This review may contain spoilers
Non-spoiler portion of the review:Overall a well-rounded c-drama that I’d recommend. Watch this if you’re looking for very sweet, cute and hot romance with some military strategy and battles. Excellent leads, villain and supporting characters. The reason why I can’t give this a perfect 10 is because it has standard c-drama flaws - fillers were about 10 episodes long, over exaggerated fights and long stares.
I like Angelababy’s acting too. I think her negative reputation about being bad at acting isn’t justified here.
SPOILER AHEAD:
Pros:
- the romance! So hot. Beijie is just so so macho and Pingting is so demure and intelligent.
- Beijie and Pingting’s individual characters (chivalry, strategies, charm)
- well developed villain from start to end.
- good supporting characters.
Cons:
- Bai Pingting’s role as the other half. Biggest frustration is the way Pingting’s character was written with the typical cliche of trying to save her lover by leaving him 10x. If you do it once or twice, it’s fine. But repeat this formula every 3 episodes and it gets really unnecessary and frustrating. The worst filler was the 3 years separation and how they missed each other at every turn.
- CGI - not gonna elaborate on this. I think it’s clearly weird.
- Final battle - whilst it was filmed in an exciting and emotional way, it is also abit predictable and overdramatic.
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A Lot to Love About This Series
The episodes went by fast. Too fast. I didn't want it to end. I liked how so many of the stories tied up, but I wish there had been happy ending for everybody. Loved the characters - even the ones I hated. The villain was brilliantly played (Sean Sun) - even when you hated his actions you could see the sorrow in him. Loved the ML - Wallace Chung sealed the deal for me from Sword & Brocade. Loved the Liang men. There was a good balance of power between male/female. Loved all the love stories. I just loved this series. Sad it's over - but maybe I will watch it again.Was this review helpful to you?
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Heavy on the political/tactical drama..
To be honest, I can't remember when was the last time I watched almost as much as I've skipped. This was poorly written and in my opinion a very dragging show.The ML written as an Uber romantic, who's willing to throw everything away for love. FL was written as an uber war tactician but an idiot when it comes to men. Honestly her character is a bit hard to love.
The only reason I finished watching the show was to see if they've a happy ending. Thankfully, they did.
Would I rewatch this? Maybe not ever.
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Story
Since i don't know about the story at all, i find this drama has a promising story and it would become a hit if the story is developed well. But in fact, the story isn't well developed. There are several inconsistencies and plot hole within the drama. But fortunately i can grasp the whole big picture of the drama. It is draggy but i don't think it is as draggy as several reviews. The pace for 25 episodes (for me) is consistent and it become inconsistent afterwards. The ending is just good enough. It's is not that satisying or that dissapointing. With such a huge range of characters, this drama shouldn't just end that way.
Acting
All the cast must have done their best in the completion of the drama. But, i concern about the casts. The first male lead sometimes being inconsistent while the first female lead might have problem in expressing sorrow or pain. The casts selection is good already, but the execution of the characters isn't well done. The first female lead surely can act. But, she has problem when it comes to expressing sorrow or pain. I just don't get the feeling about it. A good point from her acting is a natural acting when it comes to calm ambiance. The chemistry is quiet good. The ace of this drama to me is the princess from the enemy's country.
Music
I'm no that fond with the songs from this drama. But it's okay
Conclusion: just watch if you have much time to kill.
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Beautiful Story
A perfect ending to an interesting and beautiful executed fictional historial romance drama. The bad guys/gals got what’s coming to them. No killing offof favorite characters. A mostly sensible story with some surprises. Good pacing and acting. Some of the music reminded me of Eternal Love. (10 Miles of Peach Blossoms). A strong intelligent female character who has some instantes of stupidity due to strong emotions. A main male lead that you wish was real. Beautiful scenery, decorated sets and costumes.Was this review helpful to you?
Firstly, the male and female are great in parts, inconsistency and follow through left this wonderful dramas langering for some early resolution of a good story/plot, which would have been great for a 30 Eps series instead of 66?
The more I watch these dramas the more I see - palace politics, canniving scheming bitches and pricks too but more women than men that I ponder are all chinese women like this in real I wonder????...the great romance and love relationships that come across the screen I must say are second to none - I sit there with my Hollywood indoctrinated thinking and nod my head that not even HWood could beat C-Dramas, the men actually cry and they actually dont mind looking ugly screaming and crying for their beloved lady. The same with the ladies too. The bitches in most of the series are great actresses and they stir up the juices for wanting to see them get their comeuppance or Yusss take that be-arch, but the most frustrating is the pace of the each of the dramas - there are only 3 to date that are up in my top 5 that have mastered the pace of romantic storyline - Eternal Love between Ye Hua and SuSu?Qianqian / Ashes for Love between Xaofeng & Jimni / Fuyao and Wuji in Legend of Fuyao....whoever directed those did a wonderful job of keeping ME waiting with abated breath and glued to each episode that I have had to watch them again to get the C-Drama fix and appreciation of good tv making.
In ending, The General and I had wonderful content that would have made it up there with my top 3 but the pace of the developing story was WAYYYYYY tooooooo slow......when it didn't need to be....
Rating - 6/10
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Amazing cdrama
I have to admit that for me it's one of the best cdramas I've watched recently and I was very drawn into watching it... I couldn't tear myself away. Especially the main characters Chu Bei Jie and Bai Ping Ting. Great performance by Wallace Chung - number one for me among the whole cast. The great experience of this actor is immediately visible. The character of the general played by Wallec was genuine and I liked him immediately ... he was very masculine, handsome, honest, emotional and passionate ... the ideal man ... when necessary he goes and fights, as he loves it with all his heart ... actually in of this relationship of the main characters, it was CBJ that constantly initiated romantic scenes, because BPT was unfortunately very withdrawn, especially at the very beginning, then it got going, but also not enough to initiate romantic moments ... However, I think that you could feel the chemistry between the main characters ...especially I was very positively surprised by the scenes of passionate and bold kisses by CBJ and BPT and the scene in the cave when Ping Ting protects the wounded Bei Jie with his own body - great ... I haven't seen such scenes in other cdramas and I missed it, because the kiss scenes in dramas they are usually so weak, as if children give each other a kiss. So 10 points straight to the director for bravery. The plot is incoherent in places and some threads could be omitted, but it does not affect the whole of my rating. The performance of the other actors was also good, I think that everyone rose to the occasion, especially Sean Sun who played On Xia full of power, who sacrificed even his pregnant wife for his sick ambitions of power and sowed death and destruction around. The music is great, especially the main theme, which was performed by William Wei and Claire Kou in various parts of the film, especially in the scenes with the main characters, especially when they were separated and CBJ missed Ping Ting so much and seemed to sense that he was somewhere nearby and the scene when they met after 3 years at PT's grave and in this house - it broke my heart ... By the way, I didn't like that the main characters were separated for 3 years! I don't know what it was supposed to be for... it was terrible... I don't understand how a wife and mother can not give a chance to be a father, the father of her child... during their separation She had a child and focused on his upbringing, and He had neither her nor the child ... it's terrifying that for a stupid argument that she didn't deserve him or whatever she described, she delayed revealing herself and the child for 3 years ... it's good that she finally took pity and she came out of hiding... but I think this thread is unnecessary... I don't know if it was like that in the original book too, but since they didn't stick to the book version anyway, they could have handled it differently and given the main characters time for themselves, for their family before they start fighting for peace in the kingdom of Jin and the rest of the kingdoms. A positive ending for the bog=haters, because fortunately they did not die and were able to live on, although when CBJ finally became the emperor and Ping Ting the empress, it was not end of her dream, because she wanted to live with him peacefully away from of the imperial court... well, duty towards the country and subjects won, as it happens in these cdramas. But the most important thing is that the main characters are together! For my part, I recommend watching it.Was this review helpful to you?
overall this drama is tragic. beacuse there is little happiness. but more hardships.
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How to end war? How to achieve peace?
"General and I" had a thrilling plot from the get go. As the invaders arrive, a mysterious woman plays the zither, calculating the weather, and giving prophecies to her army as to how to win. The cunning villain immediately sees that this woman is a threat and ends up kidnapping her. To the villain's surprise, even his cunning nature is no match for her wits. She escapes all of his traps, outsmarting him over and over. Yet, fates begin to shift as she realizes that this villain is the key to peace between nations. If she can persuade him to pursue peace, then great harmony might be possible. She decides that she is willing to sacrifice herself to a loveless marriage if this villain will promise to stop waging war on her people.Yet, as time goes on, the villain's true colors are revealed, and he proves himself to be an honorable patriot that would die for his people and his moral principles. As one can't judge a book by its cover, the female lead becomes impressed by his passionate character and falls in love. Yet, this love is cursed by her adopted family, the gods, and the spirits of the dead, as her lover is technically the murderer of those closest to her. She feels cursed as fate blocks the two from being together over and over.
When this most powerful general decides that love is more important than the state, he becomes a liability to his emperor. The emperor sets his sights on destroying their relationship at all costs. This general gives a passionate speech to his men about his priorities - “If a man can’t protect his own wife, how can he be worthy of protecting the state?” The men are rallied to his side as they empathize with his passion to not chose his wife over the state, but rather to protect both.
When he solidifies in his role as protector of both his wife and the state, enemies of the state realize that targeting his wife is the perfect way to destroy his battle-ready soul and weaken the emperor's right-hand man. Like a valuable chess piece, she sits and watches as countless pawns die to protect her. She can't bear the pain of causing countless suffering on those around her and desires to retreat from the political arena. Both her and her husband decide that love is more important than power and prestige. As the emperor's kingdom slowly collapses from his lack of wisdom and moral inadequacy, the emperor realizes that those who desire power the least are the most needed in positions of power. He makes it his dying mission to persuade this power couple to come out of retirement to not only save their nation, but to save all of China.
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