dusktildawn
This review may contain spoilers
This is probably my first historical Chinese drama in a long time. The first I think was the Chinese adaptation of Scarlet Heart which I only watched because I've seen the Korean drama adaptation (and I'm still bitter but that's another story)
STORY:
60 episodes might be too long for anyone when watching a drama but there's this special rule of making it slide when the drama is a historical drama. Ye Zhao (Sandra Ma) is a popular, powerful general who is favored by the king, enemies shiver at her name that is how a powerful strategist she is. Unfortunately, the king had to let her retire because some of the ministers were afraid that she would gain so much power. Plus those ministers are misogynist sons of....(okay). They are afraid of powerful women. So the king had no choice but to let her marry his nephew Zhao Yu Jin (Peter Sheng) who is apparently a good for nothing duke of Nanping. She agrees since there they knew each other from childhood but yep, that's how their marriage starts. What I liked about this drama is that even though this is obviously kind of a low budget drama, the story made for it. The plot was unconventional. The female lead was a strong willed alpha female general who reminds me for some reason of Mulan while the male lead is a dainty prince-ish character. This is kind of like a reverse couple and their scenes together is always a riot. Of course since this is a historical drama, there will always be arcs added in about families in war due to the pursuit of power. It was typical and I liked the part of the plot where her cousin thought she was male and wanted to marry her someday only to find out that it wasn't possible since she was a woman. Though the cousin still was loyal to her, it was funny that she tried to sabotage the leads' marriage. It was too much in a way since it came to the point where she wanted to kill her cousin's husband. There were many intersting plots in those 60 episodes that it didn't feel like it was too much. It was like the story was told in arcs kind of like the book. Plus, the most important thing is that there was character development.
ACTING/CAST:
I liked the leads very much. They had the chemistry and it was funny seeing both in reverse roles. And they played out the characters so well. The other casts were also interesting that it wasn't a bore.
MUSIC:
Finally an opening song that has a recall. The type where if I listen to the song, I would be reminded of this drama. That for me is the most important thing with OSTs. It adds color to the scenes and you will always remember the drama when you listen to the song.
REWATCH VALUE:
Definitely. Though 60 episodes is too much, I wouldn't mind re-watching some of my favorite scenes.
STORY:
60 episodes might be too long for anyone when watching a drama but there's this special rule of making it slide when the drama is a historical drama. Ye Zhao (Sandra Ma) is a popular, powerful general who is favored by the king, enemies shiver at her name that is how a powerful strategist she is. Unfortunately, the king had to let her retire because some of the ministers were afraid that she would gain so much power. Plus those ministers are misogynist sons of....(okay). They are afraid of powerful women. So the king had no choice but to let her marry his nephew Zhao Yu Jin (Peter Sheng) who is apparently a good for nothing duke of Nanping. She agrees since there they knew each other from childhood but yep, that's how their marriage starts. What I liked about this drama is that even though this is obviously kind of a low budget drama, the story made for it. The plot was unconventional. The female lead was a strong willed alpha female general who reminds me for some reason of Mulan while the male lead is a dainty prince-ish character. This is kind of like a reverse couple and their scenes together is always a riot. Of course since this is a historical drama, there will always be arcs added in about families in war due to the pursuit of power. It was typical and I liked the part of the plot where her cousin thought she was male and wanted to marry her someday only to find out that it wasn't possible since she was a woman. Though the cousin still was loyal to her, it was funny that she tried to sabotage the leads' marriage. It was too much in a way since it came to the point where she wanted to kill her cousin's husband. There were many intersting plots in those 60 episodes that it didn't feel like it was too much. It was like the story was told in arcs kind of like the book. Plus, the most important thing is that there was character development.
ACTING/CAST:
I liked the leads very much. They had the chemistry and it was funny seeing both in reverse roles. And they played out the characters so well. The other casts were also interesting that it wasn't a bore.
MUSIC:
Finally an opening song that has a recall. The type where if I listen to the song, I would be reminded of this drama. That for me is the most important thing with OSTs. It adds color to the scenes and you will always remember the drama when you listen to the song.
REWATCH VALUE:
Definitely. Though 60 episodes is too much, I wouldn't mind re-watching some of my favorite scenes.
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