Against the Current

Apparently ‘I Love You’ Means ‘I’ll Get the Emperor to Sort It Out.

Against the Current — my thoughts

I really wanted to like Against the Current. I’m a fan of Tan Songyun and have generally enjoyed her dramas, so I went into this one with high expectations. Unfortunately, despite giving it my best effort, I eventually had to drop it.

My biggest problem was the pacing. I don’t dislike slow dramas quite the opposite. I can really enjoy a deliberate historical drama when the slower pace is building character, atmosphere and emotional tension. But here I eventually felt that the story was moving slowly without giving me enough emotional payoff.

The biggest problem for me, however, was the romance, particularly when I considered everything that happened between the two leads.

This wasn’t simply a case of two lovers being separated and finding their way back to one another. She was engaged to him, her family came under suspicion, and his family abandoned the engagement. Her family was subsequently slaughtered, she lost her entire former life and was forced to survive under a new identity.

And what really bothered me about his role in all of this is that he didn’t even appear to try to warn her.

I’m not saying he could necessarily have stopped what happened. The political situation was far bigger than him. But surely, if this was the woman he loved and intended to marry, there should have been some attempt to reach her, warn her or protect her.

Instead, he listened to his grandfather, accepted the situation and did nothing that, from her perspective, could demonstrate that he had fought for her.

Then he married someone else.

That makes his later pursuit of her much harder for me to accept.

Because from her point of view, this man wasn’t simply someone she lost. He was someone who stood by while her entire world disappeared, and then carried on with his own life.

That is a huge emotional wound.

And this is why I found the imperial edict particularly frustrating. Instead of him having to genuinely earn her trust again, the story uses an imperial decree to force the two of them back into a relationship.

I understand the political reasoning behind it, but dramatically it felt like a shortcut.

In fact, there is something almost ironic about it: a woman whose life was devastated by political power is then denied the freedom to choose her own future because of another exercise of political power.

I wanted to see him earn her back.

I wanted him to acknowledge what his family did. I wanted him to understand why she couldn’t simply forgive him. I wanted him to regret that he hadn’t tried to warn her. I wanted to see him patiently rebuild her trust rather than simply finding a way to make the marriage happen.

That would have given the romance so much more emotional weight.

Instead, I never really felt the romantic connection develop.

The family drama also didn’t work for me. There are so many potentially fascinating themes here betrayal, political survival, family loyalty, trauma, class and the consequences of choosing your family over doing what is right but I found the treatment surprisingly shallow.

And some of the relationships and character behaviour didn’t always feel convincing to me within the historical setting.

Which is particularly disappointing because Tan Songyun is one of the reasons I kept trying.

I could see what the drama was attempting to do, and I completely understand why some viewers enjoy its extremely slow-burn approach. But slow burn only works for me when the emotional tension continues to build.

Here, I eventually felt like I was waiting for the romance to begin rather than enjoying watching it develop.

So, unfortunately:

Dropped.

A real disappointment because I genuinely wanted to love this one.

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Amazing plot, captivating stories and great performance by all cast especially the main leads.

I have watched several dramas by Seven Tan and I am always amazed by how natural her actings are. She became the character in the story, and you are glued to her performance. Her every expression captivated you. I also like all the casts. They all did a wonderful job making this drama great. All their performances are so good and natural. Their facial expressions are spot on. I also love the stories and all the side stories of each woman in the movie. They all are fighting for survival. This movie also showed how women in the past had no freedom and cannot choose their own path. Seven Tan did a wonderful job to show all the different emotions like inner conflict, pain, suffering, weeping and fear. You cried along with her when she was weeping for her family. There were so many emotional scenes in the drama that will touch your heart. I could not wait for the next episodes. Always looking forward to seeing the next episodes. This is by far the most beautiful and touching stories in Chinese Historical drama that I have ever seen. I would say this is one of the best drama Seven Tan has done. She also has a great chemistry with Liu Xue Yi. They are both great actors and also low key and underrated. This is a must-see drama and would recommend it to everyone. I am glad that everyone can finally see how great an actress she is.

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My Dream Drama when Female Leads is realistic comes true

For this year, This drama has the best plot that i dreamed of: strong character about female lead and her own struggles+ villains who are not traditionally evil and their crimes are depends of their backstory+ sister friendship. ALL of the character especially FEMALE character do their job perfectly and Tan Song Yun knows how to choose great script and her acting never seems exaggerated. Li Meng's acting is quite powerful in here. Why i never talks about Male Lead in here? because he is hindrance of Lang Xiang freedom and i still don't buy the romance between him and Lan Xiang. Second Male Lead? is another hindrance with different font. Even i don't like male characters in here i don't hate the actors. No matter this drama will end, i always on team #LanxiangFreedom.

The scenery are quite neat and the song are quite enhance the dramatic effect in this drama.

I feel this drama stills try for Li Jin Qi redemption for being ignorant to being "human" and i like how Lan Xiang stills didn't appreciated his love due her personality. Not saying she is evil but i feel she is asexual aromantic and her reaction is real (i am the one) and this is ancient drama so people never know the term. Li Jin Qi death personally stills sad and that's it because i feel it's like autobiography the tension is just there. Lan Xiang just did what she wants live her life and survive.

If you want to see sweet romance this drama is not sweet but more realistic.

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everything was going so well...

Okay, enough with the teary eyes. Let’s get going on the real review for this drama.

To start off, this drama has been my only obsession this year, and I waited desperately for the next episode. No other drama has made me feel the way this drama has, and it’s not an exaggeration. For a drama that was historical, with no (typical) romance, this drama was amazing.

But the thing with dramas this long is that they end up catching some flak no matter what, and I’m one to add fuel to the fire.
Not the fire the story had (countless times), but the fire that I got when I saw a woman-led show.
And what better way to start a review by a woman on a woman-led show?

If there’s any way you start a drama, it’s this: give the protagonist a heavy downfall. Destroy everything she holds dear. And then, just when she has lost everything, give her a sweet little candy to appease her so she’s still interesting.
Here, the sweet candy was her adopted parents.
I mean, technically, you can call them parents.
I’m not saying they did a better job than most parents do or anything. Absolutely not.
That would be a RIDICULOUS thing to imply...

And if you really wanna gratify the audience, do what they can’t.
Grow.
No offense.
But our protagonist grows.
Isn’t that satisfying to watch?
To watch a maid who lost everything she had reach the top of the pyramid by just her wits?
So satisfying.
But thankfully, our writer also has pen game besides just having an appealing strategy.

Anyway, then to bring the story to life, have actors who do the characters justice. Make them act like they are living the scenes. Make them feel like they are also the main character besides the (real) main characters. But that’s what makes this show so damn good. Our side characters hold just as much importance in the depth of the story.

But wait, don’t stop there, because now you also gotta make them likable.
Tough, right?
Not for our writer. Making them likable is what this drama does best.
Like, why am I rooting for NPC No. 999 to divorce her husband?
But you go, girl. Woo\~

Don’t smile just yet. We have the beginning cleared, acting cleared, character depth cleared…
Umm, what’s left?
Right!
Cinematography.
We will fill the entire drama with spectacular cinematography so these 2x speeders and th-those sk-kimmers, those damn skimmers can actually watch something for once.

Make NPC no. 1999, selling vegetables on the street, look like she has a family to feed.

“Umm… we are done, right? It’s enough now, I think. We will make the best drama from this!”
…
Erm… you know what?
No.
We have to fuck up SOMEWHERE.

Hmm. Where, where… where...

Yeah, right!
Let’s fuck up the ending.

What I mean is, let’s make everything stale and have no real character growth. Let’s let our protagonist sit in a seat and move in slow steps with no real action for the rest of the 30 episodes.

And let’s also fuck up the dynamic between the main leads. Because we are, haha… against romance.
but I am not finished. Let’s also use a truckload of time skips so people have no idea what actually happened.
Show, don’t tell? What’s that. Only tell, don’t show.

“Umm… don’t you think the viewers will get mad then?”
Shut up.
You don’t know anything.
heh. We are still about women’s empowerment, and we have good cinematography.
The viewers will be fine.

“Umm… it’s still not enough, I think.”
Urgh.
Okay, fine.
Let’s make the last few episodes better with more still scenes, and if that’s not enough either, let’s just kill half the people the protagonist cares about.

“K-kill them? Don’t you think that’s too much? Are we killing them because they died in a battle or—”
Just kill them off.
Without any reason.

“…but they aren’t even that old.”
Urgh… use whatever reason that comes to mind.
Just kill them off to create drama and impact.
…

“You asked for the latex. It’s ready.”
Oh, good.
Use it on the protagonist.
"..."
We’re doing another time skip at the end, so age her up.
“…”
...

Guys, I’m the people.
I still like it… with reservations.


P.S. Shoutout to the music producer and all the OSTs used in this. absolutely breathtaking along with the cinematography.

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More Than Expected

I would rate this drama even with Pursuit of Jade if not for the last episode. Not all dramas end happily and this is one that really doesn't. I'm still shaking my head at how disappointing that last episode was. But aside from that, every episode was very engaging, interesting and pulled you into their lives. This was one of the FL's best acting that I've seen in a while. Of course, the ML was all that I expected of him. All the support actors did a stellar job and was happy with all their endings. The story was not only interesting, but somehow hooked you in every episode. Watching only 2 episodes per day was quite frustrating. I was excited to wake up each morning to watch the next 2 episodes. The ending is something I just can't overcome. I would have given it a 10 across the board in score if the ending was not a let down. Even though this drama had very little martial arts in it, the mentality of it was the best I've seen in years. Good directing, script writing and acting. Overall I would rewatch til the last episode.

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"Having not read the original novel, I am uncertain of the differences between it and the series. However, the screenplay is exceptionally well-crafted, featuring excellent structure and narrative pacing. The dialogue profoundly reflects social commentary and life philosophies, cleverly distributed among the characters as they confide in and comfort one another. Every line respects the character's background and context, ensuring the audience never feels preached to or subjected to forced moralizing—a common flaw in other dramas. Consequently, viewers can naturally resonate with and appreciate their words. Furthermore, the protagonist's capabilities are portrayed realistically. Instead of being an omnipotent hero, their success stems from good fortune, innate intelligence, and a continuous pursuit of knowledge to ensure the survival of themselves and their companions. The protagonist does not solve every crisis single-handedly but collaborates with others, combining their knowledge to resolve obstacles incrementally. This stands in stark contrast to conventional dramas, where the main character unrealistically bears the entire burden alone, which often becomes tedious."

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Against the Current

Este drama me tuvo completamente enganchada al desarrollo de la historia. Llegó un punto en el que ni siquiera me importó ver spoilers, y eso es bastante inusual en mí, porque normalmente prefiero evitarlos, ya que siento que pueden quitarme el interés por lo que estoy viendo. Pero esta historia consiguió atraparme de una manera que me hizo querer saber qué iba a pasar, incluso antes de llegar al final.

Y hablando del final, sé que puede dividir nuevamente a los espectadores, pero, personalmente, me pareció apropiado y grandioso. Fue un desenlace que sentí acorde con la vida de una mujer que estuvo marcada por la tragedia, la servidumbre, el sacrificio y el amor. Después de todo lo que vivió, creo que su historia merecía terminar de esa manera, aunque entiendo que no todos lo interpreten igual.

La protagonista femenina fue, sin duda, uno de los grandes puntos fuertes del drama. La actriz le dio vida a su personaje por completo, transmitiendo su fortaleza, inteligencia y capacidad de una manera impresionante. Fue un verdadero placer verla en pantalla, porque consiguió que su personaje se sintiera real y creíble en cada etapa de su vida. El protagonista masculino también estuvo muy bien interpretado, y juntos nos regalaron una historia que disfruté muchísimo.

Por supuesto, Against the Current no será del agrado de todos. A algunos les puede resultar dolorosamente lento; otros quizá no estén satisfechos con el desenlace, y habrá quienes deseen que la historia hubiera tenido más romance. Pero creo que hay dramas que no necesitan complacer a todo el mundo para dejar una huella, y este fue uno de ellos para mí.

En definitiva, fue una historia que me atrapó, me hizo querer conocer cada detalle de su desarrollo y me dejó satisfecha con un final que considero acorde con todo lo que vivió su protagonista. No será un drama para todos los gustos, pero, para mí, fue una historia grandiosa que disfruté de principio a fin. ❤️

Mi valoración: un drama que vale la pena por su protagonista, su desarrollo y un final que, al menos para mí, tuvo sentido.

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Let me explain because there is A LOT to talk about.

In the beginning, the female lead's family gets massacred, and she luckily survives because of her kindness. And where does she end up? Basically getting adopted into a servant family because of their heritage. And who do they serve now?

THE MALE LEAD'S FAMILY.
Yeah. The SAME family who broke off her engagement as soon as they heard about what was going to happen to her family. No remorse. No hesitation. Just “yeah, we're out.” SIR???
And then this man gets married to another woman for status.
DUDE!!! YOU CAN GO TO THE ARMY AND GET IT YOURSELF. URG!!

So obviously, he and his wife basically hate each other, and his wife has a lover. Ding ding ding! And she's also obsessed with saving/stealing money because apparently everyone in this family has their own personal crisis going on. Eventually, he finds out everything and they get divorced.

Fast forward, our female lead enters the family, and that's when everything starts getting interesting. He falls in love with her too quickly Then we get to the whole king situation. He helps the king ascend to the throne, and in return, he asks for one thing:
TO MARRY HER.
And of course, BOTH FAMILIES HATE THE IDEA.

But what are they going to do about it? Nothing.
Because... the KING. DUH.
And then on their wedding night, she slaps him.
Honestly? I GET YOU, GIRL, I would do the same. The AUDACITY OF THIS MAN!!

From there, we get more family drama, political problems, people trying to bring them down, and our female lead somehow constantly finding ways to get everyone out of trouble. This woman was doing EVERYTHING. At some point I was like, “Can everyone please stop creating problems so she can breathe???”
And then after four years, they finally become an actual couple in every sense of the word, and... yap yap yap.

BUT THE FEMALE CHARACTERS???
I LOVED THEM.
What I really appreciated about this drama was that the women weren't simply divided into “good woman” and “evil woman.” Even the characters who did things I didn't agree with had actual reasons behind their actions.

The villain introduced near the beginning? I actually really liked her character. Not necessarily because I agreed with what she did, because GIRL... but because I understood why she did it. She was doing whatever she could to survive, and that made her much more interesting than a villain who is just evil because the plot needs someone to be evil.

Even the male lead's ex-wife had legitimate reasons for the things she did. She just couldn't properly explain herself. And that's something I really liked about the drama. A lot of the characters were making choices based on their circumstances, and sometimes the problem wasn't that they had no reason. It was that they couldn't communicate those reasons.
URG. COMMUNICATION.

I also really loved seeing all the different female characters and how they handled their situations differently. And the fact that some of the male actors cross-dressed was actually so funny. Those scenes gave the drama some much-needed comedy between all the family and political chaos.

Now, what did I dislike?
The female lead.
Not HER, but her character development.
At the beginning, she was more bubbly and lively, and I actually really liked seeing that side of her. I understand that everything she went through changed her, and obviously trauma and everything that happened to her would affect her personality. But I would've loved to see more of that original bubbly side come back as the story progressed.
I wanted moments where she could just be HAPPY again.
Not constantly thinking about survival, family problems, revenge, politics, money, marriage, and whatever crisis was happening that week. She went through so much, so I understand why she changed, but I would've loved a little more balance between the serious version of her and the girl we saw at the beginning.

And then there's the male lead.
I actually think his character could've developed differently.
Because why does loving someone automatically mean you have to give up something else you love?

This is something I see SO often with female characters, where they are expected to give up their dreams, career, ambitions, or the thing they love to prove that they love their partner. And honestly, seeing it happen with a male character made me think about it differently.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO SACRIFICE ONE FOR THE OTHER.
You can love someone AND do the job you love.
You can have a relationship AND have your own ambitions.
You can care about your family AND still have something that's yours.

Why are we acting like choosing yourself automatically means you don't love the other person? 😭

I especially liked that this made me think about how normalized it is for women in dramas to give up what they love as some giant romantic gesture. Like, “Look how much she loves him! She sacrificed her dream for him!”
NO.
Give the woman her dream AND the man. 😭
And when it happens to a male character, suddenly I'm sitting here like, “Wait... why can't he just have BOTH?”

It really opened my eyes to how often dramas treat sacrifice as proof of love when sometimes the healthier choice would literally be to find a way for both people to keep the things that matter to them.

Despite that, I really enjoyed this drama. The story kept me interested, the female characters were one of my favorite parts, and there was enough family and political drama to keep things moving.

There were definitely moments where I was screaming at the screen, moments where I was questioning everyone's decision-making skills, and MANY moments where I wanted to drag these people into a room and force them to communicate.
But I think that's also why I enjoyed it.
Even the characters I disliked weren't completely flat. They had reasons, motivations, fears, and things they were trying to protect. And I LOVE when a drama gives me characters I can actually think about instead of just labeling them “good” or “bad.”

The female lead survived so much and still kept going.
The other women were complicated and interesting.
The villain actually had reasons.
The ex-wife had reasons.
The male lead had his own struggles.
And the whole thing somehow came together.
So yeah...

Was I frustrated? YES.
Did I yell at my screen? ABSOLUTELY.
Did half the problems need better communication? 100%.
Did I love the female characters? YES.
Would I change some of the character development? DEFINITELY.
But overall, I really enjoyed this one.

And honestly, the biggest thing I took away from it is:
You don't have to give up everything you love just because you love someone.
Now THAT is something I wish more dramas would remember. 😭

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The most boring drama I've ever seen so far

To watch series like this is terrifying. I feel I live in an utterly dumbed down, low IQ society.
When the director made the US movie, Idiocracy, he didn't know he made a DOCUMENTARY.
This series live up to that name, idiocrasy.

Utterly boring, utterly made up. As long as 5 episodes till another 5 nothing really happens. The first part was meant to be an emotional hit but it was not. I couldn't live in the story as was too made up. No in this world there is a 8-10 years of girl who 'bravely' wants to die first. It is a sheer and unlikely manipulation of your dumbed down, low IQ childish emotion (I mean if it worked on you). I still can recall a series and a part when I was really emotionally moved and it was the Lost you Forever' part when Xiao Liu misses the emperor's new wife thinking that she was her mother - take it as example for playing with the emotions of the audience - that was a hit, this.... I felt nothing but was distracted. How poor, how disrespectful to treat us all as if we had a lobotomy in the past 6 years.

The acting, ML is good but had very limited time on screen. FL is boring, weak, while playing being to perfect and smart - but just as lucky as she could win the lottery 5, her expressions are fake, she is boring and I didn't see her in other dramas but based on this she is a very poor actress and one of the most boring female I saw so far in Chinese dramas.

The story: basically there is no story, the drama revolves around an allegedly smart - in reality mainly just lucky - girl and the rest (of the casts) are just fillings, after 20 episodes almost nothing happened expect to girlish cheesy stuff disguised as 'the real life of the maids'. I am sorry, in my free time I wish to be entertained, and the life or made-up life of servants is absolutely not my cup of tea.

What a waste of the handsome and good actor ML, and what a waste of my time.

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