For costume dramas with political machinations, I like:
- A Dream of Splendor (2022) Also focuses on women's plight and women in business.
- Are You the One (2024) This show just clicked all the right boxes for me: hidden identity, political intrigue, action, romance, comedy.
- Legend of the Female General (2025) Childhood friends, separated, reunited to become lovers after solving crises and obstacles.
- Love Like the Galaxy: Part 1 and Part 2 (2022) Mystery, Romance, Political, Revenge. Complex characters with convoluted family relationships. Epic action and fight scenes. Leads had great chemistry. This is one of my favorites, which I binge-watched in 5 days (all 56 episodes). There was no character that was all-good or all-evil, which made them so much more interesting to me. The FL could be annoying, yet knowing where she was coming from, I could see how she learned to manipulate to survive 2nd aunt's household. The ML could be charming, protective, yet there were times he scared the sh*t out of me. It took until the 5th or 6th episode to get me 100% hooked.
- The Long Ballad (2021) I didn't think I would binge-watch a series I wasn't even interested in watching. It was highly recommended to me and 4 days later, I had completed the 49 episodes. I laughed, I cried, I felt their angst. In certain scenes, the almost seamless action to animation transitions were quite interesting. It was a first for me to see that in a show. [I have seen it in a musical video before and loved it.] The ML and FL were both fairly even-keeled in their temperaments, and always thinking about strategy. Then, we have the SFL, perfectly acted by Zhao Lu Si, who was ruled by her emotions and the SML, who was ruled by his foster father. I loved the character growth of the main characters and some support characters. There were historical changes around them; it was realistic that they, too, changed.
- Who Rules the World (2022) Epic political wuxia with hidden identities. 100% enjoyable where the FL and ML are well-matched in skill and smarts.
- Wonderland of Love (2023) Enemies to lovers with equally-matched ML and FL. They had a wonderful banter and chemistry.
For high school/college setting shows, here are my favorites: https://kisskh.at/list/LZ8p7AP4
