WM

Does anyone know why it still doesn't have a Douban rating?
Not enough votes or what?

@Hawkins
Thankully I am too slow to spot it :).
I had no idea it happened here, actually.

@sojushot
I never know what exactly qualifies for specific genres, but maybe you can try:
- Song of Glory (great looking fights, badass FL, so-so ML)
- Journey To Lowe (great fighting scenes and there are more of them compared to SoG, in general badass FL, but sometimes mixed with "Damsel in distress", when in reality she should be more badasser, super-hipper-strong ML, who should be downgraded, as the drama was supposed to be about FL mostly)
- Who rules the World (again, great fighting, badass FL and even more badasser ML, but it didn't bother me as much as in JTL)
- Veil of Vengeance (baddest FL ever, weakest ML ever, fights look great, shortest series among all four)

Do you remember or just know about any other highly awaited show ending on Douban below 4.0? Or at least 5.0?

I can understand your point, and I don't have a problem with people who dislike an age gaps, but come on - 18-year-old is not a child. No reason to go overboard.

@LidiaC
I call it - "how did she survive in the world before meeting the ML?"
Pretty much, I ask this question whenever watching a drama with a supposedly badass/strong female lead.

I didn't read the novel, but the trailer was highly promising about the female general's story.
Instead, we mostly got a romance of a female soldier.
I finished it, but on heavy FF and without much connection to the story.
It wasn't really bad, just not as good as I hoped for.

Reading comments made me think that not getting invested in "Rebirth" (I found the trailer to be awful) was probably my best drama-related decision since not watching the 5th and final season of "Chuck" years ago...

I just wish "Legend of the Female General" would also have an awful trailer, but instead, it looked so damm promising. Ugh...

LOL, nice rant :)
And I thought I was the harsh one regarding comments on the way female leads are often written and presented .

"Yuwen Yue should stay in the lake" - my favourite Douban comment :).

Every time I see people complaining about Mary Sue female characters, I'm immediately thinking about ML here - Mark Sue? Or how are they called then? )

Either way, it's pretty good drama, featuring one of the strongest female leads ever - of course, she was still weaker than ML (the world would burn if writers would write it differently...), but at least the difference wasn't as stark as it typically is.

It also has one of my favourite conversations between an evil couple:
- Why couldn't you continue to kneel during offering? (or something like this)
- It was too cold
- Was this colder than Cold Palace?
Great moment

@Nuttika
This is the common issue in shows featuring supposedly badass/strong female leads - you watch them in drama, and the writing makes you ask yourself "how did they survive or even thrive until today when ML wasn't around?", as they call to yet another villain's trap or are beaten/ambushed/injured by them.

Original Princess Agents was not bad in this aspect after she got her training. Shen Lige from "Song of Glory" and maybe Bai Feng Xi from "Who Rules the World" were other examples when they were written in a mostly acceptable way.

@cupcakecarlynn
Well, it has one of the best opening Episodes I have ever seen in C-Dramas. Maybe it's just not the right choice for you.
And then Episode 5 is quite thrilling as well.

Yeah, it's great, Empress said it to the Emperor, when he was suspecting how quickly Yingluo gained her trust.

Later, I' ve heard it in some other dramas as well.

There are some great one-liners during Yanxi experience.

My favourite is - "Don't doubt the people you use. And don't use the people you doubt".

@Fanstar99

When watching original PA, I remember wanting to learn more about Chu Qiao's mother; she was such an interesting character and all the flashbacks with her were amazing.,

It's another post praising General Huan - any episodes particularly worthy watching to check her out?

I don't plan to watch it fully.

For someone who is accused of being a weak actress who uses doubles a lot... I really like watching her, lol :).

I'm guessing, she probably has the best doubles in the world. Maybe 2nd best after Maggie Q, another actress I really like watching in action, who is often accused of the same.

I just watched some episodes of the LOCH 2008 and really liked both her acting and fighting, with the latter reminding me a lot of "Journey to Lowe". Her ballet background seems to be very visible, I guess it's her double having it too :).

I was just watching a bit of it and comparing it to a different versions that I'm a little bit familiar with (I didn't read any of Jin Yong's stuff).

It's as frustrating a watch as all other adaptations were, with "evil guys" running circles about "good guys, killing them, framing them, and the "good guys" being an incredibly dumb bunch.
Only Huang Rong has intelligence and enough of a ruthless streak among them. Unfortunately, for someone who is such a quick learner, her Martial Arts are relatively weak.

However, it was interesting to watch this version, as they didn't follow the original book so closely - for example, Ouyang Ke was much smarter and better at scheming compared to Yang Kang. I'm sure it was hugely criticised at the time, but I appreciate someone having the guts to try something else.
It's also interesting why it suddenly happened - the reason is that Yang Kang was presented in a better light, so naturally he had to become dumber. We wouldn't want smart protagonists (until they turn heel), wouldn't we? Sigh.

I don't think much about Hu Ge's performance as ML (but I never do, as Guo Jing is such a boring and sanctimonious character), but I really liked Ariel Lin as the Huang Rong, probably my favourite version of her, along with Bao Shang En in the 2024 edition.

A few years later, I feel like it holds well against the 2025/26 productions - it has one of the most badass female leads around, the storyline is decent, the fighting looks cool, and the OST is just amazing.
It doesn't have a heated romance, but I actually don't care much about it, and both leads had some nice moments together.

Negatives? The ending is really, really bad, and the female lead should kill her sister after her 3-4th villainous trick. It just didn't make sense that she had such a long shelf life, especially after she poisoned everyone on the journey to meet her husband-to-be.