I'm usually not very critical of dramas but this one really bothered me. It had the potential to be a really good drama, the cast and acting overall was good. The setting and overall storyline had a lot of potential. But the writing? OMG kill me now. I don't know how they could have screwed up so bad. I am quite sure if it wasn't for Xiao Zhan this drama would not have half the popularity it does now, people would have dropped it like hot cakes.

The biggest flaw is the inconsistency of the characters and how each storyline unfolds. The general drill of the storylines is "Gao Liang always benefits by sheer dumb luck and nepotism". I can understand if one of the main themes is nepotism in the drama but then show me it's the problem of the army, not every single damn higher up only favoriting Gao Liang. Then they try to tell you it's because Gao Liang is this amazing soldier so everyone loves him, but they don't show how he is so amazing. Really, the only time you know GL is amazing is through conversations by the leaders and how amazing he is. Not even a "why he is so amazing", he's just "amazing". The division commander is painted to be this absolute "fair" person yet he is the worst with the nepotism, like Mr Screenwriter Liu Yan, do you even know anything about the characters you are writing?

Then there are the time jumps that are just ghastly. They spent like the first 20 episodes developing this sort of "first love" romance between Gu Yiye and Jiang Nanzheng, and friendship/love triangle with Gao Liang, then the war happens and people are affected, Gu Yiye is emotionally damaged. Totally makes sense, but then it's like 5 years later and they show you Jiang Nanzhen loves Gao Liang, Gu Yiye is happy and getting married to A Xiu, ummmm, where is that whole process of emotional change? How did GYY become happy again? How did JNZ look at GL as more than just a friend? I think this is more core to the story than almost 20 episodes of "first love".

It's not all bad, the humor is good and GLs character is a lot of comic relief. GYY is just a likable character and the epitome of what a good soldier should be. The emotional scenes do give you the feels (most of them anyway). Supporting characters are generally likable and also contribute to a lot of the humor. Although I really don't find what is appealing about the female lead, JNZ.

Recommend? Only if you want to be spitting fire afterwards. If the logic of the story isn't so important to you, then I think it can be an enjoyable watch. Otherwise, don't even touch it.