Hi! It’s Annie!
Continuing with not talking about any piece of media involved in the current writer’s and actor’s strikes, I really wanted to start finding dramas that are outside of the usual big name streaming services too. Because the streaming services are one of the biggest targets of the strike and for good reason. They are paying their workers some of the least right now. So, in an effort to find a drama as disconnected from all of these as possible, I went searching on actual international drama services for something free and this popped up everywhere. If you want to watch this one right now for free, you’ll be able to find it on multiple (actually legal) sites and none of those are the regular big name streaming services. I was a little skeptical at first when I saw that it was free multiple places, but when I looked it up I saw a bunch of people saying that it was one of the best historical romances to come out in the past several years. After seeing nothing but rave reviews (and watching a couple of swoon worthy scenes online), I decided to give this one a shot. I’m so glad that I did! This has to be one of my favorite dramas I’ve seen in a while and one of my new favorite romances. I almost decided not to watch it when I saw that there were fifty six episodes. I ended up watching this drama in five days. Am I proud of myself? No. (Maybe a little.) Was it worth it? Absolutely, yes! It doesn’t feel like the drama is that long because it’s packed with so much action and romance. I’m just going to get into it! MAJOR SPOILERS ahead!!!!
Summary: Shaoshang is a clever and headstrong girl who’s lived in a loveless household her entire life after her parents abandoned her with her grandmother for other priorities. General Ling Buyi is loved by all the women in royal and noble households and has a long list of women wanting to marry him, but he is unwilling to marry anyone. After a few chance encounters he finds himself unwittingly falling for Shaoshang, who is completely oblivious. But his lifelong want for revenge may just ruin any relationship he may or may not have with the woman who likes him a little more than she lets on.
The Good:
The Female Lead- One of the things that I love about Zhao Lusi in anything is that she never plays a demure or helpless lead. She always faces first with a charm steeped in pure intelligence that you often don’t get in female leads in anything. I think she’s my favorite romcom actress right now just because of that. I seriously can’t think of a role that she’s played that wasn’t fiercely intelligent. I feel like a lot of dramas don’t feel that their characters can be well balanced if they don’t stick to a main trait. I have no idea why that is. Zhao Lusi always plays characters who are a mix of multiple things, which is a breath of fresh air. I’m glad that dramas are starting to stop with this idea that a woman can only be one thing. I feel like especially with women in dramas, people want to see a female character stick to a specific aesthetic. Often times knowing too much or being too intelligent is seen as taking away too much from the cuteness and innocence of a character. That is absolute bullshit and I’m very glad that this drama didn’t fall into that trap. She was adorable and still more clever than most of the men in this show. She fought for herself against bullies and took her own revenge. She stood up for herself, even against her own boyfriend at parts. She is a master healer which is viewed as a complete strength rather than a “female position” within the army. All of the other male characters miraculously massively respect her for her healing abilities. I mass watched this drama to cope with stress before a job interview and watching her gave me the strength I needed to just be myself and even have fun during the interview. She’s one of those female characters where I walked away from the drama wishing that women had more role-models like this character in media. She is strong, nuanced, complicated, and contradictory. Just like real women are.
Male Lead- At first glance he seems like the typical stoic general type character you’d get from a drama like this. He’s not one to show his emotions very easily and he’s the first one in the fray when a fight breaks out or someone sets a fire. He’s well known for both his intelligence and his brutality on the battlefield. In fact, towards the beginning of the drama they take this a step forward by talking about how he’s also known for his torture tactics. That was a particular detail I really wasn’t expecting. Because the point of this character isn’t that he’s perfect at the beginning. Despite having a kind heart, he has a deep seated need for revenge that’s made him pretty bloodthirsty on the battle field. And, just like the main female character, he also didn’t grow up in a loving household. So he doesn’t actually know how to take care of people that aren’t his soldiers. When he and Shaoshang first get together he completely flubs it. He tries to tell her what she should or should not do in trying to look after her health. He also attempts to get her and her family up early in the morning to strengthen them in self defense. None of this is asked for and it’s also not left alone either. Shaoshang threatens to break their engagement over him taking liberties where they aren’t asked for or wanted. And he takes each and every single one of her critiques to heart. He communicates with her, often the first one of the two to do so, and continues to grow throughout the drama to be not just a protective husband, but an actually respectful one. He treats her like an equal and becomes the best version of himself, including learning to show his emotions more. He’s also one of the most swoon worthy characters I’ve ever seen. Leo Wu plays him so expertly and every romance scene made me want to sob just because of how kindly he looked at her. His sword fighting scenes are also action packed and so fun to watch.
Romance- This drama is all about the couple getting closer not because of forced circumstances, but because they actually communicate. When there’s a problem they either communicate with each other or make the mistake of not doing so and learn from it. Towards the beginning of their relationship, Shaoshang is extremely bad at communicating and will only tell him things when she’s angry with him. He communicates with her that he wants her to talk to him when something is wrong and eventually they become amazing at it. It feels almost like a realistic view on a relationship, especially because we see so much of them as a couple and supporting each other. He goes from wanting to always protect her to trusting her to come back alive and respecting her boundaries while still being protective in a healthier way. She goes from not knowing how to communicate to encouraging him to communicate even more. And when there’s a problem, each of them show that they’ve actually learned. When he tries to tell her not to eat close to bedtime and she expresses that she’s uncomfortable with him trying to control things like that, he makes up for it by giving her a pancake around the same time. I love that this drama covered things like boundaries! That aside, the romantic moments here are also so swoon worthy. There’s a moment where she’s trapped by bandits and he comes to help her and gets injured. She’s the only one who knows how to safely pull an arrow out of his wound. Despite this scene being kind of graphic; the way he holds her wrists and never breaks eye contact made me almost pass out. And then afterwards he asks her if her hands hurt from pulling out the arrow instead of worrying about himself. It was one of the most romantic moments I’ve seen in an any drama ever, I keep looking it up just to rewatch it. When he later ends up sacrificing his relationship for his revenge he’s completely mournful of it, to the point where he starts to cry every time she enters a room. And he more than makes up for it by showing that he can be trustworthy and that he more than trusts her. This is a relationship between two people with horrific trust issues learning to fall in love and put their complete trust in someone else. It pulls at your heartstrings and makes you feel for each character. There’s not a moment where one of them does something that you can’t empathize with. And their relationship at the end of the show is one of the strongest I’ve ever seen in a drama.
Family- Even though Shaoshang hasn’t seen her family for most of her life, the way they eventually become close to her and stand up for her is amazing. The entire family is incredibly capable, to the point where all of them fight. I’m talking the women too. Her family is so badass! And the Emperor and Empress taking the main couple under their wing and really being there for them was also so cute. (Also, her eldest brother is absolutely gay coded and you can’t convince me differently. They even make sure that he doesn’t get married at the end!)
The Female Relationships- Though there are bullies, this drama really tries to focus on having healthy female relationships, especially where they are unlikely. The Empress and the Emperor’s concubine both have children who are trying to become the next Emperor. But they view each other as sisters and never try to hurt each other or each other’s families. That’s a first for me, despite the many historical dramas I’ve seen. Shaoshang has two best female friends in this that she talks to about everything. This drama likes its female friendships and I love it!
The Bad:
The Bullying- I could have done with a little less petty bullying. I understand why it was needed, but having so many instances of the same women bullying Shaoshang over and over and over again got a little tiresome. I think a few less instances would have made things more smooth.
Dropped Plotline- I loved almost everything about the Prince politics plot. Which is saying something considering I usually don’t like politics in my fantasy. But aside from the amazing plot twist at the end that Buyi was working for the third Prince instead of the Crown Prince the entire time; the end of the Crown Prince’s story kind of sucked. We knew that he was basically too nice to be in power, but we never heard what he truly felt about losing his power. And he ended up with a wife who tried to instigate the death of the woman that he truly loved. He deserved to be happy! He wasn’t malicious at all! Why did this drama never address how unhappy his situation ended up by the end?
The Villains- I don’t think any of the real villains were really developed. There were a few things I also didn’t quite get by the end. Like what that mist they were talking about was and why all those physicians that investigated it died. I liked the revenge plot line a lot, but none of the men and women behind it were very interesting.
The point of this drama really is the romance and the drama never loses sight of that. Which is why I don’t feel like a single one of those fifty six episodes ever went to waste. Each one was needed. Though the villain at the end especially didn’t have much of a purpose, you could see why it was important to the overall plot and the main couple’s relationship. And even though it mainly focuses on the build up of this relationship, there’s plenty of action to go around here. I loved the fight scenes and the choreography both with swords and with a plethora of other weapons. This drama is more historical than fantasy, so we don’t get magic as much as we get full on sword fights and I absolutely loved that aspect of it! The equality of the couple, the mutual respect, and the most swoon worthy romance scenes I’ve seen in a long time made this drama a completely re-watchable one for me. This absolutely goes onto my list of favorites. I really didn’t have much to nitpick here. Absolutely give this one a watch! And give something well worth it a view that has nothing to do with the big streaming services.
See you across the pond!
Sincerely, Annie
Oreos & Peanut Butter 