lilmeow

Glory Back is an imperial harem story that focuses almost exclusively on struggles in the inner palace. The characters are mostly concubines and those in their orbit. Inner palace intrigues are not something I find particularly interesting; I consider them mostly just variations on a theme. But I thought this show did a pretty good job. The schemes are not groundbreaking but they’re intricate and interesting, and the show manages to build out characters and stories that I care for with just the right amount of runtime.

Feng Qing, the primary main character, is one of those smart and capable FLs who metes out justice while protecting those around her. I liked her. I thought she is written and acted perfectly to show how the attitude and abilities of a capable empress would transfer over to this new context of a maid. She has almost no adjustment period, and I did not miss it. She just slides into her new role and gets to work.

Feng Qing is calm, collected, and confident, and as schemes big and small twirl around her, there isn’t much suspense as to whether or not she’ll succeed. I’ve found other shows with overpowered main characters boring, but here I didn’t. I think this is partly because things still don’t always go her way- she panics, she has to improvise, she uses expediencies, and afterwards she has to scramble to undo the damage. And also partly because her inner thoughts are narrated- which goes a long way in humanizing an OP character, and also helps us feel closer to her as we understand what she’s thinking. In general we get many characters’ inner thoughts in this show, which I think smooths out the story a lot.

Feng Qing is not particularly interested in romance for awhile, and I likewise did not miss it until it showed up. But many people seem disturbed that the emperor, who is a love interest, has a harem and uses it too. Of course this is historically sound, but it can be hard for a modern audience to understand and accept. Unlike most other shows with harems, here the emperor’s relationship with the FL is built up into something you’re supposed to care about, with challenges and development. So you have to believe that somebody who sleeps around his harem is also capable of emotional depth, sincerity, and genuine attachment to our protagonist. His attitude towards his other consorts is rather ambiguous (does he care for them? Enjoy their company? Tolerate them? Treat them as his duty?) so depending on how you fill in that blank, you might find it more or less jarring.

Personally for me, I’d rather a show be more historically accurate than try to twist things to fit modern values (those so-devoted-they're-monogamous emperor MLs in other shows, for example, always felt a little forced to me). I still struggled with this relationship a little- cognitive dissonance and all- but ultimately I fell for it. I really enjoyed their scenes together and watching the rebuilding of their relationship.

But harem aside, I still felt the show could have done better with this aspect. The rear palace was never about love, so the late empress’s alluded-to love for the emperor is a bit out of place, and I never quite understood their former relationship. Also, the emperor is not as eloquent as Feng Qing, and a lot of his lines are wasted on generic vapidities. The show could have done a better job building out their past, twisting the knife of regret, and showing the relief of getting a second chance. Their setup has so much promise, and Feng QIng’s lingering resentment but sense of moving on is so well done, that it’s too bad the script doesn’t follow through.

On the villain side, the rear palace is a pit of vipers so mostly Feng Qing gets to clean up shop. The show's setting is a time and place with little mercy, but Feng Qing still has compassion and a conscience, so she does her best to only hurt those who deserve it. I was pretty happy with the villains and conflicts, although towards the end the final villain gets a bit cartoonish.

As for side characters, there are some that are likeable and/or interesting but nobody I was so attached to that I wish they got more screentime. It’s not a long show so there aren’t too many extra characters to keep track of.

The pacing of this show is quite good. It moves along at a decent clip without feeling disjointed, and is able to tell a complete story with many story arcs- didn’t feel like a short drama at all- while still not taking too long to watch. There is a little bit of wasted time here and there but only a minimum. The ending is also fine. I’ve gotten so used to speeding up shows, but I actually did a lot of rewinding in this one, mostly because some of Feng Qing’s lines are so good that I couldn’t resist watching them again.

The acting is quite good, with a solid performance by the lead actress as well as several others. The costumes are nice, the cinematography decent, and I also really liked the music, both OST and BGM. The only thing that feels kind of low budget is some of the SFX, like when they try to show a knife drawing blood.

Overall I quite like this show, with its easy-to-root-for FL, limited stress, and perfect length of runtime. I also do like the relationship- I think it’s unique that this show tries to do a “true love” thing with an emperor but without overturning the system, even though this is what bothered many people. And even though, within those confines, it still could have been done better.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





This show has a happy ending. Things mostly work out for everyone you’d like. There are some people throughout the show that I felt sorry for and are killed, but again, it’s a time and place with little mercy. There are also some side characters who seem like they could have been more developed (like that prosecutor who is clearly a female masquerading as a male) but it’s not too big a deal.