This review may contain spoilers
The lead's impeccable chemistry, ML's undying love, and the FL's fiery nature
Am here almost a year late and went into this completely blind, having not watched any of Cheng Lei's or Zhou Ye's dramas, so as a neutral viewer am just gonna say I loved and enjoyed this one to bits! The premise itself throws in an interestingly political angle on women and their military rights- as she went in disguised as a man, it was the only way for her to build a career for herself. Lots of times, I tend to lose interest towards the tail end of the drama but here it got even more interesting because it revolved around the leads and their individual aspirations.This series is so easy to breeze past: their banters, teasing proximity, heated gazes keeps the viewer fixed to the screen. The male lead, Cheng Lei is a new addition to my list of fictional husbands because he isnt just dashing but also portrays the complexity of the character so well and his gazes subtly speak every single thing in the character's heart. The slow burn was beautiful and I loved the heroine's flintiness extra because the ml was so downbad that he declared his love for her to the emperor and announced it in court: "she graces my eyes, occupies my thoughts, and holds my heart"--such a passionate and beautiful confession of his soulful love for her. It took him time to accept his feelings but once he did, he was openly downbad for his girl and legit was told by others around him to control his gaze and love for her lol.
I do have to say though that I harbour particularly hateful feelings for second ML, Chu Zhao in my heart and did so from very early on. He came off as cunning and manipulative, and I skipped most of his scenes. Thank god for that, because just as our leads are about to marry, he completely takes the fl's agency away by imposing marriage on her. And here, the leads really shone as a pairing and as individuals: neither of them wanted to give up their careers and identities, so they chose to remain together irrespective of marriage. Of course they do end up getting married at the end but I really enjoyed seeing their dating era, especially because this was a period drama and we got some vivid and beautiful sequences.
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