The Long Ballad

The Ultimate Mary Sue

According to my dictionary, a "Mary Sue" is a female character who is unrealistically lacking in flaws or weaknesses. There's little else to add to this when using it to describe Changge. I don't mind (and rather like) a hero who does less than acceptable things and even terrible things, and then slowly grows and evolves. I'm not sure how many episodes I made it through, ten or so. Changge most emphatically had no weaknesses. What was so much worse, however, was that her many (many) flaws were depicted as not her fault. Within those episodes that I watched, she did so many truly selfish, selfish things and every time she, and other characters, shrugged it off as somehow her right given her situation. And again and again she was treated like a godlike entity of ultimate, singular, isolated perfection. I felt like I was reading a Nancy Drew book.

I simply couldn't tolerate her. Enormously unlikable character completely wrapped in Mary Sue-level armor to a point that created a plot comprised exclusively of deus ex machinas. Her storyline is predictable, flat and made dull by her general unlikability. I have no interest in her sorrows or sufferings given her scoldy moralizing and petty, immature self-righteousness. Her anger and pain are robbed of their weight by her need to place herself – as victim – in a place of greater importance than anyone else in existence. I can't abide a hero who uses their own pain to justify causing pain to others. Nor can I abide a story that refuses to acknowledge such behavior as selfish to the point of iniquity, but rather portrays it as if it's some vindicable complexity. And I can't tolerate a character who is treated like a hero despite the fact that they do not behave like one. If she's meant to grow, perhaps that will make up for this, but from what I can glean from the reviews, what growth occurs doesn't happen till late. I'm uninterested in sitting through dozens more episodes of her current behavior when there are too many other things on my list.

I would consider watching only the parts with Hao Du, as he is arguably the most interesting character, but I'm not sure it's worth it. And as it stands right now, the thought of watching one more frame of Changge makes me want to chew glass.

If the story had been worthwhile I might not have even minded those truly, truly dreadful cuts to animation at the moments of big action scenes. But that was really the horrible icing on the pain cake. What a terrible decision.

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I watched this drama up to episode 18, then decided to quit. It did not hold my interest and was unrealistic in some areas. Too much attention on the FL. She is portrayed as being more intelligent in military strategy than the military general and all the thousands of soldiers in the army. Just does not make sense in this area. It dragged too much. Also she does not look like a man at all. Dead give away is no adam's apple and her voice sounds like a woman. The ML did a good job for what I watched. The main leads were not a good match. Not worth an 8.6 rating to me.

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Why people make such a big deal about the main lead age difference is beyond me!! They are great actors & deserve all the praise for their work.

I started watching this series after Love Like The Galaxy. I became a fan of Wu Lei after watching him in Love Like The Galaxy. He is such a mature actor & good at expressing every kind of emotion at such a young age. It's astonishing.

Why were people so disappointed with the parrot scene? I mean not every C-Drama has a proper kissing scene. You can literally count C-Drama, which as a proper kissing scene. If you are so disappointed about not getting a proper kissing scene, then better watch Hollywood, they won't disappoint you, I promise.

Liked the idea of showing the comic illustration in between scenes. A unique & different screenplay. I like the cinematography.

Hated that they used voice over. Why in every Wuxia & Xianxia series has to use voice over. It's irritating.

Loved Li Chang Ge & Ashile Sun first met. It was so simple & casual. No dramatic eye contact, falling & catching nothing, just a simple look at each other. They have such a mature & understanding relationship. They didn't need to express their love for one another, they knew their love for each other. Love that Ashile Sun asked permission for Li Chang Ge's mother to marry her. Loved the scene where Li Chang Ge gets to know that A'Zhun is Tegin. Fall in love with the way Ashile Sun removed his mask with a style. Love their football game.

It was funny to see the scene where Ashile Sun holds Li Le Yan by the knife in her neck, where in Love Like The Galaxy, he is desperate to save her.

Li Le Yan is the opposite of Cheng Shaoshang. She is naive, doesn't know anything, can easily be fooled. But she changed a lot after being missing for a long time. She understood people's suffering & started on a journey to help people. Li Le Yan crying for Xiao Wu & Hao Du, becoming emotional. He fell in love with her after seeing the change in her.

A'Dor & Li Chang Ge's last scene was so emotional. Scene of Ashile Sun's mother dying was very heartbreaking, it was more heartbreaking after seeing Wu Lei's acting. He is phenomenal with his acting skills, he nailed it. The fighting scene he did after his mother's death was nicely choreographed.

Liked the fighting sequence between Li Chang Ge & Situ Lang Lang. It was funny to see Sun & Xu Feng fighting & Qin Lao eating without care & Luo Shi Ba is totally confused.

Surprised to see Du Ru Hui taking Hao Du feeling for Li Le Yan so easily. I thought he would be angry & oppose Hao Du's feelings for her, but he was rather supportive about it, even encouraging Hao Du to pursue her. The scene where Du Ru Hui included Hao Du in his family tree was so touching & moving. unexpected moment.

The look Sun gave to Chan Ge when she looked at him after finding out about the dancers.

The slap that Le Yan gave to Hao Du was unexpected & shocking. But her words were a true slap to him.

Li Chang Ge & Le Yan punishing the crown prince was a treat to watch.

Sun being jealous of Wei Shu Yu & ashamed of losing to him in front of Li Chan Ge is cute.

Sun & She Er have a complex relationship. They were close with each other & were each other's support system, but Ashile Chuobi ruined that relationship & turned it into a rivalry. But they also had love for each other deep down. Their last scene was so touching they come a long way. Their fighting sequence for Le Chang Ge was good.

On the other hand, Le Chang Ge & Le Yan have an awesome relationship. They were always there for each other. Even after Le Chang Ge's parents' death, she never blamed Le Yan nor hated her but always tried to help her.

Sun & Ashile Chuobi have a love-hate relationship. There is a lack of trust between them, but they have love for each other. Ashile Chuobi missed Sun a lot after he left & wanted to see him one last time & make amends with him. Sun also loved & respected him & saved him despite knowing he would be risking his own life.

The back story of Le Chang Ge's mother was heartbreaking.

The way Eagle Division came for Sun rescue & Situ Lang Lang, Xu Feng, Luo Shi Ba, Wei Shu Yu came to help Le Chang Ge shows true friendship.

Mimi Guli 's death was heartbreaking. Till the end she remained a loyal friend of Le Chang Ge & supported her

Love the songs, especially the tune that is played in suspicious or in fighting scenes.

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A crazy casting for a Masterpiece

Before starting the review i think i'have to say this : WTF is this cast?? We have Dilraba Dilmurat, Leo Wu,Liu Yu Ning,Zhao Lu Si and Alen Fang in THE SAME drama, how crazy is that? Even for the support roles the cast is very good.

I loved every episode of this drama, even though it takes a good ten episodes before it really gets going. The level of acting it's a high level, the character of Li Chang Ge is a strong woman! The production is very great, the story is well written even though there are a few weaknesses in the writing at times, especially toward the end, as is often the case with Chinese dramas. Very nice OST and so much feelings happens!

It's a very good drama with an amazing cast, it's going to be hard to watch something else right ater this one!

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Riveting, interesting and well executed!

This has blown me away! I really loved the story and I enjoyed the the way they had blended the manhua in. I felt that it dragged a bit towards the end, but that was mostly because Changge seemed to lose her smarts. Her quick wit was a large part of why the show worked. But I think that it is something that unfortunately often happens in dramas, once the FL and ML are established they tend to lean into being taken care of and apparently can’t remember their ingenuity that kept them alive till now 😅 Be prepared to have your heart broken, but also healed again. 2ML and FL are forever favesz

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Recommended

What can I say. Excellent story line, directing, casting. The characters development are well-done.
None of the 40 episodes is boring. Which is quite an achievement by itself.
No excessive romantic scenes.
Great acting from Dilraba, Leo Wu, Yuning & Zhao Lusi. Even the supporting roles are doing great acting.
Dilraba is so cool as Li Changge.
But the charm of this drama is Leo Wu’s acting. He delivered that maturity aura despite his young age during filming. If I didn’t know his real age, I would have thought that he actually few years older from Dilraba.
The actor who played Khan is exceptional - I pity him, his character is not easy 😅. The actress who played Khatun is also excellent.

Worth my time. Recommended.

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Best Chinese Historical Drama

Beautiful story, powerful portrayal of characters, amazing chemistry between leads and soothing music. Rewatched several times and fell in love with it. I really loved everything about this drama.
If you like powerful female protagonists, this is a must watch for you. Dilraba rocked with her portrayal of the FL. Also ML and all other characters have their one of a kind stories. The story flows like river so you won't realize before its over. Also the drama highlighted different aspects of good and bad for peace which was really mature. Surrendering in a war does not mean defeat as long as prosperity and peace can be achieved. This type of people-centric leaders are rare in these type of chinese historical drama. This drama carries a very powerful message. So, I will give it a perfect 10!

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Need to WATCH THE LONG BALLAD!

The story Was really great! I love all the CHARACTERS, the OSTS, Especially the STORY itself.
In the First Episode, we could see that LI CHANG GE ( Princess Yong Ning) ( DILREBA), LI LE YAN (Princess Yong Gan)
( ZHAO LUSI) , ASHILEI SUN (LEO WU), HAO DU ( LIU YU NING), WEI SHU YU (FANG YI LUN). This story is well-known as CHANG GE XING it talks about the life of LI CHANG GE. In the first episode was the soccer fight but in the first round of the game, Wei Shu Yu ( Shu Yu Ge Ge) got injured so in the second round of the game Li Changge become the substitute for Wei Shu Yu. After Winning the game Chang ge go to her second uncle's house and give him the precious dagger. And she returned home to the EAST Palace and meet her mom and dad but her dad got angry because Chang Ge Gave the dagger to the second uncle but not to him. Li Change should be the real crown princess but her family was murdered by her Second Uncle ( Ep 2-3) and she was removed to be the crown princess. Her Cousin LI LE YAN got the title of Crown Princess. In order to know who murdered her family, she will have revenge. She stoled the Crown Prince Stamp. But she didn't know that she would meet Ashilei Sun. Their feeling for each other got deep and deeper.

JUST GO AND WATCH IT TO KNOW THE STORY!!

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