i'm starting to notice a trend of strong (like physically strong and capable) female leads and i am all here for it lol (watched pursuit of jade, love in the clouds and now fated hearts back to back 😅). i went in to fated hearts knowing it's an enemies to lovers trope and did it sure deliver. i remember the first few episodes were tough to watch cuz i was like they just hate each other so much?! and he was torturing her?? and she almost killed him?? like i couldn't see how their relationship could develop at all. but show proved me wrong and developed their relationship in the most natural and gradual way. i love how they were sort of confidants in the beginning of their relationship, slowly learning to trust each other and see each other's past scars and traumas, to finally comforting each other and finding love. there was a bit of chasing (and the ML realized his feelings first!) and once they finally got together, they were each other's ride or die. i also really appreciated show for not having any misunderstandings or miscommunications between CP. they could have easily created some angst when yixiao uncovered the identity of the mask man and chose to tell suige. he could have chose not to believe her, think she was trying to sow discord between him and his best friend, believed she could have been a spy.. honestly the reasons could have gone on and on but show decided NOT to go there and our CP just proved again and again how strong and trusting they were with each other
show also depicts some really complex relationships. like, suige and his dad. honestly that scene where the dad came clean about keeping his enemies (and the murderer of the queen!) near so he could "train" suige and morph him into his vision of an ideal heir was just sooo goood! the actor who played the king was just sooo good and damn the interaction between suige<>dad was just sooo good LOL so emotional and both actors just really proved their acting chops. it was also just heartbreaking to watch that this whole time the dad tortured his son becuz he thought it was for his own good and was just manipulating his son this whole time. but i thought the juxtaposition between suige and xia jingshi was also just done so well. like the king is trying to make suige become evil, ambitious and power heavy but suige always stayed true to his nature, ideals and beliefs. no matter how harsh his surroundings or environments were, he still remained good and carried a pure heart throughout it all, whereas xia jingshi fell into the deep end and was willing to pursue evil, sacrifice innocent lives, and scheme with the enemy
i also loved the scene we had with the 3 kids/students coming to yixiao and the resulting kidnapping ship scene. at first i was like what purpose do these 3 kids serve?? but honestly the kidnapping scene marked such a pivotal turning point between yixiao and suige's relationship. i think that's when they both started seeing each other in a different light and realized each other's kindness and pureness- yixiao adopting and raising children of her dead comrades and suige coming to rescue the kids even though he has no relationship with them whatsoever. also afterwards, our CP started to relax a bit more around each other. that one scene of her falling asleep in the carriage and also later him, and then her saying "we are safe now" and him realizing he has provided a safe haven for yixiao. idk it really was a turning point and i'm glad they had that mini arc and realization early on in show
show also had pretty interesting side characters. as i was watching the princess's story unfold, i couldn't guess where they wanted to take her story. was she going to end up betraying her country becuz of her love for xia jingshi? was xia jingshi going to end up using the princess and her blind love for him, and use her as blackmail or use her to threaten suige? was the princess going to be abused (verbally or physically) when she arrived at enemy state? was there going to be a big bad showdown between jinxiu and susha, and the princess would be forced to choose at the very last moment? like i kept thinking and thinking and honestly show surprised me LOL it was quite fun watching her story unfold in jinxiu, and it was just so funny how mean/physically abusive/threatening she was to the king but yet that attracted him to her even more LOL even the king was like "she never enticed me! she's not even nice to me!" LOL their relationship was so fun to watch and honestly xia jingyan stole the show!! props to the actor cuz his portrayal of the crazy insane yet broken playboy king who fell in love was just done sooo well! and of course their last scene together was so so heartbreaking. from him saying he would never wield or beg, to actually getting on his knees begging xia jingshi to let xiyang go 😭😭 i was also SO shocked xia jingshi stabbed xiyang (!!)
random thoughts i had while watching:
- show had a strong start that was action and jam packed which really kept you engaged
- show also has really high production value and i appreciated the different aesthetics between jinxiu and susha
- fight scenes throughout show are just SOOO good!! (dare i say even more good than pursuit of jade?)
- truly loved all the arcs of show, kept me entertained throughout, and thought they all flowed nicely together while developing our CP's relationship. thought show's plot was very tight and even the climax at the ending was done well. we had multiple villains that were built up properly (yay!)
- midway thru show i forgot if xia jingshi was friend or foe lol. i guess his scheming with masked man wasn't really made clear (like why try to frame suige?). also ning fei wanting to assassinate yixiao also wasn't made really clear, esp since xia jingshi never intended to kill her
- was so surprised king was not unconscious when evil prime minister was going on his rant and confession
- cliff hanger with suige getting stabbed and honestly episodes 25-28 was just so intense lol
- was NOT expecting such a strong victory and finally killing the evil prime minister, to like so much defeat right after lol
- also i thought it was so funny our CP was acting so lovey dovey and physical with each other (even in public!) cuz they're both such formidable outwardly cold and tough people lol
- enemies trying to slaughter suige's followers was also so hard to watch 😭
- was not expecting that rebellion within the star alliance lol
- also liked how suige never forgot about his sister or investigating what truly happened with the alliance
- LOVED LOVED LOVED suige's relationship with his sister. loved the brotherly love and protection. he's just such a good brother 😭 as i was watching him display affection for his sister, i was like damn ok this makes sense why is he also so affectionate towards yixiao lol
- i think show also they did a really good job interweaving what was happening in susha and what was happening in jinxiu
- show never showed yixiao fully regaining all her memories (it's kinda just acknowledged) and i guess show was never truly about her regaining her memories
- and i said this before but crazy jinxiu king really stole show
- had only watched chen zhe yuan in hidden love but damn can this man act. he really displayed his acting range and chops in show and i totally bought his love and utter devotion and passion towards yixiao. and li qin and chen zhe yuan also nailed ALL their emotional scenes together and really kept up with each other in all their intimate and emotional scenes lol. and also special shoutout to li qin for also really nailing all her action scenes and truly letting me believe she is the number one archer in the world
- similarly, the scene between yixiao and ning fei was SO SO good! not only the fight scenes were done so well, but the emotional and tears and screams and damn. and i also loved how yixiao defeated ning fei without having suige swoop in to save her. yixiao is truly a badass female fighter!
- honestly didnt mind alliance arc and at least the amnesia trope for suige lasted a very short amount of time. i was dreading they were going to drag it out and was procrastinating watching but honestly it wasn't so bad! i knew there was going to be an alliance arc coming up cuz the way they kept ning fei alive lol
- they never explained why xia jingshi kept the death camp or really the significance of the death camps in susha lol
- last episode was really just bam bam bam and i was like omg there's just 10 minutes left and there's no closure for our CP! i think this is probably my number one complaint of show- the ending was just wayyyy too rushed and literally our CP had like 2 minutes with each other lol. AND there was no wedding scene between them like how all ancient dramas have! lol
- was also thought it was fitting have sister become like "interim queen" since suige never wanted the throne to begin with
ok this post ended up being a lot longer than i was expecting LOL i really loved our CP! i loved how they protected each other and provided like safe havens for each other? and i loved how they protected each other equally. yixiao swooped in to save suige countless times, and suige also saved yixiao many times. they were equals. and i loved the juxtaposition of suige's love for yixiao and letting her roam free and be the person she is and just quietly supporting her vs the love his dad had for the mom and wanting to "claim" her
also i loved how yixiao was kinda in some ways similar to mom (is that weird?) but like just both independent, down to earth women who want to roam free and protect the ones they love lol. even alliance folks saw traces of mom within yixiao lol. i loved show for giving us a CP who are loyal, transparent and who stood by each other side by side after they get together. they healed each other, saved each other, and found comfort in each other. dare i say i loved them more than our pursuit of jade CP? i think it's becuz yixiao and suige talked and had more heart to hearts with each other. you really got to understand where they were both coming from, and where their hearts lay. also random but i loved show for having a proper beginning and ending theme song and for giving us a montage with the ending theme song (i love shows that do that and seems to have been done more with shows back in the day lol). i never skipped the end of the episode cuz i loved watching the scenes laid out with the ending theme song
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