Three Kingdoms/YMMV

• Badass Decay: Compared to his traditional portrayals, Zhuge Liang is shown as a much more human character here, but this also makes him less all-knowing and insanely capable. Many viewers were apopletic that he needed to be "saved" by Xiao Qiao from Lu Meng's pursuing forces after he summoned the east wind.
• Complete Monster: Dong Zhuo. He looks like a bumbling operetta villain at first, but he completely crosses the line when he forces court ministers to drink the blood of a recently executed colleague.
• Crowning Moment of Awesome: Backed up against the riverbank with Cao Cao's forces bearing down on his ragtag band, Liu Bei turns to face the approaching army, declaring that he will fight until the last and then take his own life. Zhao Yun, Zhang Fei, and the rest of their forces join in swearing that "though we were not born together, we shall die on the same day!" Liu Qi does show up with boats to rescue them in the nick of time, but this doesn't make it any less awesome.
• Foe Yay: Mostly one-sided, but there's Cao Cao/Liu Bei, Cao Cao/Guan Yu, and Zhou Yu/Zhuge Liang.
  • Cao Cao's respect for Liu Bei and his many attempts to recruit the latter come off as this. In fact, his reaction to Liu Bei's eventual declaration of enmity against him, as a traitor to the Han, feels like that of a jilted lover.
  • Zhou Yu, despite hating Zhuge Liang, obsessively pours over his written work in an attempt to understand - and defeat - him.
  • Sima Yi also seems quite taken with Zhuge Liang. After Zhuge Liang's death and the Shu army's retreat, he has Zhuge Liang's wooden statue brought back to mourn over him, referring to himself and Zhuge Liang as "a match not found in a thousand years".
• Generic Doomsday Villain: Lu Bu. He's regarded as an undefeatable warrior in melee combat, yet he doesn't seem to have any ambitions or motivations aside from his love for Diaochan.
• Ho Yay: Knowing Chinese TV, completely unintentional. But due to this series' greater emphasis on character interactions, some characters come off as being very close indeed.
  • Zhou Yu and Lu Meng. After Zhou Yu forces Xiao Qiao to leave him, Lu Meng seems to have taken over all of her duties; he stays at Zhou Yu's residence at night, does the housework, serves Zhou Yu tea, takes care of him while he's sick, tries to prevent him from overdrinking (and gets slapped for his troubles)...
  • Cao Pi and Sima Yi skipped right over the realm of subtext and went straight into forbidden-lovers territory. Upon hearing that Sima Yi had been exiled from the capital by Cao Cao, Cao Pi chases down Sima Yi's carriage, stating that he'd rather risk his father's anger than lose Sima Yi, and asks him to come home with him and live at his place.
  • Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang. For much of the series, they hold hands, apparently sleep in the same bed, share knowing glances with each other, and are generally inseparable - which would be enough basic subtext for anyone. But on top of this, they clearly show mutual respect, friendship (before Liu Bei's grief and ascension to Emperor made him foolhardy), and trust for each other to a degree not found in other lord-advisor pairs, except perhaps Sun Quan and Lu Su. Zhuge Liang's line, "A gentleman will die for the one who understands him," sums up their tragic but moving relationship extremely well.
• Moral Event Horizon: Even if Wang Yun had good intentions, forcing his daughter to become Dong Zhuo's concubine in order to provoke Lu Bu's rage towards Dong Zhuo was not something a good man would do. It was obvious he couldn't live long after that.
• Purity Sue:
  • Liu Bei. Through much of the early episodes, his obsessive desire to act morally puts him just a few stigmata away from becoming Chinese Jesus. (Un)fortunately, he gets better in the process of becoming a true lord of men.
  • Most (if not all) of the ladies portrayed are of the Purity Sue variety, particularly Diaochan, who practically radiates her own light.
• Signature Scene:
  • Oath of the Peach Garden
  • Cao Cao's most famous line, "I would rather betray the world than have the world betray me!".
• Squick: When Sun Quan boiled that poor Wei diplomat in a vat of oil (luckily, offscreen).
• Tear Jerker: This series takes even unavoidable, historical death scenes and adds on all the heart-wrenching, as in Sun Jian and Chen Gong's cases. Pang Tong's is even worse.
  • Chen Gong's steadfast refusal to accept Cao Cao's pragmatic-but-cruel way of bringing peace to the world, and his final exclamation of "My country! My beautiful country!", made even Cao Cao shed tears.
  • Instead of falling for an ambush due to overconfidence as in the novel, Pang Tong willingly walks into the ambush, sacrificing himself in order to give Liu Bei a "moral excuse" for invading the Riverlands. Liu Bei's grief and fury at realizing what happened, upon reading Pang Tong's last message to him, is both this and immensely awesome to watch.
  • Even knowing what happens - especially knowing what happens - Zhuge Liang's absolute joy upon being convinced of Sima Yi's defeat leads to this in spades. His cry of "My lord! The central plains will know peace at last!" is all the more tearjerking when one realizes that he's speaking to Liu Bei, not Liu Shan.
• The Woobie: Oddly enough, Zhuge Liang. From confronting self-doubt during Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's near-rebellion, to facing the distrust of the lord he was willing to give his life for, to carrying out Liu Bei's last wishes alone as his former comrades-in-arms died one after another, to ultimately dying with his task uncompleted - he's gone through more than enough for several lifetimes. Many fans have expressed the desire to hug him and tell him it'll be all right, and some have even written afterlife fic to make sure that it will be all right.
• Unfortunate Implications: Averted in Liu Bei's political marriage to Lady Sun. Being aforementioned Chinese Jesus, Liu Bei swore on their wedding night not to touch her until she felt she was ready to love him.