The Princess's Gambit

Waste of time

Another drama that I was eagerly waiting for that left me with disappointment....

It started with an interesting premise. The first half was okay and the only enjoyable part of the drama for me. I liked the dynamic between the leads and how they started to work and scheme together against crown prince and the Meng family. That was honestly pretty fun to watch. We also got some development between the leads and some moments going into the direction of romance. Then we got the cliché stupid cliff scene and amnesia. Honestly, this after the cliff scene, it was just so boring and annoying. Almost nothing was happening... we has FL ''Spying'' on SML (in which lead to mostly nowhere and a waste of time. Finding out he works with the empress, but other than that nada), her being saved by ML and her saying how many times!!! ''we shouldn't see each other again'' or whatever similar things, again and again. That was damn eyes rolling. FL somehow felt pretty stupid in the second half too. What did she even think she can do, a weak women with 0 support. ML also became somehow a fool in love, lost some appeal I don't care. Angst and some problems are inevitable, but how it was done was just so eyes rolling and annoying. We could have had some few eps of angst and after that the leads working together sooner, but that took forever to happen and for them to get together. At this point, my interest was just gone.

Just like in dramas like ''The Glory'', the romance didn't felt much believable at all, after what we've seen and the flow of the story, their romance was questionable to me. I don't believe you can be madly in love after what we've seen and risk his life for her. Chemistry was average. Maybe it was a director's choice, but on another note, not good kissing scenes (well there was only like 2), but not surprising... Liu Xue Yi, we know this man can kiss. no hate, but Meng Zi Yi cannot do kissing scenes. If you have seen some of her past work (even Blossom which maybe was the least worst), you know she can't deliver on kissing scenes. Even in her next project ''Blossom of Power'', if you saw that leak behind the scene of the kiss on the like bridge, you see ML moving his mouth, if the kiss somehow look decent, it's gonna be because of him.

The drama totally went down after the death of crown prince and the cliff scene... That reminded me so much of ''Kill me love me'' in which I also thought the drama died half way after the crown prince death. It is quite similar when we think about it, we have in the middle of the story getting ride of the crown prince (first like villain), then the lead separate and we have FL going with SML for many eps.

The prince and empress were such doll and uninteresting villains, totally forgettable characters. We can be happy that they didn't went for the cliché of him being in love with FL, but that was damn weird making him being groomed and obsessed with her.

36 eps was too much, many fillers and not interesting eps, felt really dragging.

I didn't really mind ML's sister and the younger prince, they didn't annoy me like they did for some. ML's and FL's guards were cute for the little we got.

Some things that I liked :
1) I liked how it went for the divorce with main wife and concubines, pretty amicably. It was all for the best and the little talks between the ladies.
2) Costumes were fine
3) Most of everyone did good in term of acting. ML carried this, he never disappoints in term of acting. Also the Meng girl, the actress did good.

Other rants :
1) First kiss was filmed damn awkward, a shame it had potential. We went from them kissing standing to her on top on him on the bed ?? No in between, that was weird and made no sense for them to sleep together.
2) In the last ep, ML with the poisoning was just annoying nonsense
3) When we first saw FL's brother, he looked so much like a young child and they looked to have a big age difference, but few eps later, he looked like a grown man after how much times ? few months? made absolutely no sense. Flashbacks of them younger, they looked similar in age.
4) It should have been over for the empress on the wedding episode. After that, an episode or 2 for a conclusion, poison issue and ML's revenge. Unnecessary drag. I rolled my eyes. Also, there was no satisfaction in her end.
5) Ending : complete ass ending. Some will call this a happy ending, but that was such a BS ENDING and you can't tell me otherwise. We have ML poison and we don't know when he will wake up, she plant a tree and waiting for ML, the tree has blossom, how much time as past ???? It looks like a dream with how it was filmed and the background. A reunion of a few seconds, a hug, no dialogue, nothing.... How is this a good ending ? A saw someone before in the comments saying how the ending was satisfying. Excuse me, how is any of this satisfying. These are such horrible kind of ending that gives us absolutely nothing, I would rather a sad ending at this point. Also, no conclusion for side characters and what the hell happened with the 2 kingdoms. Some cdramas writers are so lazy and have no imagination or they don't want to give us the endings we want. I have seen some low budget 10 min per ep mini drama that had a better story and ending

We could totally see that this drama had 11 screenwriters and that the main one of the first half wasn't involve in the second half

Do I recommend this drama ? Simply no

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Gamble to Survive

Edit: please be aware this review is only for the first 21 episodes LOL everything lowkey went downhill from here as expected.

Wow where to start? I'd just started my little binge of cdramas again and after finishing a very mediocre modern cdrama with 0 chemistry (COUGH passionatelyinlove) this is EXACTLY what I needed. 2 seasoned actors who clearly know what they're doing and the angst + tension + chemistry is all there! I've been seeing a lot of reviews saying they don't see the chemistry between Meng ziyi and liu xueyi and I guess chemistry is subjective, but personally I think they're a great pair. Love seeing Meng ziyi in her natural state (clever, strong, independent) and after watching blossom, while she isn't as clever and self sufficient as she was in there, her character here does a good job of surviving in a whole new nation on her intelligence alone while being poisoned and with the fate of her little brother's life in her hands. This is my first time watching liu xueyi and I really like him! He does moody brooding ruthless ml really well. Now more into the plot:

I've also seen some people mention how this is a harem and they didn't expect him to have concubines and a whole wife before marrying the fl into his house as a concubine. You guys this was really not that serious, he literally paid the other women 0 attention and only interacted with the fl the entire show basically LOL. I think in the novel it was a bigger deal, as in he likely frequently slept with the women and had to actually give attention to them - but usually dramas will water this down for us haha (thank god). Also they're literally all there because their families wanted to spy on him since he has so much power in court. And if this somehow still bothers you (SPOILER! he ends up divorcing all of them except our fl - wow if only all historical men were like him huh?)

It's not exactly a unique storyline but they do have a few factors they stand out, such as the fl coming from a different nation and forming a political marriage alliance with ml. I guess also the fact that even though she's a 'princess' in title, she actually isn't treated like one at all by her royal family. The poison was an interesting touch that drives the plot forward, fl being unable to fully betray either side with her every action but forcing herself to eventually reveal her true intentions. Now the more common plot point is the ml having a lifelong grudge against someone else in power and working his way towards his revenge. One thing I do like about this is that the emperor isn't seen as a good guy who wants to get rid of all the corrupt officials in court, and he doesn't treat the ml as his right hand man entrusting him with everything. He's someone who has to keep both corrupt and good in balance within his court, otherwise he could very easily end up overthrown (similar to the princess royal, where the emperor has one side of a noble family backing him up, and without them there's bound to be major problems). That said, I don't love the guy, but I appreciate the complexity in character.

One thing I absolutely love is the setup for the ml and fl's romance. Ml has never trusted anyone in his life, and very much dedicated to getting rid of anything/anyone that gets in his way. Fl has even bigger problems, she's a good person to her core, yet forced to do bad things for the people holding her brother hostage. Mix that in with her having to lie to ml every step of the way, gaining and losing his trust back and forth, it creates a loooot of angst. I don't think it creates high blood pressure for me, but it's definitely the right amount for what I can handle right now. People seem pretty frustrated with the amount of miscommunication but it's not really miscommunication is it? Fl has a reason she can't say all these things to the ml (hello? spies and little bro gonna die). And it's really not up to her to prove to him that she's a good person when she has time and time again shown her good character. I feel like I could name a million dramas with actual miscommunication and I don't think this is one of them. How else are we going to have things revealed one by one without the curated misunderstandings?

Anyways I'm currently at episode 21, can't believe they have the freaking amnesia trope but whatever. I just hope this is resolved super soon. Also really can't wait to see actual romance between ml and fl because whatever we're getting before is pure hate love relationship. I need to see the ml actually madly in love with her RN. I absolutely LOVE when the dude is in the wrong because I feel like we see a lot of dramas where the fl does something wrong and causes a bunch of trouble for the ml. I can't say I'm gonna love their dynamic once they get together but I hope it's not too lovey dovey otherwise it was a waste of all that angst and tension.

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Honestly it's better than what a lot say. Just give it a try, please !

The one thing about the storyline in this drama that held me was the strong yearning and romance. The female lead character had challenging decisions. While a lot thought it felt flat in the middle, I myself found it better than a lot of series. The continuous mystery of what would lead to the end and how it would happen was enjoyable. The beginning was very intriguing because the characters have amazing drive in the storyline. The ending was complete and made me feel wholesome for waiting it out. I just enjoy a good manipulative historical plot with a strong male lead. The main characters are all brilliant, and the series doesn't play the 'average' plots as much. The music was great, and the romantic connection was unique. I feel that with this type of genre and story, the beginning will be the most gripping because it's a mystery and political manipulation with a lot of important characters. It does a good job of laying out the purpose of each character, and it still leaves twists towards the ending. I can see why some would find it frustrating, but overall, I feel like everything together made it a good show!

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bland, like dry toast

LXY has been locked into playing a formulaic character for a few years now.
first he (character) tries to kill the fl
then he falls madly in love with her
then he spends the rest of the drama simping hard for/mourning/pursuing/obsessing over her.
and that character archetype always triumphs over the rest of the plot each time, just like his shen zai ye did here. like his background, motivations, all the politics, everything must make way for the formula to play out. boring, shallow, predictable and uninspiring.

MXY pouted and fluttered her eyelashes like taohua's life depended on it, although the role did not call for it. but her character was so fundamentally abysmally written that I didn't care about the actress' mediocre performance. also, for someone that was such a victim, not once did taohua inspire any sympathy. she just cosplayed a bad bitch the entire time while running around like an headless chicken lmao.

I did not see any chemistry between them, they had two kisses before I dropped and they were both as dull as ditch water. I do not recommend. dramas that go out of their way to write unbelievably nonsensical fls and scenarios do not deserve anyone's attention or time.

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Even the cast couldn't save the series

"Princess Gambit" just fell flat for me. I started the series super excited—both leads were cunning and forced into a relationship to get through things together, so I was hooked from the start. But as the series went on, I forgot why I was even so invested. I wasn’t sure if it was the storyline or the direction the series was taking, but it all just started to feel flat, and half the time I found myself tuning out.

I think I only stuck around because of the cast—I adore both leads—but toward the end, it got so boring that I don’t even know how I managed to keep watching. I finally dropped the series at episode 30. I just didn’t have the heart to sit through the last few episodes when I was barely paying attention anymore.

It’s sad that I couldn’t enjoy this to the fullest.

It is a 5/10 for me

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Teasers That Teased Me Into Dropping It

Dropped. This drama is the definition of wasted potential.

They chose to drag the entire plot using the most frustrating trope ever. Nonstop misunderstandings and miscommunication. Literally every issue could be solved with a five-minute conversation, but no, let’s stretch it over 25 episodes instead.

The female lead wants ML to trust her while she refuses to give that same trust to the male lead. Make it make sense. There’s zero character development, zero relationship development, and the pacing moves at the speed of a dying snail.

Even by teaser episode 23, they’re still not reconciled. At this point, I’m not even hoping for resolution. I’m just exhausted.

And the teasers? Hot garbage. Instead of hyping the next episode, they made me want to uninstall the entire show from my memory.

I literally paid for the express package and I’m still dropping it because I’m frustrated to death. That’s how bad it is. Save your time, save your money, save your sanity.

I came for the male lead. I stayed for a while out of hope. I left because this drama gave me nothing worth holding onto.

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I started watching this drama because I really liked Meng Zi Yi in Blossom, and her character here has a similar kind of strength and charm. As for Liu Xue Yi, this was actually my first time seeing him, and I have to say — he nailed it. From beginning to end, he held his character so well: tough and decisive, yet tender with those close to him. His performance was just perfect.

The series overall can be divided into three parts:

Part One was highly enjoyable. The story focused a lot on Princess Tao Hua, who had to face her arranged marriage with Minister Zai Ye while also dealing with people plotting against both herself and her husband. These became the two main storylines, and both were incredibly engaging. The battles of wit, the careful planning, the clever moves — exactly the kind of drama moments viewers love 😅.

Part Two shifted gears when the main villain changed tactics, giving the antagonists a much stronger presence. Meanwhile, something that happened to the Princess Tao Hua at the end of Part One made her character increasingly frustrating — her decisions and communication just didn’t live up to the excitement of the beginning. On top of that, the storytelling seemed to put more focus on the villains, giving them so much screen time that they almost felt like the leads (annoying, right?). It took around 10 whole episodes for the plot to get back on track — which felt like forever 😆. Still, I get why the writers wanted to flesh out the new villain characters in detail so viewers could better understand their motivations.

Part Three (Spoiler Alert!) centered on resolving the rebellion against Princess Tao Hua. With the mix of battles, tricks, and strategies, the story became exciting again, leading to the ending everyone probably expected. But here’s the catch — the last three episodes leaned too heavily on flashback scenes, and oddly enough, there were almost no moments showing the romance between the leads. That really broke the emotional flow, especially since the love story hadn’t been properly continued. Honestly, I was surprised at how incomplete the ending felt. This is the first Chinese drama I’ve watched that left me with a sense of an unfinished conclusion.

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Disappointed

I was very happy to have found a good C drama with a wonderful/talented cast, exciting storyline and beautiful music and scenery. Until.....halfway through the series, it all went downhill. Way too many plots and schemes and bad guys after bad guys, bad plots, after bad plots, it became way, way too much and too confusing. Even the FL lead became unlikeable and cold/ aligning with the enemy for no reason. I honestly didn't think that the ML and FL had any chemistry to begin with and the writers have chosen to write off the little chemistry there might have been to make the FL cold and unlikable. Ending was rushed and ignored all the rest of the characters' futures or follow up stories in lieu of an ambiguous end for the lead characters. I would not watch this again, way too depressing and complicated for no reason....unless......they would make a follow up part 2 with all the couples development, coronation of new emperor, ML /FL character growth and an overall happier storyline.

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