Chinese Hero Zhao Zi Long (2016)

Deserves a better rating here.

I searched for Kenny Lin's dramas after watching him in Detective Dee and Princess Agent and found this. Generally, I do not watch dramas with ratings less than 8 on mydramalist. However, I decided to make an exception and did not regret it.

The story is interesting with many moments of suspense. Acting was great from a mix cast of Chinese and Korean actors/actresses. The male co-lead was a Korean actor and so was the female lead actress. I did not know this until I checked on the cast. Good looking actors and actresses, fighting and battle scenes for the testosterone driven and excellent stage setting. Excellent chemistry between the lead actor and actress helped brought out the romance in the story. The pace of the story was good without much draggy scenes.

There are some refinement which could have made this drama more appealing. Effects of the costumes were mixed - Lu Bu and Gao Ze were quite badly dressed - they looked like badly wrapped rice dumplings. That was a pity as both actors were very handsome. Also, somehow Kenny Lin would suddenly appear in this gorgeous white armour - he looked dashing of course, but where did the gorgeous suit came from given he was not financially well off at that time? Should have added a brief scene where the princess or someone gave it to him.

Characters are quite extreme - either very impetuous or very docile/reserved. The 2 lead female characters were wilful and impetuous.

Much of the later part of the drama was centred around the formation of the 3 kingdoms, the story from then on became predictable as story of the 3 kingdoms are well known among the older viewers like me.

A rating of 7.4 is really low for this drama and unwarranted. It should be among the 8.5 - 9 ratings if some lousy dramas could get a 7.9.

Regardless of these minor setbacks, the drama is enjoyable.

Titles often determine whether a viewer might watch the drama. I think the English title here is too plain - better be simply Zhao Zi Long or General Zhao Zi Long rather than Chinese Hero Zhao Zi Long.

If you are watching this on YouTube, there are two sets of videos on this drama. I prefer the one from YoYo starting at: https://youtu.be/w8ESJm5bbBI - first episode. The other is from China Zone - this is annoying with sections of the drama clumsily trimmed off.

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