Reviews

Great Military Drama

I am really enjoying this military drama and I am a girl. It is not a military romance drama but focuses more on military advances in modern warfare, tactics, manoeuvres and the hero pushing past traditional soldiers with a strong resistance to change (such frustrating fuddy duddies).

The hero is mildly flawed with ambition for progress and has to work through his character to mature and deal with envious colleagues, too blinded by jealousy and bias against our brilliant hero.

I enjoy watching the missions given in which the hero’s handling of warfare is modern, different and progressive, outshining his opponents and upstaging the commanders who are still stuck in traditional warfare and its playbook. I keep waiting for episode 27 to air to watch the outcome of a tactical mission and how the hero will overcome odds to succeed.

This series has got me searching for more military dramas with similar coverage on warfare tactics and missions. There are a lot of romance dramas out there to whet the appetite of audiences who love romance and it is good that there is also a drama that offers something different, such as Wind-born Warriors. I am thoroughly enjoying this series.

The cast performances are good and there are some characters I want to punch, a good indication that the audience is involved. I would rewatch, definitely.

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9/10 HATED IT!!?? DONT RECOMMEND BUT EARNED EVERY BIT OF THAT 9

I watched this show because I loved them in The Princess Royal, so seeing them together again in a completely different genre was definitely an adjustment.

Now, my review is going to sound contradictory and maybe even a little confusing at first, but trust the process. Once you get the end, you’ll understand.

And yes, you read that rating correctly.

9/10.

I’m sure you’re wondering: How can you hate a show and still give it a 9/10?

Baby, cue the spoilers. 🚬🫩

We start with younger Qianxu and Yingtao. They’re kids playing together, studying, talking, supporting one another—you know, doing kid things. But even early on, we’re given glimpses into their completely different family dynamics.

Qianxu is raised in a home where love is suffocating and overbearing. He lives in the shadow of his dead brother and never really gets the opportunity to discover who he is.

There’s a small moment that becomes incredibly symbolic: Qianxu discovers that he likes the color red, but his parents insist that he doesn’t. They tell him he likes black.

Think about that.

This child isn’t even allowed to decide what color he likes.

That pretty much tells you everything you need to know about his upbringing.

Then we have Yingtao—fearless, bright, optimistic, opinionated and full of life. Naturally, these two form a strong bond.

Fast-forward to their teenage years. Qianxu’s mother takes him to another city, while Yingtao mourns the friendship and connection she lost.

And this is around the point where I started wondering whether I had accidentally signed up for emotional damage and trauma because BABAAYYYY…

I hated every second of this relationship.

I did NOT root for them.

But trust the process because eventually all of this starts making sense.

We have two completely different upbringings.

On one side, there’s Qianxu’s controlling, overbearing mother, who still hasn’t processed the grief of losing her first son and, because of that, has never fully acknowledged the son she’s currently raising.

On the other side, Yingtao has loving but extremely passive parents who sometimes come across as enablers. Yes, Yingtao receives plenty of love, but she was never really taught appropriate boundaries—and GIRL crosses them quite often. 🫩

Qianxu grows up in a home where he isn’t accepted for who he is. His home becomes suffocating, so naturally, he learns to avoid. When things become emotionally overwhelming, he runs.

And this is where the story became interesting to me.

Despite how much these characters irritated me, their family dynamics gave them dimension. Suddenly, I wasn’t watching some fantasy version of love that C-dramas can sometimes give us. I was watching two people whose childhoods shaped how they would eventually love as adults.

This drama forces you to look at how circumstances and choices create a domino effect.

What shapes us?

What do we yearn for?

What are we willing to sacrifice to protect the person we love?

And at several points I found myself asking:

Should this relationship even survive?

Because make no mistake—this relationship is TOXIC. 🚬🫩

Back to teenage Qianxu and Yingtao.

Yingtao eventually attends the same school as him.

First 🚩: Qianxu doesn’t acknowledge her after she came all that way to see him.

Eventually he realizes his mistake. He misses their friendship and begins inserting himself back into her life.

Fine. I’ll give teenage Qianxu a little grace. For some teenagers, reputation is everything.

They start getting close again, and this is where their family dynamics really begin colliding.

Qianxu’s mother has his entire life mapped out. Competitions. Academics. Future plans. The whole nine yards. She’s even trying to control who he spends time with, especially Yingtao.

Eventually Qianxu can’t take it anymore.

He and his mother have a FULL-BLOWN screaming match.

And let me give the actors their flowers here because that scene was beautifully executed. You could hear years of resentment pouring out from both sides.

Did that make me enjoy watching it?

Absolutely not. 🫩😩

The whole neighborhood can hear this fiasco unfolding. Yingtao and her parents are outside.

And what does Yingtao do?

SHE ENTERS THEIR HOUSE TO HELP HIM ESCAPE.

EXCUSE ME?! 🤨

Where were the adults?!

Why didn’t any of these grown people who could hear this child having a complete breakdown with his mother step in and try to diffuse the situation?

HER PARENTS INCLUDED.

Some viewers may see Yingtao as Qianxu’s safe place here.

I saw the beginning of a pattern of overstepping boundaries.

And baby, that wasn’t even the icing on the cake.

Qianxu goes to Yingtao’s house and her parents allow him to miss school for TWO WEEKS.

Again:

WHAT?!

Now Qianxu is out enjoying his newfound freedom. Yingtao’s father eventually wants to talk to him about his plans and offer some loving adult guidance because, despite everything happening at home, this kid is a math genius with an incredible future ahead of him.

Yingtao tries to stop her father from talking to Qianxu because she thinks he’ll become overwhelmed.

And that irritated me.

Her father is an adult. Qianxu is still a child. He still needs direction.

Yingtao has become so consumed with protecting Qianxu that she barely seems to know what SHE wants for her own life.

🚬🫩

I could list every infraction, but we’d be here all day. You really have to watch it unfold to understand how deeply this dynamic becomes embedded in their relationship.

Eventually things get worse, and Qianxu decides he wants to drop everything and study overseas.

But does he communicate those dreams to Yingtao?

Of course not.

Naturally, she’s hurt.

But girl…what exactly were we expecting from someone whose coping mechanism is avoiding difficult situations and running when life becomes overwhelming?

Then he leaves.

And doesn’t contact her for TWO YEARS.

Two. Whole. Years.

Now they’re adults and in college, so I’m sitting there thinking:

WHAT IS THE HOLDUP?! 🤨🚬🚬🚬

Meanwhile, Yingtao has not let him go. She’s basically on a wild goose chase for this man despite being ghosted.

And YES, by now I’m screaming at her too.

Eventually she catches him sneaking out of his house.

EXCUSE THE FUCK OUTTA ME?! 😱

You couldn’t call?

Couldn’t answer a message?

Couldn’t send a text?

But you’re HERE?!

Does Yingtao ask the obvious questions?

NOPE. 🙂‍↔️

She immediately comes up with explanations that satisfy HER, Qianxu basically lets her, they kiss, share their little moment—blah, blah, blah.

And guess what Qianxu does?

YUP.

GHOST. 👻🏃

At this point my dude is a smooth criminal.

Before disappearing, he tells her not to forget him.

Does Yingtao eventually move on?

Of course not.

She holds onto this man like he’s her emotional lifeline. 🫩😩

Fast-forward to adulthood.

Years have passed without a word from Qianxu. Yingtao has physically moved forward with her life, but emotionally?

Girl is still in an unofficial relationship with a man who isn’t even participating.

Then one day her friend finds out where Qianxu is and eventually gives her the information.

Tell me why Yingtao PACKS A SUITCASE and trucks her ass to another city looking for this man.

🧳🚬

And when Qianxu finally sees her?

HE RUNS AWAY FROM HER.

🤣🤣🤣

At this point, the whole thing has become annoyingly comical.

Eventually, after Yingtao has pushed and chased about as much as one human being possibly can, Qianxu realizes that he doesn’t actually want to lose her.

And FINALLY…

We get his side of the story.

This is where my entire perspective shifted.

Up until this point, I’m yelling:

LET HIS ASS GO!

He’s selfish.

He’s a terrible communicator.

He ghosts you every chance he gets.

Why are we still doing this?!

Then we learn what happened to Qianxu.

His family falls apart. He ends up staying with his cousin, someone he looks up to, but an unfortunate accident destroys their source of income. Qianxu suddenly has to shoulder the responsibility of helping support a family while attending university in Hong Kong.

His life went to shit.

And then he says something to Yingtao that changed how I interpreted almost everything that came before it.

He explains that if Yingtao had found him doing well, she would have eventually walked away.

But if he’d told her that he was suffering?

If she’d known about the poverty, hardship and responsibility he was carrying?

She would’ve dropped everything and climbed right into the gutter with him.

And that’s when I went:

😱

Because…

HE’S RIGHT.

He knows exactly who Yingtao is.

Now, we can argue that Qianxu should have told her the truth.

Normally, I’d agree.

But then I had to ask myself:

What would Yingtao have done with that information?

We’ve spent the entire drama watching the answer.

She is all-consuming when it comes to this man. She would’ve tried to fix everything. She would’ve inserted herself into his struggle. She would’ve put his problems before her own future.

And Qianxu knew that.

While he stayed away, Yingtao continued building a life for herself.

She accomplished things.

She progressed.

She became someone.

And Qianxu didn’t want her life to stop simply because his had gone to shit.

That realization completely changed how I viewed his sacrifice.

Through Yingtao’s eyes, he abandoned her.

Through Qianxu’s eyes, he let her go.

Not because he stopped loving her.

Because he loved her enough to accept that he might never have her if losing him allowed her to keep moving forward.

He was ashamed of the person he’d become. He didn’t want a relationship while his life was in that condition.

And…

I agreed with him.

🫩🚬

THIS is where the writers earned their stripes.

Because suddenly this wasn’t simply a frustrating romance anymore.

It was a coming-of-age story about how our childhoods shape the way we love, how circumstances alter the people we become, and how one decision can create a domino effect across multiple lives.

And then I realized something else.

These two had ultimately been sacrificing the same thing in opposite directions.

Yingtao loved Qianxu enough that she was willing to sacrifice her life for their love.

Qianxu loved Yingtao enough that he was willing to sacrifice their love for her life.

And THAT is when this damn drama got me.

😩🫩🚬

Do I think their relationship is healthy?

Absolutely not.

Would I personally want this kind of love?

HELL NO.

Did I spend most of the drama wanting Yingtao to leave his ass alone?

YES.

Did I spend the other half wanting Qianxu to learn how to communicate like a functioning human being?

ALSO YES.

But by the end, I had to respect them.

Yingtao loved Qianxu for who he was—not his potential, accomplishments, money or status.

And Qianxu loved Yingtao enough to risk losing the person he wanted most because he believed staying away gave her the best chance at building a life beyond his suffering.

Their happily ever after?

They earned it.

And that irritated the hell out of me because after spending almost this entire drama refusing to root for them…

I caught myself SWOONING during their happy moments. 🫣

The AUDACITY.

Then the ending had their adult selves essentially communicating with their younger selves, reflecting on who they had become and the journey that brought them there.

And that broke me.

Because how many of us wish we could sit across from our younger selves and explain:

You have no idea what’s coming.

The heartbreak.

The mistakes.

The choices.

The people you’ll lose.

The person you’ll become.

And somehow reassure that younger version:

We made it.

🥺

That symbolism was beautiful.

So yes.

After ALL that…

9/10.

Did I enjoy watching it?

Absolutely fucking not. 🫩🚬

Did it stress me from beginning to end?

YES.

Did I want to give this show a 3/10 at several points?

BABAAYYYY, the 3 was READY. 😭

But good storytelling isn’t always about giving me characters whose choices I agree with.

Sometimes it’s about making those choices believable.

This drama made me dislike these characters, question them, judge them, reconsider them, understand them and—against my will—eventually respect their love.

That’s why it gets a 9.

The writers earned every damn point.

Would I recommend it?

Hell no. 💅

We don’t need too many people voluntarily signing up for the same traumatic viewing experience. 🫩🚬

But I will give this drama its flowers.

It captured something painfully real about love: our decisions don’t exist in isolation. Our families, childhoods, fears, circumstances and sacrifices shape how we love—and sometimes the very thing we do to protect someone becomes the thing that hurts them.

Their love wasn’t clean.

It wasn’t healthy.

It definitely wasn’t the kind of romance I personally root for.

But I believed it.

And sometimes that’s the mark of a damn good story.

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Overall, this drama was actually quite enjoyable to watch. Personally, I never found it boring (although I do think the evil spirit storyline was stretched out a little), and I found the plot itself interesting. However, there were some things that could have been handled a bit better. Certain aspects had some plot holes, and especially the side storylines were often introduced and then simply dropped instead of being developed further.

I’ll start with the main couple - Park Seong A & Bae Gyeon U. First of all, I have to mention that they both became my favorite characters. I absolutely loved how she was so open, crazy, and positive, while he was her complete opposite. My heart melted whenever I saw him start experiencing genuine happiness around her - happiness he truly deserved. One slight negative for me is that we didn’t get to see enough of them during their genuinely happy moments, but their relationship was definitely the most enjoyable part of the drama. On the surface, it was a sweet first love without unnecessary arguments, but they still faced difficulties where both of them genuinely wanted what was best for the other person and wanted them to be happy.

I also want to stay on the subject of Bae Gyeon U for a moment. I think his family storyline could have been developed much better. As far as I remember, there was one really powerful scene where the hatred was shown, but afterward I really missed seeing more of his relationship with his parents. On top of that, he was still attending high school and wasn’t an adult, so how exactly was he living alone after his grandmother died? His grandmother’s death absolutely broke my heart, and I basically jinxed it myself because at the beginning of episode two I said to myself that I was afraid she was going to die - well, I made it to the end of episode two. And then there’s the character of Choi Hui-Na. Her storyline runs throughout the entire drama and honestly had a lot of potential. You know, something along the lines of: something terrible happened to her because of him, so now he puts up with her harassment and doesn’t want to allow himself to be happy. But the final resolution felt absurd to me and turned Bae Gyeon U into a pathetic martyr. If she was the one who caused the fire back then, why did she hate him so much? Why did she wish the worst possible things upon him? Why did he listen to her and keep answering her calls? Was she really doing all of this just because he took the blame for her? How does that make any sense?

Naturally, I have to move on to the Bong-su/Jang Yoon-boo storyline - the evil spirit. At first, I really liked him, and his scenes genuinely made me laugh. Over time, however, I started having mixed feelings about him, and I became increasingly annoyed whenever he wanted to take over Bae Gyeon U’s life. That irritation only became stronger once he actually did it. In the end, I think they stretched this storyline out a little too much and it could have been resolved sooner. Besides that, the storyline itself started losing its logic over time. How did he suddenly move from Bae Gyeon U’s body into Park Seong A’s body and then back into Bae Gyeon U’s body? The second time was supposedly in a dream, but couldn’t we have gotten some deeper explanation for how that worked? Also, if it was really that easy, they could have simply given him someone else’s body and let him live or sacrifice himself. Everyone would have been happy. On top of that, I found his romantic feelings toward Park Seong A slightly disturbing when I remembered that his soul was basically 13 years old.

I also want to stop for a moment and talk about the whole storyline involving spirits, shamanism, etc. I’ll admit that I know absolutely nothing about this subject, and this was the first drama I’ve watched with a plot like this. Personally, I really enjoyed it. Obviously, most of it was presented in a more comedic than dramatic way, but I had a genuinely great time watching it. I also want to give a special mention to Do Ryeong / “Flower Master,” because I absolutely loved his personality.

Pyo Ji Ho is a character who gave me some of the most mixed feelings I’ve had in a long time. On one hand, I liked him. He often brought a lot of humor to the drama and was generally a positive character. Especially when he became Bae Gyeon U’s amulet - I swear, that was one of my favorite moments in the entire drama. But on the other hand, he also had his irritating side: the attention-seeking, pick-me guy who desperately fought for the affection of a girl who had been showing him from the very beginning that she didn’t have feelings for him. Eventually, it just became exhausting (props to the evil spirit, who was literally the only one willing to say it out loud). I was hoping Ji Ho would eventually develop a romantic relationship with Cho Hye Ri, but unfortunately, he was written as a desperate guy until the very end.

Still on the subject of the students, I also have to say that I absolutely loved the Kim Jin Ung and Koo Do Yeon storyline. I’m still disappointed that it wasn’t developed further and that they didn’t get more screen time, because I found it absolutely hilarious how the delinquent started chasing after her because he thought she was the ghost of his dog (although I’m glad they ended up together). Kim Jin Ung himself also had a storyline that was introduced and then never developed - his family. What happened to his father and mother afterward? I know this storyline wasn’t important to the main plot, but if you’re going to introduce something like that, it would be nice to actually develop it later. They did something similar with Mo Beom’s bullying storyline. Why were those guys bullying him? And did they stop after the fight with the others? We have no idea.

The last character I’ll discuss is Yeom Hwa. She isn’t the typical villain that you simply hate. She has enough depth to her character that I often felt sorry for her - even though she pi*sed me off later :D. At the same time, I still think her character could have been developed much more. I would have loved to learn more about her past and, more importantly, what exactly she wanted to gain from the evil spirit. Did she want to bring her child back to life? Did she simply want to see her again? What exactly was her motivation and what was she trying to achieve? Because that actually matters.

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it wasn’t perfect, and sometimes it wasn’t even good, but it was fun.

my review contains five sections —
[1] the bad.
[2] the good.
[3] the ending.
[4] the couples.
[5] my conclusion.
(please be aware the whole review contains minor spoilers about the story and ending.)


[1] the bad.

the story was decent, but contrived. trying to keep track of the family trees was often difficult, which was frustrating. to make matters even more frustrating, there were characters that were eliminated or forgotten about on a whim. the side couples do not get any development whatsoever, but most (if not all) of the characters are underdeveloped so that’s unsurprising. it felt kind of like watching fanfiction, in the sense that sometimes it seemed like we were already supposed to know who the characters were because they were from some other work/story and were just being written into this historical drama. i suppose that has something to do with the series being adapted from a novel, though i don’t really like using that as an excuse for shoddy writing.

in that same vein, the dialogue was hard to sit through a lot of the time. sometimes it was awkward, sometimes it felt repetitive, sometimes it made very little sense. this didn’t help at all when trying to follow the familial connections. i usually give the benefit of the doubt in these cases, because i’m aware translations/subtitles are not always the most accurate, but even if i’m being generous i have to say that the dialogue was overall pretty clumsy.

also, i’ve seen some discussion about the acting and dubbing. personally, i found the acting to be okay at worst and fun to watch at best. the first half of the series is very light-hearted in tone (there are even sound effects for when something is supposed to be humorous/comedic), so i thought the over-the-top or weirder acting choices sort of matched that tone most of the time. the second half of the series does get more angsty and serious, and in those scenes the acting is definitely hit-or-miss. plus, the dubbing is noticeably bad, especially with Shaoyu’s character. but overall — idk, i think i’ve just seen worse acting than this.

the production and editing were also not great. though the effort and spirit were certainly there, the fight scenes and effects made me laugh and cringe at the same time. there was a scene where i could tell that the actors stopped acting just before a cut. i could even see the edges/clips of the actors’ wigs a lot of the time. this doesn’t necessarily take away from the story, but it does make many moments worse if you’re already on the fence about how to feel about a scene.

something of note is that the noncon scenes were presented in an uncomfortable/odd way. i think noncon in fiction can be compelling if done right, and i’m actually often partial to these kinds of toxic romances, but i don’t think this series does noncon well. not only does the noncon go nowhere and have no effect on the story whatsoever, but it also presents noncon in a way that’s “romantic” (sort of?) and in a way that makes it feel like a bandage for poor chemistry and writing.


[2] the good.

perplexingly, despite all of the above, i actually like this series. in fact, i often found myself enjoying it almost against my will. there was a weird charm to how off everything was; it reminded me of a few low-budget romance and comedy series i’ve seen, and even the naruto cosplay skits i used to watch when i was younger. a lot of the series feels like it’s held together with duct tape and string, and i (fondly) yelled “this is so dumb!” more times than i could count, and yet i still came away from the series with a positive feeling.

in this case, i think what made it easier to keep watching was: one, the lack of miscommunication; two, the sheer comedy of it all; and three, the characters (even as underdeveloped as they were).

personally, i find miscommunication to be the absolute bane of most romance stories, and i’ve only seen it done well maybe a handful of times. so, the fact that THESE characters, in this often SUPER contrived storyline, somehow managed to avoid the pitfalls of the worst miscommunication tropes is a MIRACLE. don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of scheming, lying, bluffing, betrayal, and jealousy surrounding the main pair from the very start, but none of it really lasts and some of it barely goes anywhere at all. this could certainly be considered a bad thing, but i’m personally putting it in the ‘good’ category.

the comedy is sometimes intentional (when the writing is clearly aiming to be fun/funny) and sometimes it’s accidental (when something unbelievably absurd is happening on the screen). either way, both the intentional and accidental humor of this series actually landed for me, for the most part. it made many scenes far easier to get through and overall made the episodes more enjoyable.

lastly, the characters were the highlight of the drama for me. they were underdeveloped, yes, and ridiculous sometimes, sure, but they were entertaining. the main leads, though they didn’t have the best chemistry of all time, still had some interesting scenes and the characters were fun to watch individually. there were also a lot of side characters that i genuinely liked: Su Yin, Que Siming, Jinbao and Zhaocai, Right Shadow and Left Shadow, even Li Gongxiang — they became like trusty companions to me; every time i saw them, i knew a scene would be easy (or at least easier) to watch. i didn’t like all of the characters, no, but i liked most of them; and because i liked them, i wanted to see how their stories ended.


[3] the ending.

the ending was all right. the villain was defeated, of course, and the couples lived happily ever after (2/3 of them at least?), but one thing that stood out to me was how bad i felt for Huaien’s mother at the end. i kind of wish her storyline/background had been woven into the plot a little bit better, but i could say that about almost all of the different storylines.

i feel like there were lots of unanswered questions (like how did Su Yin manage to tell Xiaoyu about the dahlia being important?) and lots of things that came up out of nowhere toward the end of the series (like Li Gongxiang’s connection to Huaien’s mother). also, some plot twists were better than others: for example, the issue of Li Gongxiang’s loyalty being unknown until Episode 11 was good! the weird red herrings regarding who Huaien’s father actually was were less good.

still, i was happy to see the light-hearted tone return in the last episode. the series bookending with the kites was really lovely and by far my favorite bit. a very sweet end, considering the serious tone of the second half.


[4] the couples.

the main couple: Zongzheng Huaien and Jin Xiaobao were… something. their relationship progressed rapidly, which isn’t always a bad thing (Semantic Error handles rapid progression with characters who start off as strangers very well), but in this case the characters were too one-dimensional and their initial interactions were too stiff for the rapid progression to feel natural. so, i didn’t love them, but i also didn’t hate them. my favorite thing about them was how their dynamic changed over time, from Xiaobao flirting with a cold and dismissive Huaien to Huaien being crazy about Xiaobao. i thought that was an interesting change, plus it fit their respective characters/storylines. it still could’ve been handled/written better, but i’ll take the wins where i can get them.

side couple #1: Que Siming and Jinbao could’ve been cute, if they had been developed in any way, shape, or form. individually, they were fun comic relief characters; together, there was the implication of something more; but their past was discussed like twice, their characters had precious little screentime, and their relationship progressed largely off-screen. there was an episode where Jinbao ran away from home (or maybe ran away from Siming?) for maybe one minute, and a big deal was made of it for about two scenes, but then we never found out why that happened or if it had anything to do with his relationship with Siming. truly a waste of a potentially sweet side story.

side couple #2: Su Yin and Zongzheng Shaoyu were barely anything at all. Shaoyu’s character was obnoxious and obviously in love with Yin, but Yin seemed to have no feelings for him whatsoever, and the few scenes they had together often ended with Yin dismissing or being angry at Shaoyu. i’m not really sure what the plan was there, or why they’re featured together in the intro sequence, because there was genuinely nothing between them in the series besides the one-sided feelings on Shaoyu’s part — and these feelings aren’t even addressed.

other notes: Huaien and Shaoyu were both jealous over Su Yin’s relationship with Jin Xiaobao, but that was kind of a red herring too. in my opinion, there wasn’t actually a love triangle there, at least not in the way that love triangles are usually presented. i can only think of like two or three times when i thought Su Yin might actually cross that romantic line; otherwise, he was a character that typically acted within the realm of chivalry and propriety, and he was always careful to treat Jin Xiaobao with respect and the appropriate amount of (familial) affection. that was part of the reason i liked him!


[5] my conclusion.

honestly, i doubt i’d rewatch this series, but i was able to stick with it despite my habit of dropping shows i get annoyed with, and that’s noteworthy. it was a lot of confusing family drama, a lot of cheesy moments, a lot of odd camera shots/angles, a lot of undercooked characters and plot points, a lot of questionable scenes and content… but it was also a lot of laughs, a lot of fond eye-rolls, and ultimately a lot of fun.

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Infinitely patient man & pigheaded woman .fell from 9* to 7*

It started out a 9/10 and ended up 7/10 (& it's only not a 5.5 because the first 5 or 6 episodes are so endearing!)

The Good:
There are ALOT of handsome men
All the actors do an exceptional job
There is a happy ending
The OST was subtly beautiful
The costumes were amazing
The leads are very attractive & have alot of chemistry (with some sizzling moments).

The Dumb:
SO many attacks by gangs of "ninjas"
2 people Voluntarily fall off a cliff & survive ( 2 separate times.)
SO many men are fixated & crushing on the female lead ! why?
2 endings
Reason male lead mother died

The Bad:
in the last 1/3 there is alot of war & politics
Filler material
Female lead's character
See the explanation

The Honest:
too many episodes
I don't need/enjoy historical dramas heavily infused with feminism

The Break Down
<& it's long because I really loved this and all the actors/characters, so it needs alot of explaining why I went from 9* to barely 7*>

The drama starts out with alot of warm fuzzy moments that build the lead's relationship. The leads have reversed roles strength & social standing wise-which is presented in a light hearted way & it's quite fun.
Around ep. 14 the drama has become much darker, with more fighting (the stabbing, slashing, war kind).
About Ep 16/17 it drops from 9/10* to 5/10* as there is a nonsensical prerequisite romantic spat which separates the leads. This is going to be a reoccurring trope as the female lead will go around arbitrarily making decisions for other people & has a tendency to hold a grudge for those who do it to her.
This is the crux of the problem with the drama:
as a historical fiction they haven't melded that aspect of it well with the feminism they are trying to infuse it with-especially when they go all hyper serious about it. At first it works because it's light hearted & we are teased into believing that this will be a story about a man & a woman who will have each other's back. That is not the case as the modern feminism just overwhelms the story, sacrificing the heart of the story.

***Short Spoiler Break***

When I say that the drama takes on & continues in a darker tone :
that starts Around Ep. 18 where everyone in the town where the female lead lives is massacred.

Let's take a break from the shock of that & mention :
The Kisses:
For the bulk of the drama the Female lead is unmoved by the males lead's first 2 kisses. Can she be anything other than a bone headed widget when He gives her 2 really meaningful kisses & she can't even lose herself in the moment !?
We have to wait until the end of the drama for the female lead to appreciate & enjoy the kisses (which will turn satisfyingly steamy.
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Back to the mostly Non spoiling parts:

The longer the drama went on the less I liked it ,as all the lovely moments the leads created in the first half evaporate because: as long as thier agendas align, she's appreciative of his support. As long as the male lead is physically weak, the female lead acts caring. When he's not weak, she is distant towards him .
She stubbornly refuses help (as if she disdains weakness), so what does that say about how she really feels about the him she knew that was weak ? It feels less like a romance . Is she on a power trip? Is she afraid she might have to give up something ?
She doesn't seem to want to be equals & her caring is here one moment gone the next.
She's a short tempered, willful ,hyper focused , bossy, grumpy feminist with tunnel vision on the one thing of the moment at the expense relationships or safety.
You see the same type of character in the village women & the grand princess. All these "I can look out for myself women" are ironically AND constantly getting themselves into trouble.

By Ep 27: we're dealing with a full blown & literal pride & prejudice situation. She is uncompromisingly, pridefully pigheaded (pun intended) , while at the same time claiming that it would demean him to be with her: so she will "set him free". I'm sure they meant to make her come across as making a noble sacrifice, but instead she seemingly cares more for convention than she does for him.

And still the male lead keeps proving himself over and over and over & it is not enough for her.


Getting through the last episodes was a chore as the already bloated drama lags with politics, which, while necessary to tie up all the lose ends, still feels like filler . Some episodes are saturated with over sentimental montages remembering dead characters.
(Someone please kill the montage trope !)


What is with 2 endings ?
the weird & incredibly inclusive happy endings all around leaves you feeling like you may have watched 2 different dramas


Final Spoilers/rants:

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He takes 104 lashes in order to marry her & YET when he asks her she can't just say yes, she says "we're already married "...he's bleeding & in great pain & she can't just say yes for him?! She makes his sacrifice as if it were nothing.

After resisting the "love poison" , while still under the influence of it, he gets all snugly & they end up in a hot tub. Whatever the drama thinks that we think happens there is an impossibility as neither a tub of hot water, nor the abundance of clothes (which they still have on later) is conducive much less possible to achieve the imagined activity.

WHY is the villain pushing SO hard to be Emperor when he's been on death's door since the drama started ?

How did the lead's sister escape the second attempt to kill her ?

The female lead returns to a town that was decimated but is now booming with people cheering her on...wait wasn't she the pariah of the town & isn't this a small village in the middle of no where ?

The villain DIDN'T die from the fall that smashed his head ?
Does he get poisoned in prison or just die of his injuries ?

male lead's mother's reason for death is really stupid

proving my point:
Female lead really hated being left an orphan AND YET , she leaves two children behind as she trots off to battle with her husband.

they are part of a trio of people running the country:
HOW are they living in the country then?
If they fall in battle, who will run the country ?


WHY does the drama actually end on the villain, who in that moment is NOT a villain ?


Between this drama & Unveil Jadewind- (both recent & with similar plots) - thier overtly feminism infused characters/plots-have me swearing off watching any further newer Chinese dramas as they have ruined the historical Chinese drama for me. I don't need male leads to have an abundance of machismo nor for the female lead to be swooning, needy incompetents. But trading toxic masculinity for toxic femineity is no win. There is better out there, I've seen it & I'd rather re-watch those instead of investing alot of hours in content that fails to give satisfying entertainment & only offers good actors that are good looking. Call me picky but I need more than that-check out the historical dramas I rated 9 & 10 & see if you agree.

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The Most Unserious and Comedic Quest to Find the Heir to the Throne

‎Disclaimer: as someone who watched Su Yu and enjoyed it, I think this one falls into the same category. So, I watched it with full awareness that I should turn off the logic and just enjoy the ride.
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‎A Thousand Miles to Your Heart is a comedic, stress-relief, light drama. Every scene is full of slapstick. Set in Daliang, where Qi Zhi, our male lead, a pragmatic person, works as an imperial chicken keeper and unexpectedly gets appointed as a secret imperial commissioner to find a worthy heir to the throne. Why? Because the Crown Prince, Liu Le, who has just ascended the throne, has no ambition to be emperor and only wants to draw manhwa.

‎And then there is Ouyang Yan, Princess of Dayan, who forms an unexpected partnership with Qi Zhi because they share the same goal which is finding a prince worthy of the throne and willing to marry the princess, in order to strengthen the ties between Daliang and Dayan.
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‎The plot is mainly about their journey searching around for princes and asking them whether they want to take the throne and become emperor. The funniest thing is that along the way, most of the princes aren't even interested in becoming emperor, so Qi Zhi ends up helping them solve their own problems, only to be left searching for the next prince candidate.
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‎The only prince who stays ambitious about taking the throne is Liu Heng, our silly villain, who follows them around to thwart their plans so his chance of becoming emperor gets bigger.
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So many things in this drama are exaggerated, like the accent of the really fake-looking clouds in the imperial hall, the way Liu Heng comes into a scene and brings another set of musicians as his background music, or the way Liu Heng always pops up wherever the main leads go. And honestly, I found it hilarious and silly. And let's not forget about Hua Hua, our beloved chicken and Qi Zhi's family. Plus, it's just so ridiculously funny seeing Qi Zhi casually asking the princes whether they want to take the throne or not, almost like those insurance agents who stop you on the street, explain all the benefits, and try to convince you to buy insurance. And when you're not interested, they just move on to the next target. Basically, that's Qi Zhi and Ouyang Yan in a nutshell.
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‎The key to watching this is to never take it seriously. Perfect if you want something simple and comedic to watch. Let's just say, ignore the plot holes and you will enjoy it. And after watching the ending and feeling like a fool, I can only repeat this again: never take it seriously.

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We follow two tormented souls, harbouring deep desire and resentment. They survive the worst of conspiracies. An unwanted princess, the daughter of one of the emperor's mistresses. Forced into marriage with a man who holds her in no regard but refuses to let her leave for another, for his masculine pride matters more to him than anything else. This is the story of an alliance between this woman, flawed yet courageous, and a low-born civil servant seeking to avenge his father's death and disgrace.
A flamboyant duo ! Their dynamic is sometimes funny and always charming. Zhaoyang/Kong Xue'er (or Kong Snow) completely dominates their relationship, and that suits Shen Xiao/Li Hongyi down to the ground.

"Dynasties may change, but noble families never fall. You're nothing but fat rats."

As usual, the sets and costumes are stunning and opulent. A scene set in a bamboo forest in the rain, at night, lit by torches ; I couldn't ask for more. Perhaps a scene with just red and orange drapes bathed in sublime evening light ? so beautiful.

18 episodes, each lasting around twenty or thirty minutes, it flies by. It could well be an interesting way to get into Chinese dramas, couldn't it ? And the plot goes from unexpected twists to tragic turns. The ending is excellent, emotionally gripping and unexpected. It's quite daring and really pushes the boundaries of censorship.
And the music is truly beau-ti-ful.

Episode 15 uses AIgen to show houses swept away by a river flood. And the latest episode does it again with kids at school, people on the street (things like that) which are utterly useless. Not a single artist to do that for you ? Really ? Just 5 seconds of video or a drawing in an old-fashioned style, it wouldn't matter ! That could have easily done the trick.
Shame on the production team for this pathetic choice that ruins everything else and thus the technicians' work.

Right now, I know I'm repeating myself a bit too much, but they're stuffing AIgen down our throats everywhere, like geese in an intensive breeding farm. I'm not vegan for nothing.

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From webtoon to screen — perfect

As a huge BL fan, I absolutely loved Payback. I had already read the webtoon beforehand, so I was really curious to see how the story would be adapted into a series. And honestly, I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. Seeing the characters come to life made me so happy. The chemistry, tension, emotions and overall atmosphere had me completely hooked from beginning to end. Even though I already knew the story, watching everything unfold on screen still made me emotional. I loved every moment and I’m genuinely sad that it’s over. Such an amazing adaptation.

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Watpaddy

So I think this series was made in collaboration with the resort, Zantiis, right? Because the whole thing really felt like a promotional love story for the place, which honestly wasn’t a bad thing!
The storyline is very Wattpad-coded though 😂 The CEO pretending to be a regular customer, meeting an employee, and eventually falling in love with him. It’s definitely giving that classic “rich boss falls for the employee” trope.
Since it’s only a short story, I didn’t really expect much depth from the characters or the storyline. Everything moved pretty quickly, so there wasn’t really enough time to explore their personalities, their relationship, or the emotions behind their feelings.
It doesn’t really ask you to overthink anything. Overall, it was cute while showcasing the resort. Not something I’d go into expecting a deep or complicated story, but as a short romantic series with a very Wattpad-ish plot, it did what it needed to do. 😂

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