Liu Xue Yi’s Handsome Face Lead Me To This Cute Romance

And I have no regrets.

This is a decent, very watchable drama. The ML and FL are inteligent, well-adjusted human beings; the actors playing them are very pretty and have good enough hemistry to make the romance believeable and engaging; and the plot is coherent and doesn’t rely on stupid misunderstandings to ramp up the tension and suspense. And that’s all it takes to please me.

I wouldn’t say it’s a must-watch, but if you’re looking for a nice, contemporary, workplace romance to relax with before sleep, this is a choice you won’t regret.

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Everyone Is Mental In The Governor’s Mansion

Literarily, the only positive thing I have to say about this mini-drama is that the ML looks good in uniform. Other than that, it’s a dumpster fire.

Which is disapointing, because the premise had some potential. FL is a rich girl engaged to a guy from even richer and more influential family. But then her entire family gets murdered (for a reason unknown at this point) and she gets taken by the man she believes to be responsible for the entire thing. She escapes, tries to seek help and protection in her fiancé’s home, but discovers that her former maid is already there and she stole FLs identity (and future husband). FL is then forced into the role of a maid and—to complete the tragedy bingo—it turns out that the dude who kidnapped her (and supposedly murdered her family) is the owner of the house, the uncle of her former fiance and the governor of the city. She swears vengeance, but knows it’ll be almost impossible to pull off.

Nothing groundbreaking, hundred other dramas start with almost identical opening, so half-decent writer should whip out a script for this story with one eye closed and one hand tied behind their back. Unfortunately no half-decent writers were involved in creation of this monstrosity, so instead of a bit of entertainment the viewers were served a psycho ML and a plot that relies solely on forced misunderstandings and sexual harassment.

SPOILERS BELOW.

So, it’s obvious pretty much from the very beginning that FL has it wrong and the Governor isn’t the man responsible for her family’s murder and he wants to protect her from whoever is the true bad guy. But that’s based on what the audience knows (and mostly based on how 100 other dramas like this work)—based on what FL knows, the dude was there, she saw him killing her nanny, he kidnapped her, he offered 0 explanation for any of it AND THEN HE CONSTANTLY FORCED HIMSELF ON HER, ruined her by pretending they had sex and then forced her to be his personal maid. And have I mentioned he gave her 0 explanation/excuse for all the shit he put her through?! And also made her shoot people she believed to be loyal servants of her family (he knew they were traitors, but of-f*%#ing-course he doesn’t give her that info)!

At this point, whether he killed her family or not, he deserved to be stabbed by FL.

And he was.

But he had a gall to blame the FL, because he luuuvs her (secretly) and he protected her (in between sexually harassing her constantly despite her obvious disgust and repeated pleas to stop), and how could she not divine it from all that abuse that he was in fact on her side. The girl he loves stabbed him and now his feelings are hurt.

Sorry, but that’s just a piece of crap and I have 0 patience for it.

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Crazy Good

This mini-drama knows exactly what it is, embraces it without shame and commits to delivering the best quality of crazy, sexy tropey fun to the viewer. Absolute gem in its class.

The premise is both entertainingly outlandish and yet pretty standard for this type of drama: rich heiress miraculously survives attempt at her life and engages the help of mysterious bad boy badass with his own agenda to help her take revenge on duplicitous ex who stole her company whan she was in a coma. Lots of plotting, flirting, kissing and asskicking ensues.

What elevates this above other similar fluff pieces are the characters. ML is a typical handsome, hypercompetent badass, but he has such attitude and the actor nails the vibe of dangerous yet teasing—totaly swoonworthy performance. FL is IMO even better—bold, smart, and pretty creative in her vengeance (I was cackling with glee the whole hotel sequence). But maybe the most surprising was the main antagonist: the ex-sleazebag who managed to be both infuriating and pitiful at times.

All in all—the only thing that could make it better is if it was full-length.

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A Spoonful of Romance in the Cauldron of Court Intrigues

I loved it, but I can definitely see how it’s not for everyone.

First: despite the fact that the romance between FL and ML is absolutely central to the story and the chemistry between the lead actors is fabulous, this might not be for people looking primarily for a historical romance. I’ve seen this drama described as Slow Burn, but I’d argue the more accurate description overal is Low Burn. The first 1/4th of the story is much more dynamic when it comes to the romance aspect, but then the next 3/4ths are much more steady and subtle. I loved it, because I found it much more realistic given the personalities of the main characters and the realities of the times, but if you look for a whirlwind romance that will keep you on the edge of the sit till the end, this drama ain’t it. That said—what romantic scenes are there, they absolutely deliver, even if it’s something as small as ML throwing murder looks at a guy making unsubtle advances toward the FL.

Second: even though there is no superfluous scene in RP, this is not for people who prefer rapidly moving plot. The pacing in this drama is very slow and deliberate. There’s a lot of scenes that are crucial to fleshing out personalities, emotions and motivations of the characters, or planting clues about future events that will pay off much later, but that don’t necessarily move current events forward that much. There’s also A TON of characters with their own subplots that intertwine and influence each other, which means that at times the pacing can be downright glacial and the plotpoints that in other dramas would be solved within 1-2 episodes take 3-5 episodes in RP.

The flip side of that, is that there’s time to develop the characters into truly multidimentional personalities and serve the viewer an absolute masterpiece of planting and pay-off when it comes to character development. And not just when it comes to the main characters. It’s the secondary characters who benefit the most from the slower pacing, because they get an ample time to develop from the stock tropes of power-hungry Prime Minister, incompetent Crown Prince, schemming Empress, sisterly maid, etc. into people with complex and believeable motivation who you almost can’t help but pity when they ineviteably stumble due to their very human flaws and wants.

All in all, if you like dramas heavy on court intrigue and the romance that’s quality over quantity, this is drama for you. If you’re looking for a story that is first and foremost a romance and external plot second, this may feel like a drag.

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