I was actually surprised to find that this only has a 7.1 on MDL because of all the buzz about this drama when it was airing. To me it was the break-out T-Drama of the last few years. I will admit when all the buzz was going on, I tried to watch it and didn't get through the first episode. I saw it on Netflix recently and was more in the mood for a T-Drama and gave it a go and generally liked it.

I actually am a fan of the gender bender genre though I know it is ridiculous. It works better in historical setting because there can actually be a legitimate reason for a woman to pretend to be a man re: safety or economic necessity. Bromance goes all in T-drama style on the silly and just says, shyster shaman/silly parents, deal with it. Basically you have to suspend reality or this drama will not work for you. Like I said, it took me two attempts. Having said that, I had trouble with how Coffee Prince handled this because at a certain point, there was no reason for someone not to tell so the writers contrived something silly. It really bugged me. I'd rather just know it is all silly from the get go.

Cons: The secondary story line didn't do much for me and the actor (who I think is a singer) was just ok.

Writers knew what buttered their bread and gave us a lot of the leads, but it would be nice to have some kind of coherent story other than constantly throwing them in compromising situations. They threw in some mafia stuff, but it was all pretty silly at the end of the day. I've watched idol dramas, and I just think the writers need to get better because they just rely on their stars to see them through.

It was too long, as are most of the modern T-Dramas (MARS this is not.). I really liked the lead characters, but after a while with both the mafia stuff and the romance, it got repetitive. This could have been done better at 15 episodes.

Pros: Megan Lai is fantastic and easily takes on Yoon Eun Hye as the most realistic woman playing a guy in a gender bender. Baron Chen is also great. They have great chemistry and are the basis for this drama being so popular imo.

I liked that the 2nd male lead character (the vet) story line was different without all the usual posturing. I also liked the hotdog guy and the sister as well as the cousin. She was a true friend.

So I notice some of the negativity is that this show didn't have the angst as, say, Coffee Prince. However, I liked that because this is lighthearted fare and it is a pet peeve of mine when I start watching a light romance (I mean, again, a shaman is involved), and it turns into a melo. This drama keeps to its roots and while it doesn't mine the anguish of a sexual identity crisis like Gong Yoo in CP, it does tell of acceptance of oneself, who one loves and what goes into that. I can't really get into it without spoilers. I do think the writers were trying to stay away from Coffee Prince territory because it's been done and time has gone on and this is Taiwan not Korea. I think they did well making sure neither lead character was knowingly causing the other angst. I really appreciated that.

So I'll admit to some fast forwarding through mafia business and secondary stories, but Megan and BC shined in this. I also appreciated some sizzling scenes as well. I took off one point for being over long and one point for the lackluster secondary love story and mafia business stuff.

Other Opinions:

I did not downgrade for the contrivances, the cheese factor or the cliches in the story. Also, the godawful background music. I just take them as part and parcel of Taiwanese dramas these days, but I notice this bothered many people.

There is a bit of a surprise at one point that irked some viewers. And as before, I think many viewers wanted the intensity of Coffee Prince....this isn't CP and it never acts like it want to be.

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The Prince of Lan Ling is an excellent historical drama about a real life beautiful military man who ended up a legend because of his military acumen...and a dance that actually ended up being adapted by the Japanese (or so Wikipedia told me). The female character is entirely fictional I believe.

Pros:

The story is fast moving and solid with well developed secondary characters.

The actors are solid; every single one. There is no weak link.

The second male lead is one of my favorites of all time. Love how that story evolved.

Girl is spunky and doesn't take a lot of grief from anyone through most of the drama.

Chemistry is great with the two leads. I still think this is one of my favorite performances by Feng Shao Feng and the hair...love the hair.


Cons:

They did spend time developing the character of the standard psycho woman that we see in these dramas, which I appreciated. However, I think too much focus on that character slowed down the story and truthfully, I'm kind of over the crazy crazy women in these dramas.

A lot happens in this drama, and occasionally the story is a bit contrived/silly but I think for the episode count, it is still better than most.

Trope-wise, there is some noble idiocy...more than once.

It's not really a pro or con, but I thought the ending could have come together a little better.

Overall, I highly recommend this drama, and I do think it is a cut above a lot of the historicals. I think that this perhaps was produced by a Taiwanese company...not really sure, but it doesn't appear to be dubbed so I also think this is a plus. Generally, I don't re-watch some of these longer dramas, but I've actually checked this one out again.

One final note: for anyone experienced, you will know that spoilers abound in the beginning and ending music of these dramas. Watch the beginning if you must, but there are spoilers to end ALL spoilers in the ending music. It's a great song, but I promise you, you will regret watching it because there are HUGE HUGE spoilers in it. I mean, I can't believe they did it and still don't know what they were thinking.

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Sweet, Savage Family is a gem of a drama that went underneath the radar when it was airing. I used to joke that I was one of 5 international fans watching it as it aired. I freely admit that this isn't everyone's kind of drama but it was fun, quirky, often poignant and managed to surprise me more than once.

I liked the story of this couple trying to deal with the ins and outs of life and marriage with the husband as a gangster as if this was a viable long term career option. It's treated as if he's a salaryman. The wife having to deal with a kind of gangsters' wives club was particularly amusing for anyone who has ever had to attend functions due to a spouse's career.

One of the aspects I liked best was that our lead couple are not perfect people. They both make mistakes and perhaps can be unreasonable. I prefer this over cookie cutter perfect characters. I also like that Moon Jeong Hee plays a really strong, though sometimes at her wit's end, woman. This is not a pushover female k-drama character. All the actors did a good job, but these two leads were great.

Again, it is hard to get the tone of this down because you can go from gangsters violently fighting to quirky humor pretty quickly. (This kind of reminds me of the tone sometimes in parts of Angry Mom.)

The side story about a couple trying to decide if they can give love a second chance sometimes worked for me, sometimes didn't.

The downsides:

The teen romance. I kind of ended up okay with it in the end, and the actors were fine but it seemed like the drama was throwing it in hoping maybe to get a little of the youth market in Korea.

There was some inconsistent writing in what happened to a character. I think a huge opportunity for comedy was lost re: the movie they were making. Instead the writers went to some story that seemed thrown together for some major drama at the end.

So basically it lost a point for some inconsistent writing and a lost opportunity for a strong finish instead of an ok one. Still the journey was a lot of fun with laugh-out-loud moments and a few "oh my gosh, I didn't see that coming" . As a viewer of A LOT of dramas, I love being surprised.

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I am a fan of fantasy and supernatural stories so I'm inclined to like these type dramas. I gave all three vampire k-dramas (Blood and Orange Marmalade) a go in 2015, and Scholar is the best one. However, that might not be saying much.

Based on a much loved manwha (sorry if I spelled that incorrectly), there were a lot of expectations for this drama. I found the first 6 episodes to be quite good, and I was happy enough with the story. Unfortunately at around episode 7 through approximately 11ish, the story just floundered. Even after that it was uneven here and there. Since I was watching this as it aired, I did see that the production had to bring in a second writer by episode 10 so they knew they had a problem with the adaptation. This is the reality of the live shoot system. It is my understanding the source material was very complex with lots of stories and threads, and I believe they really tried to do too much and it got away from them. Most of the issues I personally had with the drama have to do with how it was adapted specifically the story choices made regarding defeating Gwi.

Also, the last episode in regard to the timing of events and the culmination of the drama was all over the place. Definitely a victim of a rushed live shoot or a writer drinking too much soju. As far as the ending, of course, no spoiler. I was fine with it but it wasn't totally satisfying. I'm kind of over watching dramas of manga/manwha etc when the source material is still being written because I feel it ties down the drama story.

Music: Like 90% of k-dramas, the OST is overused. I liked all but one song and, much to my surprise, that one grew on me over time. Apparently many took a dislike to what I'll call the "quirky" song but this just isn't a big deal to me personally. I'm in it for the story.

Cast: Changmin: I thought he pulled off charming quite well, dramatic less so.

Lee Soo Hyuk: People took a liking to Gwi, who is pretty much total evil, because LSH is hot. I mean if I had a dollar for every time I've read that. I thought he was a little cardboard, but someone who read the source material said that this is how Gwi pretty much was so I'll take their word for it. I've since seen him in Lucky Romance and a few episodes of Neighborhood Hero, and I thought he was good.

Lee Yubi: Okay, this gal gets so much grief, and I definitely noticed that people who saw her in a lot of other dramas seemed more critical. I don't judge an actress on what the writers have her do in a drama. I mean c'mon that's not right. I can't speak to the "wide eyed look" that seemed to irk others. I was actually fine with her and found her more believable dressed as a boy than a lot of other k-drama actresses I've seen. I thought she and LJG had a sweet chemistry....not off the charts but given the age difference and historical genre, pretty much what I expect.

Lee Joon Gi: He was great and the reason many people stuck with the drama. I personally thought the vampire scenes should have been toned down but that's the way the production decided to go so okay. LJG has grown as an actor, and I love him but he can go OTT if not careful. I do have to say that they play up how pretty he is in this drama so to see him go play Wang So with half his face covered and the weight loss making his features more angular is just kind of fun.

I thought this was beautifully filmed and the costumes were gorgeous.

Final Analysis: As far as some type of coherent vampire supernatural drama, nope it just isn't going to work. However, the romance really worked for me so if you want to give it a go for that you might have to do some fast forwarding. If you can't buy into the two leads together, best to move on.

One last thought....I do want to give credit to all the actors I mention as well as others in the production because this drama got trounced by the end of Mask and then Yong Pal. (Though it did beat the 3rd drama...maybe Assembly...it's been a while.) This production was obviously having difficulties behind the scenes, and the actors stuck with it and gave it their all. Since the leads take the heat when these things happen, I bow to Yubi (regardless of what people think of her performance) and LJG because that couldn't have been fun, especially after both being injured in some kind of accident during filming. If at any time I felt that they weren't invested, I would have bailed and they gave it their all imo 'til the end.

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General and I is an overall enjoyable romance & political/military intrigue drama. Your level of enjoyment will probably depend on your expectations (so true of so many dramas) and whether you read the book. So - full disclosure - I am a viewer who only read the first 6 very short chapters to kind of get the style of the writer. If you are a fan of romance with a large dose of intrigue, I would give it a go but it isn't perfect so here goes:

Story Flaws:

- The foundation of the story is the epic love between the General and Bai Ping Ting, but the drama chose to give short thrift to the falling in love aspect of the story using an overused trope. I would understand this but, you know, 62 episodes so no time constraints to use as an excuse. Many people dumped the drama early on because they weren't feeling it so go in knowing you have to eventually kind of buy into these two.

- Past the middle point of the drama it spins its wheels and many found it dragging. I actually enjoyed many of these episodes but eventually I also got a little frustrated. They could have taken 5 of those episodes and put them in the first part of the drama to build the love story.

-At this same middle point, writers decided to go a certain route which was also in the book but the reasoning in the book (because commenters commented) made both leads flawed people. To me the drama threw the female character under the bus. To be fair, commenters also did indicate some aspects as relates to the General's character during this same time frame were better in the drama. I don't want spoilers so I'll leave it at that.

Production Issues:

Use of Slow Motion: Almost every single moment of emotional impact utilizes slow motion. I swear you could cut 4 hours of drama time just in using regular speed. This to me, actually lessened the impact and, oddly, the sensuality of some of the intimate scenes between the two leads. I mean there is one scene in particular that could have been so much more impactful but the use of not only slow motion but a wind machine made it super cheesy. I think they were going for super romantic and maybe it worked for some.

Angelababy's make up: I'm over expecting reality when it comes to make up in C-Dramas. You could go through heck and back and still have perfect hair and make up. But the makeup artist who decided to use a little lip stain making BPT look like she'd been sucking on a cherry lollypop or had bloody lips....well, it took me out of the drama.

Pros:

-I'm a sucker for romance, but that always means a lot of politics and such with the dramas, and often it is repetitive and simplistic. I dinged the production on the foundation of the romance, but they did a great job in handling a lot of characters and setting up the political intrigue. Also the characters weren't cookie cutter. They were flawed individuals who at times made good decisions and often bad decisions. I wish they'd actually given more nuance to the leads because I thought they were a bit too perfect. All the co-stars did a stellar job.

-The Smexy. I don't need explicit, but if we have an epic love story, I want some real looking kisses and such and show delivers. No deer in the headlights going on here.

-I have watched a lot of historicals, and this drama actually surprised me with some of the twist and turns. I love that because in so many dramas, we viewers can be steps ahead of the characters. Good job drama.

-I thought the costumes - both the armor and the dresses - were well done. Also loved the OST.

-Overall, I thought the chemistry between Wallace Chung and AB was solid. I've seen better but generally thought that around episode 15 Angelababy got comfortable. Since this was pre-produced and they might not have filmed in order, this could be because I think the material actually got better. Basically she's only as good as the material given to her. Wallace Chung certainly brings the sexy, and I think he did a good job but not outstanding which brings me to...

Misc:

....the dubbing. Maybe because I've actually heard WC's real voice, but around the halfway point, I began to really dislike the tone of the voice actor doing the dubbing. It was too soft and just not powerful enough and that really does hinder how I viewed WC's performance. I don't know why it took so long to bug me. I'm used to dubbing and this is the first time it really hindered how I viewed a performance. And, truly, I really do like Wallace Chung.


Issues Others Had:

I had no trouble with any of this but here goes: Flying action scenes...I'm used to them. Heavy use of green screen; bothered me in beginning but again, it kind of goes with the territory. Only so much $$ to spend on production.

So depending on my mood, this could be a 7.5 to 8 and since I was left with a satisfied feeling after watching the last episode, I'm going with the 8.

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In many ways this is pretty standard romance drama fare, but the leads have chemistry and the story didn't stagnate but kept moving. I actually like that the female lead, while being a pleaser/fixer type person wasn't really a pushover and was quite smart. I also like that there really wasn't an instalove situation with the leads either. I downgraded this show because the side stories didn't do too much for me, it took a weird turn around episode 9 to 10 and though I thought the ending was quite clear, it left some people confused. Never a good sign when your audience doesn't get it, but again I think it is quite understandable and didn't have issues with it.

It's on the shorter side for T-Dramas (13 episodes) so for the nice chemistry I would give it a go with some judicious use of the fast forward button.

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Cruel Romance has a fast paced story with an overall good main story to tell and is elevated by the lead couple chemistry. A surprise for me was that there was a nice touch of humor, specifically in regard to how the male lead was written and acted. Many times masculine characters in C-dramas can be overbearing and rigid and while the lead here can be and is domineering on occasion, he never became a caricature, and he evolved and grew as the drama progressed. This nuance given by the writer and performed by the actor is much appreciated. I also thought the actress did a solid job even when the writer didn't do her any favors.

Another Pro to this drama is the bad guy is done very well and is given a good story arc throughout the drama.

I judiciously used my fast forward as regards to the side story. Sometimes I found it very involving and other times a bit to over the top for my taste. Nothing against the excellent actors, but I was mainly in it for our lead couple.

My main reason for the downgrade to an 8 is I can't overlook that the writer basically made the lead gal a candy. Also, due to I assume a lack of creativity, the story takes a wacky turn toward the end and goes sideways. In my opinion, the writers threw the actress under the bus with a ridiculous story arc. It gets back on track thankfully, but I was very disappointed.

One last issue is the editing. There are a few scenes which literally look like they were thrown together at the last minute and give you whiplash as you try to figure out what the heck just happened. However, I generally watch dramas for the story and this one overall I enjoyed.

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I have a fondness for Faith as it was my first Korean drama and started my addiction. If you like a little bit of time travel mixed with romance, adventure and action this will work for you. I had never heard of Lee Min Ho before watching this and have since watched most of his dramas, and I still think this is his best performance.

One of the aspects I particularly liked is that there are two love-lines. I had no idea the love triangle was such a big deal in Asian dramas when I watched this, and I am not a fan of it. I found both love stories to be well done. I thought the supporting cast was very good with a favorite being Court Lady Choi. I also managed to learn an amazing amount of history as the writer weaves this story together through actual history.

Complaints I've seen about this drama usually involve Kim Hee Sun being whiny as the doc. I think she gets a raw deal and if you stick with it you see how she grows as a person. I think she maintains her modern mindset more than any other time travel drama I've seen, and I like her level of feisty. Also, the time travel element....it never makes sense in any drama I've ever seen and gives me a headache. I just go with it.

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