I Have Moved

To all those who have been following this blog... thank you so much for your support. It's always heartening to see the view numbers go up and to see the occasional comment pop up.

After a time of soul-searching I have decided to migrate to a new and more importantly, independent platform for a number of reasons but also because this platform allows for immediate podcasting which is an area that I'd like to go into more.

If you're still interested in following me, please head to 40somethingahjumma.substack.com

I will leave this blog open for a time. 

All the best to you and yours during these uncertain times.

Taxi Driver (2021) Early Impressions

Even though I made some kind of resolution to watch fewer K and C dramas this year, I've consistently manage to find something that hooks me in since the end of last year. I've seen comments around the web about crime show fatigue but I never seem to suffer from that. There's always some kind of crime show up for grabs and if I can survive the first couple of episodes, I'm always hopeful for better things ahead. This one seems to have made the cut. ;)

Prior to this drama the only one that I've seen with Lee Je-hoon was the widely acclaimed Signal. While he did well in that, it was Cho Jin-woong's drama. He was the man of the hour in that show. However, here Lee Je-hoon is the hero of the piece in a dark vigilante justice story. Apart from the fact that he's an attractive figure, he's versatile enough to be a kind of protagonist in the Mission Impossible, Batman milieu. 

I hear it's based on a webtoon and that's patently obvious from the way the storytelling unfolds. Aspects of it are reminiscent of panels from a modern day graphic novel. The main character is something of brooding superhero who has a military background who has been recruited by the director of a charity for victims of crime to drive a luxury taxi that is utilized for wreaking vengeance on criminals who escape the full force of the law's purview. 

We are introduced to the band of unorthodox crime fighting vigilantes with the kidnapping of a notorious sex offender who has been given early release much to the chagrin and indignation of the public. His release is given full publicity. As he makes his way to the entrance he is greeted by a rowdy mob. A mysterious taxi pulls up in front of him and he jumps in readily to avoid the media and angry protestors. When he notices that the cab isn't going the right way and persists, the sex offender attacks the driver only to be subdued quickly. The driver makes his way to a tunnel does a swap with a similar looking vehicle and goes on his merry way.

While the word "revenge" gets thrown around for the team's modus operandi, it is fascinating that the criminal is not killed but kept in a dungeon minded by a ruthless loan shark who is paid for her troubles. The director insists on reforming the inmates of his prison but we have no idea what that entails. On their tail is prosecutor Kang Ha-na who feels obligated to find the sex offender. 

It isn't surprising that these sorts of vigilante justice shows have a lot of traction especially when we're only too aware the criminal justice system falls short. Also many genuine cases fall through the cracks and many of us have been regaled with stories of some form of injustice that falls outside the jurisdiction of the law. All of that of course is predicated on the fact that there is universal, common justice that transcends religion, culture and ideology. 

It also isn't hard to be persuaded to go along with the vigilantism on some level when the set-up includes a horrifying case of abuse and exploitation of people with disability. The visceral nature of how these individuals are treated by their employers and the fact that a representative of the law turns a blind eye to all this wrongdoing for self-interest. Anyone with any conscience looking at that would be angry.

Of course that usually leads to the rule of law is disregarded because when individuals take the law into their own hands, they put themselves above it. They become the authority that determines how the law should be executed. There are serious moral ramifications to that because the normal restraints aren't in place.

Leverage is one of those shows that come to mind as a comparison although it's a lighter show with plenty of laughs. It's a modern day Robin Hood and compensating the victims is the goal. The cops (unless they were dirty themselves) were called in at the end to clean up the mess. Here, victims are taken care of but there's the added element of "reforming" the perpetrator whatever that looks like. In Leverage too, the problem wasn't systemic infringements of the law or direct attacks on the system. It was about individuals that were getting away with  murder because of their wealth and power.

The Long Ballad (2021) Early Impressions

Sometime last year I caught the trailer for this and at the time I had a vague sense that this was something that I might take a peek at time permitting. However, with the bucketloads of C dramas dumped endlessly at the latter part of 2020, all thought of it had fallen into the ether. But thanks (or no thanks) to the algorithms of You Tube, it popped up on my recommended feed recently and curiosity about Wu Lei's transition into adult roles got the better of me. I mentioned it to the other half (who is a huge fan the first Nirvana of Fire) and we were soon intrigued. The plot also has the advantage of being set in one of my favourite periods in Chinese history -- the Tang dynasty -- roughly during the reign of Emperor Taizong. We knew almost nothing about the plot and I was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable the watch was in spite of the occasional eye roll.

Wu Lei aka Leo Wu who is best known for his role as the adorable Fei Liu in the first Nirvana in Fire co-stars in this action adventure adaptation of a popular manhua about a sassy princess on the run after the entire massacre of her family. The titular princess, Li Changge is played by the exotically beautiful Dilraba Dilmurat. Wu Lei is Ashile Sun, the adopted son of the Eastern Turkic Khan and is sent as a scout into Tang to find out the political happenings. The two with the usual missteps are destined for romance whatever obstacles are thrown their way.

On a personal note the biggest surprise is how well the pairing works despite the much talked about age gap between the leads. The brewing chemistry is palpable despite the brief encounters that they have in these early days. It’s not exactly love at first sight from either side but it doesn’t take long before Sun becomes intrigued by this free spirit when their paths cross.

Changge is out for the blood of Li Shimin, her uncle and usurper of her father’s position as Crown Prince. His ascension is a result of the rough and tumble of palace politics and to put it brutally, the best man won. It's certainly a case of politics as usual. Changge, however, doesn’t quite see it that way especially when her mother is seemingly an innocent casualty of the fray. However it’s not clear to me at least that the late consort was murdered because Li Shimin seem to have more than a brotherly interest in her.  Suicide is a real possibility because the woman certainly had an inking of what was coming and she was eager to send her daughter out of the eastern palace. 

Few shows are perfect and I’m sure there’s plenty that one can complain about but the one that niggles is Changge’s revenge agenda. It feels more like a plot device than anything based on substance. I’m hardly one to speak against revenge schemes but this one feels so obviously like a plot device to get Changge out of the capital and thrust her into adventures. There’s something inherently challenging about assassinating a member of the royal family… suicidal even but you’d think as someone who is supposedly intelligent and trained in strategic arts, she’d be more circumspect and play the long game. Moreover, there's very little of this ongoing revenge trajectory that makes pragmatic sense to me.

When I brought this up elsewhere someone said that it's all part and parcel of her growth arc. I don’t dispute that and it didn't escape me but I got a bit nonplussed hearing her praised for her intelligence one minute and then doing something else to cause more problems not just for herself but for others around her. What’s the hurry? But there's little doubt that she’s written precisely to be the protagonist embarking on a hero's journey.

Luckily for Li Changge, she cross paths with the mysterious Ashile Sun who helps her out of various scrapes. Wu Lei's performance is impressive here. Only 21 and he’s pulling out all the stops as the elegant, masculine male lead carrying the gravitas of a young man who has had to grow up a lot faster than most. Right now he and his character are the main reason why I’m absorbed with the drama. While Changge is supposed to be the lead character, Sun has my heart. To be fair, Dilraba is good here too. Probably the best I’ve ever seen from her since her Pretty Huizhen days.

It probably goes against the tide to say this but I’m honestly less enthusiastic about the secondary romance. Nonetheless I can see why it excites many because it’s very much your everyday rom com trope at play. A tsundere scumbag of a male thawing out for the love of candy girl who happens to be a princess. Yeah I get it but neither character does anything for me right now. This is not any criticism of the actor. As far as Hao Du is concerned, it makes sense for his character to be in this story. From a storytelling side of things, however, the Leyan character doesn't really need to be there. At least that's the feeling I'm getting from these first 8 episodes.

Despite all that I appreciate the attempts at keeping things at a high degree of historical accuracy: Tang’s tenuous relationship with the Eastern Turkic Khaganate. The precariousness of border towns and potential for them to turn into instant battlegrounds. The parallel internal political struggles within both countries. Li Shimin, Changge’s doting uncle who later ascends the throne as the highly respected Emperor Taizong is also given full and fair treatment here. He's really not the "bad guy" and certainly a man of his time. There are villains in the piece but Li Shimin isn't depicted as one of them.

The other important element that is in the show's favour is the pacing. It moves along very nicely and it doesn't take long before Changge is dodging soldiers and out of the capital Chang'an. 

At this point this drama is unlikely to unseat You are My Hero for this year's C drama top spot but despite its flaws, I'm more invested in the romance here already than The Sword and the Brocade. For some reason the Tan Songyun and Wallace Chung combo didn't light any fires for me. Despite being competently made, there was something about the writing/directing that made the female lead a very bland and occasionally unlikeable individual.

Sisyphus: The Myth (2021) Finale

*Spoilers ahead*

I am someone who has never taken an extreme position on this show. I never thought it was awful (in fact I found the early episodes fun) nor do I think it is any kind of masterpiece. For me the show... unfortunately and sadly... manages to be safely mediocre. The fault as I've said repeatedly lies in the execution because the ideas are good even if derivative. There's nothing new under the sun of course but it's possible to recycle old ideas if the storytelling is compelling enough. The show was never so terrible to turn me completely off and despite all my rants, I really enjoyed Cho Seung-woo's outing as Han Tae-sul... who never took much seriously and seemed to have a rip-roaring good time with the nuttiness of it all.

In light of the show's structural problems, I don't think the ending was terrible. What happened with Alice last year helped me recalibrate my thoughts on this one. It's fair to say that time travel (or the sci-fi genre as a whole) K dramas have an element of the supernatural to it. Whether it's God, fate, spiritual beings or some mysterious intelligence at play behind the scenes, that seems to be explanation behind everything despite all the initial scientific mumbo jumbo that's thrown out in the first and second acts. I have no personal objections to melding science with metaphysics as there's nothing inherently contradictory about that but it would be nice to give audiences something of a head's up on that. 

To some degree Sisyphus does that. Sisyphus succeeds in ways where Alice fails. There are hints of supernatural forces at work before the big reset at the end. The church is symbolic of that. Sigma himself clues us in that there is something special about the church. That's why he built the uploader close by. The church where everything always ends in the time loop is the one surviving structure when war comes to Korea. Sigma touts the word "miracle" when he refers to the church. The final confrontation has always been at the church (the memories, the photographs of the leads at the altar point to that) in which Tae-sul is offered the zero-sum choice of "the girl or the world". A sacrifice has to be made at the church and at the heart of Christianity is the sacrifice of the Son of God, Jesus Christ who gave himself for his Bride... his church.

Although I don't think Han Tae-sul is any kind of son of God, his choice to sacrifice himself on "sacred" ground sees him resurrected with his bride to be. He's back on the plane given a second chance to live as a reward for finally twigging and giving himself up to save the "world". The power behind the universe has looked upon his choice and approved by giving Tae-sul's heart's desire. To live and be with the woman he loves.

To understand this, I take my cue from the old time loop classic Groundhog Day. Phil relives the same day over and over again until he learns the lesson that he needs to. He has to learn that he cannot manipulate circumstances to go his way with prior knowledge but instead to use foreknowledge for good. He also has to learn that authenticity and self-sacrifice is the key to relationship success. Putting others ahead of self-interest... to love neighbour as much as self. It is never said who makes that decision to set Phil on his course but there's little doubt that there's a moral law or intelligence that exists teaching straying individuals that life doesn't revolve around them and their wants. As a result of coming to that realisation, Phil gets the girl. To find Ms Right, he had to be Mr Right first.

As for Sigma, he represents a kind of restless evil that good must constantly overcome. The roots of which run deep. It is true that time travel has been stopped so that instrument can't be used but evil will find new ways to steal, kill and destroy. It's the old Manichean dualism of good and evil in constant struggle over time.

Beyond Evil (2021) Episodes 13 and 14

*Beware of spoilers

Recent episodes of Beyond Evil over the Easter weekend brought ideas that were already gestating to the forefront of my mind. A couple of days ago a non-religious television broadcaster happen to make the point that Easter is the holiest day of the Christian calendar which set a train of thoughts in motion that will make up the bulk of this post. Afterall, Easter could arguably be thought of as Christianity's answer to the intractable problem of evil.  

In our time the word "evil" seems to be reserved for heinous crimes and unthinkable atrocities committed by genocidal figures, serial killers and any kind of psychologically unbalanced individuals. It's not so in Christianity where evil is something far more ubiquitous, less visible and lies within the very heart of every individual and community dysfunction. It is personal, communal, systemic and even spiritual. 

The brilliance of this drama for me is in the way evil is depicted in every strata and strain. It eschews villainous stereotypes and instead explores the complexity of the human soul in profound and also disturbing ways.  The doings of the people of Manyang is a parable of how evil is born and gives birth to tragedy. Before there is a Hitler or Stalin, the conditions have to be right. Human beings are... to use old language... sinners. We are capable of misdeeds, deception and horrific violations. Breaking the law is our default position. The fact that someone wears the uniform and carries the badge does not mean that they are above committing crime. The fact that someone is a police officer does not mean that they are incapable of crossing the line over to the dark side. According to the drama what distinguishes the "good guys" from the "bad guys" is that thing called conscience. The unmistakable inner voice that causes one to feel guilt, shame and regret when laws are broken and moral codes transgressed.

A character like Han Gi-hwan exists in this narrative as the personification of evil in the guise of social and professional respectability. One some level this aspiring Commissioner General of the country's preeminent police force feels familiar -- gradually revealed as the typical corrupt political heavyweight that we've grown accustomed to. He's the played the game to perfection and feels entitled to take the top job now that it's offered to him on a silver platter. For 21 years he's hidden a terrible secret that now threatens to bring down this house of cards he's built ever so meticulously through the years. To ensure that this closeted skeleton remains buried, he has been party to one act of cover-up after another. Of course a man harbouring such high ambitions is clever enough not to get his hands dirty so he has other people clean up after him. People who have as much to lose as he does. He isn't exactly wracked with guilt despite the fact that the unsolved crime has caused so much heartache and tragedy over the years. With no lack of irony, his insatiable greed for the top job has made him unsuitable for it which is to say that he forfeited the right to it long before the drink driving accident. What the accident and its aftermath proved is that he lacked the most important qualification -- character. 

A man who thinks that perfection is all about what you present publicly to the world can't be trusted especially in law enforcement. Getting involved with Lee Chang-jin and Hae Do-won was a terrible idea from the start. But then his own dubious moral compass made him desperate enough to throw his lot in with them.

The fact that the original case with Lee Yu-yeon's disappearance was closed in unseemly haste under his watch, fingered him as a possible suspect. There was something more than arrogance at work. Moreover, his relationship with his co-conspirators always hinted at something sinister and far more explosive. Clearly he didn't care for their company while they assiduously courted his. A part of him believed he was better than they were. Yet, he would eventually succumb to their demands despite the obvious contempt he held for them. An ugly secret had to be holding them together because they were a threesome of strange bedfellows indeed. Greed and distrust unites them in the same way friendship unites others. They are shackled together for better or for worse by shared secrets.

Han Gi-hwan wears his cloak of respectability with finesse as evidenced by the fact that his lifelong goal is now within reach. Lee Chang-jin might have left his gangster days behind him but he hasn't left his thuggish ways. Both will do "whatever it takes" to get what they want even if it means taking lives. In the fourth chapter of the book of James in the New Testament, the author might have been saying this of the two men,

"What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions..."

Although they might be labelled the "axis of evil" here because their deeds all those many years ago had long-term repercussions for the town, they were also aided and abetted by others. It's ironic that Lee Chang-jin and Hae Do-won constantly speak of wanting to develop Munju when in reality all they've done is bring the entire region into disrepute. It's always other people's fault not theirs that the dark cloud of murder hovers over their city. When one considers how much Dong-sik and what's left of his family has suffered as a result of Yu-yeon's disappearance, all of the trio's actions to deflect suspicion off themselves are truly evil. And it's a corrupting evil that carries long-term consequences. It's like a toxic dump site that's leached into the water supply and causing cancer clusters. There are consequences even if the wheels of justice turn over slowly.

It seems to be the season of discovery for Han Ju-won. He came to Manyang riddled with guilt but full of grim confidence that he was on the killer's trail only to find out that things were less simple than he believed. Whatever his motivations were, finding the finger-tip killer was important to him. The longer he remains in Manyang, the more he realises that the problem of evil is much closer to home than he ever thought possible. He is a pitiful creature when the realisation that the man he calls "father" is a major villain in this drama rather than just an obstructionist. It will be the same with Park Jeong-jae when he finds out what his mother's darker secret is. The one most likely involving the deer farm and the bodies of women found there.

The two younger men born to some degree of privilege find out that the privilege they've come to enjoy comes with a high moral price tag. Mum and Dad have devouring ambitions that don't allow for obstacles posed by family and will use their children as stepping stones if needs be to manoeuvre their way out of trouble. Children and their role in this journey are a double-edged sword. A very unpredictable sword that can be wielded in any fashion especially when they have personalities of their own.

Despite all the evil that's about the moral universe underpinning this is fairly sound. Evil can't triumph. Whatever anyone reaps they sow. There's a force at work outside of the natural plain that's bringing about justice. Munju development has never been able to take off as a consequence. The serial killer has finally been caught. The children of the perpetrators are in revolt against the older generation. The brother of the missing girl is on the case. Han Ju-won, the son of Han Gi-hwan despite many mishaps is the catalyst to unlocking the skeletons in that closet. There's a fascinating exchange between Lee Chang-jin and Lee Dong-sik in Episode 14 over the phone. Lee Chang-jin bellows philosophically sounding off like a moral relativist,

"Good purposes, bad purposes... Who decides that? Does the law decide it? The councilwoman's son is a criminal so he doesn't have the right, I guess. Is the councilwoman to judge it? Hey, Lee Dong-sik."

In response, Dong-sik answers, "Oh Ji-wan will judge it." And the siren of Ji-wan's vehicle rings out in the distance. Oh Ji-wan, the ex-wife, the only one that Lee Chang-jin has any regard for.

Afterwards when Lee Chang-jin is taken in for questioning, Dong-sik, Detective Kang and his wife search his car without a warrant. Once again Dong-sik crosses the line and Ju-won makes the observation but in a non-judgmental way. He asks Dong-sik if he regrets tampering with Min-jung's finger-tips. Dong-sik tells Ju-won he is asking the wrong question. This time both men are in earnest. No more cat and mouse game. Dong-sik tells Ju-won that he should be asking him if he could go back in time, would he do what he did with Minjung's fingertips again. Dong-sik replies in the affirmative. She may be the only judge he fears.

Both men acknowledge here that the law that they work to enforce has limitations. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but how things unfold afterwards is not so easy to predict. One can second guess till kingdom come but that's seldom helpful. For better or worse Ju-won learns something from Dong-sik. Staging a piece of theatre no matter how illegal it feels is sometimes the only way to get answers when injustice is the order of the day. 

There's a sense that universal justice exists even when there's plenty of reason to think otherwise when corrupt officials flout the law and cases go unsolved for over 2 decades. But bit by bit inconvenient facts come to light despite attempts by those involved to conceal unsavoury truths. The thing about the truth is as Ju-won is about to find out that it is often worse than one imagines. However that's necessary for the corrupted soil of Manyang to be cleansed.

Sisyphus: The Myth (2021) The end in sight

Somewhere in this hodge podge of romance, action adventure sci-fi and politics is a plot in search of a better script. Judging from all that I've seen in the past 7 episodes the potential for greatness was always there. The drama makes big claims, it wants to be weighty, it has tried to be mysterious keeping us all intrigued with a trail of breadcrumbs but there's little doubt that it is flawed project from the start. The stakes, we are constantly reminded, are high but the show using non-linear storytelling and an overabundance of flashbacks undermines its earth-shattering claims and diminishes any sense of urgency that the audience should be feeling. Instead the pacing is all over the place and the narration is weighed down by familiar tropes that often don't really enhance the way the package is delivered.

I don't think there's really anything that complex about the time travel side of things. From beginning to end it has been consistently about the problems associated with a temporal loop complicated by the possibility of temporal displacement if the past, present or future selves intersect. To my mind the confusion comes primarily because of the heavy-handed use of flashbacks. Flashbacks are used here for all kinds of reasons. Some provide glimpses of the leads' past while others give insight into the wartorn dystopian future. I'm not convinced that we needed that many scenes showing how Seo-hae and dad were living and surviving post-apocalyptic Korea. I don't see the point of us seeing her training regime after all this time. This is the sort of thing that would have been better shown at the start or not at all. But I suppose they needed some way of filling 16 episodes.

Certainly the show has to deal with some element of character. That's to be expected. But for one reason or another it feels clunky and not well integrated into the overall storyline. For me Tae-sul's character arc is better written and there's a sense of journey and growth. It's not that I think Park Shin-hye does badly as Seo-hae but her character isn't as well served here. It almost feels that her entire role in all of this is to be Tae-sul's bodyguard love interest. At least her training regime and skill set points to that. That said, I'm okay with the romance even if the leads don't have sizzling chemistry because it is quite an important feature of Tae-sul's evolution and it feeds his determination to do better than previous failed attempts at thwarting Sigma's foul plans.

Episode 14 offered some hope that Tae-sul is starting to think and act out of the box. It's obvious that some kind of sacrifice is expected especially when the story via Sigma has been sledgehammering us with a zero sum game all throughout. How many times has "is it the girl or the world" been thrown at our faces? Far too many I'd say. However, the question now is whether the show will be true to itself. I fear a cop out resolution. Of course that's just me bracing myself for the worst. Who knows the show might just surprise me a tad with some consistency.

Thoughts about the women who try too hard

The idea for this post came to me while I was ragging on about the secondary romance for You Are My Hero. The second male lead there, Shu Wenbo seemed to be incomprehensibly unwilling to make a move on the woman he likes despite the fact that she has bent over backwards to show her interest in him. It isn't as if he's averse to her either. That's the most frustrating part of the entire scenario. Two people who like each other but one party is holding back. Shu Wenbo though epitomizes a traditional kind of positive masculinity isn't exactly the sharpest tool in the box. But Xiao Xia who has done everything to show that she likes him -- not exactly backwards in coming forwards -- is rebuffed... or as the cool kids today would say "friendzoned". So it does beg the question: what is Mr Macho Man afraid of exactly? In the early episodes I didn't buy into their potential romance as I thought that Xiao Xia was a bit over-the-top with her overtures. "Leave the man alone" is what I was thinking but after the earthquake arc, I was sure he started show genuine liking and interest in her. She's a shrewd sort of girl and picked up on that fast. As soon as they were back in the Big Smoke she restarted their push-pull. For some reason even while it's abundantly clear to the entire planet that he likes her, he persistently keeps his distance.  

In more recent days Xiao Xia has made what I consider the wise decision of moving on, not only because she's done "enough" but because I don't think a woman who is normally shrewd and likeable should humiliate herself in such fashion. No man, however amazing he might be, is not worth demeaning oneself for. Moreover it's seldom a good look... it doesn't take long before persistence and courage start looking like obsession.

There's been a long history in Asian dramas of female characters primarily those designated "second female lead" trying too hard to win men who are seemingly disinterested and/or are in love with another woman. Since I started watching K dramas a decade ago, this kind of tropey female has been a permanent fixture of the landscape. More often than not she turns villainous as a result of not getting her way. Now I don't object to the fact that the unfortunate female falls in love with some guy who is indifferent to her -- that's not always within one's ability to control -- but it's truly mind boggling that she plots and schemes to such an extent that she not only debases herself but denigrates the object of her desire because he becomes something akin to a trophy to be won. She's seldom interested in his opinion about what he wants.The thinking that accompanies that sort of attitude stems from the belief that hard scheming alone can get her the man of her dreams.

In more recent episodes of You Are My Hero, a couple of sisters who are down on their luck have their eye on male lead, SWAT officer extraordinaire Xing Kelei. To their unerring dismay they discover that he is now attached to Mi Ka. Not only is their timing rather bad on that front but their schemes to separate the couple aren't particularly effective. They are also women who are trying too hard because they're looking at the male lead as a figure of financial security. Plus they take full advantage of the fact that he feels obligated to their dad who isn't around to care for them any longer. It feels cheap obviously. The erroneous assumption seems to be that if they succeed in separating the lead pair, he will somehow automatically fall in love with the older sister and voila... become their sugar daddy. It's a form of entitlement at work. The kind that starts with the line -- "But I saw him first" and it's entirely irrelevant what Xing Kelei thinks about all of this.

All of this also reminds me of one of the concubines of the Xu household from The Sword and the Brocade, Qiao Lianfang. She spends the better part of 26 episodes plotting to becoming the lady of the manor doing the most depraved sorts things certainly unbecoming of a female of her stature. Much is made of the fact that she's the daughter of a primary consort. Her entire claim to the Marquis' affection comes from her status and the fact that she's been head over heels for him for over a decade. She takes exception to the fact that the new wife is only a concubine's daughter and is the product of the late wife's machinations. Both might be understandable objections from the point of view of the people in that context but the Marquis aka Xu Lingyi himself was a party to this outcome. 

Frankly speaking I'm not one who is very sympathetic to these sorts of female fictional archetypes. They usually end up being villains of some sort in the storyline for the protagonists to have to contend with. Even in the Ming dynasty with all its polygamy/harem structure there is still some kind of moral code that the inhabitants adhered to. Much of which bears some resemblance to prevailing orthodoxy. It's not hard to distinguish between the good guys and the bad guys. Xu Lingyi doesn't care much for his personal harem. He's no fool about what goes on behind his back with regards to his wives. They are a burden rather than a pleasure. The new wife, sister of his previous consort, with all her baggage piques his interest because she doesn't try too hard except from time to time to keep her head above the water. She's more concerned with finding her mother's killer. Qiao Lianfang entire ambition is to win the heart of the marquis and keeps herself busy hatching plots to displace her biggest rival. 

Well of course not everything in life can be gained by sheer hard work or even ingenuity. Call it providence or chemistry or character, relationships aren't achievements in the normal sense of the word. So the woman who tries too hard "for love" often crosses all kinds of lines -- moral, social and relational. It's a completely self-absorbed endeavour with barely a thought for the beloved. She claims to love the man and yet all her stratagems are abhorrent to him (if he holds to strong ethical values) and causes problems to his loved ones. In the end despite her pleas, he rejects her flatly. Sometimes he might even throw in philosophically as is the case with many C dramas that "love cannot be forced". Or there's something inexplicable about why anyone falls in love.

I don't think falling in love is as inexplicable as the dramas make it out to be. While I'm not a huge fan of biological deterministic arguments, there might be something to them even from my own personal observations. Furthermore after the initial attraction, there has to be something more about the other party that holds the other's interest. I suspect it's far more complex even while possibly being esoteric. In the case of The Sword and the Brocade which is centred around a contract marriage between two people who are initially distrustful of each other, there is a really strong indication that love is much more than attraction. It is absolutely about character too.