The Young Lady of The General's House (2020)

Ca va, c'est pas mal

De temps en temps on aime bien se taper un drama chinois historique juste pour les costumes, les codes stricts et l'histoire d'amour sucrée. General's Lady (l'Epouse du Général, sur Viki) remplit tous ces critères quand on veut voir un historique pas prise de tête et pas trop lourd à suivre.

L'histoire nous présente Shen Jin, issue d'une famille royale apparentée à l'empereur mais hélas fille d'une concubine de seconde zone, qui se retrouve malgré elle (à la place de sa peste de sœur) mariée à un général chargé de garder les frontières. Ce mariage fait suite à un ordre de l'empereur qui veut s'assurer la fidélité du général. L'époux désigné bénéficiant du gentil surnom de Général Diabolique on comprend pourquoi la perspective de cette union est peu séduisante pour ces jeunes vierges effarouchées. En toile de fond, l'assassinat du 8ème Prince héritier du trône seize ans plus tôt, que le héros tente de résoudre afin de rendre à son frère adoptif (le général en second, véritable héritier depuis la mort de ses parents) la place qui lui revient.

L'histoire n'est pas très originale, les rebondissements sont convenus, les intrigues assez simplistes et vite résolues. Et pourtant, on passe de bons moments, parce qu'on ne s'ennuie pas un instant, les choses s'enchainent vite, l'histoire d'amour démarre rapidement, les problèmes durent rarement plus d'un ou deux épisodes et surtout, tout le monde est plutôt sympa. Donc on n'est pas frustré, on ne tremble pas des heures pour les personnages en se demandant comment ils vont se sortir de la galère dans laquelle ils se sont fourrés. Pas de complots chiants et alambiqués à part le minimum syndical, pas de morts inutiles, tout finit bien pour tout le monde sauf pour le méchant (caricatural et ridicule mais au moins il ne nous plombe pas l'ambiance avec des manigances à rallonge). Les nanas se comportent plutôt bien entre elles (à part la peste de sœur, mais bon on a vu pire) donc c'est assez rare dans les dramas pour me donner une impression de légèreté, j'avoue que c'est une bouffée d'air frais bienvenue. L'héroïne a un côté gamine irresponsable mais elle reste agréable et sympathique, le héros froid et rigide n'a besoin que d'une huitaine d'épisodes avant de se dégeler, suite à quoi on à droit à de jolis bisous tout mignons pour le reste de la série, qui parvient tout de même à conserver notre intérêt parce que la romance du frère du général vient à point nommé pour prendre le relai, et aussi parce qu'on a droit au milieu à 4 autres romances, peu développées mais on ne va pas cracher dessus.

Voilà donc un drama dont le côté historique n'est qu'un prétexte à de jolies couleurs, assez superficiel et honnêtement je ne pense pas que je le reverrai un jour. Ca ne vole certes pas très haut, c'est parfois un peu mièvre et trop gentillet pour être réaliste, mais franchement, parfois ça fait du bien. En plus ça ne dure que 30 épisodes, du coup on n'a pas vraiment le temps de se lasser. Ca ne va pas chercher plus loin.

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un coup de coeur

Premier drama que je regarde dans lequel on peut voir la vraie vie d'un couple après mariage. J'ai adoré tous les personnages surtout le général. C'était agréable de voir les haut et les bas d'un couple marié. The main couple had great chemistry too! On aurait vraiment dit qu'il était marié. J'ai besoin d'un autre drama avec ces deux là! Il y avait beaucoup de scènes de baisers. Tous leurs moments ensemble étaient adorables. There were no misunderstandings and the little ones were resolved quickly, so it was not draggy. Bref, j'ai adoré et je recommande ce drama!

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Strong, capable Male Lead & Cute Female Lead

I really enjoyed the show right from the beginning. I chanced upon this show because it appeared via some algorithms on my YouTube and I could not stop watching this drama at all. I had to keep on going!

Watch because:
- show moves fast and there are just 30 eps
- there is great chemistry between the male lead and the female lead
- Caesar as Chu Xiu Ming rocks big time - he is super manly, capable and very tough as Jiang Jun and yet, super loving and warm as Husband - I melted over and over again just watching him. OMG! *love to see him on my screen*
- hot kisses abound between the two leads
- Caesar is perfect for this role - he’s tall and his acting is very good. I love to see his expressions change from ‘I love my wife so much’ to ‘how dare you’ to ‘try me if you dare’ to ‘I miss my wife’... *aww*
- this drama is exciting as there are many things going on in this drama
- things get solved and questions are answered
- drama has a happy ending and I’m a big lover and sucker for happy endings!

Watch!
I know that I’ll definitely rewatch this!

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From a cold general to one who loves and cares for his wife, and their encounters

For ancient drama I give this a solid ten ! First all of it wasn't draggy at all , despite it being 30 episode.

Storyline- The daughter of the Shen family has to marry a general far away. This general is heard to be ruthless in battle, giving him the nickname Devil. The female lead ends up going in her sister place, because her sister didnt want to marry a ruthless monster. Female lead didn't want her mother to suffer so she accepted the marriage. On the way, she is met with some other tribe people, the male lead ends up saving her( she didnt know who he was atm) She and her maid makes their way to the general's house. From getting to knowing the general, to being with him on the training ground their relationship grows and blossoms.

Romance- This one had quite a lot of kissing. They are a pretty cute couple. They have good passion. It's really cute to see their love develop for one another. It is most definite that the male lead loves the female lead a lot and is very patient with her. She can be over bearing somethings but the male lead still supports her. Their kisses gets better as their relationship blossoms, which is very cute. Its quite natural, like a everyday couple. Their relationship has it ups and down.

Reason why this drama is good
Wasn't too heavily focused on one specific topic. The underlying story was the general wanted to investigate what happen to the 8th king's family. Others included the female lead and male lead in their training ground, when she goes back home to live, finding her old friend, starting up her own business and some more.

Starts off with a bang, already have a kissing scene in ep 4 lol

Male lead and female lead's love for one another.

Some things that i didnt care for
- ugh hated with a passion her two annoying sisters! same dad different mom. They were quite annoying , but its very limited. I cant stand those drama who has a lot of the evil people getting their ways.

This drama surpassed my expectation. I loved it!

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A cold general meets a bratty annoying girl... fluffy with lots of skinship romance...

What I like:
1. The typical fluffy arranged marriage romance with LOTS of skinship n kisses between the male leads... n the main leads stay true to each other from the start till finish...

2. There isn’t really second male/female lead draggy plot... somehow the passing people become couples with others n don’t have any real interest in the male leads, just some misunderstandings but got solved quickly each time... at least there r 5 couples got together at the end of the drama...

3. The romance is cute enough that I finish this drama... the ML is just so romantic to FL...

What I don’t really like:
1. The FL character is a lil bit too annoying... I get that she is supposed to be young n at first her behavior is kinda acceptable, but somehow after being married for a while, she is just the same childish girl who gets into trouble repeatedly without even realizing it... she always blames her husband when things don’t go her way or if he doesn’t agree with her, n he always apologizes in the end, superb ML character I guess.. I almost dropped this after her repeated antics, but somehow managed to finish this just for the sake of the romance n curiousity of how it’ll end...

2. It got boring plot wise at some point, but still watchable...

Overall the drama is light, so it’s recommended if u just got out of an angsty drama n need a bit of happy times... n it’s a happy ending, the satisfying one where everybody is happy, including some of the small villains...

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Cold Face General in Intensive Romance

I love this series! This is a warm, easy to watch and adorable drama with funny scenes of an unpretentious female lead who is direct and sincere. There are intensive romance, mysteries and deep plot with supervillain. The female lead is forthright and that has resolved or prevented a lot of misunderstandings. Also, kissing and wedding are right at the beginning, so there's no long waiting for romance to happen and blossom, like in other dramas, usually at the end.

The Story
To rein in the power of General Chu Xiuming (Wu Xize) who is guarding the warring border up north, the ministers press the Emperor to decree a marriage of the second daughter of Rui Wang (Prince Rui) to the General. The bad name of the General - ugly, fearsome, and having killed 2 previous wives - scares the appointed daughter, and she wriggles out and passes the marriage over to her younger half-sister, Shen Jin (Tang Min), whose mother has lost favor from her father. Shen Jin accepts the marriage because she just wants to get away from the household which she abhors. At the General’s manor, she helps fend off intruders and receives admiration from the General’s subordinates. Very soon, she realizes the general is not what she has imagined and she falls head over heels in love with him, and he her. Together, they uncover the greatest conspiracy and put the perpetrators away.

There's always a mystery - who was the mastermind behind the death of the 8th prince the crown prince and his entire family 16 years ago? All indicators point towards the Emperor and Chu Xiuming is determined to find out to bring justice for his uncle, the crown prince. The conspiracy unravels in the last 2 episodes and the show becomes nail-bitingly intense. The ending is heart-warming and satisfying; there’s no random killing off of the characters.

The Characters and The Acting
I love the Shen Jin character. How she has grown up fighting for territories in her childhood has made her courageous and proactive. She knows she has to fight for what belongs to her and what she wants so that she would not be taken advantage of. She is sensitive and not naïve, and she doesn’t sit around waiting for things to happen. Whenever she feels an imminent threat, she would jump into preventive action to protect herself and those around her. After marrying Chu Xiuming, her greatest fear is losing him to another woman as how her mother loses her father; she vows she would not take her mother's footsteps. But her schemes are mostly naïve, brainless and hilarious, causing headaches for her husband who forgives her again and again. It’s nice to see this couple resolve their misunderstandings very quickly, and both are quick to apologize to each other. She eventually grows to trust him and not jealous over any women that he may come in contact with. Tang Min’s portrayal of Shen Jin is marvelous.

General Chu Xiuming is a cold face general who becomes a romance buff after marrying Shen Jin; he sticks around her, lovingly and protectively. He is handsome, wealthy and powerful. When they are recalled and return to the capital, numerous eligible women, including Shen Jin’s own sisters, come forward offering themselves to the General, but he rejects them all; his eyes are only on Shen Jin. Tall and handsome, Wu Xize’s portrayal is believable and his action scenes are pretty good.

There’re two great second couples, one loyal to Shen Jin and the other to Chu Xiuming. They act as conduits between the General and his wife, helping them resolve any misunderstandings there may be. And I love their ingenious makeshift wedding ceremony for one of the couples - simple, warm and beautiful.

The OST
This fluffy drama gives us a few amazingly beautiful official sound tracks, in particular the OST Only For You, conjuring images of the loving General and his wife.

My Verdict
I have really enjoyed watching the two love birds telling each other their love and admiration for each other constantly. Every day, every moment when they're together, the General recites love verses to his wife, confirming his love for her. His words are sweet and his love verses are romantic. They're like glue, sticking at each other’s side all the time. There are many kissing scenes. This is an ideal husband/wife relationship - loving, understanding and forgiving, which also plays an important part in the plot when the story unravels. There're no hidden emotions nor hidden feelings. She always tells her husband exactly what she wants. I love that because men are usually slow to catch hints. Her forthrightness is inspiring.

The drama is cut in an interesting way: at the end of each episode, the cut scene is played, giving additional information to the viewers without affecting the flow of the story. These cut scenes are enlightening and can make the story clearer.

Admittedly there is a lot of flaws and holes, inconsistencies and lack of details in this drama. For example, some scenes are jumped and characters are switched without warning, the couple wear shoes on their wedding bed, the abrupt change of character for the evil sisters, etc. Nonetheless, these haven’t reduced my enjoyment.

If you love supervillain, evil sisters, some palace politics, a protective powerful general with an easily jealous wife, you may like this fluffy drama like I did. Don’t miss it. And don't miss the epilogue.

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Terrible

This series was definitely not what i expected. The only decent part of this series was the ML costumes and his character.

The thing that annoyed the most of this series was the FL she was so annoying and highly irritating! I'm all for strong women and independent women, but she was a more nosy character and one that just did whatever she felt like, yes there was parts where she stood for doing the right thing, but as always she would go overboard.

The other thing that was really annoying was that she never seemed to trust her husband and yet he bent over backwards for her. Whenever he asked her to stay in a place she defined him. The scene where she tried to climb a wall during her pregnancy was also another part that was just so wrong, im sure any pregnant woman would never to try and climb a wall or tree in the first trimester of your pregnancy.

Sadly this series was disappointing for me.

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OVERALL

This series never failed me from the beginning until the end. Ah, It brings so muçh emotions and the historical drama is superb, I love the flow of the story. I am greatly satisfied to how it ended. Though, I never want it to end, I already missed it even if I just finished it minutes ago. 😢
The casts is well-selected, I love also the OST !💖 Overall. Iloveit. Huhu
Even if I am not from China, I am amazed by their culture that was the context of the movie, it is worth preserving and nurturing.
The casts is giving the series a perfect tone for everyone, they suits every roles.
The unfolding of story every episodes is giving me so much excitements as to what will be the next event that will take place.
Also, I love how each lead and support roles is given time to view and enjoy their sides, I love it.
Whenever there is a sweet moments, the OST Songs just suit it well.


Youll know it deeply affected me, because I am here writing a review!😂

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A General who's no devil

The things I liked about this drama mainly centre around the lead male characters. The General and his surrounding supporters were well portrayed and their relationships great to watch. Trust and reliability were evident in most scenes and I loved that. Caeser Wu was a pleasure to watch. I loved Liu Yin Jun's portrayal of Xiao Su, too.
The way the General and Shen Jin treated their household and soldiers was also a nice change. He is fair, just and whilst makes most decisions independently, listened to the thoughts of those around him.
What I really didn't like was how almost all the 2nd generation women, apart from Rui (who I really liked), were painfully immature and in the case of Shen Jin's 2 younger sisters, spiteful and selfish as well. They got away with far too much and were never fully held accountable, which irked me a lot.
Aspects of Shen Jin's character I liked; she was feisty, supportive, fairly self sufficient and had a positive can-do attitude. What sadly spoilt that, were too many occasions when she didn't listen to the advice of those with more experience and just randomly went off on her own, with no thought of the consequences. Ep23 really highlighted this and I couldn't believe her actions at all ~ quite ridiculous. She was just far too immature at times.
Rou Rou was a complete nightmare. I know she was probably supposed to be funny by being ditzy and not terribly bright, but for me, she was just far too childish, irritating and basically a royal pain.
I felt that far too many scenes were wasted; instead of concentrating on the intrigue of the fire 12 years before, as well as the scheming in the present story time, they were nonsensical, detracted from the main story and served no apparent purpose. This slowed the pace, I thought, and made the story drag.
The music was mostly quite nice, but I absolutely hated what was used each time lighter or comedic scenes were played.
The ending was a complete surprise and I liked that.
Overall not a terrible drama, but I wouldn't watch it again.

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Sweet Enough To Keep You Going

WARNING:
At the very bottom of this review, there will be spoilers. Please just scroll through past that part if you aren't interested.

First Impression:
I first started this drama because I saw a clip of it on YouTube where the main lead was sweetly asking the female lead to go back home with him after she almost suffered a miscarriage. Since it was getting around my final exams and I was finding ways to procrastinate, might as well watch something sweet to pass the time. I quickly finished the first few episodes within one day since it was pretty fast-paced and the storyline developed pretty quickly. However, around episode 9 or 10, I started to lose interest. The storyline gets repeated, the push and pull between the leads happen, and it just kept happening back and forth. I eventually finished it 5 five days later and here I am.

Story:
Here are the typical Chinese drama tropes in this drama: arranged marriage, the cold male lead, the bubbly and smart female lead, supportive side leads, jealous side characters, etc.
I honestly didn't mind most of these, but what really bothered me was how many times the word "divorce" was brought up in this drama. This was the first time I saw the word "divorce" was being casually thrown around like 50 times in a historical drama, especially since divorcing was so taboo back then. The main leads almost got divorced like 5 times in this drama.
What I did like about the drama was how sweet the main lead was when he warmed up to the female lead. As always, she was his soft spot. Even though he was always trying to do what was best for her or trying to protect her, it was always a struggle.
The main conflict of the drama wasn't even brought up until halfway through the drama and didn't even pick up speed until the end, so the middle part of the drama was just full of lovey-dovey moments. So if you enough dramas where there are a lot of lovey-dovey scenes, this one is it (there are even many side love stories).
I'm also going to rant about the ending of the drama at the very ending, so if you don't want that, please just don't scroll to it.

Acting/Cast:
Caesar as Chu Xiu Ming was a big shocker for me. After Meteor Garden in 2018, the majority of the F4's went incognito until 2020, including Caesar. Caesar in historical clothing was an interesting turn of events. I wouldn't say he matched the historical theme perfectly just based on just this drama, but he looks fragile for his character. Chu Xiu Ming is a handsome and young general, which breaks all stereotypes of a typical general. Caesar's portrayal of Chu Xiu Ming was okay for the most part. I would say the writing and character set up of Chu Xui Ming wasn't the best. There were many plot holes with his emotions and I wasn't able to keep up with his quick emotional changes in each scene. For example, he'll be super sweet in one scene, stern in another, aloof in the next one, then mysterious in the next. The transitions of the scenes weren't the best but you could get a grip of the overall feel of each scene.
Tang Min as Shen Jin was pretty decent. I tried to watch her in Chef Hua earlier this year but quickly dropped the whole series. Her character portrayal in Chef Hua is very similar to Shen Jin. They both are optimistic, bubbly, carefree, but ever so often needs to be rescued by the male lead (insert the falling and then is caught by main lead scenes in slow motion). Shen Jin is strong-minded, stubborn, enjoys freedom but can be very, very petty. Most of her actions were to get back at the male lead or was to just have fun, which usually leads to a lot of trouble. She also enjoys drinking ( like a lot) and there are plenty of scenes where she is just drunk and acts rashly. Her type of character is not usually my favorite, but her portrayal of this type of character is much better in this than the first 8 episodes I've seen of Chef Hua.
The side characters are pretty new to me. They all are pretty decent, but my favorite side character is Shen Jin's mother. Her mother's love for her daughter was so beautiful. Even though she was always pushed around as a maid turned concubine, she had her own morals and held strong to them.
The other side character's love story like Shen Jin's maid and Chu Xiu Yuan's love story was cute and added more fluff to the story.

Music:
I loved the opening theme song, "Only For You". I was sweet and played at the right moments throughout the series. The main lead also covers the song and it's pretty good too.

Rewatch Value:
If I'm feeling in need of some sweet moments in my life, I would definitely rewatch scenes of this drama on YouTube. I wouldn't rewatch all of it just because I'm bored, but the lovey-dovey scenes are pretty cute to not rewatch.

Overall:
Not bad, but not perfect. If you want to pass time watching a more light-hearted drama, this one is it. But if you are looking for more serious dramas like Eternal Love, Princess Weiyoung, or Joy of Life, you might not enjoy this drama as much.








WARNING: SPOILER OF THE ENDING
Okay...so what's the point of adding the modern scene in this drama? Like, they got a happy ending, what's the point of paralleling the historical part to the modern part, unless they are hinting towards a second season. I wouldn't mind a second season, but at this point, I'm more than happy with the story ending where it is and a second season isn't really necessary. Plus, they portrayed the modern-day Chu Xiuming as shy and soft which is out of character for him.
Additionally, prior to that, WHY DID THEY SKIP HOW CHU XIUMING AND SHEN JIN GOT SAVED FROM THE SAND PIT? Like, tadah! We didn't know how to properly come up with a solution to save them from this tragedy so just use your imagination. Now I'm super curious about how they got saved. If the others found a way to open the platform, the only way is to pull them out with a rope. Even so, with how deep they were in and with the continuous sand falling in, it would be hard to get them out. They got their happy ending, even the overly jealous sisters got a happy ending. For a historical Chinese drama, I would say this ending is way too happy to be true, but hey, I don't mind it either compared to all those heart-wrenching endings like Goodbye My Princess.

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Love it!

This was the first really soppy historical romance that I came across after watching The Wolf, and Empress Ki. Those borough on completely different levels to a generals lady which I found more on the comedy and light Romance but still very much enjoyed!.

I really enjoyed The General 's Lady. This series was really cute and romantic. I found it very funny and light-hearted..

I loved all the characters they worked so well together this was the first time seeing all these actors in a drama so I cannot wait to see what other dramas they are in and saying how the acting has developed.

I do feel the ending was rushed, I would of loved more of the story from the other characters as well.

I still love this drama and I come back to watch it every couple of months. Totally recommend.

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