Here goes my first review.

WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!







YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

As a long-time avid Asian drama watcher, there's one thing on my list that I will avoid: tragedy. I know and remember WHY I DON'T watch it because it's like a knife stabbing at your heart when you finish the series, and this one is one of them. BUT. This was the only exception because of how well everything was written. The characters, OSTS, storyline, and last but not least, the chemistry between all of the characters.

I love to wipe out my memories whenever I watch something so sad like this, but as I said, this was soooo good, that I couldn't avoid this drama. Before I watched this drama, I actually listened to the OST wayyy before I decided to watch it. Of course, Zhang Bichen's "As It Is" just makes you feel the longing and pain in the characters, which led me to binge this AMAZING DRAMA.

The plot: One of the best! Now, I'm into the historical genre, but I don't like to get too deep into politics and all of the manipulation, but this one was just about right-- not too much but not too little too, which I didn't mind at all. The characters were there for a reason and everything rolls up all the way to the end, which connects. There's no, "Who is that?" or weird addition of plots that were left in a hole. And let's just say, I GRIEVED FOR THE COUPLE. My tears of crying and sadness was all for them.

The Characters: DON'T GET ME STARTED. Oh my god. Let's say, after I watched this drama, I became a HUGE ALLEN REN and BAI LU fan. I began to research them and look at their work because they portrayed their characters sooo well in here, it feels so realistic.

Bai Lu as Eleven: My my my. Her acting was just amazing. So, what caught my eye with this drama was that she had to play "mute" which was unique in my opinion. This allows her to portray her emotions instead of speaking at times, which she does WELL at (speaking of, she catches things very fast based on the BTS videos I've watched). The longing in her eyes, and what broke my heart the most seeing Eleven's desire was that she only wanted to be by Zhou Sheng Chen's side. I mourned for her so much as well as Zhou Sheng Chen. When she said, "All I wanted was to live in the manor and be Eleven" I was grieving for her! The desire to love was too much of a desire for her, so all she wanted was to be by Sheng Chen's side. It was the desire of longing, but not asking for much. The crying scenes to the expression of sincere love and patience were in the eyes of Eleven.

Allen Ren as Zhou Sheng Chen: So, first of all, his voice was just something else. Maybe it's his deep voice or it was the voice of a calm and composed man who bears all of his emotions inside of his hardened shell that he displayed to everyone else, but he did exceptionally well as Zhou Sheng Chen. The amount of respect I have for this actor who played such a hardened character, who could only feel a small comfort of relief with Eleven by his side, but with dignity, respect, and loyalty to his people and land, he was never selfish enough to choose his desires. Already, by the first episode (or second, excuse my memory), when he promised to never "marry nor had kids" that's when I had already rolled the dice and said, "yep, this is going to be depressing." (with me already knowing it's a sad ending XD). Zhou Sheng Chen's character was just an amazing person, it makes you ADMIRE him. He's a definition of a person who keeps his promises, someone, who you can trust in your life, and you can see it with Allen's amazing acting. He stood strong, his head high, never letting anyone see the shield that blocks his own desires in his life.

The side characters had really good addition to this that I loved the most. I LOVED that there were female "soldiers" that stood by Zhou Sheng Chen's side, specifically Xiao Yu and Feng Qiao who are "sisters" to Eleven. And then there's Zhen Er who just stuck out to me at the end. The night when Zhen Er went to talk to Eleven about what was going to happen, the one thing that got to me was her telling her, "Maybe I wanted to tell you because we were friends for a night." Here, you can see the amount of impact that Eleven had with Zhen Er, with just ONE NIGHT. It was the kind and caring friend that wanted to be there for her. I CAN GO ON AND ON BUT I SHALL STOP WITH THE CHARACTERS.

The OST: Zhang Bichen's "As It Is" is the definition of their love story. It's the longing, the want, the amount of selfishness that they wanted for each other, but they didn't in the end, for the people. It's this song that made me get into this drama, and it's the song that I'm still obsessed with. And then there's Allen Ren's "As Always." His voice is sooooo calming and soft. Did you know he almost because a kpop star? His theme song for Zhou Sheng Chen was perfect. Let's say, all of the OST of this drama was perfectly perfect.

In conclusion, what I hated the most was that I was crying. So. Much. Of course, towards the end when the writers wanted to soften us up and adore them as a couple (and the other couples as well) just to hammer it down like a wrecking ball. BUT. IT WAS WORTH IT. I'm telling you, it's soooo worth crying for them. I tell others, I grieve for them when I watch them again. It's all of the mourning that was needed for these characters, and they really deserved it. My love for this drama now has a special place in my heart, FOREVER AND EVER (See what I did there? XD). There is a second season, but I still think that this one is still the best one, because the number of emotions that were put in here, cannot be explained, and you can see it here by their actions and eyes.