randomshowenthusiast

I loved this drama!! (tho to me the ending only redeemed itself by the last few sentences and I was crying lol)
I binge watched it and really didn't want to stop when the story got into a good flow after the first few epis.
It's a nice mix of comedic family drama, cozyness and political intrigue, the actors did great all around :)

I know this will never happen at this point and even if it did they might cut more of the bromance considering current cens0ring is still strict, but damn sometimes I still want to be delulu cause it's such a fun show with a great bromance :')

I'm only a few epis in (ep 6) but it's really enjoyable so far :)
the main leads got me hooked since ep 1, the charas come across as very natural & grounded while having an adorkable charm in dealing with their situation and adapting to everything as best as they can (whether this means trying to break apart the marriage or later working together) ^^

The actors are well chosen for the role:
of course if families would be forced to hide their children's gender they can't bet on them growing into adults that can represent that fake role well ( e.g. concerning body proportions etc), but it def helps that the chosen actors' height difference isn't too extreme & their faces are androgynous enough to make it believable their families could get away with this deceit for years ^^

I also like the details in the different 'gender expression' each chara has, e.g.:
Rui Yu even hides her true identity from her sister in law at home, so she's living as man 99% of the time and therefore has the body language etc of the 'frail scholarly gentelman' internalized...
Whereas Nan Chenxiao as 'daughter' of a military family is more hidden away from the public & sneaks out as man when he can, so e.g. his fast paced walk is def not 'ladylike' but he gets away with it by having built a reputation as 'fierce general's daughter' haha (but damn does his face look beautiful framed with some lose hair & styled with beautiful hairpins :3)

It's also refreshing that their immediate families are supportive people, we'll see how long that lightheartedness will last with the political schemes brewing on the horizon ^^
(pls do Not reply spoilers, thanks)

I loved this drama, it kept me entertained & intrigued with the story, gave me a nicely varied chara ensemble, friendships & found family & bromance :3

random comment: they had their last filming day (Q66) on 3rd October 2025 for Khemjira, so Idk if you'd call that 'filmed before TNP' ^^
(but Ig they filmed for ages, Q1 was in November 2024 ^^)

For anyone who wants some short notes for Khemjira related culture/customs, some kind people made threads for the first few epis (deeper knowledge can then be looked up further):

Khemjira Must Know - a thread that you might need

EP1 Edition - a collaboration between @hiinmotion and @moonrabbit1702

https://x.com/moonrabbit1702/status/1954573066866139486

Oh wow I didn't think my POV would change so fast, at first I still liked it despite my ramble above, but Ig this show isn't for me, dropping it after 16 epis ^^
I went into this totally blind (even skipping intro/outro) just due to a 'found family' rec and the high ratings, but the found family is only true for the first part, after it turns into a weird vibe with obsessive controling 'brothers' that suddenly are into FL (this fight shouldn't even have been about them not being her brothers, but just them being overly controlling and disrespecting her as a whole individual, blood-brothers or not, no one should behave like such an asshole just cause they're 'overprotective').
I'm not generally against childhood-friends/step-siblings turning into a romance, but it should at least be handled well.
Good others can enjoy this drama, but for me it's sadly a No, I wish we'd kept it at platonic bonds and instead had actually dealt with their issues & reunited as family despite no direct bloodties...

The show does a lot of good things with the found family, but after 11 eps there are also quite a few things in the writing that irritate me, so can’t help but leave a ramble before I move on with the show ^^

I think my main pet-peeves are that the script too often gives FL the maturity of a literal 5 yo and contrasting that with heavy IRL occurrences is just grating, esp when it e.g. leads to the charas ‘demonizing’ an innocent little girl that searches just as much for love & belonging as any of them did when they were younger.
I absolutely get that there’s an emotional disconnect to this little stranger esp considering the toxic family she comes with, but e.g. when we see FL still with (more or less) hidden animosity after yrs it leaves me with no understanding & also makes 'found family' feel very exclusionary.
And overall I struggle atm with the writing choice to center FL in the current fast-forward narrative of their young adulthood (she has the LEAST going on??)
We got so much heavy stuff dumped on the boys when they were ~18 and it literally wasn’t explored at all besides their initially conflicted feelings about leaving their dads/sister for a while?!?!!? Literally NOTHING on their POV in their early adulthood?!?!
As someone who was a caretaker for an extended family member - I luckily overall got along with well - I can’t even imagine what it would be like in Ling Xiao’s shoes having to handle all that at a young age with a person that triggers some of your worst memories/fears and also become a parental figure for a little child on top of it…

I get that I still have 20+ epis left for their reunion as adults and everything they’ll have to deal with then, but it just feels so off to me that the show skips ahead through their most formative years as young adults after dumping so many things on them (and us)?!
(also sorry I get the estrangement the writers want to go for, but not a single visit from either side was possible in all these years???)
ufff ok, taking a deep breath and will continue with the show ^^

honestly I don't have any charas I want specifically to die anyway, cause I like layered charas and grey charas, they add flavor to the shows, I'm just preparing myself that possibly like 50% of the charas might die haha, Idk how far the writers want to go ^^

haha I didn't mention him cause I think he stayed the most consistent to me so far?
like we're learning more about him in bits & pieces, but him growing up abused in the palace then surviving by being a general defending the country, but also using that time to gain support and implement schemes against an emporer brother that wants him dead: kinda makes perfect sense and hasn't lost his conviction so far ^^
I'm just not sure if I can call him a 'chess player' cause we don't know his specific plans yet, so are they good plans Idk haha
yep Ig they'll give either Yixiao the honor to kill him or maybe a more random kill from Xiyang lol, I'm rlly not sure if the writers want to just go the 'lost innocence & toughing up' route with her or rlly send her down the deep end ^^

ep 30
Ok short ramble ^^
I still enjoy the drama and yes at times they rlly have me guessing where they'll take the plot, so it's def not boring lol
It's just that the plot feels like everything is spiraling, we don't have any chess players just people scrambling from one mess into the next ^^
and yes I get 'that's life', so kinda realistic, we can't plan anything esp in politically unstable situations, but it also means that some charas feel very 'half-baked' atm cause it doesn't feel like they have any goals besides whatever they'll do in the next epi lol

e.g. Murang Yao doesn't actually have any conviction at the moment: cause as much as he was using resentment to fuel his plans he never actually wanted to kill Suige and now he's just scrambling to do whatever his dad tells him to keep the family alive, so atm his chara has as much 'bite' as e.g. our baby emporer Chengyang. (and the empress and elder general Murang too are just scrambling)

Same with Xiyang, instead of making the rational decision to find at least common ground with her 'husband' Jingshi & have some growth, the writers send her off the deep end (even before the bad news about her family).
Like srsly, impersonating his ex-love and then crashing out when he doesn't love her back immediatley instead of being civil with the one person that so far at least treated her with respect when she's in a foreign country... ?
And I get it, the writers go for more drama and it keeps us guessing cause that means those charas can still go in whichever direction in the next few epis, but otoh it gives me a bit soap opera vibes lol (everyone capable of going down the deep end etc)
(I just hope they don't turn the toxic mess of Xiyang & Jingyan into 'more' cause that's coercion so still sexual assault)

PLS don't give me any spoilers, I know I was rambling about the 'messiness' of the plot but I still enjoy watching the plot unfold as is ;)

I overall enjoyed it :)
It had some weak points in the script and I didn't like all of the directoral decisions (they managed to build moments up but some of the highlights fell suddenly flat, e.g. charas giving their all in a struggle/fight but then 0.1 sec of the aftermath and sometimes even the 'struggle' was a bit ridic, 1 time she was just taking a stumble but was treated like a heavy injury keeping her down etc) BUT that's on the script/director not on the actors!

What I DO absolutely Adore about this show:
they took some of the tropes like 'evil twin' and 'sisters turning on each other' and said 'screw this', so instead we got sisterly love beyond realms & friendships & found family!!!
We had a variety of charas, some with darker paths but also some with growth, not everything was easy forgiveness but acknowledgement of mistakes, resentment + grieve.
Even with some comedy in the show, I rlly appreciate that the show handled FL's experiences as what they were build up to be: a life with traumatic/abusive events that shaped her personality & POV.
I whish they'd have given us a few more min at the end but otoh it's not new to me that some xianxias like to drag us through pain & tears and then say goodbye with just a few seconds of hope & happiness lol, still worth it!!!
Beautiful OST, I rarely skipped intro/outro (except on cliffhangers lol) ^^
I rlly like the chara ensemble and was fond of our group, I'll miss them :)

yes her journey will hopefully be interesting with switch from doted upon princess to having to deal with the court/royals of Jinxiu (and her marriage) ^^

I understand your POV and I agree that we have some inherent personalities in us, but your example of 'caring about citizens' is already a responsibility that has to be taught imho, I'm trying to explain:
we even have to teach little kids to share, to let others speak & listen, to touch others softly so we don't hurt them etc there's actually A LOT from very basic to very deeply ethical/philosophical things we have to consciously teach kids so we're a society that hopefully is halfway decent to each other (and even then some people are just a-holes, so yes inherent personality) ^^
And responsibilities & care as a ruler is def something that has to be taught (otherwise you end up with a princess like in Si Jin lol), and from her POV she's fulfilling her duities:
she obeyed her parents (until now), is willing to accept the marriage for the peace-treaty (aware that it's her luck to marry her crush) & following the teachings of the time she's willing to be a good wife and that's pretty much all that's expected of her ^^ (not even the empress has any say outside the harem)
her now running off with her crush is obv foolish in the political situation yes, but otoh you have her brother out here defying the emporer & being willing to not be the crown prince for HIS crush haha, so in a way they're both kinda 'love first - and responsibilities towards the people second' fools in love lol ;)
(tho our ML is in the lucky position to actually have found a kindred spirit & mutual love)

haha I wish you all the best for the journey through this show ^^
I have it on hold and honestly don't know when I'll pick it up again ^^
Like yes I heard good things about it and saw a lot on twitter about the show and the bromance part while it aired and yes I like the ML in Fated Hearts, but otoh I have nearly 400 shows on my to watch list and this one just might not be for me considering some of the comments I read & the way I didn't vibe with the beginning ^^
I hope it'll be worth the watch for you :)

to be fair what did they do for her to develope her into a capable person? ^^
she was a smol bean when her mum died and her dad is literally treating her like his little princess that bakes him sweets and her brother babies her too...
her step-mum pampers her to keep her mallable for her own plans
doesn't seem like any of the bothered to educate her about the politcs & life's dangers etc...

he's in denial a lot since she's the enemy, but the hints have been there all along:
from the 'wanted poster' that shows her in a hero-pose to him admiring her spirit & feistiness & skill as enemy general, him never bothered when she's threatening to slice his neck (It's their way of flirting by now), him simply biting her back after the torture to get even etc...
they have a slightly volatile relationship but from the start it included admiration for the enemy and lowkey attraction (flusteres after him nearly drowning etc)...
so now that they reached a level of kindred spirit & trust, it's not surprising he's falling faster for her ^^

Joy of Live is such a good, show, I'd like to be able to watch s1 for the first time again hehe
yes it's a hidden 'emporer in training' relationship between them, also the 'well he needs to learn and if he doesn't survive along the way I'll be disappointed' vibe, with some manipulations thown in lol while also having a soft spot for the son and letting him get away with a lot...and also secrets about the mother and the questionable involvement of the emporer in her death ^^

ep 13&14
the show is top spot for me atm :')
these epis were so well paced and I'm glad they gave the charas space to explore the conflicting emotions!
The show imho managed to develope the bonds overall rlly well between the many different charas and had my crying over the sweet-potato scene!
(No hate to Legend of the female General, but I wrote a comment back then about the lacking script in regards to trying to establish relationships/chara depth, esp since they were used to try to evoke emotions & play into plotlines:
in LOTFG we too had trusted warrior brothers of the FL, but instead of introducing them & letting us experience some the deep bonds in the 1. epi before the separation due to the plot, they were instead throw-away charas we were barely told about and yet we were supposed to emotionally connect to the deep impact on the FL later on...)

The romance is developing in a believable way, finding kindred spirits in each other, showing care (with more or less denial), simmering attraction (atm more on his side, since she has still a lot to sort through considering her emotions related to her resurfacing past).
I'm also glad we were shown how she & Jingshi fell for each other back then, it wasn't invalidated just to elevate her & Suige as the 'only good option' instead the old relationship too was based on trust & care & seeing her as equal... until he screwed it up.

I rlly hope the show continues to deliver on all aspects, cause it's my fav airing show atm, knocks on wood XD

edit:
btw I'm seeing a lot of 'the priness is so dumb' comments and hey each their own taste, but I do have to say:
what did any of them do to educate her into a capable & experienced person?
she was a smol bean when her mum died and her dad is literally treating her like 'his little princess' that bakes him sweets
her brother babies her too trying to protect her so much he doesn't even let her know about being wounded etc...
her step-mum pampers her to keep her mallable for her own plans
she's ignorant cause they've kept her that way, doesn't seem like any of them bothered to educate her about the politcs & life's dangers etc...

ep 12
This series srsly makes me smile so much cause for me personally it's the perfect mix of good chemistry + political/royal intrigue + great fight choreo + balance between intrigue and humor + interesting charas (incl side-charas).
All actors deliver and I'm so fond of the side-charas it will suck for me when some of them will end up dead :') but I'll enjoy seeing them on my screen while it lasts ^^
the relationship between the emporer and Suige is slightly reminding me of Joy of Life hehe ^^