stellaris

i’m reading many comments criticizing zhou ye’s characterization of he yan, calling her too girly a lot and i think people are watching this drama with a modern lens, forgetting the era of the drama, she isn’t girly at all and what she is at most is a girl with boyish charms, which is exactly how he yan is described in the novel. you might call her immature sure (considering she might only be 16-18 and had her childhood + teenage years stolen from her) or not convincing enough for a seasoned soldier and general (debatable on my side because she’s clearly playing a dual personality, where she’s lively with the ones she likes and ruthless with her enemies) but as for girly… i will simply have to disagree because no noble woman would be acting the way he yan does. she’s very bold to the point of being rude and she absolutely doesn’t care. she’s not pudibond among men, sleeps in the same place as them, has no issue showing her shoulder and skin to ml, and i’m sure if not for her gender getting revealed she might not even care bathing with others soldiers lol. also she’s playful and not flirtatious, don’t forget no one knows she’s a woman and she thinks of herself as a man when she interacts with others soldiers, so why would she be flirtatious ? she doesn’t try to seduce anyone, she’s just having fun. i read a comment from a chinese blogger saying how much they’re enjoying zhou ye performance as he yan because she’s actually natural, she doesn’t try to imitate a man contrary to many others gender-bending dramas and doesn’t reinforce stereotypes. if you drop the modern lens and contextualize the era the characters are in right now, you might see her performance from another angle.

honestly i’m not disagreeing with you
most of the scenes (except the ones where they fight in the ring) are from the novel and they definitely adapted them with a lighter approach, the first episodes (except the very first one) do feel more like romcom than a revenge drama
on my side i still appreciate we see a lot of her in the army because this is mostly how i visioned the drama while reading the novel, but i can get why you’re not vibing with it
from the preview i think they want to play around the two sides of heyan : playful and revengeful, as she’s seen taking her first revenge and smile at xiao jue just after as if of nothing
we’re definitely far from the dark mood of the glory (he yan is also more of justice heroine than a bloody revengeful character) and i’m almost sure the drama will drop the comedic aspect in the later episodes (hopefully) so that might please watchers who were expecting more of the revenge genre !

yeah the pacing is definitely very fast in comparison to the novel, i’m guessing they’re trying to adapt the whole novel and 36 episodes might not be enough so they’re rushing a lot of things
still it’s a pity they didn’t take more time in the first two episodes to explain the leads backgrounds so the viewers can feel for them more

i think it’s a shaky attempts from the production team to avoid the censorship but still keep some of novel heyan in the drama
they know novel readers will be upset so they try to not change everything either i guess, at the risk of things being less logical

i’m pretty sure she ran extra longer in order to get back her stamina (and not proving things to “men” ? and even if she did nothing that wrong with that as she wants to be noticed by her superiors to be picked as an elite soldier) after she got poisoned and was in coma for one month, she’s still in the process of recovering
she picks up stuffs faster because she used to be a very great general ? she didn’t get amnesia or anything
her body might be weaker for now but her technique remains (they mentioned it several times), if lei hou can be a good multitasked soldier, why can’t she be especially with her massive past ?
as for engaging with the ml too quickly, i can agree with that, it does feel out of place and unrealistic
i remember in the novel she was actually avoiding him a lot and he was the one on her back lol
i saw people mentioning that her attitude (in the drama) with him probably has to do with their old bound and the fact she was still a general like one month ago (basically she respects him in public but doesn’t care in private because she knows him personally) and as for him being way too lenient, he was watching her and checking if she was a spy at first, what could be her real intentions (like a keep your enemies close thing maybe) it’s not like he’s never mentioning she isn’t crazy bold and daring, if tbh his eyes could kill she would have been dead several times 😭 and as for their relationship now, she’s his favorite soldier so she’s very much getting a different treatment from others
are these explanations a bit far stretched ? definitely, but it’s another point i can close my eyes on as the production seems wanting to cover the whole novel (and they don’t have enough episodes to go slower)
as for the laying low thing i agree, i remember in the novel when she showed off her skills and everything xiao jue wasn’t that much around (i mean he was but she didn’t know) it’s a bit obvious the drama wants them to get closer as quick as possible and chooses to omit a lot of realistic details and emphasizes on others (like her wanting to get close to him from the beginning for her revenge)

by taking a shine, you mean getting interested in her because she’s a strong skillful soldier ? it’s also the same in the novel, he likes that she can understand him the best out of all women (since she experienced battles), can fight with him and everything else that her being a soldier + general implies
i’m not sure if it’s a bad message for young girls as we, women, are still asked to be seen cute and weak to be loved by men ? and not the opposite ?

i don’t see her being so fixated on the ml status ? what scene or line made you think that ? for me, the only thing she wants from the ml for now is becoming his elite soldier so she can springboard to higher military posts later (which doesn’t involve him but the emperor) and she’s doing everything for revenge and herself

the english title is made to be catchy because everyone loves a story where a woman from ancient time becomes a general… there aren’t necessarily bad intentions behind it

again i’m far from saying the production is perfect, like episode 1 could have been much much better and focus on understanding the characters on an deeper emotional aspect (but a lot of cdramas have terrible plot episodes… and lotfg one isn’t that bad in comparison), as for focusing on the romance more, i won’t disagree with you because the drama obviously decided to start on a lighter tone (contrary to the others adaptions from the same author) some people like this some others hate it and that’s ok
the romance might start early for some reasons but is still on the side line, most of the scenes are her in the army, fighting, interacting with others soldiers and the revenge is starting already as she finally got a trail to follow

body switch means rebirth and the censorship doesn’t allow it, dramas productions always need different way to adapt rebirth novels, some said the previous life was a dream, some others that it’s from a book, some decide to rewrite the whole aspect without involving a fantasy plot-setting
lotfg falls in the third category and for novel readers i get why it’s upsetting but it unfortunately is how it is

i really don’t see the drama the same way

didn’t she go back to the army for military merits, so for herself ? her own ambitions ?
i’m not exactly sure what you mean by “she needs to act like a tough man to gain respect from them” when she won the others soldiers respect through her skills since they were bullying her for being petite ? she isn’t acting tough in particular and is even quite friendly ? or do you consider showing your skills or being heroic acting tough ?
“little spoilt girl” and isn’t the sword fight with ml, just her being playful and challenging him into becoming her master ? she needed his help to improve and win the challenges, so i’m not sure how she’s spoiled for wanting help from the strongest person in the army (whom she also strategically approaches for her revenge so her own goal)
it’s an idol drama that pushes comedy first and likely later will get more serious, in my eyes she isn’t into the ml at all for now and only sees him as a close friend, even for the ml, you could assume he’s maybe starting to get feelings for her but it’s not even sure or made obvious, he could also simply warm to her after suspecting her from being a spy all this time

as for the message the drama tries to convey, i’m pretty sure it’s the title… how a woman manages to become a general and takes back everything that got stolen from her (because she’s a woman) it might be shallow i guess ? but the message needs simple contextualisation to be understood

as for the plotholes (her master saving her or her knowing how to do makeup) it’s an issue from the production omitting important details and explanations but it’s not correlated to the rest ?

wetv!

the comments are getting more positive and constructive finally haha

she was even poisoned 😭

it’s the concept of the drama.. cross dressing, the ml learns her gender in episode 4, 2ml probably a bit later but for everyone else it’ll be toward the end of the drama

in the drama so far (so not the novel version), it's explained she exchanged place with her brother
for a general context male heirs are very important as they're the ones that bring honours to the family while the girls cruelly will get married off
so with the brother gone for many years (for reason still unknown in the drama), her father forced her to take his place
initially she only went to an academy with all the nobles where she also met xiao jue
she wasn't supposed to become a soldier from what i understand, she was probably sent just to study for her brother at the academy and later taking the exam to become a government official (the normal path for nobles sons)
but she decided to become a soldier in order to "survive" (her own words) and gets considered by her father (like avoiding getting married off)
her father seemed a bit against the idea (not explicitly told) until she started getting military merits, because you can see the switch between : when he was punishing her initially vs when he was all smiley with her later
for more general context, her family is of noble status so her father is either a scholar or a government official (i assume this because it's not explained yet in the drama) as the father is getting older, the family needs a male heir to take his place later
the goals of most of noble families in dramas is to get recognized by the emperor and getting merits, if the male heir fails to do so they'll become the laughting stock of nobles families, if he manages to do so it'll elevate even more their noble status and this seems to be the goal of the he family

it's the first episodes it's different

because it's popular so people will be overly critical as always haha, but it's ok those viewers shoud stop watching soon (hopefully)

exactly ! between the censorships and the episodes restriction, of course changes will be made so i really appreciate how my favorite scenes are still in, also many lines are kept, the essence of the novel remains, so i'm really enjoying the adaptation, everyone is perfect in their roles and doing great with acting as well !

novel reader and i love the drama too !

it’s not i believe but the dubber made it sound close to her own voice !

180 years later …

it’s a perfect amount of love / sexy tension and an interesting political plot with a woman on the throne

thank u for pointing these details out ! and i loveeee this scene 🤭