This review may contain spoilers
I guarantee you've never seen anything like this
I actually went into this not expecting much of it. I've only been watching CDramas for about a year and one of the first ones I watched was Handsome Siblings. I really enjoyed Chen Zheyuan's screen presence and thought he was delightful as Xiaoyu'er and started adding a bunch of his other projects to my watchlist (so far the only other one I've seen is The Princess and the Werewolf which I also adored, but I will be binging his other work asap). When I first saw the trailer for Fated Hearts, I remember saying to myself, "I don't think I'll be into the romance, but I'm intrigued by the plot and I really want to see what Chen Zheyuan does with this role." And boy am I glad I decided to give this a shot when I'd been feeling hesitant!
So let's talk about this show on the technical level for a second. Every single detail is meticulously planned to a degree I've never experienced. The visuals are breathtaking. The production value is insanely high and I swear I've never seen it at this level for a television show. This is some of the best acting I've ever seen (need to especially shout out Chen Zheyuan, Li Qin, and Zuo Ye — the three of them need to be showered in awards for their performances), and I've consumed thousands upon thousands of hours of film and tv in my 30 years. The pacing is immaculate, the characterization is consistent, there's not a single plot point that is dropped and abandoned. The dialogue is so intentional and lines are never wasted. The way so many characters parallel each other (especially Feng Suige and Fu Yixiao), the way Feng Suige and the main antagonist are such perfect foils to each other, the way every major character has some grudge that they want to avenge and we get to see every plan come to fruition and it is so goddamn satisfying every time — even if it's a character we're rooting against (I'm thinking specifically about the Empress Dowager when she does The Thing™️ in 1.27). This show understands payoff on a bone deep level, it understands how to genuinely truly earn relationship progression — I have NEVER witnessed a show consistently hit the bullseye when it came to payoff on everything it set up every single time without fail.
The show also has biting commentary that left me shocked that the censors allowed this to be released. Calling abusers what they are and killing them off one by one — including parents, when filial piety is so important in Asian countries? Exquisite. One of the plots that it seems many people hated (from a quick look at the comments anyway) was Feng Xiyang's obsession with Xia Jingshi and while I agree that there were times when Xiyang was aggravating, to me that entire storyline could not be a more blatant deconstruction of the whole "dark romance" trope. Literally go watch any dark romance film/show and tell me how Xiyang's behavior differs from that protagonist. But because Fated Hearts is interrogating that genre, Xia Jingshi remains unmoved by her sacrifices and loyalty to him. The entire point of Xiyang desperately and repeatedly trying to win Xia Jingshi's affections through her love for him is to interrogate these misogynistic ideas that have been pushed down our throats about women enduring mistreatment in the hopes that the man will one day change. And the show point blank tells us that he won't! It's a primal scream pleading women to walk away from relationships where they aren't valued. There's also one character who's a sex worker who works with one of the villains and remains loyal to him when knowing he's up to something nefarious and he tries to have her killed but she gets to survive and start over!!!!! What other show has done that???? And the interrogations of misogyny don't stop there — the Susha Emperor believes women are meant to serve and be submissive, he had even been in love with a woman who commanded troops and he never once viewed her as his equal; the Jinxiu Emperor is a hedonist who will have his guards kill anyone over the slightest inconvenience (and while it can't be explicitly said bc censorship, he's undoubtedly a rapist) and the comeuppance these two characters face is just so *chefs kiss*. There's just so much to be said about the brilliant examination of misogyny but I fear anything else I say will veer into massive spoilers so I'll leave it there.
And let's get into the enemies to lovers of it all! I'm a known hater of this trope and I can't count the number of times I've had people start arguments with me online bc I pointed out that a dark romance pairing is abusive and they were determined to defend it. That was my main hesitance going into this show. When I watched episode 2 and Feng Suige had his men torture Fu Yixiao and he punched her and kicked her across the room I was thinking, "Yeah, about what I feared. Still going to watch bc Chen Zheyuan is fantastic in this, but how the hell are they supposed to come back from this?" But the writers DO come back from this because of a few things: 1) this torture scene is actually genuinely very important for character establishment for both Feng Suige and Fu Yixiao — Fu Yixiao is an enemy combatant who nearly killed him and he wants vengeance for himself and the troops that Jinxiu killed so he demonstrates how ruthless and brutal and lethal he is and honestly his safest course of action WOULD be to kill her, we see that while Fu Yixiao doesn't match Feng Suige in brute strength that she does a very good job of holding her own against him and that she will fight until her last breath and will use any means she can to get the advantage; 2) in the very next episode we see a completely different side of Feng Suige — a caring and protective older brother, a dutiful prince (even if he hates having to play that part), a brilliant strategist when it comes to court politics, a kind man who truly values the people who work for him; 3) once Feng Suige realizes Fu Yixiao does indeed have amnesia and decides to offer her the chance to work together to flush out the Susha spy, he behaves completely differently now that he no longer views her as an enemy combatant and, as she is staying in his residence and bc of who Feng Suige is at his core, he now fiercely protects her leading to the scene that turned it all around for me — episode 5 when Fu Yixiao is tricked by former allies from Jinxiu and Feng Suige comes to her rescue before risking his life and nearly dying to save someone close to her. Like…. what do you mean Fu Yixiao nearly killed him a couple months ago and now he's almost dying to save someone she cares about???? And the show just made me grow increasingly deranged about them as the story progressed, as they each become the person that the other trusts the most. This is the best that enemies to lovers has ever been done and it will probably never be done this well again.
Is the show "perfect"? No. Was I utterly enthralled for every single second of it's runtime? No. Did it on rare occasions veer a little too much into melodrama for my tastes? Yes. There were definitely times when I started to falter and get worried, but then I'd get to the next episode or even two episodes later and I'd be like "Ah, I just needed to be patient and trust the writers." While there are definitely some small (INCREDIBLY SMALL) flaws, this is truly a masterclass in every possible way a visual story can be and no other show I've watched even comes close to this.
Now, if you'll excuse me I'm going to start a rewatch 😊
So let's talk about this show on the technical level for a second. Every single detail is meticulously planned to a degree I've never experienced. The visuals are breathtaking. The production value is insanely high and I swear I've never seen it at this level for a television show. This is some of the best acting I've ever seen (need to especially shout out Chen Zheyuan, Li Qin, and Zuo Ye — the three of them need to be showered in awards for their performances), and I've consumed thousands upon thousands of hours of film and tv in my 30 years. The pacing is immaculate, the characterization is consistent, there's not a single plot point that is dropped and abandoned. The dialogue is so intentional and lines are never wasted. The way so many characters parallel each other (especially Feng Suige and Fu Yixiao), the way Feng Suige and the main antagonist are such perfect foils to each other, the way every major character has some grudge that they want to avenge and we get to see every plan come to fruition and it is so goddamn satisfying every time — even if it's a character we're rooting against (I'm thinking specifically about the Empress Dowager when she does The Thing™️ in 1.27). This show understands payoff on a bone deep level, it understands how to genuinely truly earn relationship progression — I have NEVER witnessed a show consistently hit the bullseye when it came to payoff on everything it set up every single time without fail.
The show also has biting commentary that left me shocked that the censors allowed this to be released. Calling abusers what they are and killing them off one by one — including parents, when filial piety is so important in Asian countries? Exquisite. One of the plots that it seems many people hated (from a quick look at the comments anyway) was Feng Xiyang's obsession with Xia Jingshi and while I agree that there were times when Xiyang was aggravating, to me that entire storyline could not be a more blatant deconstruction of the whole "dark romance" trope. Literally go watch any dark romance film/show and tell me how Xiyang's behavior differs from that protagonist. But because Fated Hearts is interrogating that genre, Xia Jingshi remains unmoved by her sacrifices and loyalty to him. The entire point of Xiyang desperately and repeatedly trying to win Xia Jingshi's affections through her love for him is to interrogate these misogynistic ideas that have been pushed down our throats about women enduring mistreatment in the hopes that the man will one day change. And the show point blank tells us that he won't! It's a primal scream pleading women to walk away from relationships where they aren't valued. There's also one character who's a sex worker who works with one of the villains and remains loyal to him when knowing he's up to something nefarious and he tries to have her killed but she gets to survive and start over!!!!! What other show has done that???? And the interrogations of misogyny don't stop there — the Susha Emperor believes women are meant to serve and be submissive, he had even been in love with a woman who commanded troops and he never once viewed her as his equal; the Jinxiu Emperor is a hedonist who will have his guards kill anyone over the slightest inconvenience (and while it can't be explicitly said bc censorship, he's undoubtedly a rapist) and the comeuppance these two characters face is just so *chefs kiss*. There's just so much to be said about the brilliant examination of misogyny but I fear anything else I say will veer into massive spoilers so I'll leave it there.
And let's get into the enemies to lovers of it all! I'm a known hater of this trope and I can't count the number of times I've had people start arguments with me online bc I pointed out that a dark romance pairing is abusive and they were determined to defend it. That was my main hesitance going into this show. When I watched episode 2 and Feng Suige had his men torture Fu Yixiao and he punched her and kicked her across the room I was thinking, "Yeah, about what I feared. Still going to watch bc Chen Zheyuan is fantastic in this, but how the hell are they supposed to come back from this?" But the writers DO come back from this because of a few things: 1) this torture scene is actually genuinely very important for character establishment for both Feng Suige and Fu Yixiao — Fu Yixiao is an enemy combatant who nearly killed him and he wants vengeance for himself and the troops that Jinxiu killed so he demonstrates how ruthless and brutal and lethal he is and honestly his safest course of action WOULD be to kill her, we see that while Fu Yixiao doesn't match Feng Suige in brute strength that she does a very good job of holding her own against him and that she will fight until her last breath and will use any means she can to get the advantage; 2) in the very next episode we see a completely different side of Feng Suige — a caring and protective older brother, a dutiful prince (even if he hates having to play that part), a brilliant strategist when it comes to court politics, a kind man who truly values the people who work for him; 3) once Feng Suige realizes Fu Yixiao does indeed have amnesia and decides to offer her the chance to work together to flush out the Susha spy, he behaves completely differently now that he no longer views her as an enemy combatant and, as she is staying in his residence and bc of who Feng Suige is at his core, he now fiercely protects her leading to the scene that turned it all around for me — episode 5 when Fu Yixiao is tricked by former allies from Jinxiu and Feng Suige comes to her rescue before risking his life and nearly dying to save someone close to her. Like…. what do you mean Fu Yixiao nearly killed him a couple months ago and now he's almost dying to save someone she cares about???? And the show just made me grow increasingly deranged about them as the story progressed, as they each become the person that the other trusts the most. This is the best that enemies to lovers has ever been done and it will probably never be done this well again.
Is the show "perfect"? No. Was I utterly enthralled for every single second of it's runtime? No. Did it on rare occasions veer a little too much into melodrama for my tastes? Yes. There were definitely times when I started to falter and get worried, but then I'd get to the next episode or even two episodes later and I'd be like "Ah, I just needed to be patient and trust the writers." While there are definitely some small (INCREDIBLY SMALL) flaws, this is truly a masterclass in every possible way a visual story can be and no other show I've watched even comes close to this.
Now, if you'll excuse me I'm going to start a rewatch 😊
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