Out of sheer curiosity due to the raves I'd read online I decided to take a look at this late adolescent, coming-of-age Korean drama. I knew nothing about the drama going in except that a lot of people seem to like it. Oddly enough, I'm having a hard time relating to or engaging with the drama... a fact that I attribute to demographic and philosophical differences. To me much of the angst being portrayed seems to be non-issues or as someone has said quite rightly, "first world issues". Moreover, the value system of this particular world seems completely foreign to the one that I was raised in. I can't fault the storytelling much because it is good (probably too good) but I'm struggling to maintain interest in the subject matter and feel much sympathy for the woes of young men and women whose extracurricular interests seem largely confined to attracting the opposite sex and/or judging people by their physical appearance. The moniker "Gangnam Beauty" refers (pejoratively perhaps) to a woman who has had extensive cosmetic surgery done to enhance her looks.
Apart from the stand-offish, devil-may-care male lead, everyone else seems to have happily bought into the big lie that physical appearance is the foremost requirement in selecting a dating partner or at least the ticket to the popularity club.
Perhaps I spent a large portion of my life in the rarefied atmosphere of not having to obsess over looks... not that I had/have much to brag about... although I certainly heard comments and comparisons over the years that stung. But to spend so much of one's precarious existence angsting over one's appearance makes little sense and it makes other people's opinion the idolatry of one's life. And what a cruel master that usually is. It seems to be more the case too for the girls than the boys which I imagine is meant to show up the gender double-standards. Some of the boys who pop up regularly are really nothing much to boast about (and frankly there's nothing wrong with not being Adonises) but apparently they can afford to delude themselves while the ladies have to be "more realistic" about their dating expectations. Of course, they're all willing prisoners of this self-perpetuating system. The pain is entirely self-inflicted.
Even for the female lead, the hard-headed part of me feels that the panacea that she has chosen -- hiding behind a nose job -- is essentially a bandaid solution. Her desire for acceptance though understandable has only brought about another set of problems... unwarranted attention in which her history has left her ill-equipped to handle. Sure you can change what's on the outside but ultimately it's what goes on the inside that gives a person the ability to live as a free human being.
I don't know where the drama is headed with all this but it is suggestive that the female lead claims to be in search of a "normal life" which is why she's turned down the Adonis that she likes. Because dating him will inevitably draw more attention to herself. She claims that she's unworthy and "out of his league" while the poor fellow hasn't the faintest idea what all those categories mean because he is the outsider/non-conformist in this reality. She claims to crave normality but it sounds like what she's really looking for is a conflict-free life so that she can quietly conform to the pre-existing system and get no push back from it.
I suppose the current orthodoxy in all of this is that she needs to increase her self-esteem and realise that she is good enough or deserving enough to be hanging off his arm in a long term relationship. I beg to disagree. What she doesn't need is more self-esteem... but a complete overhaul in her thinking about what matters in life. Beauty in and of itself is not a bad thing. There's nothing wrong with men admiring beautiful women per se. What's wrong is the way it seems to impact perception of reality in all aspects of life. Perhaps it needs to be reiterated that physical beauty is something that passes with time (here today and gone tomorrow) and relationships built on that shaky foundation alone is doomed to end in tears. Mi Rae's nemesis, Soo-Ya is a girl who has self-esteem in spades but she uses it to manipulate others and situations for her own benefit. Her natural beauty hides her incessant need for more adulation and feeds her addiction, as it were, to be admired and pursued. In her case, self-esteem has led to delusionary behaviour.
What Mi Rae also needs is courage to name the flaws in the prevailing "wisdom" and call them out for what they are. It isn't because she deserves to be loved and have love... whatever that means... But because ultimately such thinking is destructive and brings about unnecessary misery. Right now she hasn't got the courage to buck the system and so she's traded one form of misery that might not actually occur for one that actually does.
We are judged every time we rub shoulders with other human beings. In and of itself, I don't think that's automatically a bad thing. We are judged for character... how we treat other people... which is valid and for the work that we do -- performance. There's nothing inherently objectionable about making judgments about people. In fact, in many instances, it behooves us to do so. The reason why judging a person based on physical appearance is to be denounced is because it is a superficial criteria that doesn't guarantee an accurate or thorough evaluation of the subject's intrinsic value and even within their community.
"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." Genesis 1:27
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
Monday, June 25, 2018
Money Flower (2017-2018)
I suspect this will be the closest we'll ever get to a K version of Nirvana in Fire and the Count of Monte Cristo. It occurred to me even in those early episodes how Count of Monte Cristo-like the narrative was. A child presumed dead who had taken on another identity and even went to prison in some else's stead. Then a long-term revenge plan involving large sums of money and public officials. Certainly it was riddled with overused K drama tropes like birth secrets, chaebol infighting and psychotic ridiculously ambitious mothers but unlike your run-of-the-mill weekend makjang, this was masterfully achieved. The acting, the writing, the direction were all top notch but there's no doubt that this series belonged to the wonderful Jang Hyuk who after Beautiful Mind and Money Flower has cemented his place as the best actor of his generation. He was mesmerizing... absolutely mesmerizing... from start to finish. He made every single moment of every single scene matter. His Kang Pil Joo was both an enigma and an open book. For those who saw him as their running dog he was an enigma but for those of us fortunate to be privy to his inner life, he was a lonely but determined soul carrying the weight of death on his shoulders.
I think I was hooked practically from the start constantly wondering what KPJ was up to... what his endgame was... how he would extricate himself from a very tight corner that he would inevitably find himself in. His patience... his doggedness (no pun intended) was inhuman. Except for Grandpa, I don't even if anyone else was even in his league. As the old chairman himself soon realised, KPJ was the true successor of his indomitable spirit. All the other actors were good but they were playing pretty much standard stock characters from your weekend family fare... the usurping imposter, the ruthless patriarch gleefully looking on while he wavers on the succession issue, the highly driven mother, who would do anything for her child, the good girl that's exploited, a public figure who falls from grace, backstabbing relatives, children born out of wedlock etc etc. But KPJ seemed to be above the fray. His apparent god-like ubiquity were our ears and eyes into the self-inflicted insanity of the fabulously wealthy driven by a ludicrous sense of entitlement. Luckily it seemed, KPJ was streets ahead of almost everyone and yet Jang Hyuk was able to imbue the character with so much humanity.
Even though he was largely painted as an anti-hero, I don't know if there was ever a time I was never on his side. Even when he helped orchestrate BC and MH's marriage, and convinced Congressman Na to work with the family, I always thought that ultimately everyone made their own choices. I don't doubt they were manipulated to some degree into dancing to his tune but if the desire/greed hadn't been there, he wouldn't have had much sway. Certainly I had a lot of sympathy for MH who was largely an innocent in all of this. However, I realise that monsters are made and in this the old chairman definitely has a lot to answer for. On top of that, his lack of self-awareness is galling.
The one thing we certainly learnt from KPJ is that patience is truly a virtue. Maybe one of the most important ones especially in a day and age of instant-everything. Nobody waits much for anything anymore. But KPJ waited 20 years to finally expose Exec Jung for being the villain she truly was and reveal to Grandpa his true identity. But almost everyone else was anxious for things to happen quickly, take short-cuts without laying the groundwork that he did mainly because they feel entitled to the rewards as a birthright. Exec. Jung may have thought she was raising a dog to do her bidding but she relied so heavily on the dog to do all the thinking for her that it was finally in the position to bite back.
There's seldom anything pleasant about revenge. The casualties are high and innocents get caught in the cross fire but the thing I appreciate most about Money Flower is that in his bid for vengeance KPJ never entirely loses his head or his humanity... thus paving a road to redemption for himself. I was wondering about the stabbing scene at the end and the abruptness of it. In the end I could only conclude that it signalled a death to KPJ but the rebirth of JEC... a new beginning with no hidden agenda... just a gifted businessman looking for a fresh start professionally and maybe relationally too.
At the end of the day, KPJ was able to tear down a rotting house of cards because the superstructure had been weakened by corrupt practices over time. Like Mei Chang Su in Nirvana in Fire, he gained a foothold in places where he knew his adversaries were vulnerable despite the protections that their fabulous wealth afforded them. Even with all his workmanlike machinations, ultimately his opponents fell on swords they had forged over time.
Sunday, May 27, 2018
Something in the Rain (2018) -- Thoughts about the ending
This was a show that I had watched and dropped after 5 episodes. After ending its run locally and on Netflix, I thought... well... I have a Netflix subscription... I might as well see how it ends. I was also quite aware of the online clamour regarding the ending and its prelude so that piqued my curiosity.
I can't say I was all that surprised by Episode 15. It seemed to me a long time in coming. What surprised me wasn't that the couple broke off their rocky relationship but that they managed to hold it together as long as they did considering the shaky foundations from which they began. Jin-A, who was the main reason why I dropped the show, was more or less in the same place mentally that she was in Episode 5. Certainly she'd gotten bolder on the work front but in the area that probably mattered most to her, she was still riddled with indecision. In that regard I think the show was extraordinarily consistent and realistic in how the romance resulted. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if it had ended in Episode 15, it would have worked just as well. Or something akin to a La La Land type ending. The ending of 15 was exactly right. It wasn't just a lack of communication which tore the couple apart... ultimately it was a lack of honesty. Not of the cheating kind but the weight of unspoken frustrations finally causing the relationship to collapse. Even though Jin-A made the decision to move out of home, she was still trapped in the same mental state of wanting to keep everyone happy. In reality of course nobody was happy, herself included. Moving out of home wasn't about freedom for her but a kind of "no-man's land" in a war zone that she was ill-equipped to fight. It was a place she'd hope to navigate the rough seas of placating her family on some level while still trying to maintain her relationship with Jun Hui.
The beginning of their relationship resembled, it seemed to me, an intense secret love affair -- a socially forbidden relationship that took place in secrecy in its early stages. Fearing family disapproval, they lied about the true nature of their relationship to their nearest and dearest. Because they had put the cart before the horse, the foundation for their relationship was essentially quite weak because they leapt into not prepared to deal with the whirlwind that would follow. Passions came first and they went along with that but in the end for a fundamentally socially conservative girl like Jin-A, she was ill-equipped to deal the pressures that came her way and the ramifications that the relationship would have on her family. I saw the writing on the wall even before Episode 5. There was plenty of heat in that relationship but the lack of honesty it seemed to me demonstrated a clear reluctance to take a strong stand on the underlying issues. I always felt that JA enjoyed the pleasures of the relationship without wanting to deal the negatives. Would JA and JH have the wherewithal to conduct their relationship openly? Did JA especially have the will to make that decisive break necessarily for the relationship to move to the next stage and even flourish? In the end, they were 2 people mugged by reality. JA is a family oriented, daddy's girl at heart. Her affair with JH was something out of her comfort zone. True to form, her first instinct is to compromise. The terms of engagement were framed as a zero-sum game and in the end she chose the familiar and the family over starting afresh with JH overseas because the foundations there ran much, much deeper. I believe they both understood (in varying degrees) after all the pressures placed on them, what it would take to keep their relationship together but JA just couldn't cross their bridge.
I was mostly in agreement with JH unilaterally making the decision to take off overseas to start again if for no other reason to prove to himself where JA's priorities really lie. It was a test of the strength of their commitment to the relationship and I think it had to come to that because they were going nowhere with JA trying to maintain the status quo. The conversation they had in her flat when he gets back from China is quite telling. "Isn't that like running away?" is what she says. His answer is "I would like to think of it more as breaking free."
Another striking thing is how JA half-jokingly tells people she's just soldiering on and it demonstrates strength of character to double-down and persevere. In most instances I wouldn't disagree but with JA, it's a cover for not dealing with her inner angst or the rumblings of her heart. It's part of her mechanism to side step the issues. She can't be honest with others because she can't be honest with herself for fear of what others think about her. JA is a nice girl but her niceness seems to mean that she doesn't have to make a stand and it sees her reverting to her default position of sweeping things under the carpet
JH is a lot clearer and bolder. He wants honesty. He was right in that they had unfinished business. I thought it was fascinating how his comment to her that she's mean triggered a strong reaction in her. All the misery she'd been bottling up exploded in an instant. Though she tried to palm some of the blame onto JH, she had made her choice and she had lived with its consequences. He did respect her choice to stay after all. In the end, she made the choice to move out station because she realises that she can't be tethered to the familiar as her own growth and happiness is on the line.
I'm glad she comes to that place first before getting back with JH because it would mean repeating the mistakes of the past. She can't just be her parents' daughter or the woman JH loves. Her conversation with BR at the Jeju restaurant was the most honest I'd heard from her.
It's an interesting journey that the writer takes JA on. Although she was a character I had trouble relating to, I could see the consistency in her choices and in how she dealt with unpleasant situations. It became clear to me at the end why the actress took on this role. She did a good job with the role and portrayed her misery and servility effectively while maintaining a stiff upper lip.
I can't say I was all that surprised by Episode 15. It seemed to me a long time in coming. What surprised me wasn't that the couple broke off their rocky relationship but that they managed to hold it together as long as they did considering the shaky foundations from which they began. Jin-A, who was the main reason why I dropped the show, was more or less in the same place mentally that she was in Episode 5. Certainly she'd gotten bolder on the work front but in the area that probably mattered most to her, she was still riddled with indecision. In that regard I think the show was extraordinarily consistent and realistic in how the romance resulted. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if it had ended in Episode 15, it would have worked just as well. Or something akin to a La La Land type ending. The ending of 15 was exactly right. It wasn't just a lack of communication which tore the couple apart... ultimately it was a lack of honesty. Not of the cheating kind but the weight of unspoken frustrations finally causing the relationship to collapse. Even though Jin-A made the decision to move out of home, she was still trapped in the same mental state of wanting to keep everyone happy. In reality of course nobody was happy, herself included. Moving out of home wasn't about freedom for her but a kind of "no-man's land" in a war zone that she was ill-equipped to fight. It was a place she'd hope to navigate the rough seas of placating her family on some level while still trying to maintain her relationship with Jun Hui.
The beginning of their relationship resembled, it seemed to me, an intense secret love affair -- a socially forbidden relationship that took place in secrecy in its early stages. Fearing family disapproval, they lied about the true nature of their relationship to their nearest and dearest. Because they had put the cart before the horse, the foundation for their relationship was essentially quite weak because they leapt into not prepared to deal with the whirlwind that would follow. Passions came first and they went along with that but in the end for a fundamentally socially conservative girl like Jin-A, she was ill-equipped to deal the pressures that came her way and the ramifications that the relationship would have on her family. I saw the writing on the wall even before Episode 5. There was plenty of heat in that relationship but the lack of honesty it seemed to me demonstrated a clear reluctance to take a strong stand on the underlying issues. I always felt that JA enjoyed the pleasures of the relationship without wanting to deal the negatives. Would JA and JH have the wherewithal to conduct their relationship openly? Did JA especially have the will to make that decisive break necessarily for the relationship to move to the next stage and even flourish? In the end, they were 2 people mugged by reality. JA is a family oriented, daddy's girl at heart. Her affair with JH was something out of her comfort zone. True to form, her first instinct is to compromise. The terms of engagement were framed as a zero-sum game and in the end she chose the familiar and the family over starting afresh with JH overseas because the foundations there ran much, much deeper. I believe they both understood (in varying degrees) after all the pressures placed on them, what it would take to keep their relationship together but JA just couldn't cross their bridge.
I was mostly in agreement with JH unilaterally making the decision to take off overseas to start again if for no other reason to prove to himself where JA's priorities really lie. It was a test of the strength of their commitment to the relationship and I think it had to come to that because they were going nowhere with JA trying to maintain the status quo. The conversation they had in her flat when he gets back from China is quite telling. "Isn't that like running away?" is what she says. His answer is "I would like to think of it more as breaking free."
Another striking thing is how JA half-jokingly tells people she's just soldiering on and it demonstrates strength of character to double-down and persevere. In most instances I wouldn't disagree but with JA, it's a cover for not dealing with her inner angst or the rumblings of her heart. It's part of her mechanism to side step the issues. She can't be honest with others because she can't be honest with herself for fear of what others think about her. JA is a nice girl but her niceness seems to mean that she doesn't have to make a stand and it sees her reverting to her default position of sweeping things under the carpet
JH is a lot clearer and bolder. He wants honesty. He was right in that they had unfinished business. I thought it was fascinating how his comment to her that she's mean triggered a strong reaction in her. All the misery she'd been bottling up exploded in an instant. Though she tried to palm some of the blame onto JH, she had made her choice and she had lived with its consequences. He did respect her choice to stay after all. In the end, she made the choice to move out station because she realises that she can't be tethered to the familiar as her own growth and happiness is on the line.
I'm glad she comes to that place first before getting back with JH because it would mean repeating the mistakes of the past. She can't just be her parents' daughter or the woman JH loves. Her conversation with BR at the Jeju restaurant was the most honest I'd heard from her.
It's an interesting journey that the writer takes JA on. Although she was a character I had trouble relating to, I could see the consistency in her choices and in how she dealt with unpleasant situations. It became clear to me at the end why the actress took on this role. She did a good job with the role and portrayed her misery and servility effectively while maintaining a stiff upper lip.
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Nirvana in Fire 2: The Wind Blows in Changlin -- Grappling with the ending
(Spoilers galore... enter at own risk)
I've been pondering over the ending of the drama since the end of its broadcast, ruminating over what went wobbly at the end. The first three-quarters of the series was undoubtedly spectacular television in any language and arguably more emotionally gripping than its predecessor (although not as cerebral I would hasten to add) but then something happened on the way to the ending that altered the course of the narrative leaving behind a general feeling of dissatisfaction. Having just finished watching Money Flower in the last day or so has helped me better understand what my problems with NiF 2's resolution were. Rather than being an outright "bad" ending, it came across more as unsatisfying. And in the history of C-drama bad endings, (and there's been a fair number lately) it certainly wasn't the worst. Far from it.
My main (and hopefully final) conclusion after tossing it over at the back of my mind and chatting with people is that the drama doesn't really earn its ending. Why? Because first of all, there is a strong disconnect between the first three quarters and the last quarter of the series. It was as if that final phase of the series became its own separate spin-off in which the main character took a back seat and made cameo appearances while the villain of the piece took centrestage. The moment Pingjing took refuge in Langya Pavilion with his sister-in-law and nephew, his development came to a standstill while he sat on his hands. The shift in focus from the protagonist and then to the antagonist was jarring and ultimately this was arguably the show's biggest narrative mistake especially after investing so much emotional energy in the main character's journey. I suspect that nobody wanted to see the villain having long chats and drinking tea with other antagonists especially when what they really want to see is who they thought the main guy was. It occurs to me that if the show was always trying to say that Pingjing was just the support act, then they really did a confusing job of it.
In the earlier phase where members of the Changlin family are front and centre in the story with glimpses of the villain plotting and scheming in his lair, the drama worked brilliantly as a political cum detective story as the protagonists were navigating their political climate while trying to decipher the puzzle that the primary antagonist was cooking up (often quite literally) behind the scenes. In the final phase, on the other hand, the bad guy plot was revealed rather easily and quickly so it was all about waiting for the right time and implementation.
I don't doubt that the writer always had in mind this vision of Pingjing riding off in the sunset with his lady love free of family responsibilities affirming individual choice and personal freedom. But I didn't go away feeling that he really earned that ending straight after dispatching the coup leaders and doing a little bit of housekeeping. It felt inconsistent to me that the Pingjing that I'd come to know and love would leave behind unfinished business like the taking back of the three provinces from Marquis Mozi of Donghai and a young emperor who needs him more than ever. Even though he might have been bitter with how the royal court treated his family, he was someone although cavalier on the outside was someone who took his responsibilities seriously. Pingzhang said it best. Even though Pingjing on appearance would come across as casual and easygoing, he would deliver the goods at the end. I worry too about the vulnerable Yuanshi who could really use the support I imagine.
I accept to some degree the show's conclusion that Changlin is more than just a family or an army or an individual. It's a spirit or ideal of loyalty and brotherhood that goes beyond blood ties or a formidable fighting force... I understood all of that but this doesn't mean that individuals who embody such ideals don't matter or that being brought up in a family which holds to such values isn't crucial. Of course they are which is why we have a Yuanqi who is fatherless... then motherless... corrupted by his ambition to stand out because he has no anchor and carves out a trajectory that leads him to lose everything in a desperate gamble to be nobody's fool. Then there's the young, still impressionable sovereign who because of family is led astray although not irrevocably. There's hope for him and he has learnt a few painful lessons as the show comes to its conclusion but he needs people he knows and can trust until such time when he can assert his own authority. He's certainly not going to become a great leader of his country just because he saw his mother take her own life in front of him or because he's had a few bumps and bruises dished out to him.
To be fair, the show telegraphed this resolution several episodes earlier when Lin Xi tells Pingjing that she cannot go where he's going despite understanding the fact that he is the son of Changlin and can't leave the young emperor to his own devices. The problem for me is she doesn't really say why. We can only assume that it's because of her mother's bidding or that she's so fearful of losing her independence that she's completely unwilling to compromise at any level except to affirm her love for him. Sadly the show doesn't flesh this out in any great detail or give any justification for her stance except to labour under the presumption that the audience would understand. For me this does the character grave injustice especially because there is nothing prior to and after this conversation that demonstrates why she would cling to her stance so vehemently even in extreme circumstances especially when she fell in love with Pingjing despite all her mother's admonishments. Her rigidity and lack of development in the name of "independence" doesn't in the final analysis sit all that well with me. For a show that prides itself on being somewhat historically realistic... it's even more of a head scratcher.
Perhaps the show was attempting to steer clear of triumphalism or hubris that it avoided taking a strong position on the whole issue of how the Changlin was treated after the death of Xiao Tingsheng. Nonetheless probably the most disappointing aspect of the drama's ending was the lack of an "official" repudiation of Minister Xun Baishui's position on Changlin as a threat. Sure there were moments in the final arc where one could see the consequences of a Jingling with no Changlin presence. Even Yuanshi acknowledged openly to his mother that the coup was only able to occur because there was no Prince Changlin. But then at the end of the show, when Pingjing has his final exchange with Yue Yinchuan, there seems to be a tacit reinforcement of Xun Baishui's belief that Changlin would always be seen as a potential threat to the sovereign especially because Pingjing was able to rally the troops under its banner as readily he did.
I was always critical of Xun Baishui's position not only because it was hypocritical but that it was politically simplistic as well. No one is disputing that there needs to be a balance of power but maintaining a balance of power can only go so far in insuring the stability of the emperor's rule. He wanted a sure-fire guarantee that the sovereign's rule would never be undermined by his subject. Laughably not only was he trying to manipulate the young Yuanshi to sway his reaction to Changlin but his own machinations inevitably created a political/military vacuum that was filled by an opportunist who was planning not only to destabilize the Liang court but to overthrow the young emperor also. It's not that I am naive enough to believe internal threats don't exist but the reality is that they always exist. However that is what good leadership is all about, the ability to maintain that balance without merely ruling purely for survival. Dynasties come and go in a matter of two to three hundred years, what sort of lasting guarantee is Xun Baishui looking for? But of course, ultimately it was about him maintaining the power base of his own clan. And as the rightly demonstrates, when the sovereign is politically weak/naive, he is probably as much of an internal threat as any powerful noble family or more so.
I'm wondering now if the show had been given a bit more time if some of the issues that were problematic at the end could have been resolved more satisfactorily. We can only speculate.
This is what I said elsewhere as well:
I suppose if I had written those last 10-12 episodes, I would have at least put half the focus on Pingjing, the last adult male member of the family, still bitter at how his family was treated, wandering around living among the common people for 3 years and realising after a while the important role that he can play in the country as a whole and there's no running away from that. He could even become an Yi Zhi Mei type character with his band of merry followers while keeping tabs on things in Jingling via Langya Pavilion and old Changlin connections. Perhaps we could have seen him spending some time out in Qian province meeting the people who suffered in the war with Donghai? Just a thought. At the same time, Yuanqi's star would apparently be on the rise like we saw and gradually trying to ingratiate himself with the royal court. I would highlight the parallels and contrasts in their respective journeys while still maintaining the themes of loyalty and brotherhood. Although I liked Yue Yinchuan, I really didn't think his character was a necessary inclusion especially at such a late stage.
I've been pondering over the ending of the drama since the end of its broadcast, ruminating over what went wobbly at the end. The first three-quarters of the series was undoubtedly spectacular television in any language and arguably more emotionally gripping than its predecessor (although not as cerebral I would hasten to add) but then something happened on the way to the ending that altered the course of the narrative leaving behind a general feeling of dissatisfaction. Having just finished watching Money Flower in the last day or so has helped me better understand what my problems with NiF 2's resolution were. Rather than being an outright "bad" ending, it came across more as unsatisfying. And in the history of C-drama bad endings, (and there's been a fair number lately) it certainly wasn't the worst. Far from it.
My main (and hopefully final) conclusion after tossing it over at the back of my mind and chatting with people is that the drama doesn't really earn its ending. Why? Because first of all, there is a strong disconnect between the first three quarters and the last quarter of the series. It was as if that final phase of the series became its own separate spin-off in which the main character took a back seat and made cameo appearances while the villain of the piece took centrestage. The moment Pingjing took refuge in Langya Pavilion with his sister-in-law and nephew, his development came to a standstill while he sat on his hands. The shift in focus from the protagonist and then to the antagonist was jarring and ultimately this was arguably the show's biggest narrative mistake especially after investing so much emotional energy in the main character's journey. I suspect that nobody wanted to see the villain having long chats and drinking tea with other antagonists especially when what they really want to see is who they thought the main guy was. It occurs to me that if the show was always trying to say that Pingjing was just the support act, then they really did a confusing job of it.
In the earlier phase where members of the Changlin family are front and centre in the story with glimpses of the villain plotting and scheming in his lair, the drama worked brilliantly as a political cum detective story as the protagonists were navigating their political climate while trying to decipher the puzzle that the primary antagonist was cooking up (often quite literally) behind the scenes. In the final phase, on the other hand, the bad guy plot was revealed rather easily and quickly so it was all about waiting for the right time and implementation.
I don't doubt that the writer always had in mind this vision of Pingjing riding off in the sunset with his lady love free of family responsibilities affirming individual choice and personal freedom. But I didn't go away feeling that he really earned that ending straight after dispatching the coup leaders and doing a little bit of housekeeping. It felt inconsistent to me that the Pingjing that I'd come to know and love would leave behind unfinished business like the taking back of the three provinces from Marquis Mozi of Donghai and a young emperor who needs him more than ever. Even though he might have been bitter with how the royal court treated his family, he was someone although cavalier on the outside was someone who took his responsibilities seriously. Pingzhang said it best. Even though Pingjing on appearance would come across as casual and easygoing, he would deliver the goods at the end. I worry too about the vulnerable Yuanshi who could really use the support I imagine.
I accept to some degree the show's conclusion that Changlin is more than just a family or an army or an individual. It's a spirit or ideal of loyalty and brotherhood that goes beyond blood ties or a formidable fighting force... I understood all of that but this doesn't mean that individuals who embody such ideals don't matter or that being brought up in a family which holds to such values isn't crucial. Of course they are which is why we have a Yuanqi who is fatherless... then motherless... corrupted by his ambition to stand out because he has no anchor and carves out a trajectory that leads him to lose everything in a desperate gamble to be nobody's fool. Then there's the young, still impressionable sovereign who because of family is led astray although not irrevocably. There's hope for him and he has learnt a few painful lessons as the show comes to its conclusion but he needs people he knows and can trust until such time when he can assert his own authority. He's certainly not going to become a great leader of his country just because he saw his mother take her own life in front of him or because he's had a few bumps and bruises dished out to him.
To be fair, the show telegraphed this resolution several episodes earlier when Lin Xi tells Pingjing that she cannot go where he's going despite understanding the fact that he is the son of Changlin and can't leave the young emperor to his own devices. The problem for me is she doesn't really say why. We can only assume that it's because of her mother's bidding or that she's so fearful of losing her independence that she's completely unwilling to compromise at any level except to affirm her love for him. Sadly the show doesn't flesh this out in any great detail or give any justification for her stance except to labour under the presumption that the audience would understand. For me this does the character grave injustice especially because there is nothing prior to and after this conversation that demonstrates why she would cling to her stance so vehemently even in extreme circumstances especially when she fell in love with Pingjing despite all her mother's admonishments. Her rigidity and lack of development in the name of "independence" doesn't in the final analysis sit all that well with me. For a show that prides itself on being somewhat historically realistic... it's even more of a head scratcher.
Perhaps the show was attempting to steer clear of triumphalism or hubris that it avoided taking a strong position on the whole issue of how the Changlin was treated after the death of Xiao Tingsheng. Nonetheless probably the most disappointing aspect of the drama's ending was the lack of an "official" repudiation of Minister Xun Baishui's position on Changlin as a threat. Sure there were moments in the final arc where one could see the consequences of a Jingling with no Changlin presence. Even Yuanshi acknowledged openly to his mother that the coup was only able to occur because there was no Prince Changlin. But then at the end of the show, when Pingjing has his final exchange with Yue Yinchuan, there seems to be a tacit reinforcement of Xun Baishui's belief that Changlin would always be seen as a potential threat to the sovereign especially because Pingjing was able to rally the troops under its banner as readily he did.
I was always critical of Xun Baishui's position not only because it was hypocritical but that it was politically simplistic as well. No one is disputing that there needs to be a balance of power but maintaining a balance of power can only go so far in insuring the stability of the emperor's rule. He wanted a sure-fire guarantee that the sovereign's rule would never be undermined by his subject. Laughably not only was he trying to manipulate the young Yuanshi to sway his reaction to Changlin but his own machinations inevitably created a political/military vacuum that was filled by an opportunist who was planning not only to destabilize the Liang court but to overthrow the young emperor also. It's not that I am naive enough to believe internal threats don't exist but the reality is that they always exist. However that is what good leadership is all about, the ability to maintain that balance without merely ruling purely for survival. Dynasties come and go in a matter of two to three hundred years, what sort of lasting guarantee is Xun Baishui looking for? But of course, ultimately it was about him maintaining the power base of his own clan. And as the rightly demonstrates, when the sovereign is politically weak/naive, he is probably as much of an internal threat as any powerful noble family or more so.
I'm wondering now if the show had been given a bit more time if some of the issues that were problematic at the end could have been resolved more satisfactorily. We can only speculate.
This is what I said elsewhere as well:
I suppose if I had written those last 10-12 episodes, I would have at least put half the focus on Pingjing, the last adult male member of the family, still bitter at how his family was treated, wandering around living among the common people for 3 years and realising after a while the important role that he can play in the country as a whole and there's no running away from that. He could even become an Yi Zhi Mei type character with his band of merry followers while keeping tabs on things in Jingling via Langya Pavilion and old Changlin connections. Perhaps we could have seen him spending some time out in Qian province meeting the people who suffered in the war with Donghai? Just a thought. At the same time, Yuanqi's star would apparently be on the rise like we saw and gradually trying to ingratiate himself with the royal court. I would highlight the parallels and contrasts in their respective journeys while still maintaining the themes of loyalty and brotherhood. Although I liked Yue Yinchuan, I really didn't think his character was a necessary inclusion especially at such a late stage.
Princess Agents 楚乔传 Rants Mostly
(Left this in my in-box for a few months to stew over... thought that I should finally post it)
Princess Agents is without a doubt one of the biggest examples of wasted potential I've had the misfortune of witnessing, squandering all the currency that it had built up in the early episodes. My view as someone who came to it not knowing much about the original storyline is that it suffered from a case of trying to incorporate too much and losing focus. Whatever changes it had made from the novel made no impact on my final verdict as I had no knowledge of it to begin with.
While there was an egregious amount of untapped potential apparently left unshot or on the cutting room floor, there was also a lot to like about it. Certainly the series had an addictive quality which saw viewers coming back for more each week. A large part was undoubtedly the eagerness of fans wanting to see their favourite pairing coming together after patiently going through the upheaval and rigours of the neverending push-pull.
On a personal note, I stuck at it all the way to the end for the male lead Yuwen Yue because quite frankly I was just holding my nose watching what the show was doing to the female titular character Chu Qiao and its primary antagonist, Yan Xun towards the end. The relationship between these three individuals could have potentially been the most interesting aspect of the show but in the end it sank into a mire of ambiguous romantic complications.
Therein lay my biggest problem with the drama... the love triangle. Because it died a slow and painful death, the rest of the show limped along with it.
Confession time: In general love triangles are hit and miss with me. I have a ambivalent-hate relationship with them but I tolerate them because they are more or less a default Asian drama trope. In this drama, the love triangle had outlived its use-by date long before the last episode. In dragging things out, the show did a grave disservice to its titular character. It became increasingly obvious that the drama was determined to play out said love triangle to the bitter end regardless of what damage it did to the characters. A gutsy, supposedly independent female freedom fighter confines herself to her bedroom sulking and angsting over how much more she can take. A vengeful prince skulking around her room waiting for her to give approval to his blood lust by painting himself as the perpetual pathetic underdog. It's obvious Chu Qiao is miserable watching Yan Xun descend into the dark spiral but believes that she can somehow reverse his trajectory. So she has a bad case of hope triumphing over good sense despite having more than inkling that whatever little chats they had about freedom in Chang'an were conducted at cross purposes.
The problem I have with Chu Qiao at this point are many. But I will mention the most important one here. By tethering herself to Yan Xun (or by the show tethering her to Yan Xun to keep the love triangle going) she's not that much better off than the slaves she waxed philosophical about. Whether she loves him romantically or not (and I'm inclined to think not) she's trapped in a cycle of dysfunctionality with him and most likely giving tacit consent to his plans.
As for Yan Xun, his villainy came across as half-baked to me. The drama evidently did not want him to go full blown Sith Lord at this point so they brought in another guy to do all the dirty work for him so that he could on the surface keep his nose clean temporarily It's not that Cheng Yuan leads Yan Xun astray but he does the very things Yan Xun would like to do but is afraid to because he knows he will incur the wrath of Chu Qiao.
On top of all that, the show also did a grave disservice to the so-called male lead who was not only impossibly devoted but became a largely reactive character whose primary purpose in life was to save his damsel in distress from all her own miscalculations along the way. Of course a man with the patience of Job and the self-sacrifice of a martyr has his charms but it diminishes something from his earlier development.
Of course the thing that really has one in tears at the end aside from the moving scenes between the leads is the cliffhanger ending. With no news still of anything in the horizon, I don't hold out much hope for a second series at this stage.
Princess Agents is without a doubt one of the biggest examples of wasted potential I've had the misfortune of witnessing, squandering all the currency that it had built up in the early episodes. My view as someone who came to it not knowing much about the original storyline is that it suffered from a case of trying to incorporate too much and losing focus. Whatever changes it had made from the novel made no impact on my final verdict as I had no knowledge of it to begin with.
While there was an egregious amount of untapped potential apparently left unshot or on the cutting room floor, there was also a lot to like about it. Certainly the series had an addictive quality which saw viewers coming back for more each week. A large part was undoubtedly the eagerness of fans wanting to see their favourite pairing coming together after patiently going through the upheaval and rigours of the neverending push-pull.
On a personal note, I stuck at it all the way to the end for the male lead Yuwen Yue because quite frankly I was just holding my nose watching what the show was doing to the female titular character Chu Qiao and its primary antagonist, Yan Xun towards the end. The relationship between these three individuals could have potentially been the most interesting aspect of the show but in the end it sank into a mire of ambiguous romantic complications.
Therein lay my biggest problem with the drama... the love triangle. Because it died a slow and painful death, the rest of the show limped along with it.
Confession time: In general love triangles are hit and miss with me. I have a ambivalent-hate relationship with them but I tolerate them because they are more or less a default Asian drama trope. In this drama, the love triangle had outlived its use-by date long before the last episode. In dragging things out, the show did a grave disservice to its titular character. It became increasingly obvious that the drama was determined to play out said love triangle to the bitter end regardless of what damage it did to the characters. A gutsy, supposedly independent female freedom fighter confines herself to her bedroom sulking and angsting over how much more she can take. A vengeful prince skulking around her room waiting for her to give approval to his blood lust by painting himself as the perpetual pathetic underdog. It's obvious Chu Qiao is miserable watching Yan Xun descend into the dark spiral but believes that she can somehow reverse his trajectory. So she has a bad case of hope triumphing over good sense despite having more than inkling that whatever little chats they had about freedom in Chang'an were conducted at cross purposes.
The problem I have with Chu Qiao at this point are many. But I will mention the most important one here. By tethering herself to Yan Xun (or by the show tethering her to Yan Xun to keep the love triangle going) she's not that much better off than the slaves she waxed philosophical about. Whether she loves him romantically or not (and I'm inclined to think not) she's trapped in a cycle of dysfunctionality with him and most likely giving tacit consent to his plans.
As for Yan Xun, his villainy came across as half-baked to me. The drama evidently did not want him to go full blown Sith Lord at this point so they brought in another guy to do all the dirty work for him so that he could on the surface keep his nose clean temporarily It's not that Cheng Yuan leads Yan Xun astray but he does the very things Yan Xun would like to do but is afraid to because he knows he will incur the wrath of Chu Qiao.
On top of all that, the show also did a grave disservice to the so-called male lead who was not only impossibly devoted but became a largely reactive character whose primary purpose in life was to save his damsel in distress from all her own miscalculations along the way. Of course a man with the patience of Job and the self-sacrifice of a martyr has his charms but it diminishes something from his earlier development.
Of course the thing that really has one in tears at the end aside from the moving scenes between the leads is the cliffhanger ending. With no news still of anything in the horizon, I don't hold out much hope for a second series at this stage.
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