yeetcity

Other reviewers have already covered the issues with this show's pacing in the final stretch, but I think the biggest problem is that these writers tried to put a twist on a popular premise, but then failed to find anything interesting to say once they could no longer lean on genre tropes and cliches.

Lanxiang's story opens from a classic tragic starting point - her clan decimated and her previously picturesque life forcibly abandoned. Her new alias requires not only constant caution from a young age, but also denies her the right to even properly mourn all she's lost. It's the kind of backstory that could naturally lead into a revenge plot, or at least an active effort to claw back her previous livelihood. Instead, this story takes a more grounded approach, and attempts to show us what someone in that situation would actually be capable of if she had to start from scratch - that is to say, not much.

And this is an interesting premise in its own right! Seeing how Lanxiang navigates servitude as someone who was raised to be a master of her own household is interesting, and it adds a special tension to her problem solving, because that skill alone could expose her and put her in new danger. However, after a certain point you notice the writers start relying too heavily on the subversion trick. Lanxiang is avoidant, yes, and that makes sense for her character, also yes, but when what she is avoiding is any semblance of a compelling plot or conflict, you start to lose interest in her part of the story.

It reminds me of media critiques where reviewers complain that a character did not simply try to circumvent all conflict or avoid getting involved outright. The answer to why you don't see a lot of stories like that is because - well, that wouldn't be very fun, would it? Especially as a long-form narrative like a TV show. And this show highlights that point. The ending may be especially weakened by the sporadic pacing, but basically as soon as Lanxiang buys her family's freedom, that's the true downturn of viewer interest.

What little we do get of the household staff in the latter parts of the story are told in flashback or referenced as having happened off screen, a lot of the time because our POV character purposefully recuses herself from those events. Even her new ensemble of side characters, the Lin family, don't get to be as interesting as they could have been, because Lanxiang's contributions to all their problems become increasingly detached from either her experiences as a slave or her hidden identity.

Basically as the story progresses, Lanxiang's previously reserved nature reads more as a lack of proper character development. Her goal is to live, I get that, but what is she living for? She literally tells us that in one of the later episodes, and I still don't feel like I understood her as a character! Because her constant caution has kept her from having any real development. The best I can summarize her "arc" as is one of adaptation and resilience. But she's adapting to a life she's purposefully made as dull as possible - having her husband resign from politics, passing off household responsibilities to her sister-in-law, being so determined to keep her identity a secret that we don't get ANY tension before the final reveal and even that is super lackluster as a result.

All in all, this is a case study in why suspension of disbelief is not only part of storytelling, but kind of important to it. It's hard to write a story that's completely grounded in reality and makes the safest decisions every time, and still keep it interesting. Because it turns out incredibly cautious and pragmatic people don't lead very exciting lives, which is why you eventually have to introduce massive time skips to get to the interesting bits. Realistic? Sure. Compelling? Not really. For all its hype in the beginning, this story ended as largely forgettable, due to its refusal to engage with its own messiest parts, simply because high stakes drama isn't always realistic.