DramaAjumma

It's almost as if there's a competition to see who's the biggest idiot. Whatever could the third prince be thinking keeping Taohua around? I'm not expecting Zhuge Liang levels of intelligence. Just good o'l common sense would be nice. Especially when you've harbouring such a dangerous secret and have big plans.

This show relies too heavily on people taking unnecessary risks that backfire badly to complicate things. I don't mind characters making mistakes early on. But for them to keep making the same mistakes without learning from them, they have nobody else to blame but themselves when things go pear-shaped.

Can you watch it on Viki in your region?

The writing of this show is just *face palm*
It's a dog's breakfast. So much lazy writing. Overreliance on misunderstanding to drive the conflict.

Sigh. The things I do for Liu Xueyi. I can almost forgive the show for all its writing sins when the man is onscreen.
The show wants us to think that Taohua is clever but I'm flabbergasted at her choices. In the words of Inigo Montoya, "You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means."

Precisely. Well said.

I'm sure we did. :D I heard there's a third somewhere but it hasn't come up on my feed.

Look honestly I don't think we should have to refer to the book for our understanding of what's going. The show should stand alone. There's something terribly wrong with the script and direction if that's not clear. I don't see the point of the sex scene otherwise.

But that makes no sense either because they've already slept together.

I imagine it's because it's used to drag out the push and pull. :P

I have actually. Two versions!

Not necessarily. But now that you mentioned it, it does sound like an interesting premise. :D Sadly my fanfic days are probably over. All I'm saying is that I've seen amnesia used just to drag things out particularly in melodramas and soap operas.

In my version of this story, I would have done it from Episode 2 or 3 onwards.
But in this version I would say somewhere between 14-16 when trust between them was at its peak after a few successful collaborations.

I think amnesia was done decently in Are You the One featuring Zhang Wan Yi. It's part of the story's premise and built into the plot in an effective way.

There are some really good short dramas that use amnesia as its primary trope:
One features a wife that had lost her memory due to a near-drowning incident. Prior to losing it she had a terrible relationship with her husband and was very distant from their daughter. But she doesn't remember any of it. Now that she's lost her memory, everyone pretends that everything has been great. Gradually as she interacts with outsiders, she picks up on discrepancies. This is a particularly good one that I saw on YT.

Another storyline (modern) features a FL who wakes up in hospital and regresses to when she was 18 and has no memory of what came after. She finds out that the good-looking man beside her bed is her husband but soon discovers that their marriage had deteriorated to the point of separation. Unknown to her and her husband she has repressed some terrible memories of abuse. There are a few variations on this story.

There are more amusing storylines of husbands who neglected their wives but after an accident, have a personality transplant and become very clingy.

The biggest problem of this show I think is how Taohua is written right from the outset. A lot of it is probably about stretching what could possibly be a 25 episode (or less) drama to a 36 episode one. I don't expect grand strategy from her but her perspective on how things should get done is narrowly problematic to say the least. Up to Episode 15, I was thinking perhaps there might be some justification for her to not come clean and get the support of Shen Zaiye to help deal with her "overlords". But after Episodes 17 and 18 what I see happening is her needlessly squandering all the goodwill she had gained by collaborating with Shen Zaiye in earlier arcs. I don't expect her to fall head over heels with him this early but I expect some degree of pragmatism on her part especially because she's a stranger in a hostile land trying to survive. Asking him for help seems to me to be the obvious next move. Afterall their goals intersect quite frequently. Her recalcitrant belief that they are adversaries is more imaginary than real. To me her character isn't written as a flaw but as a way of delaying plot developments. Quite conveniently she manages to come to wrong conclusion about Shen Zaiye so that she can get away with creating one degree of misunderstanding after another.

18 episodes later I have mixed feelings about this show. The main reason why I'm still hanging on is Liu Xueyi, who is by every metric a masterful performer. I love his performance here and the character he inhabits is quite a compelling one. I also feel that there's so much potential in the show in terms of the political cat and mouse that goes on among the royals and the Beiyan side of things. The premise is interesting (although the set-up is on the clumsy side) but the execution is patchy.

I have nothing against the use of tropes. In fact all stories use tropes. But tropes have to be used sparingly and well. I've seen amnesia done really well in short C dramas. Amnesia can be used to create mystery and suspense. In the hands of a good writer, tropes can be utilized well. In this show and in other C dramas on the other hand, tropes are used to prolong the push and pull or drag out inevitable confrontations. That's what annoys people.

(More under spoiler tags)

Even Wonder Woman in various iterations (animated or live action) is a team player/ collaborator.

My view is that C dramas storytelling will never attain the heights of Hollywood at its peak because of government restrictions. Unless of course showrunners learn how to be creative under the rod of government restrictions. It can be done. Hollywood in the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s was able to produce a lot of great stuff despite strict censorship laws. Also it seems to me that the C drama industry prioritizes quantity over quality. There are good C dramas but the quality begins at the script level. No amount of good looking actors can make up for an underdeveloped script that takes the easy way out.

My thoughts on the first 12 episodes.
https://40somethingahjumma.substack.com/p/the-princess-gambit-2025-first-impressions

Definitely inspired by the John Wick universe. The set-up is not bad and located within Korean gang warfare. For those who love to see a one-man killing machine breaking bones for a few hours, it's an entertaining way to pass the time. Not for the faint-hearted.

If the show is trying to make the case against polygamy, it's doing a darn good job of it. LOL.
Who wouldn't want to marry Liu Xueyi though? :P In all seriousness, it's politics as usual. When anything is politicized it tends to get corrupted.

If it's feeling like a drag, you shouldn't torment yourself. Afterall there are so many other C dramas to watch. :D