General's Lady has been on my list since last year. So, I finally sat down, clicked play and watched it. I wanted a light-hearted rom-com AND THIS DEFINITELY delivered that. So, here is my review of GENERAL'S LADY.
*Now as per usual with any review I write, I will not be including any spoilers in this review.*
A QUICK SYNOPSIS OF GENERAL'S LADY - A woman who is the unfavored daughter of a royal family's concubine is decreed by the emperor to marry a general serving at the outer borders of the country. The couple learns to trust each other which turns into love eventually. She must navigate this foreign place and her new marriage, trying to overcome the obstacles that stand in their way. Will they find happiness in the end?
Overall, I enjoyed this Chinese drama quite a bit. It definitely wasn't PERFECT but what drama is? I have a lot of good things to say about this drama. I have a couple of things I would have wanted to be different. OVERALL, this is going to be a VERY positive review for everyone!
WHAT I LOVED ABOUT THIS DRAMA
-THE COUPLES
The BEST PART of this drama were the couples. Are we surprised though? This is a romantic comedy cdrama. The concentration with this type of drama are the romance AND the couples. The Lead couple had GREAT chemistry. I loved their scenes together. I think it also showed in the drama that these 2 actors worked well together and had a good rapport. The lead couple definitely had some angst within their relationship BUT it is a Chinese drama so the formula calls for some turmoil. What I liked with this couple is the angst never lasted more than 2 episodes. It was quickly resolved and we moved onto the next problem. The other couples in the drama were just cute to watch and some were even there for comedic relief.
-THE COMEDY
I sometimes have a hard time when it comes to comedy in dramas. I thought the comedy worked well in this drama. It was used smartly. If the drama was getting TOO serious or over dramatic, the drama would stick in comedy and lighten the mood again. The comedy in this drama was also HILARIOUS! There were multiple times that I laughed out loud which tells me the comedy worked for me.
-THE MAIN ACTORS
Before General's Lady, I had never seen any of these actors in any other drama. The entire cast was new to me. I always like when that happens because I am introduced to new actors/actresses and then know to follow them in their later works. I was VERY impressed with the cast in General's Lady. I could see a lot of talent and potential. I liked that Caesar Wu acted with his eyes. He just did so well conveying various emotions through his eyes and body language. He was VERY believable. Tang Min was also new to me. I loved her chemistry with Caesar Wu. I think she showed great potential with acting through the portrayal of the female lead. Some people did not like her character in this drama and found her to be too whiny. I will admit her character did seem whiny at times but for some reason it worked for me because I also saw her characters as smart, witty and a strong female character. That might have been me watching this drama through my own lens so you guys who try this drama after reading this review, might not like her character as much as I did.
-THE OUTFITS
For a lower budget cdrama, I noticed the outfits a lot with this drama. I liked that the cast had more than one look. They also recycled some clothing so it gave the drama some realism. The outfits were BEAUTIFUL, in my opinion. They were definitely not the most elaborate or ornamented but I think because General's Lady is a lower budget drama, I noticed the clothing more. I loved some of the patterns and colors on both the general's and his wife's outfits.
-THE OSTS
The OSTs for General's Lady are ADDICTIVE! You are watching the drama and the next thing you know; you can hear the OST in your sleep. Maybe this only happened to me because I listened to the OSTs constantly while watching drama. HECK, I AM STILL LISTENING TO THEM! I liked that the 2 stars sang a duet together for the drama and also sang other songs for the drama. I love when cdramas do this. ALSO, this has nothing to do with the OST but the title sequence in this drama was BEAUTIFUL! The song but ALSO THE VISUALS were quite lovely. I liked that the production made it look like some of the scenes in the title sequence were hand drawn.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER
-THE STORY
One aspect of the story I thought could have been done better. This might be because realistically the concentration of this story was the main couple and their relationship. I thought the plot's "mystery" was not needed. It either needed to be more pronounced in the plot or taken out altogether. It just wasn't prominent in the plot and was only brought up to bulk up the story. The drama couldn't decide if the plot needed conspiracy/mystery or if it wanted to concentrate on the leads' adjusting to their new marriage and everything that comes with that. In the end, the marriage part of the story stood out more than the mystery so I think the drama could have taken it out and it would have still been a good drama.
-THE VILLAIN
The villain goes hand in hand with my criticism of the story. Due to the fact that the mystery wasn't woven very well into the plot and not prominent, the villain wasn't well developed either. In my opinion, he sort of just showed up and became the villain with no real reason why. The whole setup of the mystery and villain with this drama seemed like an afterthought and didn't have much depth to it. Both of these things did not affect my viewing of the drama though because you really watch this drama for the romance and the couples.
Rating: 8.5/10 (Streaming on VIKI now)
If you are curious about my reaction to the drama IN REAL TIME - here is my tweets/watch thread for the drama
Have you seen General's Lady?
What did you think of the drama?
Is it on your list to watch?
Will you watch this drama now after reading my review?
WE NOW ALSO HAVE A DISCORD SO TALK TO US ON THERE AS WELL!?