After watching another Tang Dynasty inspired drama which has much stronger cast, beautifully made and brilliantly performed in the same time, the Long Ballad has become very ordinary and somewhat boring historical C-drama for me, especially when most interesting plots slowly declined after ep 28. As Wu Lei, the male lead acting was so stiff, I nearly dropped it but kept going to the end because of Zhao Lusi and Dilraba Dilmurat were in it only. Zhao Lusi character development are actually the one worth to watch here. I perhaps initially was drawn to watch this drama because it’s a well-known story and character and cast were predominantly good looking and the outdoor scenes did look amazing. However, some of them only good looking but not looking good in acting and their performance were somewhat annoying to watch. Furthermore, I’ve also felt that Dilraba Dilmurat could not really carry or portray Li Changge character in the book in a way I expected her to be. If she could be more expressive like Zhao Lusi, she could have been better! Unfortunately, the pairing with Wu Lei as lead couple couldn’t give much help. It’s a shamed that i couldn’t enjoy it as much as others since the public rating is so high. But i love the ending theme, it’s beautiful.