Great Story and Acting

I highly recommend The Long Ballad.

Story / Narrative:
What I like about The Long Ballad is how the story of Li ChangGe is told and her character development. It all started with her carefree life, living in a palace with nothing to worry about. And then life started to crumble when her family got annihilated. Back then she was blinded by the truth. She fought back and almost died many times, but she moves forward never thinking of backing off because of her goal. And then in her journey towards revenge, she met good and selfless people. This made her realize that fighting for what you think is right may not be the best solution, but instead fighting is about the common good, lesser casualties the better.

Characters / Actors:
Dilreba Dilmurat really shined in this series, not only did she carry the titular role but she owned the show. This is by far her best performance, hope she gets to win acting awards for TLB. She was so good with the action scenes that you'll never know that she was so cool and fun off-cam or behind-the-scenes. She indeed showcased her acting prowess here and gave her all. Leo Wu on the other hand is also a gem, he is a fine young man, very talented. The emotions he conveyed during the grassland arc were so on point, you can feel his angst, frustrations, his energy during the action scenes, and how he is able to switch to being calm and gentle when he is with Li ChangGe.

The side characters too were very watchable and what impressed me the most is that no matter what the differences were and even if they were on opposite camps or tribes, both ChangGe and A'Sun were admired and respected by the people they met along their journey. My favorite side character is Yuan Niang. She is so adorable.

Romance:
This is a very wholesome show. No third parties and lots of couples.
My fave of course is the main couple #GeSun. Literally will kill for each other, it was a slow burn and wasn't forced.
Dilireba and WuLeo are so perfect for their roles, overflowing with chemistry even w/o much skinship.

Cinematography / Sound Track:
The cinematography was also very nice, pleasing to the eyes. My favorite was the fireflies date of A'Sun and ChangGe.
This has one of the best Opening and Closing OST. Charlie Zhou's Cocoon is the best.

Wisdom / Lessons/ Quotes:
All the characters that ChangGe and A'Sun met left a great deal of impression and imparted wisdom. The part wherein ChangGe reflected and found her Tao, this part of the drama was the slow part but it was necessary for the story and we get to love ChangGe even more after she found her Path. My favorite quotes were: #1 Some people are soft like water, they absorb everything while others are like fire, and people who get close to them will get burnt. If you insist on staying with them you will become ash. #2 A Benevolent heart is never defeated.

The Long Ballad is one of the highly emotionally intelligent dramas that I will surely remember and love for a long time.

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