Role Reversal (RR) Drama Lovers Club

豢宠:我的名伶甜夫是少帅
Pampered: My Sweet Opera Star Husband Is a Young Marshal

Title is very misleading, he is an opera performer for 90% of the drama, lmao xD

FL is a wealthy gangster (not really but yeah) who kidnaps and coerces the popular opera performer ML to do her bidding. ML is desired by literally everyone and their dad (actual canon) and both he and FL take advantage of this. But FL is also very possessive of him 😋 The two have a complicated love/hate relationship that delivers some nice angst (not my favorite for FL to be out to get revenge on ML a la The Princess Decree, but since she actually remains toxic and dominant until actual character development occurs, I don't mind it)

I had been looking for a Zhang Chi drama that actually does more than a smidgen of RR because he's absolutely gorgeous and this.... this definitely delivered 😩😩 He's a really solid actor and absolutely nailed the performer vibes (he does elegant SO good, feminine too... I was smitten), the crying, the submission, the yearning... 🥰 FL was also good, defs made for a way more believable tough gangster than most other FLs I've seen.

Some highlights:

• Plenty of pinning down, chin tilts and forceful kisses

• Sensitive ML that cries a lot (and tough FL that rarely does)

• Desired ML

• Possessive and protective FL

• FL saving ML like all the time

• ML in traditional clothing, FL in western clothing (it's more typically the reverse so I appreciate this)

• Whump~

• Yearning, angst and "they're both idiots" vibes

• Zhang Chi's pleading teary eyes (and plump lips) 😩

• ML crossdressing scene

• ML seducing FL scene 👀👀👀👀👀👀

• Matrilocal marriage

• Smart FL actually having power (and family recognition)

• Actually decent quality story and budget

• ML seducing so many people, crazy work

Holy face card, Batman! Boy really serving in any styling 😩🙏

Rare Republican era drama that does not turn mdom after 30 minutes. This drama is very RR for the majority of its run but loses a bit of its footing in the last quarter and goes into more trad territory (but never male dom!!!! 🙏 Even when trad-leaning, ML is still such a simp). At the end, there's this entire extra plot where FL fakes her death, lies and deceives the ML (again), vanishes for 3 years, plot twist he was actually the son of a military man so he picks up that and becomes a commander (genuinely what is it with republican dramas and HAVING to make the ML join the force), his opera career is never mentioned again, and then after it all they reunite with a happy ending in the last minute xD It was just so unnecessary.

I would recommend everyone to watch until exactly 02:10:00 and it'll be an amazing watch (maybe a slight bit inconclusive, but a small price to pay for less trad melo)! The rest is padded pointless melodrama that was utterly unnecessary.

Link with mostly decent subs:

jay:

Watching rn and it's amazing! I love the leads so much, and the plot is fun. Love the twist on the "we knew each other as kids" trope, ouch my heart. Just going to avoid the last 30 minutes or so haha😅

Omgggg, so glad you're enjoying it so far!! I also liked the twist on the trope! I was surprised!

Definitely avoid the last 40 minutes! I shared the timestamp of when it's a satisfying ending ^^

I just remembered I really enjoyed these RR music videos years ago haha:

ree0:

Ryn:

I just remembered I really enjoyed these RR music videos years ago haha:

how did you even find these gems

Oh I'm genderqueer. The YouTuhe algorithm knows I enjoy stuff that fucks with gender. I've got many more of these, though mostly just people who are gendernonconforming, not specifically an interaction between a masculine girl and a feminine boy.

Maybe you'll enjoy this one too

For context, so that you understand the lyrics in the subtitles, 玫瑰少年 (rose boy) means an effeminate boy. The term gained most of its popular awareness after a high profile suicide by a rose boy, and that is also what this song is about. China sort of outlawed this gender expression, at least in media, which, y'know, probably not unrelated. Jolin Tsai is Taiwanese, so she can still get away with MV's like this.

Ryn:

I just remembered I really enjoyed these RR music videos years ago haha:

These two are soooooo cuteeeee 🥺 I'm such a sucker for RR partnered dancing so #1 really did it for me! Those kids devoured that MV!!!!

Ryn:

Maybe you'll enjoy this one too

Quite the bop but then those lyrics and the context... So sad but also touching. Thank you for sharing all of these!!

@ryn NXDIA - She Likes a Boy is a sapphic song but ok...

Arclei:

Shadows of Desire update

We already talked about this, but seeing the cover + gifs (again) makes me feral (again). My disappointment will be indescribable if it doesn't end up delivering.

Arclei:

How are you liking it so far? XD

jay:

Hope you're enjoying it! 😊

As for Di Que, I watched it on iQiyi (subscribed for another month lol).

It pains me to say that the premise is interesting, and objectively it's a decent vertical drama, but for some reason it's not clicking with me emotionally. It was hard for me to get invested, so I ended up dropping it at ep 51 after a few days of trying to finish it. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed certain scenes like:

• FL kissing ML in front of the ministers to assert dominance ✨

• ML soaking himself in ice water to cool FL down when she was poisoned. Gollyyyyyy! The director knows what the people want~

• That INSANE bath scene where SFL drugs ML and tries to sleep with him, but the FL comes and saves the day.

But by the time I got to ep 51, I wasn't eager to see what would happen next, and was just kind of making myself watch it so I could report back here lol. Eventually, my built-in "time is precious" monitor kicked it, and I gave up.

I really wanted to like it, especially since it has so many elements I adore on paper. But if I really think about it, I think these things contributed to me not being able to finish the drama:

• For all of FL's scheming and toughness, she was still pretty meh? I'm not sure if it's the way the character was written or the FL's delivery (leaning toward the latter), but she's not convincing as an assertive, hardened military officer turned regent. In the past, this wouldn't have bothered me as much, but I've seen two (or three?) verticals recently where the actresses killed their portrayals of generals/military officers, so it was hard not to compare this actress/FL with the others.

• I also expected FL to be more assertive in the actual relationship. I mean, she had her moments, but ML was mostly driving the physical stuff. (That's not necessarily a problem since I enjoy egal dynamics, but I guess I was just expecting a bit more woMANhandling from her???? LOL).

• I started getting annoyed at how much time the characters (esp the FL) were spending poisoned or cursed. First the FL knowing drank the tea ML's mom poisoned (and I know it was part of her scheme), but then she spends multiple episodes unconscious. She wakes up...only to get cursed, and be bed-ridden again. It was starting to feel a little damsel-y.

• Finally, after all that, FL and ML are separated for multiple episodes while FL goes to her bio dad's kingdom (?) to try and find the actual cure for the curse. By then I started getting bored by the palace intrigue (it wasn't interesting to me), and everyone and their literal mom trying to poison or put a spell on FL with ML being nowhere in sight.

But yeah, just my two cents. I can understand why you guys enjoyed it, but it didn't hook me the way I'd hoped. Wished the execution was a little better. Despite that, I still appreciate the rec. Some of those yummy scenes were worth it <3