Great Historical Drama with Fantastic Chemistry and Boss Females throughout the whole series!

First, I found myself googling almost every part of the history of the 21 Demands and the whole Republican Era to understand the context of the drama. This was well done. I loooooove the dyamics between Xu Kai and Bai Lu- they were made for each other. It was a little funny but also tiresome watching her run back and forth to the school to pretend to be her sister because she had three suitors who were initially unaware of her double identity.

The comradery was great among the classmates and she held her own and I would definitely want her to be on my team. I was also happy that this drama had very very strong female leads- All three of the bosses were women. Xie Xiang actually ran the military academy even though it was a boys' school.

I liked how they redeemed Li Wen Zhong at the end both in terms of his personality, his love life and his dedication to his friends and to his country. Also Huang Song who had probably the funniest line in the movie when he was getting ready to box the life or death match and he found out who his opponent was going to be, No I won't say it, but I was laughing so hard I spit out my juice. There are some people I wish didn't die, but it is a war movie after all, and I'm not happy with the open ending of Xie Xang and Gu Yan Zhen, I assume they live happily ever after, but it would have been nice to see,

Overall, the ending worked well to tie up the loose ends, and I also want to note that each main character had a true Ride or Die Number 2 and it would be hard to compare them. It was a little long, there were two times that Xie Xiang got kidnapped and both times Gu Yan Zhen was the only one out late looking for her-they could have omitted one of the missing persons routines and it would have still worked.

Really enjoyed it and I'm sorry it took me so long to finally watch it.

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FUN FUN FUN

Thoroughly enjoyed the movie and the history lesson. I had to look up Joseon to understand the significance of the Imperial Seal. But the swashbuckling was awesome and I loved the female protagonist who was admired, feared, loved and adored by all who came in touch with her. I thought the play between being a bandit and a pirate was funny, too, as if there are degrees of lawlessness and a hierarchy among the criminal world.

The tender moments between the two leads were well played as each had to maintain their demeanor as the leader of their crew, so they couldn't show weaknesses, but eventually they both broke down. I enjoyed the back story about the whale and the young girl ( now head pirate) and how what goes around, comes around. Nice touch.

All time funniest part was the bandits finally seeing a real whale compared to a shark and understanding the enormity of their task to try and kill it. Great movie!

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Second Couples Very Interesting

I enjoyed how Bohn and Duen came to their realization of liking each other although there is a little too much insecurity on Bohn's part that would cause a normal person pause before going into the relationship. However, they each show some tender moments towards each other and I don't mind supporting their journey. The funniest scenes were when each one tries not to be the bottom in the relationship, due to listening to their friends' bad advice. They eventually find their way to what works for them.

However, I am all in for RAM/KING and would watch a whole show just about them. My Engineer did a great job of allowing the four couples equal screen time so they could develop and you could get invested. But I think the ones to watch are going to be Ram and King. They were so not obvious, that it was a nice surprise. Looking forward to Season 2!

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