The best parts, in my opinion:
#1: The run, hug, and (missed) slap in Ep4
#2: The hot bed scenes 🔥
#3: When the final ending credits rolled 🙌
This rating is lower than even I expected for myself but when I compare this to other dramas in the same genre that I rated 3... this one isn’t close neither in storytelling, romance, nor ensemble.
For me, nearly every element landed below par, with too many boring stretches. This was a bait-and-switch. My biggest issue is that Show continuously flashes serious themes – wartime stakes, generational blood feuds, political ambition, complex leads – naturally flipping my "serious lens", but nothing that followed rewarded that mindset.
Show ultimately falls back on glorifying the FL while simplifying everyone else. She’s constantly praised (a pet peeve of mine and not a gendered one). To be fair, she schemes a few times...twice? Maybe three times in 36 episodes. *Claps politely*
ML bends to whatever the tone of the scene demands. He is unrecognizable from his premise. His backstory suggests he's a war hero and a political mastermind. What we see is someone emotionally juvenile, indecisive, and frustratingly dense. These traits can coexist, sure, but it’s not what I expect when I’m sold an empire-builder in those first four episodes.
His squad – all six of them – barely have a story of their own (and wouldn't have had any if not for the heavy emotional weight at the end). They mainly exist to push the romance forward as cheerleaders rather than as fully formed characters. If so, we only needed a maximum of 2, not 6.
Still, I could’ve enjoyed this as a swoony romance. I’m easy to please that way. But the writing around their relationship – the progression, the buildup, the resolution – was all off. Like the show knew where the dramatic peak should hit, but not how to build toward them. Killing me here.
Case in point: Ep31 (medium spoilers): This was meant to be the emotional climax. ML leads a brutal, outnumbered battle on the frontlines. He risks everything and drops his hatred to protect a land that isn't his. But guess who’s showered with praise? The FL. Girl is basically doing what she felt obligated to: step up for her own country and quit betraying the Weis. Meanwhile ML and his faithful battalion risked their lives for her state....and they're the ones praising her contributions.....to her own people. ??
When they reunite, I expected overwhelming guilt and love from her (like she should have been running toward him screaming, "OMG ARE YOU OKAY, HONEY? I’M SO SORRY WE QIAOS FAILED YOU AGAIN" – or something of that nature). Instead, he has a solo epiphany that he should love her more. .....Hm?? It’s not that he can’t love her more, it’s just that these events shouldn't have earned those emotions from him. And that's emblematic of how the drama consistently writes, frames, and paces its emotional beats. The emotional logic often feels broken to me or lacks proper buildup.
And while we're here in Ep31 – hello ML. What even
was his (and strategist's) battle plan – or any plan for any battle in fact? Charge head-first and pray the enemy's confused? 🤞
This drama feels like a case of mismatched vision: a screenwriter who's into goofy romcoms (and weak politics à la The Romance of Tiger and Rose), paired with a director chasing grandeur and political gravitas. But neither side were invested in the development needed to make either vision pay off. May they never work together again. 🤞🤞
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