It is so refreshing to see Shen Jia Lan choose family and freedom over revenge.

We are twelve episodes into Against the Current, and I keep thinking about how easily this could have become a completely different story.

Shen Jia Lan has every reason to be angry.

She lost her family. She lost her name. She lost the future she thought she was going to have. She watched the Shen family fall apart around her, survived something she was never supposed to survive, and then had to become Xu Lan Xiang just to stay alive.

And now?

She is a servant.

Not just anywhere either.

Sis is a servant in the household of her ex-fiancé, Lin Jin Qi.

The same household she once would have entered as his wife.

If that isn't enough material for a revenge drama, I don't know what is.

And yet… that really isn't how she is living.

She isn't waking up every morning plotting who needs to pay.

She is thinking about how to keep herself safe.

How to keep her parents safe.

How to earn money.

How to eventually get all three of them out of hereditary servitude.

How to build a life.

And I really, really like that.

Because her mother's final message to her was not:

Avenge us.

It was:

Live.

And Shen Jia Lan seems to have taken that seriously.

And this is one of those moments where I can truly appreciate filial piety.

Because how many times have we watched filial duty turn our heroines into sacrificial lambs for the family lineage?

Honor the family.

Avenge the family.

Marry for the family.

Suffer for the family.

Give up your happiness for the family.

Give up your life if necessary.

But Shen Jia Lan's mother gave her something different.

Live.

What a gift that is.

Her filial duty does not require her to crawl onto the altar behind everyone else.

She can honor the Shen family by actually living the life they were denied.

She Isn't Just Surviving — She Wants a Life

One of the things I appreciate most about Shen Jia Lan is that survival isn't being treated like something temporary she has to do until she can finally get around to revenge.

Living is important to her.

And we are actually watching her learn how to do it under completely different circumstances.

She was raised as the granddaughter of a powerful family. Now she is Xu Lan Xiang, a hereditary servant in Lin Jin Qi's household.

That is not just a change in clothing and address.

That is an entirely different understanding of what her life is worth to the people around her.

She is learning how to maneuver through the life of a servant — someone who may not mean much at all to her masters, but whose life means everything to her.

And everything to the people who love her.

She has to figure out when speaking helps her and when speaking puts a target on her back.

When showing what she knows creates an opportunity and when it creates danger.

When being noticed helps and when the safest thing she can possibly be is invisible.

She is learning how to survive within a system that does not value her life nearly as much as she does.

And I love that the drama allows her to value it.

Xu Wan Quan and Xue Gui Hua Are Her Parents

This part of her story has probably become one of my favorite things about the drama.

Xu Wan Quan and Xue Gui Hua don't just hide Shen Jia Lan.

They become her parents.

And Shen Jia Lan genuinely loves and appreciates them.

The love is reciprocated too, and that little pocket of peace and joy they have managed to create in the middle of all this sorrow is so refreshing to watch.

They really look out for one another.

I especially love Xu Wan Quan.

Because Dad might let somebody bully him a little bit…

But come for the ladies in his life?

Oh, he's bout it, bout it. 😂

There is something so sweet about the way he loves his wife and daughter.

And I love how willing he is to learn from Shen Jia Lan.

There isn't this ego of, I'm the father, so I should already know everything.

She knows something?

Teach me.

She sees another way?

Show me.

And she is happy to do it.

That relationship was actually one of the first places where I really saw the heart of our girl.

She doesn't look down on them because of where she came from.

She doesn't treat the Xu family like temporary placeholders until she can reclaim the Shen name.

She teaches them.

She helps them.

She wants better for them.

She laughs with them.

She worries about them.

They are her family.

And I am so glad that heart has continued to carry through the drama.

Because when the family finally starts saving enough money to change their circumstances, Shen Jia Lan isn't thinking:

Great. Now I can get myself out.

No.

She wants freedom for all three of them.

What good is being free if her parents remain trapped in hereditary servitude?

She isn't trying to leave them behind.

She is trying to get everybody out.

That tells me so much about who she is.

And I Love That She Isn't Sacrificing Herself to Do It

This might actually be my favorite thing about Shen Jia Lan.

She protects people.

But she doesn't seem to believe she has to destroy herself in order to prove she is a good person.

And thank goodness.

Because dramas love a heroine who will throw herself directly into the fire while everybody else stands around yelling her name.

Shen Jia Lan?

She is looking for another exit. 😂

She helps people, but she thinks.

She pays attention.

She gives people what they need when she can.

And then — this is important — she allows them to make their own choices.

Look at Ji'er.

Shen Jia Lan warned that girl.

She equipped her with information she needed to survive.

She gave her advice.

She reminded her what she had already taught her when things got dangerous.

And Ji'er still made Ji'er's choices.

Shen Jia Lan helped her more than she really had to without walking around wearing a badge that said:

LOOK EVERYBODY, I AM HELPING HER.

She just helped.

Quietly.

Now, between you and me?

I might have fed Ji'er to the wolves.

LOL.

IJS.

Because there comes a point where I have explained the danger, shown you the danger, pointed directly at the danger and you still stroll over there like, Hmm, what's this?

Ma'am.

😂

But our heroine chose kindness.

And even then, she didn't decide that Ji'er's choices meant Shen Jia Lan now had to sacrifice herself too.

She gave Ji'er tools.

She tried to help her survive.

And that distinction matters to me.

Shen Jia Lan does not have to destroy herself to prove she cares about somebody else.

Her Family Is Not Collateral Damage

This is another part of her character that I really hope continues.

The Xu family isn't disposable because Shen Jia Lan had a family before them.

And they aren't side characters who exist just to help her until the revenge plot gets serious.

They saved her.

They gave her their daughter's identity.

They risked themselves for her.

They loved her.

And over six years, they became a family.

So when Lin Jin Qi realizes Xu Lan Xiang is much smarter than she has been pretending to be and begins pulling her into everything happening inside the Lin household, her parents' safety remains part of her calculations.

I appreciate that.

Because revenge stories can very quickly start treating everybody around the heroine like pieces on a board.

Someone gets sacrificed because the mission is bigger.

Someone gets endangered because revenge comes first.

Someone she loves becomes an acceptable loss because clearing the original family name supposedly matters more.

But Shen Jia Lan already knows what losing an entire family feels like.

Why would she casually gamble with another one?

She can love the Shen family and still protect the Xu family.

One does not cancel out the other.

She Is Careful, Not Weak

And this right here?

This makes me so happy.

Because it always irritates me when a character becomes privy to something dangerous and then immediately makes a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT about knowing it.

Why are you telling the villain what you know?

Why are you announcing what you saw?

Why are you confronting someone with information that could have safely remained inside your own head?

WHY ARE WE HAVING THIS CONVERSATION?

😂

Shen Jia Lan is doing what I think all of us are sitting at home wanting these characters to do.

Be quiet. Pay attention. Keep that information in your pocket until you actually need it.

She notices things.

The accounts.

The seal.

People behaving suspiciously.

Someone who isn't who they claim to be.

The fact that she herself is being watched.

But noticing something does not mean she immediately has to let everybody know that she noticed it.

Thank you!

When she realizes she may know too much about Zhao Xing Tang's situation, she doesn't suddenly decide this is her opportunity for a dramatic confrontation.

She makes herself visible.

She creates witnesses.

She makes it much harder for someone to quietly make her disappear.

That is intelligence.

That is survival instinct.

Sometimes being smart is not delivering the brilliant speech.

Sometimes being smart is realizing:

Oh, this is none of my business until it absolutely has to be.

And continuing on about your day.

And Then There Is Du Cui Que…

Now this one?

I'm watching.

Because although the drama is presenting some of what happens with Du Cui Que as coincidence or innocent misunderstanding, I think most viewers can read between the lines.

Something isn't sitting right.

The flower situation is a perfect example.

Lin Jin Qi wears the cuique flower without understanding what everyone else may read into it. Then people start making the connection between that flower and Du Cui Que's name, and suddenly something he did innocently can be interpreted as him publicly signaling special feelings toward an unmarried woman living in his household.

Convenient.

Very convenient.

And while the drama may leave us some room to call it accidental right now, Du Cui Que is already giving me the feeling that we should not overlook her.

Even her name and the imagery surrounding her character feel like a warning.

Du Cui Que — beautiful and medicinal, but lethal.

That is how I am looking at her right now.

There is something attractive and seemingly beneficial on the surface, but I am watching very carefully for what happens underneath.

And I cannot wait to see how Shen Jia Lan journeys through this path with her.

Because Shen Jia Lan doesn't handle the flower situation by running to expose Du Cui Que.

She doesn't embarrass her.

She doesn't start screaming about another woman's intentions.

She simply neutralizes the problem.

One cuique flower on Lin Jin Qi carries a suspicious meaning?

Fine.

Give everybody one.

😂

Now your secret romantic symbol is basically a party favor.

I loved it.

Problem gone.

Lin Jin Qi protected.

Household protected.

No unnecessary public battle.

And, more importantly, Shen Jia Lan hasn't created an enemy before she fully understands what kind of enemy she may be dealing with.

Because if my read on Du Cui Que is right?

Sis, gather your information first.

Shen Jia Lan Keeps Choosing Solutions

That is what I am enjoying most about her character.

She looks for solutions.

Her father gets caught up in the painting situation?

She sees what everybody else missed.

Someone takes her family's money?

She understands enough of the law to figure out where the pressure point is.

Ji'er gets herself into danger?

She equips Ji'er with something she can actually use.

Lin Jin Qi needs information?

Shen Jia Lan observes.

The flower situation could turn into a scandal?

Change the meaning of the flower.

And now Lin Jin Qi is facing accusations serious enough to threaten his career.

What does Shen Jia Lan start thinking about?

Evidence.

Where are the women who made the soldiers' winter clothing?

Who knows what actually happened?

How can it be verified?

How can they prove it?

Her instinct keeps being:

What can we actually do about this?

And I enjoy watching that so much more than a heroine whose first thought every episode is:

How can I make somebody suffer?

She Is Slowly Creating Her Own Power

And the funny thing is, Shen Jia Lan isn't running around chasing power.

She is building it anyway.

Through what she knows.

What she remembers.

How well she reads a situation.

Her education.

Her understanding of the law.

Her ability to recognize when something doesn't add up.

Her ability to stay calm enough to think when everybody else is reacting.

She originally enters the Lin household wanting to stay unnoticed.

Of course she does.

Remember where she is.

This woman is living under another identity as a servant inside the home of Lin Jin Qi, the man she was once supposed to marry.

Being recognized doesn't just create an awkward reunion.

It could put her life, her parents and everything they have built together in danger.

So yes.

Stay unnoticed.

But little by little, people are noticing what she can do.

And I keep coming back to that idea Yuchan gives the women:

Ability gives you options.

That feels so important to Shen Jia Lan's story.

Maybe her journey isn't about becoming powerful enough to take revenge.

Maybe it is about becoming capable enough that she gets to decide what happens to her own life.

And I much prefer that.

Justice and Revenge Aren't the Same Thing

Now don't get me wrong.

I absolutely want to know what really happened to the Shen family.

I want Shen Jia Lan to find out the truth.

I want those false accusations addressed.

I want her family's name cleared.

And if people deliberately destroyed innocent lives?

Oh, there need to be consequences.

Absolutely.

But I don't need Shen Jia Lan spending every waking minute consumed by revenge to get there.

I want — and I am sure we can all appreciate — a heroine who knows how to maneuver herself out of trouble.

A heroine who knows how to maintain her peace.

A heroine who actually strives for her own happiness.

Because wanting justice doesn't mean she has to stop living.

She doesn't have to sacrifice Xu Wan Quan and Xue Gui Hua.

She doesn't have to sacrifice herself.

She doesn't have to throw away her freedom.

She doesn't have to stay miserable forever to prove she loved the family she lost.

No ma'am.

Let's not waste your family's sacrifice, Sis.

LIVE FOR ALL THE SHENS.

Enjoy everything that was taken away from them.

Love.

Laugh.

Eat good food.

Make money.

Protect your parents.

Get your freedom.

Fall in love if that's what you want.

Have peace.

Have joy.

Live enough life for everybody who didn't get the chance.

Now…

If you happen to bop a few deserving heads along the way?

That is acceptable.

LOL.

I'm just saying. 😂

She Already Knows What It Costs to Lose Everything

Maybe that's why her choices make so much sense to me.

Shen Jia Lan has already lost everything once.

She knows exactly what that feels like.

So of course she protects what she has now.

The Xu family isn't standing between Shen Jia Lan and the life she was supposed to have.

They are part of the life she built after losing it.

And I think there is something really beautiful about that.

She isn't holding onto Shen Jia Lan so tightly that Xu Lan Xiang isn't allowed to live.

She was Shen Jia Lan.

She is living as Xu Lan Xiang.

She loved the Shen family.

She loves Xu Wan Quan and Xue Gui Hua.

Both of those truths can exist together.

One family does not replace the other.

And protecting the family she has now does not mean she has forgotten the family she lost.

If anything, I think it shows how deeply she understands what family is worth.

Her Mother's Last Word Was "Live"

And that is why I keep coming right back here.

Live.

Such a small word.

But what an incredible final instruction for a daughter.

Stay alive.

Protect yourself.

Protect the people you love.

Find a way out.

Earn your freedom.

Build something that belongs to you.

Find some peace.

Find some happiness.

Don't let what happened to us take the rest of your life too.

That is what I see Shen Jia Lan doing right now.

And it is so refreshing.

I absolutely want her to uncover the truth.

I want her family's name cleared.

I want people held accountable.

But I also want this woman to have a life that isn't defined entirely by the worst thing that ever happened to her.

Let her parents be safe.

Let all three of them become free.

Let Shen Jia Lan build something for herself.

Let her enjoy things her family would have wanted her to enjoy.

Because after everything that was stolen from the Shens, maybe the biggest act of filial piety isn't throwing herself away trying to avenge them.

Maybe it is doing exactly what her mother told her to do.

Live.

And not just barely.

Live well.

Live freely.

Live happily.

Live enough for all of them.

________

LOL - I had a lot to way. This is my perspective through eps 1-12