This review may contain spoilers
actually really good?
(personal review - all thoughts, opinions, and biases are mine only)
started this drama on a whim after hearing many mixed reviews. it was three episodes in that i realized i...am a complete sucker for this couple's dynamic. i just looove a ML who's completely devoted to his FL to the point of wanting to kill for her. so i was hooked immediately and i was willing to watch the whole way through just to see their development. i'm largely satisfied in that department - contrary to others' opinions, i don't think their first kiss at ep10 is too fast tbh. for a 24ep drama that's really fair because i happen to enjoy watching what happens after they're "together" more than the journey there.
for the story, i find it quite enjoyable. ehh it's a typical revenge-rebirth plot so i didn't have much expectations to begin with, but yeah i think it's pretty good. what it suffers from is just the typical cdrama disease of being halfway done and the plot & pacing goes completely bonkers. it's quite fast paced in the first half then gets kinda draggy in the second half, but i also expected that. maybe sometimes the plot was deceptively predictable too. there were some plot holes and missing scenes but i don't think they were inexcusable. at least to me, if i can still follow along and figure out what's going on that's fine. (the issue surrounding wei village and a-xiang and also the xie clan's elixir were kinda glossed over when i thought they would discuss them in more detail, and that did bother me. but again, all in all it's fine.) but gosh i just love the drama. i like that you can't figure out who really has the upperhand because there could always be someone pulling the strings, i like that you can't trust anyone, i like that characters could be working together at one point and then backstabbing one another. ...which might be the base standard for a political-military drama of this sort, but whatever! it's worthy of praise.
i enjoy chu zhao's scheming, and unlike what others say, i do believe that she is that smart because even in her first life she did show her smarts in governing when helping xiao xun, it was just that she was blinded by love and couldn't foresee his betrayal. speaking of, xiao xun pissed me off in every opportunity available despite his charming face, deng yi pissed me off sometimes (ever since the betrayal at the dock at least) but i like that he is somewhat maybe schizophrenic based on the fact that he constantly talks to a younger version of himself. gosh i wish xie yanfang didn't end up evil because i did want to like him but i just can't not root for chu zhao and xie yanlai. it's sort of weird that he kinda maybe has some feelings for chu zhao too and is posed as a threat for her relationship with xie yanlai but oh well, all that matters for me is that there's no love triangle BS.
the characters were surprisingly complex in my opinion. again, i just didn't expect much getting into this, but i think both main characters and the side characters were well-developed in the sense that their backgrounds, thoughts, actions, and relationships with other characters were fleshed out. there was a point where chu zhao was crying almost every scene for 6? 7? 8? episodes straight? and it kinda bothered me because damn this girl does NOT get a break but then again things *were* hard for her then. xie yanlai is also a good character. his thoughts and feelings toward the xie clan, his birth mother, and the chu family were interesting to learn and follow. even the interests of xie yanfang and deng yi were fascinating. the only character i don't sympathize with is xiao xun because despite everything he is almost fully completely evil.
hmm i personally wasn't too sad watching this, i was only almost driven to tears in the scene where chu zhao talks to a-jiu about wanting her dad to just be her dad. that did move me. but other than that it was fine. i literally couldn't stop watching because the story kept me on my toes til it was 4am. i loveeee this couple i really do, and every scene where they weren't together was painful because they truly shine the most with each other. i don't like that xie yanlai barely appeared on screen after becoming the new general and then he gets a victory killing the northern desert king's son like where? how? can we see???
(chu zhao & xie yanlai shared 3 kisses over the entire thing and 10 hugs or something that at some point i went "you guys aren't gonna kiss? seriously not gonna kiss?" but i also love their hugs. they're just so loving and i love how they support each other.)
i like the main/opening theme, it's somber-sounding at the beginning but gains power over time which really embodies the story i think. other than that i can't think of a very praise-worthy soundtrack. maybe the one at the final scene. that one's also good. the rest are okay, just not that memorable.
...given all of that, i probably won't be rewatching, not for any reason other than that i would be too stressed watching xiao xun win and my girl a-zhao get fucked over all over again.
started this drama on a whim after hearing many mixed reviews. it was three episodes in that i realized i...am a complete sucker for this couple's dynamic. i just looove a ML who's completely devoted to his FL to the point of wanting to kill for her. so i was hooked immediately and i was willing to watch the whole way through just to see their development. i'm largely satisfied in that department - contrary to others' opinions, i don't think their first kiss at ep10 is too fast tbh. for a 24ep drama that's really fair because i happen to enjoy watching what happens after they're "together" more than the journey there.
for the story, i find it quite enjoyable. ehh it's a typical revenge-rebirth plot so i didn't have much expectations to begin with, but yeah i think it's pretty good. what it suffers from is just the typical cdrama disease of being halfway done and the plot & pacing goes completely bonkers. it's quite fast paced in the first half then gets kinda draggy in the second half, but i also expected that. maybe sometimes the plot was deceptively predictable too. there were some plot holes and missing scenes but i don't think they were inexcusable. at least to me, if i can still follow along and figure out what's going on that's fine. (the issue surrounding wei village and a-xiang and also the xie clan's elixir were kinda glossed over when i thought they would discuss them in more detail, and that did bother me. but again, all in all it's fine.) but gosh i just love the drama. i like that you can't figure out who really has the upperhand because there could always be someone pulling the strings, i like that you can't trust anyone, i like that characters could be working together at one point and then backstabbing one another. ...which might be the base standard for a political-military drama of this sort, but whatever! it's worthy of praise.
i enjoy chu zhao's scheming, and unlike what others say, i do believe that she is that smart because even in her first life she did show her smarts in governing when helping xiao xun, it was just that she was blinded by love and couldn't foresee his betrayal. speaking of, xiao xun pissed me off in every opportunity available despite his charming face, deng yi pissed me off sometimes (ever since the betrayal at the dock at least) but i like that he is somewhat maybe schizophrenic based on the fact that he constantly talks to a younger version of himself. gosh i wish xie yanfang didn't end up evil because i did want to like him but i just can't not root for chu zhao and xie yanlai. it's sort of weird that he kinda maybe has some feelings for chu zhao too and is posed as a threat for her relationship with xie yanlai but oh well, all that matters for me is that there's no love triangle BS.
the characters were surprisingly complex in my opinion. again, i just didn't expect much getting into this, but i think both main characters and the side characters were well-developed in the sense that their backgrounds, thoughts, actions, and relationships with other characters were fleshed out. there was a point where chu zhao was crying almost every scene for 6? 7? 8? episodes straight? and it kinda bothered me because damn this girl does NOT get a break but then again things *were* hard for her then. xie yanlai is also a good character. his thoughts and feelings toward the xie clan, his birth mother, and the chu family were interesting to learn and follow. even the interests of xie yanfang and deng yi were fascinating. the only character i don't sympathize with is xiao xun because despite everything he is almost fully completely evil.
hmm i personally wasn't too sad watching this, i was only almost driven to tears in the scene where chu zhao talks to a-jiu about wanting her dad to just be her dad. that did move me. but other than that it was fine. i literally couldn't stop watching because the story kept me on my toes til it was 4am. i loveeee this couple i really do, and every scene where they weren't together was painful because they truly shine the most with each other. i don't like that xie yanlai barely appeared on screen after becoming the new general and then he gets a victory killing the northern desert king's son like where? how? can we see???
(chu zhao & xie yanlai shared 3 kisses over the entire thing and 10 hugs or something that at some point i went "you guys aren't gonna kiss? seriously not gonna kiss?" but i also love their hugs. they're just so loving and i love how they support each other.)
i like the main/opening theme, it's somber-sounding at the beginning but gains power over time which really embodies the story i think. other than that i can't think of a very praise-worthy soundtrack. maybe the one at the final scene. that one's also good. the rest are okay, just not that memorable.
...given all of that, i probably won't be rewatching, not for any reason other than that i would be too stressed watching xiao xun win and my girl a-zhao get fucked over all over again.
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