General Well (2024)

Waste of a Good Female Lead

This drama had a great start, featuring a highly skilled female assassin as the FL, paired against a highly intelligent, also incredibly skilled Commander of the Qianyuwei (elite guards). Even if it had all the usual tropes, it could have been an enjoyable watch.

Unfortunately, the screenwriter took the amnesia trope and stretched it out for far too long. Literally from part of ep 1 to over 4/5 of the show, our amazing, smart FL was dumbed down to a silly, whiny, clingy brat. To add salt to our injury, the show even had to use an irritating child-like voice for her voice. Occasionally, we can see her subconscious act out and we see her true skills but for the most part, she was just plain annoying. They tried to show that even in the dumbed-down state, she was still smart but it was all mostly petty tricks or some glib excuses to get out of trouble. Honestly I still don't get how the ML would even fall for someone like that.

Speaking of the ML, he was the typical cold, stoned-face Commander who often chose noble idiocy, pushing the FL away for her own good. On a few occasions, he would return her affections (especially when she showed signs of wanting to let go of him) and he would pull her back, only to push her away again. Then all of a sudden, he decided that he cannot lose her after a certain discovery. That left a bad taste in my mouth since he did not think she was worth fighting for before his discovery.

The great visuals kept me hanging on. Wang You Shuo and Zhao Zhao Yi are gorgeous to look at and they had good chemistry with each other. Since this was a filler show for me anyway, I was able to ignore the ridiculous dialogue and silly behavior. Their acting was fine, nothing stellar but that was due to the limitations of their characters. The other characters did not leave a strong impression,

I did like the costumes, setting and the OST. The last few episodes were better as the FL regained her memories which is why I did not rate this lower. It is too bad though since these episodes also showed how much better the drama could have been,

Overall, I would not recommend it though unless like me, you just want to look at eye candy and not think about anything else.

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Comédie romantique et historique sans chichi, mais...

Une assassine douée se retrouve amnésique et devient proche du General Yan, celui qu'elle devait assassiner. D'ennemis à amants, c'est aussi l'histoire d'un passé commun...

Zhao Zhao Yi (FL) était amusante dans son rôle et convaincante en tant qu'eunuque. Cependant, en plus d'être amnésique, elle a aussi perdu ses capacités intellectuelles. Je ne comprends pas les scénaristes qui ne parviennent pas à créer un personnage sans souvenir tout en ayant encore les neurones actives. Les premiers épisodes sont longs pour cette raison, mais au fil du temps, on s'habitue alors que le personnage progresse. Cependant, elle recouvre la mémoire beaucoup trop tard (fin de l'épisode 22 (sur un format de 24 épisodes)). Cela dit, Zhao Zhao Yi était pétillante dans son rôle.

Wang You Shuo (ML) était tout ce qu'on attend d'un général. Droit, fidèle à ses valeurs et n'oubliant jamais sa quête de justice envers sa famille. C'est un homme dur à l'extérieur, mais tendre comme une guimauve à l'intérieur. Mon seul regret envers Wang You Shuo (et cela malgré ses yeux magnifiques qui sont clairement les fenêtres des âmes de ses personnages), j'ai trouvé qu'il manquait d'expression faciale pour créer le parfait équilibre. De temps en temps, nous avons un peu sourire en coin, mais pas plus.

J'ai apprécié le fait que FL tombe amoureuse de ML avant qu'elle ne recouvre la mémoire. Elle n'est pas biaisée par leur passé commun. En revanche, je boude notre beau Général Yan. Il est une girouette, sentimentalement parlant, qui décide finalement qu'il veut l'aimer lorsqu'il découvre la preuve qu'il s'agit bien de son amour d'enfance... C'est vrai qu'il y a quelque chose de romantique et mignon quand on parle d'un amour d'enfance, mais purée que c'est cliché lorsqu'il n'y a aucune originalité dedans ! Comme le disait quelqu'un, c'est comme si avant qu'il ait confirmation de leur lien, FL ne valait pas son amour.

L'Impératrice est merveilleuse (et d'une grande élégance). J'ai beaucoup aimé l'amour de l'Empereur envers la dramaturgie. Sa vie est une vraie pièce de théâtre, c'était amusant. Le méchant ne se cache pas, mais je l'ai trouvé étonnamment passif tout au long de l'histoire, pour finalement faire une tentative dans le final, mais c'est tombé à plat.

L'intrigue est facile à suivre malgré le sous-titrage discutable. En soit, l'histoire n'est pas originale, elle ne prétend pas l'être et c'est plutôt bien assumé jusqu'au bout. Le doublage était correct. Les effets également. Les scènes de combat étaient honnêtes, bien qu'imparfaites pour certaines.

En bref, c'est une comédie historique avec sa romance en fond qui s'apprécie les jours où on souhaite mettre ses pensées sur pause.

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Poorly Written

This story was very poorly written. I completely fault the writers on this one. This story had potential to be better but fell flat.

The Good

The one saving grace was it had a little comedy that made me stick through it. The OST was also decent.

The Bad

Predictable plot, basic character setup with cold ML hiding his identity, lovesick ditzy FL, Emperor who is a dunce, jealous 2nd FL, corrupt ministers who get away with everything and Empress Dowager who only cares about power and image at the risk of selling her soul. This show had all the makings of every other basic, predictable setup along with many unlikeable characters, unnecessary misunderstandings and situations that defy logic. There was nothing different and was easy to guess what would happen. There was absolutely no character development in this story. Everyone was just going around in the circle making the same mistakes over and over.

I almost think the rating I’m giving it may be too generous but the actors did their best for what they had to work with. I’ve seen ML and FL in better projects. Hope they will all get something better for their next go round.

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This drama is recommendable.

The story is presictable that they let the villain be know earlier than expected. The male lead is awesome portraying his role, I would love to see him with Peng Xiaoran in another costume drama. 😍 The female lead is also great portraying her role as a strong willed woman in the first few episodes but it seems surreal that she lost her martial art ability once you lost your memory. Like REALLY?
The female lead looks like a coward and so weak suddenly. 😒
But anyway, hmmm good luck to this series I just hope it would be a hit.
I'll give this 8/10 rate but would highly recommend to past time. 😁

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OK watch if you are fan of ML or FL

Mediocre fluffy drama enjoyable to watch on the side. It's low budget but If you like actress Zhao Zhao Yi from Romance of Hua Rong, you might enjoy this drama. The FL is not standard pretty but she's a much better suited for these cross-dressing characters. 1. She's taller & 2. She's not as ideal Chinese beauty & 3. She's not skeleton skinny. Of course, it is still not believable, but she is playing an Eunuch so kind of ok. She's also better at delivering the silly comedy lines so a great choice for this type of drama.

Expect the usual cliches:
Memory loss
Early years encounter
Piggyback ride
Disappearing Kung Fu

Enjoyable Fluff until mid-way when you realized that smart female assassin with lost memory NEVER had any character development. She's been basically reduced to a lovesick bimbo. WASTED potential.

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