The Princess Royal

i have a love-hate relationship with this drama

Zhang Linghe and Zhang Jin Mai's chemistry is what keeps me watching this drama LOL. I love moments of them bickering to each other. I just love how good ZHL portrayed his character so good (I want to have a husband like him who is so down with their wife HEHE). ZJM's acting is also a masterpiece, but hated the part when she was with SRQ. She slayed being LR fr!

It's such a waste that they didn't let us see their child in last ep. It was PWX's dream tho, they could've just done it for us since SRQ has more screentime than him LOL. Overall, I love the drama, the story, the characters, and ZLH.

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CHEMISTRY, a fresh start, and betrayal…

!!!!! LET ME START WITH CHEMISTRY. holy cow… the angst went CRAZYYY the slow burn was to die for. the JEALOUSY. wenxuan’s “ill support u always” treatment to li rong. WTF. this was crazy. wenxuan was SO secure attachment (slightly anxious) meets anxious avoidant :,) i loved the character development & how wenxuan helped li rong feel so secure within romantic relationships after being betrayed… HOW CUTE. ugh and their couple scenes had me drooling bro like the banter was there and the teasing . so good and i was floored. ofc wenxuan was hot too and the FL hella good acting - very surpised about that after seeing her other dramas!!

i loved the concept of a refresh and trying to fix everything. i loved how everyone had their soulmate they were meant to be with and persist!!! and how loose ends were tied(ish). ugh and LI RONG as an ACTUAL badass FL (not a “omg i’m so girlboss but i rely on my ML for everything” type). she literally commanded wenxuan and her army and the court. what a woman!!!! also court scenes and political scenes i usually can’t follow and don’t understand but this one was good!!! i understood the schemes

but oh my god. su rongqing GOT ON MY NERVEEES. AND WHY WAS LI RONG SO NICE TO HIM??? AFTER HE RUINED EBERYTHING?? HIS DEATH WAS SO SWEET??? LIKE BRO… HE WAS DELUSIONAL AND STUPID. and you COULDNT set his head right??? that was the worst part of this drama bro. i can’t.

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either I die with you, or take you home

ok first thing that i like ab this show is that i love love loooove the development LR & PWX had. love how PWX AAALWAYS reassures LR that he is for her & would literally die than live without her. my girl just has a lot of trust issues bc of all the things she's been through and i'm glad for PWX's character for not creating more headaches for her and always being there for her. and i couldn't imagine anyone else but ZLH playing that role ! i feel like the main leads did a really great job potraying the characters. i could literally go on about them bc they were so!! memorable!!

plot was interesting until SRQ/SML became the main part of the plot LOL i feel like it shouldn't have been dragged for that long. during the final episode he had more lines than PWX did ? which was funny bc tbh i couldn't care less about him. his obsession w the princess was weird, can't stop reminding her that he's in love with her like ok.........noted. the politics are just the usual tbh.. wish there were more scenes w the ML without it cutting to SRQ on to the next scene, but i'm satisfied enough with what's given (and i also have our generation to look forward to ZJM & ZLH together heheh). the second lead's couple(s) story urmmmz it was interesting at the start but then it was just bland (at least to me). feel like i skipped through a lot of scenes once it was ep20-25 because there were a few draggy scenes @_@ would've been perfect without the dragging or if it was a 26-30 ep show i tink

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Proof that a good script can't make a good drama.

The script was excellent, exploring themes like political conflict, challenging the status quo, power imbalances, wanting to change the world against all odds, how politics drive a family apart and much more. Although the base of the story was quite simple, to change or to not, I appreciated that it did not try to go out of its way in grand ways, and stuck to its core and gave a conclusion far more satisfying than a true love's kiss.

However! Everything else was completely trash. First of all the casting of this drama was truly asinine, they cast the same teenage baby faced looking guy as 14 y/o crown prince and also the 50 smth year old emperor in flashbacks. Like. PLEASE. It was truly laughable they just slapped a beard on and called it a day. No wrinkles no fat, no lines. Just a beard.

Then the acting was so distracting. Everytime the FL had a thought she had to tell us, the audience that she was hAvInG A tHOugHT (everybody clap 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽) by furrowing her eyebrows and looking down it was ssooooo distracting. Someone would be talkng to her and she would just look down for 5 minutes straight like girl. Also that was pretty much the default for every expression of hers. If i go into this actresses's home i bet i'll see an acting=frowning poster or smth like that LMAO. Happy? Frown laugh. Sad? Frown cry. Sitting around? Frown? Walking somewhere? Frown. THOSE DAMN EYEBROWS oh god i wanted to shave them off 💀

The ML wasn't that good either. The only acting he did well was angry other than that? no expression. Blank eyes. Blank Face Nothing there. No one is home. The script worked realllllyyyyy hard to give him a sense of humour with physical comedy and personality which made it bearable but the actor couldn't really carry it.

The only good acting was done by the Villain who mad all his screentime worthwhile. Acting insane, happy, starstruck, all of it made sense, all of it was very natural and i applaud him. Hopefully he stars as a main lead sometime soon.

The directing was also bad. All the shots were bland and so many shots that happened in the same place (eg marketplace) they didnt even bother to change the set dressing or framing or lighting. It was like deja vu guys how many market shots did yall shoot in the same day it was jarring. The lighting and exposure was also diabolical, all too bright and all too bland for the beautiful and rich sets they shot on. Costuming was also bad with the FL, a princess wearing the same 4 outfits on repeats.

ALL of this took me out of the drama so much , I COULD NOT take it seriously. Really good script made forgettable by everything else. Feel bad for the writers.

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The ultimate married couple

GURLL Im not lying when I say zhang linghe was MADE to yearn. I saw SKP and the best thing before watching this(can u tell im obsessed with linghe), and I can confidently say pei wenxuan was the biggest simp. No cuz wdym she had you assassinated in your last life and the first thing you wanna do when you wake up is see her again😍

I watched this show with no background info just knew my favorite actors jinmai and linhge were in it so I HAD to watch. Also this would mark my second historical cdrama and boy am i impressed. I usually stick with modern dramas because I'm not a huge fan of palace politics or being reminded women have little to no rights. However, I quite enjoyed our powerful, intelligent, gorgeous Grand Princess Li Rong. I loved how she stood on business and got shxt done while still being compassionate and forgiving. Watching her learn to accept wenxuan's love despite all the backstabbing and betrayals she's witnessed by the people around her was so beautiful. And rarely ever do I get to see a richer more powerful woman in historical romance dramas heck in the romance genre period.

That's only one reason out of a trillion that makes me LOVE this drama. The other being zhang linghe as pei wenxuan cuz YES SIR!! omg when the scene in the rain happened I was very genuinely screaming. Best scene in the entire show, cinematic truly. Storming out in the rain, running back just to yell at her "I love and I lost li rong"😭 i freaking love them so much

Their relationship is so refreshing to see play out on screen. You can tell their a married couple when their constantly bickering, but also looking out for each other(as allies, enemies, or lovers). They know each other and accept each other even when they believe they other to be in love with someone else. I really enjoyed watching their story unravel. They truly just complimented each other so well in this drama. Jinmai delivers an amazing performance as always, and linghe is proving to be the hottest man in cdramaland who can act the boots house DOWN(that rhymed didn't it)

But it wasn't only them making this show so good. The side characters and their actors really held it down. From the crown prince and his girl finding each other in a new life, to my favorite shangrong couple or HuaYa if you will(making ts up on the spot) the supporting cast really did their thing. We have yet to bring up Mr. Rongqing, heyu step on to the podium...

Ngl did not rly pay much attention to rongqing's character in the first half of the show despite him being a prominent character cuz I rly just saw him as the second male lead stopping my ship from sailing. But once SRQ dialed up the evil, something snapped with heyu. For some reason he just become hotter to me even though his character was being such a nuisance in the story. Anyway much of the girlies where saying that his character was getting to much screentime and was overshadowing linghe as if that is even possible), uhm idk...to each their own ig cuz for me I barely noticed him until he became so much more aggressive in wanting things to go his way.

The only thing that gets me with this show and with many a cdramas is were there's a lot of episodes, there's just a lot of plot that complicates things, confuses me, and lowkey makes me lose interest a bit, but ig that's something I'm gonna have to get used to. A lot of episodes means a lot of stuff will go down before the story reaches its happy ever after. Anyway, highly recommend, the storyline is so entertaining, the actors ate, and the plot didn't make me want to throw my device into a brick wall(just slam it shut with a bit of force).

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Lots of mistrust and politics, but interesting nevertheless!

Okay so….I can safely say now that Zhang Ling He is a master of complicated romances! If one has watched The Kuning Palace or My Journey to you, one would understand from where I am coming. I was waiting for the show to complete airing, but once it did, I read some negative reviews and avoided watching it, even though I like Zhang Ling He. Then I watched Love’s Rebellion, loved Zhang Ling He and Sally Jing there, and decided to take a gamble and watch this one. I’d say I was surprised that I found the show interesting from start to finish. A lot of politics for power, strife between the throne and noble houses for power grabbing, political marriages, and mercenaries who wanted to bring about a change! The concept doesn’t sound new, but what was new here was the submissive role the ML needed to play. He was clearly a very intelligent, and highly capable official, stuck at the lower rungs because of being a commoner, and was made the prince consort for the princess who was not only weary of him, but also had feelings for another man, our second ML, with memories from a past life where she thought she was killed by the ML and regretted not ending up with the second ML. While this all might sound confusing to someone who is reading the review before watching the series, the plot of the story can be summed up as having a tragic ending in life and getting a second chance by travelling back in time when things were still alright. What’s new here is that it was not one but three people who got to time travel to change their fate, and when similar situations kept cropping up, the self doubt, doubt on others, and the helplessness of not being able to change things made the series interesting. In the second chance, however, we see everyone getting what they wanted, people ending up with right partners without political considerations. Our leads married thrice in the entire series, the FL got pregnant in episode 37, and even though the story jumped three years forward, we never got to see the outcome of the pregnancy. As for the acting, I liked everyone’s role, I could criticise Zhao Jin Mai for her not-so-emotive acting if I become over-critical, but other than that, I liked everyone. Zhang Ling He was amazing as usual, and looked his best in episode 38 when he takes back his family seal from his evil uncle. I can keep going, but if I had to summarise this drama, I’d say it is an interesting story well performed, could have been better with better acting by Zhao Jin Mai, but still very watchable.

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A treat!

Beautifully written.

A second chance to live, love, and conquer.

I love how straightforward both the main characters are in their second life. They were able to instantly resolve all the drama and tensions during their past life which then made them great allies and partners in the current life.

I also love how everything unfolded in the end. How secret enemies from their past life became their strongest allies in the current one. It’s beautifully written in a way that reminds us that once one changes their outlook and stance in life, another set of future becomes available.

This is also way different from other historical and political dramas as the main focus here revolves around the court politics and little to none about the common folk.

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Legend of 2nd Lead SRQ and misplaced direction

This had the potential to be an epic hit because the comedy, drama and politics was the right amount but the production team and writing team just decided to say wth let's fuck it all up coz we can.

It started of well then in the middle the story archs are not well developed. A lot of characters were not given airtime to develop their stories all because of SRQ screen time to make him into something he was not and palatable. I wanted to see more of the other clans, the crown prince, SRQ brother and his love interest. And the conflict between the concubines and empress which spilled to the children. But no the writers were like SRQ is the one you need to see like 😡

SRQ is not anti hero or someone who was a good person who happened to make bad decisions. He is a downright evil selfish person who seeks his own benefit not even his family's shame . He lacks self reflection, accountability and thinks he is the smartest person on earth when he is not. In the 1st life his bad decisions affected his family in the 2nd life he made the same dumb decisions affecting his family and putting them again at the risks of being rebels, but the producers were like nope this is the person you should focus on and love.

Its not lost on me that the whole lighting on him and LR is cinematography meant to highlight that these are the main characters that are meant to be for each other. And there was nothing for PWX the so called real love interest for LR. The shared screentime with longing gazes, slow motion shots and the soft romantic music and the stupid twirl to the bottom of the lake all meant to say this is the real cp that you should look at and ship. Now let's look into the characteristics of the person person I am supposed to support

SRQ

1st life time he manipulated everyone to kill the king and the so called woman he loved LR . Reason: he wanted to put on the throne a bastard child not belonging to the king and the Li clan. Qualification of the child he is the nephew to SRQ and has Su bloodline. And this is precisely why the noble clans were dangerous and needed to be dealt with. This type of bs they are capable of pulling. Mind you let's forget that the child was conceived out of adultery and making the king a cuckold. That does not matter coz the child is a Su everyone else be damned 😂😂. Mind you it was these actions from these people that made Li Chuan make the extreme decisions he made. Also he happily came in between LR and PWX. Exacerbated their issues and essentially killed PWX and LR to get ultimate power. But yes he is a good guy 😭.

In the 2nd life time again he wants to kill the future king who is really just a sweetheart, pure and kind and genuinely loves his family and sister. He is caught in the power struggle and he is powerless but of course let's forget about all this but I SRQ I want again to put on the throne a substitute who knows where this fake prince comes from. The fact that he is commiting treason that leads to a clans death is treated like eating ice cream. He supports the consort who hates his so called love of his life and wants to put a fake prince on the throne. How is this even acceptable morally. Let's say this had worked out did he stop to think the implications of his actions on LR. Every change of dynasty means the losing side gets killed LR and her whole clan would potentially have been murdered of that concubine fake son sat on the throne and the writers are selling me this as a long enduring love.

This is f'd up big time. They must be mad and on shrooms. I want what they are smoking. There is nothing good and reedamable about SRQ and the fact that the producers and writers liked his characters is a cause for concern. He is not a morally grey character he is an outright evil person who manages to convince himself that he is good therefore continually makes wrong decisions placing everyone around him in danger. He even says it that he can't be wrong like with his own mouth. His path is the only right one. He is beyond mad. He is a downright psychopath and they tried to romanticize him with all those shots and wanted the public to feel for him and root for him. I'm sorry I don't root for evil people who show no remorse or repentance. Goodbye my princess is how you write a good antihero.


For Pei Wen xuan I have no words except I hope in your next life you make smarter choices in your love life and fall in love with a better person with better morals, virtue who is willing to give the same amount you give out and not a person just wants to receive.

I will never understand LR justification for her treatment of PWX and demanding of PWX love, trust and affection. She was not the only one betrayed by her family so was PWX, they murdered his father and tried to kill him too. Yet he remained a beautiful soul, who kept giving his best unconditionally. PWX deserves the same from the person he chooses to love it's a shame LR did not deserve PWX at all. I found LR character very selfish, unwilling to take accountability for her actions and extremely entitled especially towards his brother.

In the 1st life she played a major part, shaping the environment that turned Li Chuan into the person he was. She never listened to him yet made decisions saying they were the best for him. How can they be the best when you don't listen to your brother or understand him. I am very salty about this part becauseLi Chuan was a good person but had an overbearing father, mother and sister. Worse I t he 1st life she never accepted his love and LR hated her brother's child who came from the love of his life. Please spare me I would never ever want a sister like LR.

LR and SRQ deserved each other if we are going to be honest. Both were extremely delusional they made extremely terrible decisions that affected heavily people around them but they think they are smart and are doing making the best decisions. The only thing that saved LR was PWX decisions that gave LR a safe environment to have character development and girl was not even grateful I'm looking at your stupid decisions in the last episodes.

The only good thing about this drama is I discovered Zhao Jin Mai and girl can she act. She deserves everything the other characters I know them from other dramas. The crazy concubine from the Xiao clan is sublime in joy of life. The way she was directed in this drama you would never think she is that amazing of a veteran actor. Zhang Linghe showed a different side of himself and he has such great comedic timing. It's something that cannot be taught it's either you have it or you don't. And he has it in spades. I was pleasantly surprised. He should try a full on comedic drama. The character I desperately wanted to see more of was the crown prince but damn that production crew. SRQ was a downright terrible person and character and I probably would have loved him more if he was played by a person with better acting chops like the bad guy in the double.

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