An impressive and very well-made military drama.

I finished watching Glory of Special Forces more than a month ago. I was initially hesitant to watch it, because I thought 45 episodes was a bit long for a military drama, but I'm glad that I dived into it. After I've completed this drama, I was actually hoping there would be more episodes!

Things that I like, which kept me engaged throughout the series:
• It has a very engaging and well-paced storyline that made me excited to know what's going to happen next.
• Interesting characters with great character development, especially Yan Po Yue.
• I'm very impressed with Yang Yang's acting here. He's one of the reasons (or the major reason) why I picked up this drama. He was able to convey all emotions - sadness, joy, confusion, anger, fear, resoluteness - he nailed them all! I can't imagine someone else playing Yan Po Yue.
• The rest of the cast also gave good performances. Kudos to the entire cast and crew for a job well done!
• The drama showed the challenges and hardships that the soldiers had to go through in their training, as well their teamwork and the victories they gained in the process. There are also glimpses of their past, events that shaped them to become who they are.
• Opening and ending themes songs that fit the drama so well.

Other Comments:
• This drama has little to no romance - there are hints of potentially something developing between the main characters (like they could be more than friends), but that’s just about it, that angle is not developed further. It would be good to expound on that.
• It would be nice to have more stories about the next stage in their military careers.

Overall, I really enjoyed this drama, so I highly recommend it.

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A story of first love…with a twist.

Ok I admit, I regret a bit that I put off watching Love O2O for so long (there are just so many good dramas to watch), but it’s better late than never!
Things that I like:
• I’m not a gamer, but I like the idea that the ML Xiao Nai (Yang Yang) and FL Bei Wei Wei (Zheng Shuang) started as a couple in the game “A Chinese Ghost Story”, where Xiao Nai first “pursued” her, then eventually in real life (They being Computer Science students is a plus!). Their in-game interactions and experiences together laid the groundwork for their eventual meet-up and relationship in the real world.
• Casting the same actors to portray their in-game characters, which made me more invested in their scenes inside the game. I enjoyed watching their interactions and action scenes in the game, which were well executed.
• Fluid transition of the story from online to offline scenarios.
• Smart, interesting and attractive ML and FL. Especially the ML, he’s so well-rounded, almost perfect, too good to be true at times!
• Amazing chemistry between Yang Yang and Zheng Shuang. They look so good together! They have many light-hearted, sweet and romantic moments, and Yang Yang is a good kisser! He mostly carried their romantic scenes ?.
• There is mutual love, trust and respect between our main couple, and I like that there is not so much drama and misunderstanding between them.
• Great circle of friends for both Xiao Nai and Bei Wei Wei, and healthy family relationships.
• The drama showed Xiao Nai and his friends navigating the gaming industry through their start-up tech business, the challenges they faced and how they overcame them.
• Love the OST! The songs just fit the drama so well. So glad they’re available in Spotify and Youtube.

Other comments:
• Zheng Shuang is pretty, but I find her a bit too skinny. Her acting in some of the kissing scenes could be better, as most of the time, she was a passive receiver of Yang Yang’s passionate kisses. To be fair, there were some kissing scenes where she did better than in others. I read that her character is written that way in the book.
• There were a number of annoying characters, who seemed to spend most of their time gossiping and trying to pull others down. But hey, they made the story more interesting, so they’re a “necessary evil”.
• This drama has a high rewatch value for me. After I finished it, I rewatched the last 3 episodes the next day. Then in the following days, I rewatched my other favorite episodes, before starting from episode 1 and rewatching the whole drama (albeit with some skips the 2nd time). So I watched the entire series twice in a little over 2 weeks.

Overall, this is a fun, feel-good, and enjoyable drama for me. I highly recommend it!

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A fun, light and entertaining romantic comedy.

I finished this drama more than a month ago. This is a romantic comedy that is fun, light and entertaining to watch. There is great chemistry between Vin Zhang and Janice Wu (they have many kissing scenes and romantic moments), and they were able to bring their characters, Xu Yan Shi and Xiang Yuan, respectively, to life. There were some push and pull in their relationship due to misunderstandings, which can be frustrating at times. But the good thing is, these did not last long. I did not feel much chemistry between the 2nd ML (Gao Leng, played by Huang De Yi) and 2nd FL (Chen Shu, played by Nita Xia). However, on their own, I like both characters, despite their flaws (there are no perfect characters anyway). I like that there were back stories related to the main leads’ families, but I wish more could be said of the ML’s mother.

Aside from family, the drama showed relationship dynamics and happenings in the workplace, both the good and bad, the realistic and unrealistic ones. I find the industry that the drama focused on, i.e., satellite navigation technology, quite interesting, so I did not get bored in the scenes where they talked about it. The opening and ending theme songs are good, they’re quite catchy! Overall, this is a good drama for me.

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Do not hesitate, go watch this drama!

This is one gem of a drama that I almost missed out, because I did not intend to watch it at first, thinking that I wouldn't like the story. But as fate would have it, after watching some video clips in YouTube and reading well-written and positive reviews, my interest was piqued so I decided to give it a shot. And I'm so glad I did!

This drama has romance, comedy, action, themes of loyalty, courage and justice, political intrigue and heart-touching moments – all set against the backdrop of the Song dynasty. I thoroughly enjoyed this drama that the 60-episode length did not feel daunting. Most of the story arcs are really good and engaging, but a few are just so-so for me. I like their execution of the gender role reversal theme - it's not a complete role reversal, because the ML (Zhao Yu Jin) and FL (Ye Zhao) still retained some masculine and feminine qualities, respectively. It's not over the top, which I think is important, because going overboard will make it cringey. Other things this drama did really well are character growth and relationship development. Many characters grow throughout the drama, especially Zhao Yu Jin and Ye Zhao. You can also see the relationship change and develop between the different characters: Zhao Yu Jin and Ye Zhao, Ye Zhao and her mother-in-law, Zhao Yu Jin and the Emperor, Ye Zhao and Hu Qing, among others. And since this drama is in a historical setting with political intrigue and wars, there were battle and fight scenes, which were well choreographed and executed.

Overall, the cast delivered very good performances. And since this show has a big cast of characters, I will mention only some of them:
• On the OTP: I love the chemistry between Sandra Ma and Peter Sheng and their portrayal of Ye Zhao and Zhao Yu Jin, respectively. They nailed their roles! Ye Zhao and Zhao Yu Jin are a power couple – they complement each other perfectly. They have many sweet and funny moments, and I like how they both grow and develop throughout the series ❤️.
• Sandra Ma is very fitting as General Ye Zhao. I like Ye Zhao’s character – she’s smart, brave, loyal and cool! Sandra Ma gave a very good performance. She was able to show the more masculine, mischievous, no-nonsense and stronger sides of Ye Zhao, but still retained a sense of femininity and aura of beauty. She commanded the respect of her troops and was admired by many. It’s funny that Yu Jin’s concubines seemed to admire her more than him! In one of her conversations with Hu Qing, she said that after marrying Yu Jin, she grew from being reckless, impulsive and stubborn, to being more responsible, mature and sensible (my paraphrase). I think that’s a good summary of her character growth.
• Peter Sheng is convincing as Zhao Yu Jin/Duke of Nanping. True, his character was sometimes childish and annoying, especially at the start, but he grew as the story progresses, and became a very devoted husband. Despite his notorious reputation, he was actually very smart and talented, and just needed more push and encouragement to realize his full potential. Peter Sheng was able to portray the different sides of Yu Jin very well. What Ye Zhao told Prince Yinuo aptly describes Yu Jin: "Some birds don't fly for 3 years, but once they fly, they soar high into the sky. Some birds don't make a sound for 3 years, but once they do, they surprise everyone." (有鸟三年不飞，一飞冲天。 三年不鸣， 一鸣惊人。)
• Ding Chuan as Hu Qing/Fox – Known as the military strategist, he was one step ahead most of the time, with a keen sense of noticing things that others did not immediately see. Sometimes, he would inject a sense of humor in seemingly serious situations. It’s hard to imagine another actor playing this role.
• Lu Fang Sheng as Emperor Ren Zong – I like his portrayal of Ren Zong – shrewd, merciful, humorous yet also serious, he is a good emperor who cared for the welfare of his people. He had to consider many things and make hard decisions.
• Xiao Han as Noble Consort Zhang – Sensible and understanding, she was the emperor’s favorite consort and close confidante.
• Zhang Yao as Royal Consort of Zhao – As Ye Zhao’s mother-in-law who didn’t like her at first, she was sometimes annoying but oftentimes funny, especially with the exaggerated acting on some scenes. Her character grew and she eventually accepted and loved Ye Zhao as a daughter-in-law.
• Zhang Wen as Princess Consort of Zhao – Hats off to Yu Jin’s sister-in-law! From the start, she was one of Ye Zhao’s strongest advocates, especially to their mother-in-law. There were no traces of jealousy or competition on her part.
• Wang Chu Ran as Liu Xi Yin – She’s not my favorite character, although I can understand how broken-hearted she felt after finding out that the man she loves since she was young was actually a woman. However, the things she did while staying at the duke’s manor were out of line. She did have her strong moments in the latter part of the story.
• Qiu Shui (Sookie Pan) and Qiu Hua (Wang Xuan) – I love that Ye Zhao has these two sisters as loyal deputies and trusted friends.
• Mei Niang (Jamie Zhang), Xuan Er (Zheng Shu Huan) and Xiao Xia Zi (Zhang Zhi Lu) – They were a funny trio, all loyal to Zhao Yu Jin and Ye Zhao.

As a whole, the costumes were beautiful! I like Ye Zhao's clothes. They may look similar at first because most of them are blue in color (occasionally, she would wear other colors). But if you look further, the designs were beautiful, and the embroideries were meticulously done. The same can be said for Zhao Yu Jin's clothes, and his wardrobe had more color variety! As for the army's uniform, at first, I wasn't used to all the blue color. But it grew on me, and I came to appreciate it in one of the battle scenes, because they clearly stood out from their enemies, who were mostly wearing black, so it's easier to follow the fight scenes. This is in contrast to another battle scene where both sides were wearing black armor, with only some shades of color to distinguish them from each other.

On the OST: I love the soundtrack! I have 2 words to describe the opening theme, “Love is Above” (愛在上) – grand and epic! It's the grand entrance to the drama. Queena Cui and Peter Sheng's duet is captivating! The ending theme, “Loyalty” (忠貞), is sweet and romantic - just like how the couple's relationship grew and matured in the story. The other songs in the OST were played at the right moments, thus complementing the drama at different points ❤️.

I'm so glad that the story ended on a happy note. I do have some wish list for the ending though (spoilers):
1) When I started this drama, I already knew that the ending will show them as grandparents. I was hoping/expecting that Sandra Ma and Peter Sheng will still play the old Ye Zhao and Zhao Yu Jin (made to look older, of course). Turns out that Sandra Ma's grandparents were the ones who played their older versions. How sweet!
2) It would be good if they had shown the family's reactions to her pregnancy, especially her mother-in-law.
3) I wish they showed the couple during their early years of parenthood, how they raised their kids, their family interactions, etc.

But that's Ok. This is a very good drama overall, a very fun and enjoyable ride! It's worth watching (and rewatching) the 60 episodes. So don’t hesitate, go watch it ❤️!

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