General & I

Once upon a time I watched a Chinese movie and it rapidly went from cute......to weird beyond all of my imagination but I was so shocked I kept watching and watching and watching. I banned all Chinese dramas and movies from my life from sheer weirdness and shock.

Then it happened. I was browsing youtube for various dramas and I stumbled upon a Chinese fantasy drama, it caught my interest, but I was still reluctant to commit, another one caught my attention and even though it was only 20 episodes I was reluctant...then one more caught my attention. Instantly I was in love, I checked the amount of episodes and threw caution and everything else to the wind.

Needless to say 62 episodes later I am deeply deeply in love with this historical C Drama. I am going to try and stay spoiler free as possible...but that is going to be difficult. I have a feeling this is going to be more restrained fan-girling than an actual review. 

General and I

PG-13 + (but it's a far from R)
(warning labels)
It's a historical drama so what do you expect? It's an absolute blood bath in certain episodes. Nothing too gruesome, just loss of life which is tragic, lots of blood coming out of mouths, and some spurts which made me wince and look away but nothing that horrified me...that I saw.

There are some intimate shots, no direct nudity, though a few of the guy character are shirtless (a few times) and  one scene the girl character is wearing very little and filming tried to make the most out of  it, also there are a few scenes with girls taking steaming baths, not much more than shoulders and arms are shown.

A concubine is very creepy, and tries to get pregnant with someone who isn't the king, so there is some shadows, but we don't see any of the intimacy thankfully.

One night two characters sleep in the same bed, she passed out, and he was drunk, nothing happened but the still spent the night together.

There are several suicides in this drama and one attempt, if this is a trigger watch with discretion or skip all together.

One character goes mad, and another shows signs of madness, possibly triggered by grief, bitterness and power hunger.

So let's get down to business.

Based of a Chinese Novel: A Lonesome Fragrance Waiting to be Appreciated, we get this beautiful story, that is full of beautiful visuals, beautiful characters...and some green screening.

Costumes and characters are lovely deep, complicated and overall lovable.
The themes of love, forgiveness, bitterness, friendship and loyalty ran very deep in this drama and wove it's way beautifully and intensely through it's story telling.

Characters:

Ping Ting

Beautiful, brilliant, military strategist, orphaned and taken in by the Prince An family, Ping Ting is the picture of loyalty and brilliance.

She captivated me almost instantly with her quiet modesty and yet strategic brilliance and masterminding a brilliant battle strategy. She was treated by He Xia as an equal but a woman still, and you could tell that there was an underlying hint of possible romance for their future.

However, she and He Xia are dealt a hard hand and things go very rapidly from harmony and a future together to utter chaos and being without a home...and separated.

And this is when she meets the enemy of Prince An's Manor and her country Great Yan.

Chu Bei Jie

Well, other than being Ping Ting's enemy. I decided very rapidly to fall in love with him.

Ping Ting took a lot more convincing.

General Che Bei Jie the "god of war" for Great Jin. A brilliant strategist, martial arts master, loved by all of his men.  This man had a heart and soul that is beyond beautiful, the very image of loyalty, faithfulness, and undying love. (I might be a bit of a fan.)
Over and over I had to admire his priorities, and how he placed people as a huge importance in his life, as well as his nation. I could keep going on but I am afraid that would spoil everything.

I loved all of the hand shots in this drama....so may beautiful hand shots

He Xia

Where do I begin.
Intelligent, bright,...and so many spoiler-y things I want to tell you.
But instead I'll just say... look at this face.

Minor Characters and Supporting Cast

Mo Ran

Chu Bei Jei's right hand man....and an amazing one to boot.

Yang Feng & Zi Yin

Ping Ting's childhood friend and husband. These were an amazing pair, the friend was sweet and her husband incredible.

Princess of Bai Lan 

She is beautiful, sweet innocent and a little love blind and sacrificing to a fault.

Ziu Ju

I LOVE HER, she is the best side kick heroine ever. So much love goes to her!

Lady Thirteen

I loved and I hated her just a little bit...but mostly loved her.

Sima Hong

An amazing King....who could have played his game a little better, however was over all incredible and brilliant. The man was king.

Garrison Commander Fan Lu

Sheesh this Mr. Trouble was worth his weight in gold.

Royal Consort Zhang

Fear this woman!

There is so much more I could talk about, but know it has to be a good drama if I am willing to pace myself through 62 episodes in 2 1/2 weeks.

And no spoilers....buuuuuut...

Isn't this face the cutest!!!!!