OTP: The big betrayal aside, contrary to belief I don’t think FL and ML would ever be satisfied together even despite loving each other so deeply. Character-wise, FL chooses freedom over duty and views issues on a smaller scale, whereas ML’s talents and ambitions will always carry him to aim for more and dig into the puzzle to solve while looking at the bigger picture. They could be happy in life and love if they knew how to bring it all together to make it work, and maybe in a different era, but that’s something that we’ll never know.

I do think FL’s affections for her teacher were nowhere near or as deep as it was to ML while she in contrast couldn’t see eye to eye with ML’s ideals. For the teacher it was a puppy crush and respect meanwhile the strong romantic feelings were reserved for the ML. I also think ML truly did love FL because he was such a rational and ambitious man yet when FL was involved he threw his heart into the mix and jumped right in with his life on the line. Again, some people said he chose his ambitions over love. Why can’t he have both? They aren’t mutually exclusive. The problem wasn’t that he wanted both, but that for the era he made sacrifices, and she did as well, that he thought was justified and she didn’t. Destined to meet and love, but because of timing not fated to be.

NOVEL/DRAMA: I haven’t read it but I’ve heard comparisons and this is just my unobjective take on it. Apparently the ML was more ruthless and cold in the story and some fans did not like the reasons/plots given to the ML in the drama. I also don’t think there always have to be nice and tied reasons for everything, but in this case for a 52-55 ep drama I don’t mind the increased complexity of the plot and characters. I’m actually glad they gave the ML-actor a lot to do since he was able to show his capability by pulling it off well.

Sweet and innocent FLs are okay in my books, if somewhat vexing at times and very uninteresting. Piled on was a stubborm streak and impulsive behaviors. On paper, I susprisingly can’t relate to her character as much as I do the edgy ML when it comes to some of her impulsive actions for the time era and her status in that setting (even with the big elephant in the room). But the FL-actress made her better and I love her for that. She was sweet and she suffered agony for it, and that was acted so well.

The novel started the story from the middle. The drama and screenwriters decided to lay it out chronologically. This was a big decision because it affected viewers and their perspective of the ML and FL falling for him (again). While I do wonder about the “what-ifs” ML could’ve charmed us (despite being a huge tsundere) before the big flashback and reveal, and it would bring different feels when it comes to that climatic scene of knowing the backstory, I do prefer this chronological take even though it stained the ML for many viewers since the first few episodes, and not many could overlook it. But the acting and writing shone through that for me and as well I just don’t like long flashbacks if that 9 episode beginning was inserted in the middle. It has its merits, but in this case the writers did not brush over the ML’s betrayal and threw a love story we knew from the beginning was flawed at us. The tragedy was laid in place; it was all about the journey to see it flesh out to the bitter end.

GOOD: While I do enjoy the story, I am not often WOW-ed by the actors and actresses, especially the leads. The two leads on GMP are exceptional, remarkable, two huge factors (alongside the beautiful OST and cinematography) that carries this story and makes a tragedy that so many saw a mile away too compelling with their chemistry and acting that it carries a viewer like me to the conclusion.

BAD: I can enjoy drama and angst, and GMP does it well in writing and the shots of the scenes. But the editing fails this drama a bit. It’s not only the scenes that were cut that was a problem. Some transitions were super tacky. Some very emotional scenes were well-done and yet some others were cringe, and better editing would have saved those moments for me. For instance, the long cutting back and forth of long falls that made it so tacky.

I believe these large scale costume dramas are filmed without intro and outro to episodes in mind (all that random cutting and different versions). In essence, it’s less of a series and more like a very-very-very long film and so sometimes feels like nothing happened in the episode at all as things are being laid out. I’ve seen a good chunk of costume cdramas but it still takes some getting used to when an episode abruptly ends or starts without much hoot and toot.

Overall – Subjectively, I’d give this drama a 8.5/10 because of all the good things and lingering feelings. It’s ENCHANTING and that’s a huge bonus. That’s super high in my books. Objectively, perhaps it’d go down to 6.5-7/10.

ha ha.. nah.. i was live watching it.. and waited for over a year for this to air..

1st time when i learnt about the novel, the story got to me.. and luckily shortly after they announced the drama.. fans were so upset.. but then when it finally happened , despite all the things that are wrong with editing etc (untamed is super high quality in comparison) .. the acting of main lead carried this through.. inspite of ridiculous changes in the story

I did enjoy this drama and I wasn’t surprised by the ending. I mean from the beginning you knew there was no coming back from what the ML did. So I couldn’t see how either of them could have a happy ending. It was enjoyable and entertaining, it’s better then a lot of historical cdramas, but it by far is not my favorite cdrama out there and I think it’s because I could never fully get behind the ML after what he did (and then what he does later on in the drama also), even if they did have some really sweet and adorable moments together.

Still very into this drama with no where else to put my thoughts so replies to my first GMP post with randomness, here I come!

So I know the reaction when both XF and LCY jumped into the forgetfulness river was that LCY did not deserve to forget, but I thought it was good for XF’s sake that LCY followed her once she made that decision to forget. The unimaginable power he would have had over her if he didn’t! She would have inevitably fallen in love with him again and he would have used it to his advantage, same if his memory would have returned sooner. I think he would have become even more paranoid with trying to stop her from remembering their past than what happened originally with his jealousy over Gu Xiaowu, and the consequences would perhaps be even worse than Gu Jian’s end. Them falling in love again despite memory loss was a heartbreaking tragedy, and it would have been a different story than him manipulating her to love him again.

I think “betrayal” was thrown very loosely between the viewers. He betrayed XF’s feelings, but he didn’t betray his mission or the people he first made his pacts with; he made a promise first and unfortunately any promises made under his disguise came second. In the perspective of his people and his allies, he was a hero who kept to his word. At the end of the day, a man of that time was measured by his drive, motivations, and achievements, and LCY saw it all through unlike Gu Jian. Even if LCY had not betrayed XF as GXW and we did not have that back history, character-wise he would have thought nothing of warring with the Danchi after their wedding. Marriages helped political ties, but in history it has never stopped countries and kings from declaring war on cousins, brothers, sisters, etc, and breaking familial ties. In fact, the struggles between the princes and emperor, Gao and the Empress, showed exactly how broken people can be because of politics.

At the end of the day, LCY was very much a man of his times while XF was a woman who wanted to exist outside of it and she would have struggled in every way even if she had not met LCY. Her marriage to any man would have been political.