Too Late to Say I Love You (2010)

Because there is not comprehensive review of this heartrenching emotional drama about exteme case of true love between an Army General and the daughter of a wealthy merchant that turned their life into complete shambles and being plagued by the revenge from the unrequited love of the second leads and being torn between making the best decision for ones country and keeping the promise made to the one you love.

Epi 1-11 -MuRong Pel In is the son of the army general supervising 6 provinces also known as the fourth master was on his way back from studying in Russia after hearing news of his father’s assassination, on his train ride back enemies of his father were searching for him in on the train so that he will killed and not take over his fathers place and he found himself hiding in the cabin of Jin Wan the daughter or a wealthy merchants who was on her way back from Russia, she helped him disguise and saved him from the soldiers the generals sent to kill him, they escaped alive together and he gave her his singing pocket watch which had his name engraved on it when they parted ways.

Pel in got home with barely enough time to mourn had fill into his fathers shoes and bring to justice against those who assassinated his father, while Jin Wan returns home and was betrothed to the son of their childhood family friend named Jiang Zhang,

Jiang Zhang is a merchant caught secretly importing Ammunitions for the general who killed Pel in’s father and Jin wan left their province Wuchi to chengzhou with the pocket watch hoping that it’s the same Pel in who has now become the commander of the forces to help save her fiancée, she finds its really him and seeks his help For Jiang Zhang release which made her pretend that Pel in was totally besotted to her and failing in his duties so the generals would think he is slacking off while they catch them unexpectedly, while completing this task, her fiancée Jiang Zhang was finally released and instead of leaving for Wuchi she took a gunshot for Pel in whose life was in danger and became more entangled with him beyond their disguise which further created rousing suspicion that Pel in has indeed fallen in love with her during their pretense charade because he nursed her back to health in his personal chamber while she was healing from the gunshot wound, this act set off jealousy in Jin xhi , who was Pel in childhood friend who is been waiting for him to show her affection and expected to naturally be his wife.

Jiang Zhang abandoned Jin wan in anger and went home over the excessive attention she given to her from Pel in, who later confessed his true feeling to Jin wan who later turns down the love advances And brother zoned him and returns home conflicted in emotions with her father.

Jiang Zhang family was in the verge of bankruptcy due to his arrest and his grandmother convinced him to beg Jin wan and seek her hand in marriage to save their family from shame.
Pel in however was heart broken over Jin wan rejection and threw himself into the battlefront during the war after rejecting love advances from Jin zhi and sister zoning her.

Ep 12-23 - Jin wan arrived home to a hurried proposal of marriage from Jiang Zhang, though conflicted about the arranged marriage , Jin wan went along with the preparation half heartedly to please her family until Pel in left the war front distraught after seeing the news of her marriage to beg her to reconsider his feelings for her and marry him. Jin wan eventually abandoned Jiang Zhang on the day of their wedding to look for Pel in the battle front with the help of his childhood friend zin zhi

Pel in and Jin wan are reunited happily and declared love for each other unofficially married in the war front while they lived happily and winning more provinces during the war, Pel in was a happier and more confident leader and the news of their pair was published on the papers , Jin wan’s father disowned her for bringing shame to the family but Pel in brought comfort and strength to her with so much love and devotion and more dedication to his people but Jiang Zhang became a drunkard because of being abandoned and became bankrupt and ridiculed in the society, After conquering Wuchi and seeing that their union brought others pain, they decided to help and seek for forgiveness hence Pel in decided to help Jiqng Zhang but he betrayed Pel in to his enemies because of revenge plan , this event led to the army being in severe trouble that forced Pel in a corner to accept a deceptive help that led to a marriage proposal from Jin xhi in exchange for their troops to save the Wuchi, He reluctantly agreed and. sent Jin wan to France temporally not knowing Jin xhi had gone ahead to publicly annul his wedding to Jin wan thereby publicly embarrassing Jin wan.

Ep 23-36 - Jin wan on her way to France found out through Jiang Zhang that Pel in has annulled their marriage, she stopped her trip and went angrily to Pel in and threatened to kill herself and die and also kill his child, once Pel in found out she was pregnant, he locked her up to avoid her running away from him or killing her self, this obsessive and possessive action made Jin wan resent especially since he still followed through although reluctantly and married Jin xhi in exchange for the help he received, Jin wan ran away with the help of xin xhi but she ended up evening captured and miscarried her baby.

After being emotionally battered and abused she finally left Pel in and left for France with zin xhi who had been faithfully taking care of her.

Pel in however became more miserable in his marriage to Jin xhi and couldn’t rid himself of the guilt of betraying Jin wan ,his life and his newly acquired provinces and control gradually became meaningless as he longed deeply for Jin wan and was regretting the choice he made. Jin xhi did all she could to get his love but he Just couldn’t return her affection despite her changing and becoming more feminine.

Jin wan and zin xhi return after a few years and settled in Wuchi with Jin wan determined to seek forgiveness from her family no matter what it took; Jiang Zhang however regained his wealth and influence in Wuchi and decided to exploit Jin wan father by getting him drunk and transferring his assets to him, after Jin wan father forgave her, Jian Zhang became angry and wanted her to suffer and requested for her Hand in marriage again, but her father declined eventually after knowing Jiang Zhang real motives with the help of xin xhi , this infuriated Jiang Zhang further till he set Jin wan up for a crime which eventually made her father lost his life in exchange for hers. Jin wan rises up after a long mourning with a new determination to add value to her country despite all her losses in life and went back to chengzhou to work in a secret news paper agency which was propagating against the Japanese takeover of their territories.

Pel in having lost all hope in life of reuniting with Jin wan the one true love who gave him the happiest time of his life and having even lost her doppelgänger to death caused by Jin xhi couldn’t make a call to declare war against the Japanese troupes taunting him via Jiang Zhang as their ambassador, until one day he found Jin wan like a dream among a crowd of protesters and he forgot about everything and just wanted to run away with her to which Jin wan declined having met zin xhi earlier who claimed she was pregnant and deceitfully begged Jin wan not to come and destroy a happy family,

Pel was hopelessly dejected because Jin wan gave him the impression she was now romantically involved with his childhood friend and wife’s brother zin xhi. Jin xhi paid a prison warden to kill Jin wan after being arrested by an order from Pel in which Jin xhi took advantage of, zin xhi and Pel in came on time to rescue Jin wan from death, which ultimately led to them reuniting again in love with a promise never to separate . Pel in expressly asked for divorce from Jin xhi to finally be with Jin Wan even after knowing she was as pregnant with his child, he accepted to be the father but refused to be her husband and a family with her anymore.
Pel in Finally learnt how to love Jin wan selflessly and not possessively which led him to sneak her out of the war territory with the help of zin xhi and he proceeded to go to war gallantly.

Jian Zhang and Jin zhi became traitors to their country to the Japanese and sold out on army when Pel in finally declared war to take over their territory which led to the final war that made all of then lose everyone and everything as they all died and even Pel in was presumed dead. Jin wan woke up on the train ride out and ran back to chengzhou hat she will rather die with Pel in on the battle field than live without him but she was too late.

Finally 7 years after, Jin wan and zin xhi started a new life in Wuchi province and even made plans to marry each other when one day during a program broadcast of the aftermath of war a glimpse possibly of Pel in farming kicked off the hope she had of him being alive made her take a trip to look for him, on the way she saw Jiang Zhang who was being hunted down and finally got his nemesis as he was killed, she set out to look for Pel in who she found fishing with no memory of her Anymore other than his continued love for her orchids and him growing a green house to tend to his numerous plants and orchids like he did in the past as a habit when she left him , while speaking to her he said he doesn’t know how he formed the habit but he just has a feeling to keep tending to them, Jin wan being disappointed started to walked away disappointed that he now sees her as a stranger unknowingly dropped the pocket watch which had Pel in name engraved on it which began to make its usual sound that eventually triggered Pel in’s memory and he ran after her to reunite. END OF DRAMA

My final take on the drama.

For such a drama that has us drowned in tears most of its episodes, the final happy ending was just too short, we should have seen them live at least 30 mins of the average life in that farm house together and happy with their amazing chemistry. The scenes of them being happy together was really passionate and steaming, Pel in showed us he desired and wanted to devour and possess Jin wan most of the time., so they should have given a slightly longer happy ending story line for us to ease all that sadness.

Zin xhi wasted his almost all life following and loving Jin wan to ensure she is safe and happy and he never got a happy ending or a glimpse of hope for a revived career or love for someone so dedicated and selfless to the leads.

Jiang Zhang punishment of a gunshot seems rushed and confusing as we don’t know why he was being hunted, he should have been hung on his skin for treason and made to die a slow and painful death while reflecting on how he shouldn’t have taken revenge as an option, likewise Jin zhi, her penance time was too short to pass any deep message to make anyone learn, she took the easy way out of dying with Pel in on the battle field after losing her father and child.

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I love this TV series. Set during the Chinese Republic era in which the country was ravaged by constant war among the so called "War Lords". Amidst this time two people fell in love from completely different backgrounds. One from the military family and the female lead is from the rich family. A story about marriage of convenience or forced marriage always leads to life of misery. An always common theme in a Chinese drama is a female antagonist who is passionately in love with the the male lead and would do everything to force herself to him. Thus conflict and disaster ensues. It seems like that Chinese women are hell bent once they set eyes on a man. To which I find ridiculous but I believe it's the culture. LOL!

I believe it's a well written TV series and the cast were great. Fantastic chemistry between the leads. Tragic story and illogical blaming of another family's ruin on which got nothing to do with the protagonist's family. It's really sad to watch how the old mentality prevails and forces a child to marry because they like the prospective mate without any regard on what their daughter feels.If you like romantic story with tragedy it's a must watch. It's a heart wrenching series.

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This is my first attempt at writing a review so here it goes. Everyone have their own nit and picks about what they look for when choosing a show to watch. For me, number one is ROMANCE! The romance in this drama is compelling and deep. Who arranges the most difficult romantic dates in times of war and chaos? Yup, the Commanding Chief of the military. Jack and Rose of Titanic were almost immediately in love. Here, it took some time but the magic began at initial meeting. The chemistry, hard deep kisses, hugs, touches set aside this show from regular Chinese dramas of barely touched mouths. Talk about deep, committed love...it’s here. I must admit I wanted to slap her when she found him and was gonna walk away but...it’s good.

The storyline was good but there were a lot of gaps. Too much twists, especially where the exes are concerned makes it more of irritation than adding to the intrigue of story.

The devotion of doctor was very sad...not because he was a g eat friend but because he deserved a love as well.

I was enmeshed. Wallace Chung is a very good actor and he played his role very well. Actually the entire cast were very convincingly good or evil. Bravo to them. This was very enjoyable and if you’re like me who likes strong leads and romance, you would enjoy this. Try it.

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