Review of: The Long Ballad
Review of: The Long Ballad
Hello Everyone, So I just finished, The Long Ballad a few days ago and I needed time to compose my thoughts on this fantastic drama. I’ll try not to share too many spoilers but if I do, I am sorry lol.
Also, I would first like to clarify that I am reviewing the drama based from a Mahua. I AM NOT reviewing the Mahua as I tend to differentiate drama adaptations from its original story. I say this because I believe both the original Mahua’s/books and the drama adaptions are two separate entities and have different ways of showing the characters development, sceneries, plots, and because they always tend to be different than its original format. We are complex people who for some will appreciate different details written in Mahua or a book. So I believe no adaption could ever resemble as the original because what might be important for me could not be for you.
Summary of Drama:
The year is 626 C.E, and the realm and its political center Chang’an, are shaken to its core by the Xuanwu Gate Incident, a successful palace coup to take charge of the Tang Dynasty. A scheming prince leads the bloody coup and kills the family of Li Chang Ge during the raid, although she manages to escape. Now the prince has placed himself on the Imperial throne, and rules as Emperor Tai Zong. Li Chang Ge has her mind firmly set on revenge – and musters a powerful army intent on overthrowing the new Emperor. But her plans are thrown into disarray when she suffers an unexpected defeat against the armies of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate. The victorious General, Ashile Sun, decides to keep her in his service, making her his military strategist as he looks to pursue his own military goals. The duo forms a formidable military partnership. And over time, she finds herself falling for her captor – as he also starts developing feelings for her. (Source: Viki)
Main Cast:
Dilraba Dilmurt as Li Changge/Princess Yon Ning/Princess Mobei
Wu Lei as Ashina Sun
Zhao Lu Si as Li Leyan
Liu Yu Ning as Hao Du
Fang Yi Lun as Wei Shuyu
Geng Le as Li Shi min
General Plot
Honestly, this is one of the best dramas I have watched in 2021. The cinematography is phenomenal, the soundtrack is breathtaking!! The overall plot’s build up does a fantastic job from start to finish. It’s not like most dramas where they go too slow and lag on the smallest detail, it goes on a decent pace, and it shows the personal development and progression of each character in the show. They all have a purpose and what they believe in which made their actions in a way tell the story within the drama. The characters in the drama are self-explanatory, there aren’t a lot of characters in which you need to keep tabs about. And they aren’t pitted against each other or have love triangles or more which is a surplus because dramas tend to do that. The writing/script is very well written, it shows intelligence, leadership, strong will, and respect among the characters. Also I didn’t mind when the Mahua would appear because this was filmed around COVID and I can imagine they couldn’t have that many people in particular scenes.
Characters
The main cast is Li Changge and Leyan who are two cousins in the drama. I honestly loved their relationship since there wasn’t any jealousy among them even though things go hectic, and Li Changge feels backstabbed with reasons known in the drama, she tends to overcome it and still has love for her cousin. Their relationship is like sisters, and both were protective of each other and helped one another when situations weren’t that great. They both end up going through their own adventures (and sufferings) that shape their characters progression from start to finish. They show their weakness and strengths which makes them be leaders within their inner circle.
Li Changge is a princess with a witted sharp mind and military intelligence that shows resilience within the drama. You see this when she ends up finding out the truth about her parents and her uncle who she viewed as a father is a better leader than her own father. Due to her ignorance of not understanding the world of politics and the sacrifices people make along the way. She ends up realizing she wants to help the common folk and does a lot for the people of Tang and helps her uncle even though she battles with a personal grudge with him. Le yan is a timid, noble princess who wouldn’t hurt a fly. She always needed protection until she goes through her own journey that shows her the lives of the common people and ends up sticking up for them. She isn’t as naïve or stupid as they made her seem, she just didn’t explore the outside world, so she was oblivious to the hardships people dealt through during that time frame. I feel like it allowed her to see more than the politics from the world she had known. It allowed her to be able to protect and help the people and in a way help her father have a good reputation.
As for the two main leads, Ashile Sun and Hao Du, who are cold, intelligent, strong, men that show their own personal devolvement within the drama. We see Ashile Sun befriend the FL and save countless times and over time becomes protective of her and yearning for her. Ashile sun morality and perseverance is seen throughout the show, and he ends up being a decent man who also wants to help people not put them in misery.
He ends up questioning a lot of things within his own father and the other divisions (Spolier! His is Eagle division), but one thing about him is he will have loyalty to those he cares and protects. His nobility and leadership and intelligence shows gracefully with the FL without overpowering hers which is insightful. They both work together, and their main goal is to help people get back on their feet. Also, his relationship with his brotherhood I was so fond of. They loved and respected Ashile Sun and never questioned him even if Ashile Sun had doubts due to whatever was going on in their tribe. It showed the respect and their brotherly love amongst themselves. Eagle division in my eyes was top tier lol, they had everything due to Ashile Sun’s capabilities.
Hao Du on the other hand is an adoptive son of one of the emperor’s men, and he ends up doing everything his stepfather asks of him until he spends more time with princess Leyan. She ends up softening his heart due to them spending lots of time together. (they were so cute together). Hao Duo is very skilled in martial arts and because of that he must do things that might go against Leyan’s wishes and because of them spending time together, he shows her that isn’t a cold-hearted man. He ends up protecting her as well as his life depends on it. He embraces her kind and sensitive heart and just wants to love and care for her.
Romance
The romance of this drama I appreciated for its slow burn romance, it doesn’t give you “fell in love at first sight b*lls*t. I loved the female’s lead and male leads love was supported by a foundation of trust, respect , admiration and protection . They are both independent individuals who made a great team and didn’t overshadow the other one. It’s also very trusting to see their relationship work when they both were on different sides. The chemistry between the Male Lead and Female lead was just fantastic even though some say otherwise, I personally felt they had amazing chemistry.
The way the male leads eyes would just look at the female lead in an endearing and loving way just made my heart flutter. IMO, he showed more love than then female lead. I felt like the romance was carried more on him than hers. And it bothered me that there wasn’t more. (And regardless of being an independent person I’m pretty sure Li Changge would’ve had some love in her bones if she would’ve expressed it more). The SFL & SML (second female/male lead), had also a slow love romance and it was so cute to see their love also blossom. I could feel their chemistry and love and trust for one another and the SML just wanted to protect his highness. They showed a bit more love than the FL&ML.
OST
The soundtrack to this drama is so soothing and breathtaking. I loved the melodies and it just fit naturally within the drama. Zhou Shen voice is beautifully singing within the soundtrack and the opening and closing songs by Zhang Bichen & Ji Wen Qi just makes you reminisnce of certain scenes.Also, Sa Ding Ding is one of the few artists on it and if you loved her in Ashes of Love, I’m pretty sure you'll love this one. Liu Yuning (Hao Duo’s character) has a beautiful song as well which youll see is special everytime he is with Leyan.
Overall
I would give this drama a rating of 3.5- 4.0 out of 5. And I will explain below on my dislikes why. But overall, the plot of the story, the characters and their relationships made this drama so worthwhile. Their chemistry on the screen just made you want to keep on watching more. The cast played very well, even the older actors who are also very talented. I was very fond of the emperor of Tang he had this aura that even though you knew what he did was mest up, you couldn’t dislike him. As I mentioned before, the main actors play convincing their roles and at no time do you see one stand out more than the other one. Both of them dominated their roles.
Dilireba is an amazing actress I have seen her work and honestly I am glad she got this drama. She plays such a bad ass independent woman. Wu Lei, looks absolutely amazing in this. After seeing his role in NiF (Nirvana in Fire), he has grown so much and he did so well for this role (even though there are critics saying he was forcing to be strong or didn’t look the part), I personally had no problem being convinced he was a Leader within his Tribe. I feel like his confidence just showed on screen and was meticulous showing what he thought Ashile Sun would do in his point of view. But I can’t deny he is such a hottie lol, He is such an amazing actor as well and I don’t think I could see anyone else play this character. He plays this fierce man who is a softie at heart. And at no time do you see their age gaps within the drama. I genuinely though he was older than she was. He was just that believable.
What I disliked
Okay, the one thing that ticked me off about this drama, and I know people will say, oh the Mahua didn’t have any romance, (again I will say I see the drama as a separate adaption due to you never see anything genuinely being the same whether from book to movie or vice versa). Is after the slow romance between the FL & ML as well as the SFL &SML, there wasn’t anything more than that. I felt like because they had to cut down on episodes or had to rush for the plot towards the end, they ended up piling everything together and the romance laid very flat among the leads.
For the FL & ML, I could feel Wu Lei’s yearning loving eyes on Dilireba and I loved that in all but I wanted some playfulness flirting or some romantic gestures with some skin ship. There were little scenes where I felt that was needed. In my opinion, I honestly saw the love more on Wu Lei’s part than Dilireba and it annoyed me a bit. I understand she’s supposed to be a bad ass independent woman but I’m pretty sure she might have had her heart skip a beat the way Wu Lei’s eyes looked at her in that I love you and will do anything look.
Dilireba would often remove herself when they did have a few moments of skin ship and it just looked like she didn’t see him a romantic way. But as some people have pointed out, it could be because of the fans not wanting them to kiss due to their age gap which I find ridiculous because I have seen other dramas with major age gaps, and it gets hot in there. Or could be some have pointed out that maybe Wu Lei’s or Dilireba’s policy is no kissing but I’m pretty sure Dilreba has had kiss scenes before.
(Spoiler !) The bird kiss scene made me roll my eyes to the back of my head, that I had to laugh because the directors had initiated throughout the trailer and even the drama the kiss and romantic gestures only to be left with our imagination. Only wandering eyes, we got. Which I wasn’t mad too much cause Wu Lei did it for me but I wanted more than that. And that ending, forget it I assumed since they didn’t do anything romantic, they would at least show them together but again were left with our imaginations.
The second leads, on the other hands had more romance and hugging than the main leads. But they also didn’t show too much playfulness or flirty gestures. They had their moments where they could’ve had better communication or could have flirted more. At least they end up having a kiss scene. Their chemistry also worked very well on screen. I was always rooting for Leyan to have her prince charming cause she was such a sweet person. Hao Duo even though with a cold exterior was a very soft marshmallow who grew to care and appreciate Leyan. He saw the wonderfulness and personal growth through her own sufferings that made him go in awe.
Plus, the way that the last couple of episodes were rushed also bothered me. I understand no one wants to watch too many episodes (I have watched at most 63 lol) but it at least gives attention to detail which I personally don’t mind. I prefer to understand things and their context then for it to be rushed. Or they could’ve added something that reassured viewers of their future. These are the only things that bothered me.
Conclusion
Even though with the lack of romance, I recommend this drama to anyone who likes action, adventure, martial arts, matured characters, independent turned healthy relationships, amazing friendships, and great wisdom to anyone. The scenery is beautiful, the music is very touching and soothing and the writing to the drama is on point. To see the development of each character, not many dramas can do that and in this drama it does a phenomenal job. It doesn't lag or overly exaggerate on the details. This made my adult heart happy. I really do hope in the future we get to see the main leads in another drama whether it’s modern, wuxia, etc. cause I’d love for them to be reunited and maybe add more romance lol. Thank you for reading my review and hearing my rant lol.
