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A feminist romance masterpiece
I rarely write reviews but this time I absolutely needed to.
The Road to Splendor is one of the best feminist dramas I've ever watched. I loved how the show handled all the women's storylines and I want to highlight in my review what made me give this cdrama a 10/10 rating:
First of all, the plot contained the perfect amount of suspense, pace, emotions, romance, political scheming, high stakes, difficult villains, plot twists and happy moments. It never felt dull or draggy and I was always engaged and eager to keep watching. This is nowadays rare because many plots will have similar tropes and feel way too predictable. TRTS was a very needed high quality plot.
The female heroine was an extremely smart woman without falling into the "Mary Jane" category of "perfect" FL who *always* outsmarts everyone. Despite being smart, she would make mistakes, she regretted some of her decisions, she had her moments of weakness. And because of that, she became an even more loveable heroine. She remained true to her values, she stood her ground even when her husband had different point of views. She faced her hardships without complaining. If I had a daughter, I'd make her watch this show to giver her a great example of a strong role model.
The feminist dialogue in this drama was amazing. So many great quotes about female empowernment, the need to be independent, the importance of knowing that love shouldn't be the number one concern of a woman but her own survival, how female rivalry makes everyone lose and why women should support each other.
Female villain characters had the chance of an redemption arc, something that is still very rare in media. Often, you'll see people feel sympathy for male villains and will cheer for their redemption, but women don't receive the same sympathy when the make mistakes. I truly enjoyed how the show offered some of the shady female characters a happy end, because in some ways they were victims of the circumstances too and deserve empathy.
On the other hand, I also enjoyed how the show gave the main villain an easy way out with a sudden and quick death. I felt like it was a deliberate example of how so many times life is unfair and justice won't occur in a perfect way. The villains will often get away with their bad deeds without proper punishment. And that bitter taste that we all had in our mouth is part of the injustice of the world. The main villain was evil even in his death, leaving his two biggest victims to suffer in his place.
Another detail that I loved as a feminist: in the final scene we see the happy family: FL, ML and their daughter. They don't have a boy but a girl and them not having a male heir isn't shown as lacking but as a very happy, joyful family. The girl says she wants to be like her father, a general - a hint that she has a strong personality - and the scene is for me the cherry on top, because the ML and FL are clearly still infatuated with each other, the ML is the perfect girl dad, the little girl seems even more sassy than the FL and in no way is it implied that they're worried about having a male heir. I really loved it!!
The male lead was another huge highlight and this drama is one of the rare ones where both FL and ML shine equally bright. With the ML it was very similar to the FL: he made many mistakes, he had many regrets but in his heart he had the same noble wish to do right. I loved how both him and the FL had the same tendency for noble forgiveness - even when people did them wrong many times, they'd never find it in their hearts to hate them. They felt compassion even for some of their biggest opponents and this is why they're such an amazing couple.
The way they looked at each other was so sweet and the chemistry was palpable in every scene. Their first meeting where he is behind the screen with the knife pointed at her and then they look at each other and he has this look of awe and seems almost embarrassed to be in her presence because she's so untouchable was so amazing and Ding Yuxi acted it out so perfectly. This was the first drama I watched him in and even though his acting in some scenes is a bit over the top, he absolutely nailed every emotional scene. He is really able to put a lot of emotions in his eyes and looks.
Deng Enxi is equally talented and just so beautiful. I can't imagine how amazing she'll get as an actress seeing that she's only 21 years old and already such an amazing actress!
The Road to Splendor is one of the best feminist dramas I've ever watched. I loved how the show handled all the women's storylines and I want to highlight in my review what made me give this cdrama a 10/10 rating:
First of all, the plot contained the perfect amount of suspense, pace, emotions, romance, political scheming, high stakes, difficult villains, plot twists and happy moments. It never felt dull or draggy and I was always engaged and eager to keep watching. This is nowadays rare because many plots will have similar tropes and feel way too predictable. TRTS was a very needed high quality plot.
The female heroine was an extremely smart woman without falling into the "Mary Jane" category of "perfect" FL who *always* outsmarts everyone. Despite being smart, she would make mistakes, she regretted some of her decisions, she had her moments of weakness. And because of that, she became an even more loveable heroine. She remained true to her values, she stood her ground even when her husband had different point of views. She faced her hardships without complaining. If I had a daughter, I'd make her watch this show to giver her a great example of a strong role model.
The feminist dialogue in this drama was amazing. So many great quotes about female empowernment, the need to be independent, the importance of knowing that love shouldn't be the number one concern of a woman but her own survival, how female rivalry makes everyone lose and why women should support each other.
Female villain characters had the chance of an redemption arc, something that is still very rare in media. Often, you'll see people feel sympathy for male villains and will cheer for their redemption, but women don't receive the same sympathy when the make mistakes. I truly enjoyed how the show offered some of the shady female characters a happy end, because in some ways they were victims of the circumstances too and deserve empathy.
On the other hand, I also enjoyed how the show gave the main villain an easy way out with a sudden and quick death. I felt like it was a deliberate example of how so many times life is unfair and justice won't occur in a perfect way. The villains will often get away with their bad deeds without proper punishment. And that bitter taste that we all had in our mouth is part of the injustice of the world. The main villain was evil even in his death, leaving his two biggest victims to suffer in his place.
Another detail that I loved as a feminist: in the final scene we see the happy family: FL, ML and their daughter. They don't have a boy but a girl and them not having a male heir isn't shown as lacking but as a very happy, joyful family. The girl says she wants to be like her father, a general - a hint that she has a strong personality - and the scene is for me the cherry on top, because the ML and FL are clearly still infatuated with each other, the ML is the perfect girl dad, the little girl seems even more sassy than the FL and in no way is it implied that they're worried about having a male heir. I really loved it!!
The male lead was another huge highlight and this drama is one of the rare ones where both FL and ML shine equally bright. With the ML it was very similar to the FL: he made many mistakes, he had many regrets but in his heart he had the same noble wish to do right. I loved how both him and the FL had the same tendency for noble forgiveness - even when people did them wrong many times, they'd never find it in their hearts to hate them. They felt compassion even for some of their biggest opponents and this is why they're such an amazing couple.
The way they looked at each other was so sweet and the chemistry was palpable in every scene. Their first meeting where he is behind the screen with the knife pointed at her and then they look at each other and he has this look of awe and seems almost embarrassed to be in her presence because she's so untouchable was so amazing and Ding Yuxi acted it out so perfectly. This was the first drama I watched him in and even though his acting in some scenes is a bit over the top, he absolutely nailed every emotional scene. He is really able to put a lot of emotions in his eyes and looks.
Deng Enxi is equally talented and just so beautiful. I can't imagine how amazing she'll get as an actress seeing that she's only 21 years old and already such an amazing actress!
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