This review may contain spoilers
Royal Drama, Scriptwriter’s Favorite Child, and Everyone Else
The Princess Royal is a compelling but deeply uneven drama. At its best, it delivers sharp political intrigue, emotionally intelligent romance, and one of the most solid male leads in recent memory. At its worst, it bends its own logic and sacrifices narrative balance to overindulge a character who does not earn the sympathy the script desperately wants us to feel.
Story
It’s another nostalgic trip to the past: a royal power couple, thoroughly miserable, die due to political betrayal and poor life choices. At least one of them wishes for a second chance, and, generously, half the cast gets one too. What follows is a cycle of fixing old mistakes, making new ones, uncovering conveniently hidden secrets, and reacting to past events with fresh “insight.”
It’s a good story, engaging enough, but hardly a groundbreaking one.
Characters
Princess Li Rong and her long-suffering husband Pei Wenxuan get the coveted do-over. Fortunately, they’re both intelligent, competent adults who actually learn from past mistakes and tackle problems together which in itself is a rare miracle. PWX is easily one of the better MLs in recent dramas. He is consistently supportive, deeply devoted, and capable of something revolutionary called critical thinking. Li Rong, meanwhile, upgrades from mistrustful royal strategist to full-fledged diplomatic powerhouse. Very satisfying.
Su Rongqing gets a second chance - lucky for him, disastrous for everyone else. The drama tries to sell him as a tragic, misunderstood soul - white Cinderella wardrobe, sad violins, the whole package - but let’s be real, he’s evil. Maybe a victim once, but now he’s the mastermind of betrayal, murder, and moral gymnastics, all while whining about his “love” for Li Rong and setting most of her traps himself. He’s not tortured; he’s a delusional, self-righteous killer with a full-blown victim complex. No amount of sad music can save him.
The supporting cast lives comfortably in various shades of grey and black, with the notable exception of Qin Zhen Zhen. As for the real villains? The Emperor and Empress - one an insecure ruler, the other a spectacularly selfish excuse for a mother.
Acting
Zhang Ling He and Zhao Jin Mei - hands down, in that order. These two are the reason the drama works at all. ZLH delivers a performance miles away from Kunning Palace, nailing Pei Wenxuan’s quiet cunning and fundamental decency with astonishing ease. His screen presence alone accounts for most of my positive viewing experience.
Zhao Jin Mei matches him beat for beat, making an authoritative, coldly pragmatic Princess Li Rong not just palatable but genuinely lovable. You root for them instinctively. Frankly, I’d watch an entire drama of just these two thinking their way out of problems.
And now for my controversial take on Chen Heyi’s Su Rongqing: just… no. Maybe he’s a good actor. I’ll reserve judgment until Mysterious Lotus Casebook or Fated Hearts eventually make it off my TBW pile. But here? I’m not impressed. His performance cycles through the same tired, droopy expressions and melancholic smiles as if permanently accompanied by an invisible violin. Unfortunately, it drags down more than a few scenes.
What makes it worse is the script’s apparent obsession with elevating SRQ at Pei Wenxuan’s expense. Several of PWX’s moments from the novel were reportedly reassigned, and the result is painfully familiar.. think Harry Potter films where Hermione gets all the clever ideas, leaving Ron and Harry to play supporting roles.. To manufacture SRQ’s “tragedy,” the drama tells us how brilliant PWX is instead of showing us, while handing precious screen time to a performance that simply doesn’t justify it. If the goal was to inspire sympathy for SRQ, it failed - spectacularly, at least for me. ZLH manages to shine through the script’s neglect, quietly proving his acting chops
The rest of the supporting cast largely does its job. Consort Rou, however, is a mystery. One moment she’s unhinged, the next she’s gloating, followed immediately by a smug smirk, as if she’s auditioning for three different characters at once. Was the director so busy cueing SRQ’s emotional violin that they forgot to ask her to pick a lane?
Screenplay & Script
A full-blown Leaning Tower of Pisa, except less charming and far more irritating. Su Rongqing is unmistakably the scriptwriter’s cherished golden child, while everyone else might as well be fostered extras. Even in the finale when tension should peak, we’re forced to sit through extended montages of his wistful smiles and tragic reminiscing.
His exit is the final indulgence: a glorified self-impalement on PWX’s sword that frames him as noble, untouchable, and conveniently unaccountable. He dies undefeated, unconquered, and entirely unpunished because heaven forbid the narrative deny him one last self-aggrandizing victory.
OST
Brilliant.
Overall
Not a bad drama… if you fast-forward through half of SRQ’s endless pity party and self-congratulatory melodrama. Do I have to? Apparently, yes. Do I wish I didn’t? Absolutely. Skip the indulgence, and what’s left is genuinely good, but choppy, uneven, and an enormous squandered opportunity.
Story
It’s another nostalgic trip to the past: a royal power couple, thoroughly miserable, die due to political betrayal and poor life choices. At least one of them wishes for a second chance, and, generously, half the cast gets one too. What follows is a cycle of fixing old mistakes, making new ones, uncovering conveniently hidden secrets, and reacting to past events with fresh “insight.”
It’s a good story, engaging enough, but hardly a groundbreaking one.
Characters
Princess Li Rong and her long-suffering husband Pei Wenxuan get the coveted do-over. Fortunately, they’re both intelligent, competent adults who actually learn from past mistakes and tackle problems together which in itself is a rare miracle. PWX is easily one of the better MLs in recent dramas. He is consistently supportive, deeply devoted, and capable of something revolutionary called critical thinking. Li Rong, meanwhile, upgrades from mistrustful royal strategist to full-fledged diplomatic powerhouse. Very satisfying.
Su Rongqing gets a second chance - lucky for him, disastrous for everyone else. The drama tries to sell him as a tragic, misunderstood soul - white Cinderella wardrobe, sad violins, the whole package - but let’s be real, he’s evil. Maybe a victim once, but now he’s the mastermind of betrayal, murder, and moral gymnastics, all while whining about his “love” for Li Rong and setting most of her traps himself. He’s not tortured; he’s a delusional, self-righteous killer with a full-blown victim complex. No amount of sad music can save him.
The supporting cast lives comfortably in various shades of grey and black, with the notable exception of Qin Zhen Zhen. As for the real villains? The Emperor and Empress - one an insecure ruler, the other a spectacularly selfish excuse for a mother.
Acting
Zhang Ling He and Zhao Jin Mei - hands down, in that order. These two are the reason the drama works at all. ZLH delivers a performance miles away from Kunning Palace, nailing Pei Wenxuan’s quiet cunning and fundamental decency with astonishing ease. His screen presence alone accounts for most of my positive viewing experience.
Zhao Jin Mei matches him beat for beat, making an authoritative, coldly pragmatic Princess Li Rong not just palatable but genuinely lovable. You root for them instinctively. Frankly, I’d watch an entire drama of just these two thinking their way out of problems.
And now for my controversial take on Chen Heyi’s Su Rongqing: just… no. Maybe he’s a good actor. I’ll reserve judgment until Mysterious Lotus Casebook or Fated Hearts eventually make it off my TBW pile. But here? I’m not impressed. His performance cycles through the same tired, droopy expressions and melancholic smiles as if permanently accompanied by an invisible violin. Unfortunately, it drags down more than a few scenes.
What makes it worse is the script’s apparent obsession with elevating SRQ at Pei Wenxuan’s expense. Several of PWX’s moments from the novel were reportedly reassigned, and the result is painfully familiar.. think Harry Potter films where Hermione gets all the clever ideas, leaving Ron and Harry to play supporting roles.. To manufacture SRQ’s “tragedy,” the drama tells us how brilliant PWX is instead of showing us, while handing precious screen time to a performance that simply doesn’t justify it. If the goal was to inspire sympathy for SRQ, it failed - spectacularly, at least for me. ZLH manages to shine through the script’s neglect, quietly proving his acting chops
The rest of the supporting cast largely does its job. Consort Rou, however, is a mystery. One moment she’s unhinged, the next she’s gloating, followed immediately by a smug smirk, as if she’s auditioning for three different characters at once. Was the director so busy cueing SRQ’s emotional violin that they forgot to ask her to pick a lane?
Screenplay & Script
A full-blown Leaning Tower of Pisa, except less charming and far more irritating. Su Rongqing is unmistakably the scriptwriter’s cherished golden child, while everyone else might as well be fostered extras. Even in the finale when tension should peak, we’re forced to sit through extended montages of his wistful smiles and tragic reminiscing.
His exit is the final indulgence: a glorified self-impalement on PWX’s sword that frames him as noble, untouchable, and conveniently unaccountable. He dies undefeated, unconquered, and entirely unpunished because heaven forbid the narrative deny him one last self-aggrandizing victory.
OST
Brilliant.
Overall
Not a bad drama… if you fast-forward through half of SRQ’s endless pity party and self-congratulatory melodrama. Do I have to? Apparently, yes. Do I wish I didn’t? Absolutely. Skip the indulgence, and what’s left is genuinely good, but choppy, uneven, and an enormous squandered opportunity.
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