I was drawn to this mini series because of the glowing reviews and people talking about how great the couple is, as well as how there are no breakups/misunderstandings, but low key lost interest halfway through. I think the story had a lot of potential but low key wasn't a big fan of how everything went. I would even say the story bit off more than it could chew. Your mileage may vary though since the rest of the reviews are pretty positive.

PROS
❀ Mini drama energy
I'm a fan of these short yet satisfying mini dramas, and this one fits the bill. It's pretty fast-paced, focuses *mostly* on the main couple, and has a happy ending. At 10 min x 18 ep (with ep 18 being 20 min), you're looking at a commitment time of just over 3 hours.

❀ Nice skinship, sweet romance
Another mini drama pattern I see is making sure viewers are satisfied with skinship, LOL, and again this one delivers. Outside of the smouldering kisses, the couple's romance is very secure and steadfast. The ML saved the FL from bandits a while back, then she saves him from wolves after he passes out. Apparently after the whole scenario, they lost each other and now they reconnected - although the FL has a different face.
A large testimony to their romance is the ML having a suspicion, early on, that the FL was the woman who saved him. He confirms it very later on, but his "instinct" allows him to open his heart to the FL and trusts her even though the face didn't match the woman in his memories. (Her body and mole did though, lol)
Even though the FL doesn't reveal anything, the ML finds out himself. And even though she's technically working for the other side (they're not exactly enemies per se, I don't think?), she still finds ways to circumnavigate their plans and stay on the ML's side. So all in all, they're quite supportive of one another.

❀ Cute ML
Honestly, even though the ML's character is a general, he gives cutesy vibes. His face lights up when he finds out the FL likes him, he's very cute and sweet to both his adoptive daughter and the FL, and most of the light-hearted moments of the drama stem from his character. Did I wish we saw more general aura? Yeah, kinda. But his cute side is nice too I guess.

CONS
✕ Storyline bit off more than it could chew
There's a lot of potential with the foundation of the story but literally unanswered questions scattered everywhere. I don't think it costs too much time/energy to literally give a one sentence explanation of why something happened.
Do I consider this a major fault of the drama? Not really, considering mini series are short to begin with and this one planned to fit a bunch of elements in it.
Do I think a short explanation would have added to the depth and my overall enjoyment of the show? Honestly, yes. It's honestly quite frustrating to follow these characters and get onboard with their decisions without understanding *why*. It makes me care less about what is currently happening because I have no attachment to what is going on. And once you don't have that attachment, well, the viewing experience starts going downhill.
Random plot points that, with a bit of explanation, would have made me more sympathetic to the characters:
- Literally why the FL was so loyal to her older sister and how they got separated/their backstory because most of the plot was contingent on this and I was never convinced on it
- How the older sister got into face-swapping magic because otherwise it was just used as a random plot device despite it being the biggest issue in the show
- Why Prince Ning (2ML) started getting obsessed with ShiQi-with-ShenQin-face because all she did after the face swap was reject him from time and time again
I mean, even Shen Qin (2FLish role) being obsessed with Prince Ning made sense because she had ONE scene that talked about how he saved her when she was young. The show leaves room for a LOT more questions but these were the biggest ones that made me skeptical of the story.

✕ FL was super passive
I would say, hmm, yeah she helped out the ML a few times. But something about her mild-mannered, innocent, pure demeanor got me annoyed (LOL). I didn't understand why she had to hide her identity so bad to the ML. Like yeah, Shen Qin was using her older sister as blackmail. But did she not think she could tell the ML so he could help her solve the problems?? Until like literally the very end? I guess this was to add angst, but I was more annoyed than anything. She's lucky the ML trusted her from beginning to end. Also idk why she wanted to hide her pregnancy from the ML too. Again, an unanswered + unnecessary plot point that miffed me (unless they answered and I just didn't understand from the broken subs). For most of the drama she just acted nervous and guilty (that she was hiding her identity). Also she kept getting targeted and that annoyed me too.

✕ Palace drama was ???
I didn't understand the Crown Prince death side plot nor did I care. Did the janky subtitles play a role? For sure. But most of all, I didn't feel like the stakes were high because I didn't care about the side characters. Literally I still don't understand why Prince Ning married off his woman to the general in order to get the general "on his side" and then try to kill him after. Like at this point y'all just writing this stuff in to get the plot moving I s2g.

✕ That unnecessary "redemption" for the second couple (Prince Ning x Shen Qin)
Idk why they showed a happy-ish ending for them via a lookalike in the end because Ning was obsessed with the FL until his death and didn't care jack sh*t about Shen Qin. It's not satisfying because you KNOW he didn't want to be with her like... He literally pushed a pregnant realbody!Shenqin away. I know the show was trying to wrap everything up with a pretty bow but this couple was an ick and imo it wasn't necessary to give them a happy ending...

✕ Misunderstanding level: 1/10
Hard to rate because the FL's identity is "hidden" for the majority of the show (Spoiler: ML discovers her identity / she confirms it around ep 15 out of 18). Otherwise, the ML trusts the FL 100% of the way. I know there's probably some messaging in the show about loving someone no matter what they look like, but I feel like the identity thing is too ambiguous for me to accept. It's fine if her face looks different and you still love her, but can you still say the same if you don't know who she *is*???? Imo, I don't think the show should have dragged its feet in terms of the ML figuring out who she was. Like, he's had the suspicion since their first encounters, so idk why it took him so long to uncover everything. Or rather, I guess his "instinct" knew the identity which is why the romance was able to progress. Idk, I don't buy it.

OVERALL
Ehh if the things I mentioned in the cons don't bother you, then I'd say go for this series. Otherwise, despite the happy ending I'm kinda left scratching my head. I was intrigued by the premise of the drama but I just feel like I'm missing out on a lot of details for important tidbits that the show introduces. Obviously as a mini series the storyline can only be surface level, but I definitely think they could have used the same premise and navigated certain plot points differently to make the overall watching experience more enjoyable. I also feel like just because it's a mini series, doesn't mean I can turn my brain cells completely off. I'm not even trying to overthink any of this, I just feel like the promise of a cool storyline fell flat when it came to actual execution.

Well - onto the next!