The Princess Royal

Another Tragic Second Lead

After we watched a drama, we often remember the tragic handsome second lead in the story more than other character in the story. This happened for me in this drama.

Li Rong, the princess of Xia, was married to Pei WenXuan. Although she did not have much say in the choice of her spouse, the two fell in love. Unfortunately, WenXuan's past engagement to the concubine of Li Chuan, the young emperor, became a point of misunderstanding between the two. With the misunderstanding not properly explained, it resulted in their turning against each other. Thinking that WenXuan had poisoned her, Li Rong ordered the assassination of her husband.

The two woke up from death returning to 20 years ago before they were married. This time, things were more complicated - they were not the only ones who returned with the memories of what might be to come. The other person who also returned was an antagonist who wanted to kill Li Chuan that Li Rong and WenXuan supported, to stop him from becoming emperor,.

In the past one year, this was the third drama I watched which was about a second chance in life. The previous two were The Kunning Palace and Marry my Husband (Korean). Both of these were very good, so I was a little sceptical how this was going to measure up. It turned out to be an interesting story. Zhang LingHe was once again the lead actor (as in Story of Kunning Palace). However, in this drama, he was a little more subdued but infused some humour in an otherwise very serious drama. His jealous reaction to RongQing was entertaining and funny to watch.

There were numerous interesting characters in the story. WenXuan had a hard time convincing Li Rong of his love. Li Rong grew up in the palace with a hardened view on love and a strong sense of distrust. Portraying one who was tough and guided by logical, she actually had a weak emotional side and was completely devastated when she discovered the people she trusted and loved betrayed her.

The handsome talented Su RongQing, who was deeply and secretly in love with Li Rong, was an obsessive and stubborn personality. He had the chance of becoming the prince consort to Li Rong but he threw it all away to pursue his obsession with protecting his family and the noble families. He would protect her with his life but yet stand in opposition to her chosen path. He was obsessed both in love and in his pursuit. He was not quite the villain as he pursue all these with actual selfless goals but insisted on taking a misguided path. So I term him an anti-hero.

Then there was the old emperor who was determined to fight the nobles whom he believed had been standing in his way of building a better country and fighting the war against the northern invaders. However, his obsession led to him to be blinded in the choice of succession to his throne.

The last 4 episodes were intense and suspenseful. I was restless watching it. Although recent Chinese dramas tend to be less tragic, the writer could easily flip the story for either side to win in the last few episodes.

There was not much to criticise except to nitpick on some small matters. When RongQing fell over the cliff with Li Rong trying to save her, they both ended up on the river bank all wet but with their hair wear almost intact. Surely falling all the way into the water should have done more damages.

The last piece of music played by RongQing on the qin was quite lame - like a piece from an old Cantonese opera. I thought they could do better. Really lame compared to the piece played by Rong in this drama, or those play in The Double or The Kunning Palace.

Also in this drama, all the men were such faithful lovers, other than the old emperor. Lol. I don't see this happening in real life - after being rejected, most men would move on eventually and some move on very quickly; only an exceptional few lingers.

Nevertheless, I highly recommend this drama. I think it's greatest strength was in portraying the characters in the story. They were each with distinct characters and personalities.

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Entertaining & intelligent story

The opening scenes don't do this show justice. The cast of 20-something idols clearly struggle with playing 40 year old characters, & the mismatch was so jarring I was actually ready to drop the show before even finishing the 1st episode. Honestly, why couldn't the producers cast age appropriate actors to play the 40 y/o main characters? If an audience is sharp enough to keep up with the story, surely they can differentiate between actors. But luckily those scenes didn't last long & I stuck it out.

What follows is a complex & weaving tale of 2 people given 20 years of their lives back to start over from an horrifically destructive end. They retain their memories & manage to redefine their relationship with each other & reshape their destinies. While this is a simplistic overview, the journey the story takes is exciting & fascinating with enough plot twists to keep your attention. Even though you expect a triumphant outcome at least for the leads, you don't quite know what to expect for all characters involved until the very end, and a satisfying ending it is.

This is only the 2nd time I have seen Zhao Jin Mai, who has already been quite active in the business. My first time seeing her was in the very disappointing Admist a Snowstorm of Love in which she was cast in a very limited & poorly defined role that was a complete waste of her talent. In Princess Royal she takes the role of Li Rong with commanding ease. I noticed a few alumni cast from Joy of Life, all accomplished & skilled actors who enhanced this production.

All in all, Princess Royal was a very entertaining & intelligent story.

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THE DUMB PRINCESS PINGYUE

I love the story especially the way it started and the whole dynamic and chemistry between ML and FL. The whole story surrounding Princess Pingyue/ Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan in the first 20 episodes is really engaging and the actors acting their roles are the best too! Its only towards the end from Ep 30 onwards that due the whole political angle the plot kinda loses its engagement. Especially the story surrounding Li Rong and Su Rongqing...

SPOILERS AHEAD -





My biggest beef is with the role or character of Li Rong why the hell is she so dumb...Especially with regards to Su Rongqing...Like girl he let you die in your previous life and conspired against your family, why do you still trust him more than your own husband Pei Wenxuan who tried everything in his previous and current lives to save you and do everything for you...She really does have princess syndrome...She thinks Su Rongqing is her knight in shining armor...Pei Wenxuan is a safe bet...And her brother is just a pawn for power to her...Like Ep 34-35 was utter nonsense when Su Rongqing tells her about what happened in the past and that it was the noble families who made her come across this alchemist whom she then later placed alongside her brother aka the King in the previous life...And the alchemist tried to kill the King and naturally the king thought that his own sister is trying to kill him so he poisoned her and killed her and the other noble families let it happen...And first instinct as a sister was to not to believe her brother's intensions but SU RONGQING...Like GURL WHAT??? ARE YOU FOR REAL??? She conveniently left out the part that it was the noble families manipulation that caused a misunderstanding and that's why it led to the sad outcome...And after Pei Wenxuan comes to rescue her you'd think after being in love and now being pregnant with his child her instinct would be to share and communicate everything with her beloved husband...NO...NO...She is hiding it all from him...And again trying to meet WHO? Yes you guessed that right...SU RONGQING?!?! At this point I was confused if the ML was Su Rongqing or Pei Wenxuan...Like Girly believes, and cares and trusts him more than anyone else even her own family...I've never seen such a dumb and irritating female lead ever since START UP...Like in this whole plot the real villain was actually LI RONG/ PRINCESS PINGYUE...

Like later thanks to Pei Wenxuan her misunderstanding gets cleared and she gets to know about her brothers side of the story and all the hardships he had faced and the reason for his cruelty which is honestly heartbreaking like the two characters he wanted to protect his mom and his sister were the very two ones who both directly and indirectly caused him all the misery and pain in the previous life and caused the death of his beloved wife Qin ZhenZhen...

Funny thing is even after Pei Wenxuan explains her everything after that too she is scared to meet her brother and still doesn't trust him like gurl when in the first few episodes you thought your husband aka Pei Wenxuan killed you...You were ready to kill him or take revenge on him and not marry him again...Same with your brother you lost trust in him...But when you though SU RONGQING killed you...Girlies reaction "Ohh I don't blame him, he suffered a lot, that was just the past him because of his family dying he did that, I would have done the same if i were in his shoes, the current him doesnt want me dead, i can help the current him not go down the same path...

LIKE GURL WHAT?!?!

The story should have been name "LI RONG X SU RONGQING AND THE OTHERS" cause that's exactly how the FL character behaved...

If not for her dumb character I would have loved this story a whole lot more...I watched this story mainly for Zhang Linghe...But my guy was sidelined but by this dumb female character...Honestly I have no issues with the actress she did a great job with her acting...Zhao Jin Mai is a great actress and her chemistry with Zhang Linghe is great...I have watched their work in OUR GENERATION...And they were great together...Its just whoever wrote and directed this story made the female lead so dumb that it just frustrated the shit out of me...

It's only in the last few episodes she seems to have some clarity and decides to protect her brother, mother and father...And all her other friends and supporters...But again her idea was to again fight alone and sacrifice herself i swear had it not been for Pei Wenxuan she actually would have died...He literally is the reason all the good characters are alive...Like my guy is actually super smart but doesn't boast about it...He's literally playing 8D Chess here...Like all the plans have worked out thanks to his wisdom otherwise had they followed the FL's ways the 2nd life would have ended up the same way as the first if not worse...

Thank god Zhang Linghe worked in Persuit of Jade that drama really let him shine in the best ways!!!

Other than the dumb female character and the plot holes she caused rest everything was honestly not that bad!

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Royal Drama, Scriptwriter’s Favorite Child, and Everyone Else

The Princess Royal is a compelling but deeply uneven drama. At its best, it delivers sharp political intrigue, emotionally intelligent romance, and one of the most solid male leads in recent memory. At its worst, it bends its own logic and sacrifices narrative balance to overindulge a character who does not earn the sympathy the script desperately wants us to feel.

Story
It’s another nostalgic trip to the past: a royal power couple, thoroughly miserable, die due to political betrayal and poor life choices. At least one of them wishes for a second chance, and, generously, half the cast gets one too. What follows is a cycle of fixing old mistakes, making new ones, uncovering conveniently hidden secrets, and reacting to past events with fresh “insight.”
It’s a good story, engaging enough, but hardly a groundbreaking one.

Characters
Princess Li Rong and her long-suffering husband Pei Wenxuan get the coveted do-over. Fortunately, they’re both intelligent, competent adults who actually learn from past mistakes and tackle problems together which in itself is a rare miracle. PWX is easily one of the better MLs in recent dramas. He is consistently supportive, deeply devoted, and capable of something revolutionary called critical thinking. Li Rong, meanwhile, upgrades from mistrustful royal strategist to full-fledged diplomatic powerhouse. Very satisfying.

Su Rongqing gets a second chance - lucky for him, disastrous for everyone else. The drama tries to sell him as a tragic, misunderstood soul - white Cinderella wardrobe, sad violins, the whole package - but let’s be real, he’s evil. Maybe a victim once, but now he’s the mastermind of betrayal, murder, and moral gymnastics, all while whining about his “love” for Li Rong and setting most of her traps himself. He’s not tortured; he’s a delusional, self-righteous killer with a full-blown victim complex. No amount of sad music can save him.

The supporting cast lives comfortably in various shades of grey and black, with the notable exception of Qin Zhen Zhen. As for the real villains? The Emperor and Empress - one an insecure ruler, the other a spectacularly selfish excuse for a mother.

Acting
Zhang Ling He and Zhao Jin Mei - hands down, in that order. These two are the reason the drama works at all. ZLH delivers a performance miles away from Kunning Palace, nailing Pei Wenxuan’s quiet cunning and fundamental decency with astonishing ease. His screen presence alone accounts for most of my positive viewing experience.

Zhao Jin Mei matches him beat for beat, making an authoritative, coldly pragmatic Princess Li Rong not just palatable but genuinely lovable. You root for them instinctively. Frankly, I’d watch an entire drama of just these two thinking their way out of problems.

And now for my controversial take on Chen Heyi’s Su Rongqing: just… no. Maybe he’s a good actor. I’ll reserve judgment until Mysterious Lotus Casebook or Fated Hearts eventually make it off my TBW pile. But here? I’m not impressed. His performance cycles through the same tired, droopy expressions and melancholic smiles as if permanently accompanied by an invisible violin. Unfortunately, it drags down more than a few scenes.

What makes it worse is the script’s apparent obsession with elevating SRQ at Pei Wenxuan’s expense. Several of PWX’s moments from the novel were reportedly reassigned, and the result is painfully familiar.. think Harry Potter films where Hermione gets all the clever ideas, leaving Ron and Harry to play supporting roles.. To manufacture SRQ’s “tragedy,” the drama tells us how brilliant PWX is instead of showing us, while handing precious screen time to a performance that simply doesn’t justify it. If the goal was to inspire sympathy for SRQ, it failed - spectacularly, at least for me. ZLH manages to shine through the script’s neglect, quietly proving his acting chops

The rest of the supporting cast largely does its job. Consort Rou, however, is a mystery. One moment she’s unhinged, the next she’s gloating, followed immediately by a smug smirk, as if she’s auditioning for three different characters at once. Was the director so busy cueing SRQ’s emotional violin that they forgot to ask her to pick a lane?

Screenplay & Script
A full-blown Leaning Tower of Pisa, except less charming and far more irritating. Su Rongqing is unmistakably the scriptwriter’s cherished golden child, while everyone else might as well be fostered extras. Even in the finale when tension should peak, we’re forced to sit through extended montages of his wistful smiles and tragic reminiscing.
His exit is the final indulgence: a glorified self-impalement on PWX’s sword that frames him as noble, untouchable, and conveniently unaccountable. He dies undefeated, unconquered, and entirely unpunished because heaven forbid the narrative deny him one last self-aggrandizing victory.

OST
Brilliant.

Overall
Not a bad drama… if you fast-forward through half of SRQ’s endless pity party and self-congratulatory melodrama. Do I have to? Apparently, yes. Do I wish I didn’t? Absolutely. Skip the indulgence, and what’s left is genuinely good, but choppy, uneven, and an enormous squandered opportunity.

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Disappointed…

This became unintentionally long cause at one point I just started talking about anything lmfao)

If ongoing reviews were a thing, yall would’ve seen how highly I thought of this drama at first lmfao

I think, the word “exemplary” once came to mind (during that consort’s final moments in court earlier on)

They took such care with the characters and story in the beginning.

It should be a crime for dramas to let you down this badly.

We wanted something different…

And at first, this was the something different.

This was a story where the fl was the heroine not just the love interest.

And not just in name only.

This was her story. Her journey and man was it a great watch

There were flaws throughout but I could tolerate them because I was having so much fun.

The Princess Royal was riding highhhh and then it crashed

It crashed horribly after ep.30

The last 10 episodes were a pain to get through

It revealed her as an indecisive hypocrite and spent an ungodly amount of time on an issue that was already resolved in ep.2-3 by framing it as some irreconcilable injustice.

We wasted 3 episodes on things we already knew or could’ve been explained in 15 minutes.

And then came the illogicalities.

The noble houses siding with a woman who’d previously tortured members of their houses and had them executed

A betrayal in the barracks for no apparent reason other than to create a conflict ig?

The others would be a spoiler.

They should cut out episodes 35-37, and cut out that drawn out death in ep.40, if they want to save even a fraction of this busted story

The casting director must’ve been asleep during the casting of this drama.

The sml, crown prince, Prince Su and Consort Rou’s actor(s) were cast for what?

There was also something not quite right with the fl’s acting.

I will say that regarding the criticisms about the sml being more like a ml than the sml: this is the most second male leadiest sml ever lmfao

The obnoxious yearning, the self righteousness, the inflated sense of worth he feels he holds in the fls heart/mind, the surface level/paper thin perfection and the need to control her couched in a pretense of protection

The only issue was her unreasonable attachment to him and that the story permitted the narrative of “missed opportunity” between them to persist til the end.

Don’t know what the writers were thinking but they weakened their romance with this.

You can’t have one person single-handedly carrying a relationship. It should be a partnership with mutual love and respect but it felt more like something Pei Wenxuan was painstakingly carving out of desperation.

I can’t root for that. It gives me the ick.

They also seemed afraid to position him fully as the villain of the story. Even til the end.

There seemed to be a disconnect between what they were trying to tell and what the viewers saw/experienced.

By the end, Li Ring and Pei Wenxuan were no longer characters I cared all that much about.

There was a point in the story where it felt like the writers gave up and patched together an ending because they had to.

It went from having fleshed out characters with an identity, personality and goals (from mains, sides, antagonists) to paper thin plot devices.

I want to give this a 6.5 so badly but I really liked it at first so a 7/10 it is.

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It is nothing special about this drama. It is predictable and watchable if you want to kill time.

Princess Royal is a historical costume drama about a second chance at one's life destiny through time travel. Li Rong and Pei Wen Xuan misunderstood each other, and through the misunderstandings, with the help of others, they plotted to kill each other; after they were dead, they both awake back when Li Rong was 18. During that period, they discovered and communicated with each other to change the course of their lives.

Synopsis: Li Rong and Pei Wen Xuan married at 18. Li Rong used Pei Wen Xuan's family background to avoid disaster, and Pei Wen Xuan used Li Rong's identity as Princess to establish himself. They married for political reasons without the slightest bit of affection. Later on, she lost herself amid wine, song, and dance. As for him, he had a home yet did not bother coming home because he already had someone in his heart… Husband and wife for 20 years, yet nothing between them but power. In the end, it was hardly surprising that someone turned them against each other, leading them to die under each other's schemes. However, when they woke up, they had returned to the year when they were 18, returning to the most difficult time in their lives. So Pei Wen Xuan went to look for Li Rong. To be married again but with divorce in mind.

My Reviews:
1. The drama is okay to watch. There were some elements of comedic scenes between Li Rong and Pei Wen Xuan.
2. Zhao Jin Mai and Zhang Lin He did a decent job in this drama, and their onscreen chemistry is better than her onscreen chemistry with Wu Lei in Amidst a Snowstorm of Love.
3. The drama is slow and draggy, and the last five episodes were stupid and long. It would be much better if 10 episodes were cut.
4. The plot is predictable and nothing new; hence, it did need to be 40 episodes long. It shows the emperor and his successor (her brother) are useless. It takes until the end for them to realize that she is more than capable of running and leading the country.

I give it a 7.0 rating because the acting and plot are mediocre. Overall, it is not a bad drama since nothing else special or great has aired in Cdrama this year.

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I was fully prepared to love this drama. I really was.

Let's talk about what I liked first.

• The acting:
Most of the cast did not disappoint with their acting. I've watched a few of Zhao Jin Mai's previous works and loved her in all of them. If you've read the synopsis, you know that this is a "reincarnation" story where both of our leads get a second chance at life after dying tragic deaths in their first life. You'd think after turning back to her 18 year old self, the fl would be more immature or childish. But no, she remains poised. She carries herself with the grace of a 40 year old grand princess who's loved and lost a lot in life. I mean, it is to be expected of her since this is her second life, but I feel like Zhao Jin Mai portrayed this perfectly. Her expressions were on point throughout the drama. It's always a pleasure seeing her on the screen.
I've watched two Zhang Ling He dramas before but I didn't really like his acting in either of those. I'm not saying I hated it, but I felt like he could do better. And he DID. His acting here was superb. In contrast to the fl, the ml can be very childish at times. But despite being playful, he knows when to get down to business. Since Zhang Ling He's micro expressions are really good, he too, portrayed this character perfectly.
An actor I feel like isn't getting much praise from the fans of this drama is Liu Xu Wei. He plays Li Chuan and honestly, among the support roles, he acted the best. He plays the same character in both of our leads' lives, but with different personalities. And he acted out both of those personalities wonderfully. His acting wasn't without flaws, but his line delivery was amazing and his expression control is quite praiseworthy. I'd love to see more of him in the future.
The actor playing the emperor also did an amazing job. Even some of the younger cast such as the actress playing the fl's step sister was pretty good.

•The Production:
Loved the production. Though they didn't spend an ungodly amount of money on this drama, they did best with what they had, and I respect that. Cuz the end result was amazing. There were no unnecessary, flashy camera work, which is sadly, VERY common in historical dramas. Also, the costume designer deserves a raise. The fl's costumes are to die for.

Now let's get to what I didn't like.

• The plot and the pacing :
I didn't wanna make a separate point for the pacing cuz I feel like the reason the plot became kind of boring at times was because of the pacing. Also, some things just remain unexplained. For example, in episode 11, ml confesses to the fl and tells her he loved her the whole time. It was very dramatic, with rain and thunder and everything. But the thing is, the show never tells us how or when the ml fell in love with her. The story was so interesting up until episode 21-22. Later on, it started to become draggy. Ml and fl have a fight around episode 24-25 where the ml really pisses off the fl so she decides to go to a festival to 'hang out' with other guys. This felt incredibly stupid to me. It felt like lazy scriptwriting. Nothing significant actually happens at that portion of the drama. The story didn't progress much. The pacing was bad, so I had to watch a few episodes in 2x speed. It got better later on but it still left a bad taste in my mouth.

• Court Drama:
Political intrigue takes up quite a significant amount of the screentime but it really wasn't intriguing, tbh. The leads didn't actually suffer much. Even if they did, it was only for a short time, cuz they had a backup plan all along :). It just didn't feel realistic.

•The characters :
Worst part of this drama. Listen, just because I liked the actors doesn't mean I liked the characters. The fl is emotionally constipated so she doesn't know how to express what she feels. She doesn't WANT to say out loud what she feels. Then again, she has severe trust issues. But it gets quite frustrating at one point. The ml, on the other hand, is down bad for the fl and I won't lie but his down badness was very endearing at the beginning. But with that down badness comes possessiveness. He's very, VERY possessive of the fl. Remember the fight I mentioned? Well, after the fight, he goes to find the fl, sees her with another guy, gets jealous and tries to force himself on her. Yep, you read that right. He apologized after and the fl forgave him ( obviously) but that one instance ruined his whole character for me.

And of course, how could I leave out Su Rongqing? Your typical "I love the fl but I don't have the ability to protect her so I'll do something that totally doesn't harm the fl at all and except her to forgive me but she won't so that'll be my villain origin story and then I'll die at the end while confessing my undying love to the fl and then she'll finally forgive me cuz I'm not evil, I'm just misunderstood" sml. The writer really tried to make him a complex, multidimensional character but failed miserably. He was just annoying for the most part. His reasoning for not choosing to stay by the fl's side even though he also "reincarnated" and opting to support the noble families instead was so, so stupid. "I'm doing this to keep my family safe" ok well you poisoned your own father. What's your excuse now?? He's the type who'd rather blame others than own up to his own mistakes. Having said all that, I feel like I need to defend him too. People have been pointing out that towards the end, he got more screen time compared to the ml, and they keep bashing him for it. Let's put our brains to use for a second. What usually happens in these dramas, towards the end? By that point, the fl and ml have gotten together so the show focuses more on the other parts of the story. The non romantic parts. So it makes sense that he got more screen time because he's the antagonist. You, as a viewer need to be aware of what evil plan he's coming up with. It'll make watching the drama more exciting for you. It'll make you curious to find out how the leads will outsmart him. If you're gonna hate on a character, at least hate on them for logical reasons.

Before starting the drama, I had heard only good things about it. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. Overall, it didn't make me feel like I was wasting my time ( for the most part ) so it gets a 7.5. This could've easily been a 8/8.5 though. Too bad the cons outweigh the pros.

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Time Travel, Betrayal!

The Princess Royal is a Chinese historical drama that takes its time but pays off big if you stick with it. Yeah, it starts a little slow, but once you get into the plot, it’s addictive. The pacing is solid, giving you enough time to actually understand the characters instead of just throwing drama at you non-stop.

The story follows Princess Li Rong, who is basically a female lead with the kind of power and intelligence usually given to male characters. Some people don’t like that, probably because it’s different from the usual male-dominated historical dramas. The plot has a time-travel twist—Li Rong and her husband, Pei Wenxuan, go through 20 years of marriage full of misunderstandings and betrayals, only to die and get sent back to when they were 18 and 20. Now, they have a second chance to do things differently.

The side characters add even more chaos—Crown Prince Li Chuan, Su Rong Qing, Qin Zhen Zhen, and Shangguan Ya all have their own agendas, and they don’t hold back. Everyone’s scheming, and somehow, in the end, all the blame lands on Li Rong.

Neither Li Rong nor Wenxuan are perfect. Li Rong is sharp but doesn’t trust easily, and Wenxuan is just as complicated. The whole story is packed with betrayals, and no one is completely innocent.

The acting is top-tier. Zhao Jin Mai as Li Rong carries the whole thing—she makes every scene hit hard. This isn’t the kind of show you half-watch while scrolling on your phone; you need to pay attention. But if you like strong female leads, political power plays, and messy relationships, The Princess Royal is definitely worth it.

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I had hoped for something along the lines of The Story of Kunning Palace but was sadly disappointed

**This is just my opinion. I truly appreciate all of the hard work that went into the making of this drama. Thank you.**

I should preface this review by stating that I'm not a big fan of palace intrigue, politics or watching people obsess about how to dominate someone else. This drama seems to be almost entirely focused on that or revenge. There is a little bit of romance sprinkled in but very little of the healthy variety.

**Spoiler Alert**

Not one, not two, but three people somehow get a second chance to start over as their younger selves when they die at the same time. We know about two of them from the drama's description. The third, that I won't reveal, comes as a surprise. We aren't told how or why they are able to come back and have another chance, we just see the Princess and Pei Wen Xuan trying to guess what happened and how that person came to be there as well. Personally, I found this incredibly vexing. I wanted some kind of explanation as to why the three of them would all be back in their younger bodies with their memories intact.

The female lead character is arrogant, cold, entitled, selfish and while she does have the desire to do the right thing, she lacks the ability to empathize with other people and understand what they're feeling and really need. Because of that, she's unable to let her guard down and trust anyone. Not because she doesn't want to, she just can't. Nevertheless, it makes it really hard to understand why both Pei Wen Xuan and Su Rong Qing would literally do anything for her. She does so many disrespectful, cruel things that I don't know how they can forgive her them.

While both Pei Wen Xuan and Su Rong Qing are attractive, intelligent and devoted in their own ways, neither of them seem to have any self respect when it comes to doing whatever it takes to have the Princess. She might have wanted them more and behaved better if they stopped taking whatever she doled out to them. I was offended on behalf of them, just watching it. Yes, I know Li Rong did come around and start treating them better later on, but not well enough, in my opinion. Li Rong was also never clear about who she cared about. She should have made it clear to both Pei Wen Xuan and Su Rong Qing early on. It would have saved them all a lot of heart ache. It wasn't fair to have them have to live with that doubt /hope still lingering.

I found the first half of the drama really boring and I struggled to get through it. The second half picked up though and I was interested to see where it would go, especially if they would reveal any of the answers I was looking for. The cast is good and I enjoyed the acting. I was disappointed with how they decided to do the action scenes though. There wasn't any realism. They went for the fake, Wuxia feel even though it wasn't a fantasy in any way other than the going back in time bit. People fall off tall cliffs and only get bruises, stabbed in the chest or back and it might as well have just been a scratch. Seriously, what were they thinking? And then of course there's the fact that people just order others to be killed at the drop of the hat and we're still supposed to sympathize with their characters. How exactly? They're murderers. In the end, the character that I liked the most was Su Rong Qing's elder brother, Su Rong Hua, played by Yi Da Qian. He was sweet, kind, stuck to his convictions and was self sacrificing.

My favorite thing about this drama would be the soundtrack. I absolutely love the song "Devoted Love" by Mika and keep listening to it on repeat, even though I don't speak Chinese. It's just beautiful. There are some other really good songs on it as well. They're well worth checking out.

Over all, the acting was really good but I didn't like the characters or story very much. I don't like arrogant, entitled women or men who suck up and take abuse. If you do, then you'll love this one.

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This drama falling into formulaic patterns

The Princess Royal" (2024) c-drama seems to delve into themes of royal intrigue, power struggles, and personal relationships, typical of many historical Chinese dramas. The premise of a royal princess facing challenges in both politics and personal life could be intriguing, especially if it explores the tension between duty and desire, a common but compelling dynamic.
I’m on episode 23 and I’m thinking, 'Oh wow, I still have so much left to watch...' Yet, I’m speeding through all the storylines :) At first, it was pretty good, interesting even, but after 20 ep till the end it’s getting long, there’s not much left to say. Why so many episodes in these series? The ML is trying to create chemistry. Good acting... As for the FL, she’s sometimes annoying, even though I try to understand her coldness because of her character and as a princess. However, her performance feels stiff. And this indecision and the endless love triangles are ruining everything. I can’t take it anymore with these series..
The SML has a bland face, lacking charisma, which adds nothing to this drama (his performance is the same as usual for an SML in dramas; without overshadowing the ML). Without him, the couple's relationships would have been more interesting, I think, . I find the plot it childish overall. The positive point is the ML, the general idea, and a few episodes from the beginning. And the idea of a second chance in a relationship and the wrong intentions we can have due to the lack of communication

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