality didn’t always add up for me. And it does require some suspension of disbelief to buy into her being able to pass as a man while unmasked. It doesn't help that the character is written in an inconsistent way — there are times when she has the presence and poise of a military leader and other times where she definitely doesn't.
While it’s refreshing to see a female lead with fighting and strategic skills on par with the men, male characters frequently come to her rescue at key moments and the borderline ridiculous level of plot armor that she has makes her capabilities less impressive.
Add to that a few too many lectures and monologues, and the messages about women’s worth and equality start to get a little heavy-handed.
Ryan Cheng is certainly leading man material and convincingly plays the brooding but anguished General Fengyun, He Yan’s current commanding officer and former schoolmate. Unfortunately, his character doesn’t have a whole lot to do other than look dashing and speculate about the FL’s secrets.
Overall, despite good performances and mostly good production values, it feels like something’s missing. It could be due to the meandering plot towards the middle, character development that could’ve gone further, or the romantic storyline that falls a little flat despite decent chemistry between the leads (although there is a particularly memorable and poetic profession of love in ep. 30 *).
* “I respect her, value her, and won’t let anyone slander her. She graces my view, occupies my mind, and claims my heart.” (swoon!)
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