vilfruity

ah when someone tried to argue that the SA was a "man being a man"... yikes lmao

omgg I recognize that beautiful person as a pfp from looking at mdl comments lol. your take on The Princess Royal is absolutely correct btw

I was very much enjoying this until THAT scene in episode 25...

HELLO????? That was one of the worst SA scenes I have seen in a cdrama and then they apparently just don't address it?? I'm incredibly disappointed because I loved how smart and cunning FL was and how they matched each other's intelligence but I cannot tolerate ANY SA and that was just awful. Unfortunately dropped.

Thank you for taking the time to write out this response!
It's an interesting topic, for sure. Lots of nuances to consider, and like I said, if I do some mental gymnastics I can understand Shu He's feelings to a point. Unfortunately, the motivations still do not fully convince me, and even outside this particular matter, the politics of the show make such little sense that I cannot justifiably give it a higher rating than I did with good conscience. Still worth a watch I think and I look forward to seeing where these actors go, as well as the trajectory of Chinese BLs!

I was looking forward to the "black flag" in this and was even more excited for a successful revenge plot at the end but everyone just... forgave everyone?? That scene where they're all eating and drinking together particularly boggles my mind. Not even two days earlier, Huai Yi literally told Shu He that the only reason he hadn't been murdered was out of consideration for Zi Ang. And now they're just clinking each other's glasses?????

I can sooorttt offf (if I squint, tilt my head, and turn off all the lights) understand how Shu He hated Zi Ang but also loved him. But even with those conflicting feelings, his actions do not make sense. Because if his love overrode his hate, he wouldn't have wanted to take revenge on him by "taking away what he wants most," and if his hate overrode his love, why the helly would he marry him and then also be shameless enough to be happy to wait for him on the other side after AGAIN deliberately hurting him by taking away what he wants most??

Hm. I am conflicted about the high rating. The acting was great, the costumes were beautiful, the music was decent... but the writing was just so overwhelmingly lacking. I understand it's likely due to a low budget, but I just can't get behind such a high rating (even despite how amazing it is that they found a way around Chinese censorship).

I’m sorry, but I’m not sure I fully understand what you’re saying, so let me clarify where I’m coming from first. I don’t know what your background or cultural context is, but where I’m from it has always been common to tell men “don’t throw your future away for a woman.” That message has been socially acceptable and normalized for a very long time. Telling women the same thing is comparatively recent. So when you describe this as a new double standard against men, that doesn’t align with the historical or cultural pattern I’m familiar with.

You keep saying “something was wrong in the past, correct it”. So how exactly do you propose correcting it? What does correction look like in practice if not disrupting the old narrative defaults? And when you say “with no harm,” what harm are you referring to exactly? Because women have lived with the very same harm you’re describing (emotional neglect, unreciprocated sacrifice...) for generations, and that harm was rarely acknowledged as injustice. Why does it only become unacceptable once a male character is placed in that position?

I understood what you meant by “barking.” And I agree that the emotional labor in the relationship is uneven with him showing up immediately, while she often doesn’t, and she could have done more. But that exact imbalance has been the norm in romance narratives, just reversed. Female leads being endlessly present while male leads remain emotionally distant or absent has historically been treated as fine, even desirable. This is one drama where that dynamic is flipped, and suddenly it’s framed as degrading.

Also, the female lead clearly does want him as she repeatedly gives him an out and waits for him. She just needs the choice to be his, not something he sacrifices into and later resents. This is seen throughout the drama. Yes, she could have been more transparent but it’s one instance of a female lead being emotionally restrained out of dozens of dramas where male leads behave the same way without backlash.

I’m not saying the characters are flawless, and honestly? That’s part of why I like the drama so much. Both of them are clearly flawed, and both of them grow over the course of the show in different ways. What I am saying is that that the intensity of this backlash comes less from poor writing or relationship dynamics than it is coming from misogynistic frameworks that has been normalized and internalized.

I get wanting “balance,” but what you’re describing is literally what women have been written into since, like, forever (throwing away power, safety, and futures for love) except those stories are treated as romantic, not “disturbing.” When the genders are flipped and a man prioritizes love while a woman prioritizes her goals, suddenly it’s framed as men being “reduced” or “barking,” which kind of proves how uneven our baseline still is.

Also, it’s not that women don’t value romance here. Rather, it’s that they’re finally allowed to value something else without being punished narratively for it. What’s happening here isn’t the “exact opposite” so much as a corrective phase to a very long-standing imbalance that people are just less used to seeing. Audiences are far more comfortable watching women lose status for love than men. Media rarely jumps straight to equilibrium. It often overcompensates to make previously invisible imbalances visible.

Except calling it OVERcompensation already reveals a gendered double standard, because the inverse was never scrutinized this way. Calling it “overcompensation” assumes that the historical baseline was neutral and it wasn’t. The baseline was male-centered narratives where women sacrificed futures for love and really existed as moral anchors rather than agents.

Equality assumes everyone is starting from the same place. Equity recognizes that they very much are not. Feminist theory, critical race theory, etc., all point out that when a group has been structurally disadvantaged for centuries, symmetrical treatment does not produce symmetrical outcomes. So when media “overcorrects,” it’s actually just leveling the playing field.

That said, I actually do find this topic really interesting and I’d genuinely be down to talk about it more. Gender studies is literally my field, so I love discussing these nuances!

OKay okay that's good to know. I just wasn't sure if Jingshi ever becomes the emperor and the comments might be referring to that.
I'll give it another shot. Thanks queenn🫶🫶

I'm surprised at the low rating!
I really enjoyed it. I'm curious why so many didn't. Neither FL nor ML are perfect, but they both learn and grow, which I love. I particularly love how woman-focused it is. It's so rare to find cdramas like that in general but especially historical ones!

hi! can you spoil something for me?
I'm at episode 18, but Xiyang is grating on my nerves. I read some comments saying they liked her and Jinxiu's emperor... are they referring to Jingshi or Jingyan? If she gives up on Jingshi and ends up going for Jingyan, I might give it another chance lol

Lol this drama did not age well... some things were just downright foul

I'm an absolute sucker for modern royalty plots though. Wish they'd make more or even redo this (with a significant amount of very much needed changs tho lmao)

Wow! What a passionate response.

I think we’re talking past each other. I don’t expect romance to always be “sweet rainbows and butterflies.” Dark, messy romances exist and can be powerful. My point is about framing. When a show is marketed as romance but opens with SA between the leads, the audience has every right to feel unsettled by that choice.

You’re right that creators don’t “owe” viewers preachy condemnations, but viewers also don’t “owe” silence if they feel the story romanticizes harmful behavior. Criticism isn’t censorship, it’s part of engaging with media.

I’m not arguing against the existence of dark romances. I’m saying SA is different from other “grim” elements because of how easily it slides into being normalized or excused in BL tropes. That’s why so many people are reacting strongly, and that's why I think it's wrong for people to judge that reaction.

You make a good point. But I don't think our arguments are mutually exclusive. I agree that portraying yakuza in a fluffy, sweet romance could risk romanticizing the yakuza itself. But I think romanticizing SA is a separate issue. The problem isn’t that the characters are immoral. It’s that the show frames SA as part of the romance. A romance that begins with SA isn’t just depicting bad people being bad. It reframes the violation of consent as part of the romantic arc. That doesn’t only romanticize the yakuza, it romanticizes assault itself.

There’s a difference between showing yakuza doing bad things (which is expected) and making sexual assault the foundation of a love story. It’s possible to tell a darker, morally complicated romance without either softening the yakuza image or glamorizing assault.

That being said, I do think I reacted too hastly initially and I thank you for your thoughtful and respectful response. I think I'm just sensitive to the fact the SA is such a common trope in BL and I'm just so over it.

WHY are people getting mad at those upset with the SA?? Them just excusing it bc it's a yakuza drama is stupid... sure yakuza aren't good people but how the hell does that relate to it being okay to sexually assault people??? I don't understand the comparison of "you can't be mad at murder in a murder mystery show" to this because SA isn't what it inherently means to be yakuza like murder is to being a murderer.

Even that put aside... murder in murder mysteries is not romanticized like the SA in this is. That's why it is so upsetting here. I'm not saying we just shouldn't have any toxicity or troubling elements in a drama, because those can make a drama really good, when done correctly. But the fact that people are getting mad that others are upset at the SA is extremely problematic. This drama is labeled as a romance. If you want toxicity, look for psychological thrillers. Don't get mad that people looking for a romance got this instead and are disappointed.

y'all don't worry I'll get super rich, buy the rights, and release it internationally just hang in there🙏🙏

I can't get Lee Jae Wook out of my head every time I see Cha Jung Woo. The resemblance is tryly uncanny bruh

y'all... the acting during ML's meltdown at the end of episode 4 was just so bad... i want to continue but idk if i can. can someone tell me if the acting gets better???

It's a really interesting concept but I'm worried how they might handle the inevitable queer implications... can anyone tell me if it seems to be homo/transphobic??

Was instantly hooked from episodes 1-8 but it is taking me foreverrr to finish episode 10... can someone tell me is it worth it to push through??