{year}=2025{episode}=EP.25{type}=TV{ongoing}
Plot Summary
Fighting for Love is a drama adaptation of the Chinese novel of the same title, Ā Mài Cóngjūn/阿麦從军 or A Mai Joins the Army. The novel has an impressive 8.6 rating on Douban. It’s a female-centric story about A Mai, an orphaned noblewoman who seeks justice for her family’s betrayal. She joins the army and works hard to become a fierce and invincible general. She finds a greater purpose along the way: to protect her country. The story takes place in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, a time of war, chaos, and political upheaval. It’s not a love story, and there’s no real male protagonist. It’s about the extraordinary journey of a brave and patriotic woman. I gave up on this book because of its heavy and obvious focus on war.
The original story obviously doesn’t fit the formula of a typical male-centric costume drama with lots of love stories. It’s a breath of fresh air, isn’t it? Wrong. In this adaptation, Shang Yizhi is promoted to the male lead, and his story is just as important as A Mai’s. Which, in itself, isn’t a terrible story. Like A Mai, Yizhi has a hidden identity and is the victim of a prank. His cause becomes hers when she saves him and helps him outsmart his enemies. She discovers her military skills, forms a life-and-death bond with her army, and finds meaning in protecting the citizens of Nanxia. They share a common purpose and are catalysts for each other’s growth. It’s natural for attraction or feelings to develop between them, even if it’s not necessarily romantic.
The major failing in this adaptation is that they wrote Yizhi as a kind and playful anti-hero. While some of his comedic scenes are clever and funny, this reduces him to a comic role. This should be a complex character who does important things. A once carefree young nobleman whose world suddenly changes. Instead, the writers have him with a love-brain and Peter Pan syndrome until the very end. Because he’s driven to survive first and then reclaim his birthright, all of his motivations continue to revolve around A’Mai. A character who chooses every moment to save that girl and let the world rot does not deserve to end up where he does! This makes A'Mai and the Zhenbei army lose the value of achievement and sacrifice to fighting for the clown and the country. Although he becomes a morally ambiguous and useful person in the end, this development is too sudden. His character development should have started long before he returned to the capital. Zhang Haowei did his best with this role, but the character is poorly designed.
A Mai is written consistently throughout the story, although it is difficult to connect with her feelings for Yizhi. Although she is too cute to be mistaken for a man, Zhang Tianai does a great job with this role. Her demeanor is very masculine, and she really shakes with anger and hatred in her scenes with Chen Qi. At best, she is not a Mary Sue who needs constant rescuing, even though all the men fall in love with her. She just has bad luck with men. She gets involved with a backstabber, a clown, and a very sexual enemy. The only good man she meets is her brother, her father, and what happens to him is really overkill. Chen Qi is the most interesting and conflicted enemy, and his and A Mai’s story is really sad. Wang Ruichang is very charming and a fan favorite, but his Chang Yuqing is undeveloped and has no real plot. She only appears when something goes wrong for the main character.
The first few lines of the story are very good, and the cinematography and action scenes are great. The story falls apart halfway through and devolves into a palace drama. It's another perfect story ruined by a stupid and ignorant romance writer who can't write a palace mystery (e.g. Destined, Legend of Zhuohua, Wonderland of Love, etc.). The storyline is full of predictable villains, plot holes, repetitive scenes, and a dancing emperor who looks like a bad fashion mistake. I was pleasantly surprised that the story came together again in the final episode to end appropriately and with deep meaning.
