Hi everyone!

Today I’m sharing my episode 1-2 notes on Legend of the Female General, because I’m enjoying it, quite surprisingly 😅, and I was wondering if you’d like to join me? 🤗

These are my episode 1-4 notes, exactly as they appear on Patreon, ie, without screenshots (I’m saving those for the actual review).

I hope you all enjoy, and I hope you’ll consider joining us over on Patreon, for the rest of the discussions! ❤️

Episode notes:

E1-4. My friends. In spite of myself, this is my third period c-drama in a row, that I’m covering on Patreon, AND, it also overlaps with another period c-drama that I’m still covering.

If you’ve heard me talk about my general need for breathing space around period c-dramas, you’d probably know that this is very unlike me. 😅

To be very honest with you, I’d fully intended to pick anything BUT a period c-drama to fill this slot on Patreon, because I’m still covering “A Dream within a Dream” right now, and I rarely watch period c-dramas back to back, let alone at the same time.

Which is why I auditioned a total of FOUR SHOWS, while deciding which show deserved a spot here on Patreon, thinking that there had to be a worthy contender aside from “Legend of the Female General,” for coverage on Patreon.

And yet, here we are. 😁

(For the curious, the other shows I auditioned were kdrama “My Lovely Journey,” j-dorama “Glass Heart,” and c-drama “Summit of Our Youth.”

Not that these other shows are bad, to be clear; they just didn’t lend themselves to coverage on Patreon, for varying reasons.

If you’re on a voice note tier, look out for first impressions of these three shows, coming your way. 😁)

Back to this show, I have to confess that it did take a few episodes for this one to grab me properly.

Let me talk about the elephant in the room: that Zhou Ye absolutely does not pass for a man, by any stretch of the imagination, even when in full armor.

In fact, I’d even say that this disconnect was distracting enough for me, that after episode 1, I wondered whether it was worth pushing on, to see what else Show had in store.

Suffice to say that there is a lot of suspension of disbelief required from the viewer in this show, and that is one of the main things that we just need to decide to accept and roll with, if we want to enjoy this show.

As a related example, I thought I’d mention the fact that when our female lead He Yan switches places with her stepbrother He Ru Fei, and he puts on the mask and armor, the difference in height and general stature is extremely stark.

However, all the characters around them just accept that they are the same person, even though anyone with eyes (or ears, for that matter, coz, voice) would know instantly, that this is not the same person behind that mask.

That’s just part of the territory, with this show.

In fact, there’s a lot of bad stuff that happens to He Yan in episode 1, and I was rather taken aback at how much she suffers, as a result of being tasked to fill her stepbrother’s place.

And then, I was even more taken aback to see that her father (although, I’m not even sure that this is her real father, by this point) even poisons her to make her go blind, once the real He Ru Fei returns and is ready to take back his place.

Afterwards, I was also shaking my head at how she’s sent to a temple (to get her out of the way, without killing her), and she does everything in her power to figure out a way to leave the temple, even though she can’t see, and has no idea what to do, or how to get herself to, well, anywhere, really, once she’s left the temple.

It’s.. really quite a lot to have to just roll with, and this is one of the reasons I was uncertain about whether to cover this show, over other dramas.

However, once that initial portion is dealt with, and He Yan is rescued from the brink of death by her Master (and yes, her sight is miraculously restored), things do pick up and become more interesting.

Personally, I do think that He Yan should have waited until she had fully recovered from her injuries, before attempting to join Xiao Jue’s troops at the Yezhou Garrison, but I guess Show has her do this for dramatic effect, so that she’d still be recovering, while working to prove herself.

Also, I guess it does make plot sense, that Xiao Jue’s recruitment would take place over a fixed period, and I can buy the idea that He Yan didn’t want to miss it.

It’s still a real leap, to believe that everyone in the camp buys that she’s male, but I rationalize that they most likely just believe that she is, because everyone there is required to pass a physical examination, and so, if she’s there, she must have passed, and therefore, she must be male, even though she looks every bit like a girl.

I do think it helps, that one other recruit, Xiao Mai, is just as short as He Yan, since this helps her small frame to stand out less.

We spend episodes 2 through 4, mostly on He Yan working to prove herself, not only to her fellow trainees, but to Xiao Jue himself, the Commander of the troops, and I have to admit, there’s something pretty satisfying about seeing her overturn everyone’s expectations, and actually do way better than they’d first expected.

Aside from this, there’s also a nice amount of tension and thrill, from the fact that Xiao Jue is immediately suspicious that He Yan is a spy, because of her knowledge of military stuff, especially Fuyue Army protocols specifically.

His suspicion of her, up against her efforts to throw him off the scent, definitely make for some nice crackly narrative tension.

Like that whole encounter at the hot spring, where He Yan goes to soak, to treat her wounds, only to be joined by Xiao Jue, which forces her to quickly hide and find a quick exit.

That entire sequence, where they exchange blows, but she uses the water to prevent him from seeing her clearly, is quite artistically shot, and quite fun in concept.

And, even though He Yan manages to keep her femaleness a secret, I appreciate that Xiao Jue does get to see that the person with whom he’d been sparring, is the new recruit He Yan, because this only increases his sense of curiosity towards He Yan – which is a good thing for the plot, of course. 😁

Not gonna lie; this is literally the most tantalizing part of the story, for me personally.

I am most curious to watch the dynamic evolve between Xiao Jue and He Yan, as he inevitably comes to respect and trust her, in spite of himself.

We do see some of that in episode 3, when he reluctantly agrees to help He Yan train for the matches that she has lined up with her fellow recruits.

He Yan’s chosen cheerful demeanor, paired with her clever analysis, seems to regularly disarm Xiao Jue, and I do enjoy that quite well.

Plus, He Yan always makes sure to put in a good word for Xiao Jue, and it amuses me that he basically can’t disagree with her, because she’s said something positive about him.

Like the way she says that he must be concerned about her, to observe her training solo at night, and that he wouldn’t go out of his way to make things difficult for a little recruit like her. 🤭

I mean, he doesn’t easily let her have her way, but her cheerful expectation does seem to help erode his prickly layers, at least a little bit; enough for him to give her the chance to win his tutelage for herself – which of course she does.

And, I am suitably amused too, that Show doesn’t pass up the chance to give us a moment of hyper-proximity between our would-be OTP, with He Yan grabbing onto Xiao Jue’s neck, in order to save herself from falling outside of the ring.

Honestly, I just like the assurance that Show knows to keep the OTP development front and center of our story, because that’s also where my interest lies.

On that note, I guess this is a pretty good time to talk about the chemistry between our leads.

So far, I’d say that the OTP chemistry is quite decent.

Mostly, I think it’s Cheng Lei’s furrowed smolder that’s bringing a bit of heat to the proceedings; I’m not really feeling anything much from Zhou Ye’s side of things, as far as OTP chemistry goes.

But, I’ve enjoyed OTPs in the past where most of the spark and intensity came from the male lead’s smolder, so I’m willing to roll with this.

Also, this might seem belated to say, since I’ve mostly talked about He Yan and her story thus far, but I do very much enjoy having Cheng Lei in the male lead space.

This angsty, tortured sort of character seems to be a good fit for him, since I’d really enjoyed him being all angsty and tortured in “My Journey To You.” 😁

As for Zhou Ye, I feel like she’s doing decently, though my gut says that she would be so much better with more nuance and dimension in her delivery.

Going back to Xiao Jue’s tutelage of He Yan, I do like the indications that he’s growing to appreciate her abilities, despite his very gruff, very aloof sort of exterior.

Like the way we learn that he’d placed a big bet on He Yan, during that match between her and her fellow recruits.

It makes me kind of gleeful to know that he believes in her enough, to place that bet, y’know? 🥲

What definitely surprised me, in terms of Show’s handling of the OTP connection, is the fact that Xiao Jue learns that He Yan is female, as early as episode 4.

I’d very much expected Show to draw out the whole dynamic where he thinks that she’s a man, but y’know, I’m grateful that it chose not to do that.

I also like that Xiao Jue just files this away as another thing that makes He Yan so intriguing and mysterious; something to be observed and also, investigated further.

In the meantime, I like that his impression of her abilities only continues to rise, first, because she manages to kill that wolf all by herself, and also, there’s the way she handles the whole situation, as the leader of the group.

Additionally, there’s the thing where he overhears her defending his decision to execute Zheng Xuan, the recruit who’d tried to frame He Yan, saying that she’d run away and taken the other recruits with her.

This definitely gives him pause, and I’d like to think that he’s one step closer to accepting her as a worthy comrade.

And, I do think that with this particular romance, this is the basis of the connection which we’re gunning for, first and foremost, and I do very much like the idea of an OTP connection that’s built between equals who respect and trust each other. 🥲

For now, I appreciate that Xiao Jue’s helping to keep her female identity a secret, like the way he gets Li Su, his nephew, out of the room, so that she can apply the ointment on her own wounds.

All in all, this turned out to be a pretty enjoyable watch, and I’m actually looking forward to see how Show continues to build the connection between our would-be OTP.

I hope you guys will join me for this one – just be prepared to suspend bucketloads of disbelief, as a starting point. 😁

*This show is being covered on the Early Access Plus (US$10) Tier on Patreon*

To view episode 1-4 notes in Patreon, along with everyone’s comments, you can go here!

You can find my Patreon page here, and for all future episode notes for this show you can click here.

Episodes 5-8 notes will be out later this week! I hope you’ll consider joining us!

It’ll be a way to have fun, and support me at the same time? 🥲❤️

PS: For more information on what the Patreon experience is like, you might like to check out my Patreon update post for August, which you can find here!