absurd

I also liked his internal monologue about JNZ actually. It made me think that everything that he did to chase her was at last, without malice towards GGY and her relationship. It makes him look even more naïve and lacking in common sense, but alas, nothing to do here, but wait.
The scene where Zhang Fei told him off for interfering, I was like Duuude, finally someone says it.

The part where GYY said there were 102 of them and then you can barely count ten people. I started crying all over again.

At this point I give up trying to understand and just accept that army is corrupted and no one pays attention to his actions as long as they don't hurt them. The less I see of the guy the better, hopefully after the time skip his character will be too old, to get much screen time.

I did read Camus, but only The Stranger and that was a long time ago, I don't remember anything, except that I liked it LOL
Pure hearted idealistic characters are great, as long as their purity and naivete doesn't cost other people. And Gao Liang's lack of common sense does exactly that sometimes. While GYY can take a more practical approach, without compromising his morals. I think that's what makes him a great officer material, not just a good soldier.

16-17 were not so good for GL, but 18-19 definitely made an improvement. Finally some GL character development and no Zheng Yuan (or barely), best episodes so far

Sorry, I guess, I misinterpreted your comment. GL does improve in the recent episodes, so I think it's looking up now. But before it was frustrating to watch. I'm kind of used to somewhat dumb heroes, after watching so much shounen anime (seriously, it's like all leading characters in shounen are dumb), but they usually shine in other ways, thereas here the writers really don't treat his character seriously for a long time and up until now only succeeded in making him stand out when he's very annoying. And all the while the drama has all but made a banner telling me that I should like GL, because, you see, he's just that great. Imo, it's bad filmmaking to try and tell your audience what they should think about the character and that's what probably frustrated me the most. People like or relate to different characters and different opinions make discussions more interesting.

Wow, the last 4 episodes were amazing. I couldn't take my eyes from the screen and and was bawling non stop, but also couldn't get enough. Finally there's some great character development for Gao Liang and a little insight into his behavior previously. But the the thing that just killed me was Xiao Zhan's acting. I cried with him and felt his pain. That scene was just on another level, it broke my heart. I hope we will finally see the friendship between GYY and GL that was promised in the synopsis, I feel like now it would really work.
Also everything was so dynamic and tense, I think my neck hurts now, from trying to borrow a hole in the screen with my eyes.

How is it wrong to base your opinion on what character is doing? It's not like people project their opinion on the actor, that would be wrong I agree. But if we're only talking about the character, so far, the way Gao Liang is written is kind of inconsistent with his role as a male lead and someone who reforms Chinese army. We're almost half way through the drama and I've seen no character development or growth.

That's the thing right? Why is he written so badly? Even if he was intended to be sml at first (which, it looks like that changed pretty early in production) why is he so useless? The only thing they had to do was to give him some character development and at least one redeeming quality. And I wouldn't have cared that he's supposedly the lead and Gu Yiye isn't, but he's just a clown with no common sense. That's so annoying

That part, about promotion was just horrible. How is he supposedly such a honorable guy, but then goes and does something like that. He's like a child, that doesn't understand even simple concepts. Or is he using Zheng Yuan as an example? You know, like ZY has made GL a civil servant instead of punishing him, so now he thinks it's ok to use connections, again like a child using his dad as an example lol

But they did film all those scenes to focus on GL. So even if there was a change in direction it was while writing a script. Could they not give him some development then? I don't care if he's the lead, but he's such a badly written character. All they had to do is give him something to make him stand out. Something. So far there's nothing at all.

Had to actually google that one lol I am not a native English speaker

The 180 that JNZ did in episodes 14-15 really bugs me. First with GYY and then with her dad. I get that he got hurt and she was scared, but she also met him like 3 months ago and all of their interactions were arguments. And now she's the perfect obedient daughter and is even happy to be transfered to what basically amounts to a court jesters division. The girl, who practically demanded from her squad leader to be placed in a competition, that's usually reserved for more experienced recruits and trained for it like crazy.
I would understand them getting closer in increments, but this sudden change looks like a chunk of time for relationship development was cut out, but the problem is I don't think it was, this just looks like inconsistent writing.
And, yes, I've said it like 100 times already, but I really dislike Zheng Yuan. The nepotism, the hypocrisy on that guy just stink. He only does what's "god for the army" when it's also good for him, but as soon as it's not, he doesn't care and just finds excuses for his actions.
I also really dislike what they did with Gao Liang. It's obvious that he's meant to be the lead, maybe not screentime wise, but we get more of his back-story and all of those "we need people like him" speeches, he also gets the girl. But, imo, they overdid it with rags to riches trope. It would be nice if he had some other qualities to make him stand out, except being the most honest and honorable guy in the universe. And he's not even that honorable, considering how he tried to sabotage JNZ and GYY's relationship. He's not training anymore and is only still in the army because division commander practically adopted him. He's using the library. Good. But other than that he's just along for the ride, no ambition, no special talents. I don't dislike him, he's funny, but he just doesn't feel like a lead, to me personally, more like a class clown.

Well, GL did say that he had no other place to go. He probably doesn't care about ranks or career as long as he can stay in a family-like or friendly environment. And Zheng Yuan practically adopted him. Gosh, the nepotism and hypocrisy of that guy drive me crazy.

I think at last the hugging scene has to be censorship, not innocent enough for pure Chinese viewers, as far as government is concerned lol

So Gao Liang is Porthos then? LOL

It seems that you asked a question, but are unwilling to hear the answer. I don't really see the point of arguing which of them who likes more. It is a personal preference and no one can make you like Gu Yiye if you don't. I can admit that Gu Yiye is much more practical and less idealistic than Gao Liang, but then I actually like that about him, it makes for a relatable character much more grounded in reality. If idealistic, "always do the right thing" characters like Gao Liang are more up your alley, than more power to you. But to me there's no point comparing their moral compass, as they are both good people, who just take a different approach to doing the right thing.

I can't find it now, saw it floating around douyin, I think.

You have a point, Gu Yiye is moving on and we finally might see his excellence full force. Still feel bad for him.
And JNZ's squad leader is an idiot, she's a grown woman and talks about love like dumb teenager. Who made her the local relationship expert? By the looks of it, she has no idea what she's talking about.

For me it's that this turning point for GL and JNZ decision came too abruptly. There was no lead up to it, in episode 13 she won't leave GYY and GL is an idiot, and then ep 14 comes and bam. We decided to go another route.
As for Zheng Yuan, he's not wrong, I do agree with his point, too many lives depend on soldiers to let emotions rule the day. But Gu Yiye is young, inexperienced and making one foot soldier responsible for the whole operation fail is ridiculous. But Zheng Yuan is a seasoned general, who plays favorites and uses his position to manipulate his daughter. He is not wrong, but he is a hypocrite.