This review may contain spoilers
Like watching thumbscrews turn in real time
If you’re expecting a typical medical drama, you’ll be disappointed. If you’re expecting a typical romance drama, you’ll be disappointed. The Imperial Doctress is a tragedy. Through and through.
This is my second time watching this drama. I don’t remember it being this dark the first time round. But that’s likely because I was a teenager when I watched this ten years ago. I didn’t even know the term ‘coercive control’ – let alone recognise its signs – which may explain why my experience watching Imperial Doctress this time round felt a lot different.
**The selling point of Imperial Doctress***
What I think Imperial Doctress executes beautifully – excruciatingly – is the No Win condition of misogyny. The FL, Yunxian, is perpetually surrounded by men who, in one way or another, want to control her and own her.
When I first watched the drama as a naive teen, I remember being super frustrated whenever Yunxian would seemingly freeze up instead of speaking up for herself or trying to explain her actions. Now, as an old and wise 20-something year old, I see this response in an entirely different light. It depicts how she is constantly between a rock and a hard place. No matter what she says or does, a man will condemn her for it. Find it a way to make it her fault. Blame her for all woes. She seizes up because she never knows what to do without digging an even deeper grave.
I went from seeing this drama as a messed up, confused romance during my first watch, to seeing this as a tragedy that follows the spiral downwards of a woman who simply wants to pursue her medical passions but is torn down every step of the way.
**Qiyu as the embodiment of coercive control**
Look, I would love to know what the intentions of the writers and creators were. What Qiyu – Yunxian’s love interest – demonstrates from start to finish is coercive control. As a teen, I didn’t clock onto how much of a dickhead he was until he become emperor. But with this second watch, it’s evident practically from the get-go that this mf is an absolute menace to Yunxian.
He promises the world. But as soon as he has Yunxian in his palm, he goes back on his word. Not only this, but every-single-time, finds a way to victim blame Yunxian and gaslight her (and I’m talking about BEFORE he becomes emperor). Unlike Qizhen who at least starts to mature and learn the error of his ways, Qiyu is Yunxian’s thumbscrew until the very end.
Qiyu’s character is clearly put into Bad Guy territory, but it’s not clear *to what extent* the writers actually want the audience to condemn his actions. There are multiple scenes (and this applies to scenes between Yunxian and Ye Xian as well) that are NOT AT ALL romantic – and more often than not depict elements of abuse (including coercive control) – but have romantic music playing in the background. Would LOVE the creators to come forward and explain their thinking.
**Ye Xian as the Northern stereotype**
The character of Ye Xian is a tricky one to analyse. Yes, he too goes to immense lengths to try and control Yunxian and make her his possession. He attempts rape. However, I think he needs to be viewed through a different lens than Qizhen and Qiyu because he’s treated through the Cdrama as the ‘northern foreigner’.
On the one hand, Ye Xian is yet another facet of patriarchal control in the plot. On the other hand, the writers have trapped him into a cardboard trope where, I’m tempted to argue, raping the Han FL is part of the convention. To me, it felt like there was a trend in 2010s historical costume Cdramas of this ‘northern foreigner’ character appearing as the uncouth northern barbarian, sprinkled with a bit of ‘noble savage’ characterisation. The Rise of Phoenixes, Rebel Princess, and Legend of Huolan featured such characters. Their mistreatment of women was portrayed as a cultural inevitability.*
This is not to dismiss the misogyny of his character, but rather recognise that his characterisation is complicated due to this othering.
It’s also interesting that his character seems to be more attuned to gender oppression than the Han MLs. He explicitly states the sexist double whammy Yunxian is caught in: either accept his marriage proposal or go back to Da Ming to face the scorn and derision of having her reputation sullied. But at the same time that he recognises the reality of her impossible situation, he also doesn’t seem to understand why there are practical reasons for her to reject his proposal. She knows (subtextually) that while he can proclaim to love and protect her, that this is entirely subjective to changing feelings and is no long-term guarantee of safety. This is deja vu of what she has already experienced with Qiyu’s own unreliability.
On a tangential note, this is why I actually have a lot of time for Princess Wanning in The Double. She is married off to [insert cardboard northern character] royalty. Eventually, she is able to return home after this marriage, only to face a royal court that sees her as used goods, but feels so uncomfortable about it, that they don’t even dare say it aloud.
**The tragedy form**
I think the main reason behind why a lot of other reviewers are unhappy with Imperial Doctress is because they tried to watch the drama as a romance or medical drama rather than a tragedy, and hence are disappointed with the second half.
Personally, I find the second half is when the tragedy really hits home. It follows the acceleration of Yunxian’s downward spiral as Qiyu intensifies his efforts of coercive control (and this becomes physical abuse too).
This drama has a lot more in common with a series like Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace, than dramas like Rebel Princess or Princess Weiyoung.
So, unlike others, I thought the ending was perfect. Obviously it wasn’t rainbow-and-uniorns happy, but nor was it morbid (like in Rise of the Phoenixes or The King’s Woman). For me, it was a well-balanced bittersweet ending that suits the tragedy form.
—
*Although Rise of Phoenixes’ Helian Zheng doesn’t fulfil this particular convention, he is indeed depicted as unsuitable for the FL. I’d argue that he suffers at the hands of the Han superiority complex, but that’s a can of worms for another day.
This is my second time watching this drama. I don’t remember it being this dark the first time round. But that’s likely because I was a teenager when I watched this ten years ago. I didn’t even know the term ‘coercive control’ – let alone recognise its signs – which may explain why my experience watching Imperial Doctress this time round felt a lot different.
**The selling point of Imperial Doctress***
What I think Imperial Doctress executes beautifully – excruciatingly – is the No Win condition of misogyny. The FL, Yunxian, is perpetually surrounded by men who, in one way or another, want to control her and own her.
When I first watched the drama as a naive teen, I remember being super frustrated whenever Yunxian would seemingly freeze up instead of speaking up for herself or trying to explain her actions. Now, as an old and wise 20-something year old, I see this response in an entirely different light. It depicts how she is constantly between a rock and a hard place. No matter what she says or does, a man will condemn her for it. Find it a way to make it her fault. Blame her for all woes. She seizes up because she never knows what to do without digging an even deeper grave.
I went from seeing this drama as a messed up, confused romance during my first watch, to seeing this as a tragedy that follows the spiral downwards of a woman who simply wants to pursue her medical passions but is torn down every step of the way.
**Qiyu as the embodiment of coercive control**
Look, I would love to know what the intentions of the writers and creators were. What Qiyu – Yunxian’s love interest – demonstrates from start to finish is coercive control. As a teen, I didn’t clock onto how much of a dickhead he was until he become emperor. But with this second watch, it’s evident practically from the get-go that this mf is an absolute menace to Yunxian.
He promises the world. But as soon as he has Yunxian in his palm, he goes back on his word. Not only this, but every-single-time, finds a way to victim blame Yunxian and gaslight her (and I’m talking about BEFORE he becomes emperor). Unlike Qizhen who at least starts to mature and learn the error of his ways, Qiyu is Yunxian’s thumbscrew until the very end.
Qiyu’s character is clearly put into Bad Guy territory, but it’s not clear *to what extent* the writers actually want the audience to condemn his actions. There are multiple scenes (and this applies to scenes between Yunxian and Ye Xian as well) that are NOT AT ALL romantic – and more often than not depict elements of abuse (including coercive control) – but have romantic music playing in the background. Would LOVE the creators to come forward and explain their thinking.
**Ye Xian as the Northern stereotype**
The character of Ye Xian is a tricky one to analyse. Yes, he too goes to immense lengths to try and control Yunxian and make her his possession. He attempts rape. However, I think he needs to be viewed through a different lens than Qizhen and Qiyu because he’s treated through the Cdrama as the ‘northern foreigner’.
On the one hand, Ye Xian is yet another facet of patriarchal control in the plot. On the other hand, the writers have trapped him into a cardboard trope where, I’m tempted to argue, raping the Han FL is part of the convention. To me, it felt like there was a trend in 2010s historical costume Cdramas of this ‘northern foreigner’ character appearing as the uncouth northern barbarian, sprinkled with a bit of ‘noble savage’ characterisation. The Rise of Phoenixes, Rebel Princess, and Legend of Huolan featured such characters. Their mistreatment of women was portrayed as a cultural inevitability.*
This is not to dismiss the misogyny of his character, but rather recognise that his characterisation is complicated due to this othering.
It’s also interesting that his character seems to be more attuned to gender oppression than the Han MLs. He explicitly states the sexist double whammy Yunxian is caught in: either accept his marriage proposal or go back to Da Ming to face the scorn and derision of having her reputation sullied. But at the same time that he recognises the reality of her impossible situation, he also doesn’t seem to understand why there are practical reasons for her to reject his proposal. She knows (subtextually) that while he can proclaim to love and protect her, that this is entirely subjective to changing feelings and is no long-term guarantee of safety. This is deja vu of what she has already experienced with Qiyu’s own unreliability.
On a tangential note, this is why I actually have a lot of time for Princess Wanning in The Double. She is married off to [insert cardboard northern character] royalty. Eventually, she is able to return home after this marriage, only to face a royal court that sees her as used goods, but feels so uncomfortable about it, that they don’t even dare say it aloud.
**The tragedy form**
I think the main reason behind why a lot of other reviewers are unhappy with Imperial Doctress is because they tried to watch the drama as a romance or medical drama rather than a tragedy, and hence are disappointed with the second half.
Personally, I find the second half is when the tragedy really hits home. It follows the acceleration of Yunxian’s downward spiral as Qiyu intensifies his efforts of coercive control (and this becomes physical abuse too).
This drama has a lot more in common with a series like Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace, than dramas like Rebel Princess or Princess Weiyoung.
So, unlike others, I thought the ending was perfect. Obviously it wasn’t rainbow-and-uniorns happy, but nor was it morbid (like in Rise of the Phoenixes or The King’s Woman). For me, it was a well-balanced bittersweet ending that suits the tragedy form.
—
*Although Rise of Phoenixes’ Helian Zheng doesn’t fulfil this particular convention, he is indeed depicted as unsuitable for the FL. I’d argue that he suffers at the hands of the Han superiority complex, but that’s a can of worms for another day.
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