My Two Cents: Rebel Princess

Rebel Princess

Episodes: 68

Year: 2021

Synopsis:

Wang Xuan (Zhang Ziyi) is the daughter of the Crown Princess (Zhao Yazhi) and Prime Minister (Yu Hewei). As the only daughter of the Wang family, everyone expects her to become the next empress as there is a prophecy that states, "To acquire thee, is to obtain the world." However, she has no desire to marry the Crown Prince (Guo Jiaming) but instead wants to marry her childhood sweetheart the Third Prince (Tony Yang). Much to her dismay, her father betrothed her to Xiao Qi (Zhou Yiwei), a general who comes from a humble background but becomes a Lord due to his outstanding military achievements. Though off to a rough start, the two slowly fall in love with each other after bonding over their mutual goal to help bring peace and prosperity to the nation. However, between them and their goal stands a corrupt nation led by corrupt leaders whose only concerns are to maintain their wealth and status. 

Review:

Word of warning, my review will include a lot of spoilers just because there are many specific scenes and examples I would like to rant about. If you have not yet watched the drama and do not want to read any spoilers I suggest you come back after you finish the drama.

Initially, I did not plan on doing a dedicated post for this drama but there are so many things I want to rant about so here it is. Sorry in advance. I ranted so much so this is a super long post.

Everything about this drama is top tier from the production team to the sets to the costumes to the star-studded cast... everything but the script and plot.

The production team for this drama is at the top of its class. The director of the film is Hou Yong, who was the director of photography for many Zhou Yi Mou films; the director of photography is Philippe Le Sourd, a famous French cinematographer who worked on The Grandmaster; the lead designer is Han Zhong, who worked on Hero and Ruyi's Royal Love In Palace; Zhang Ziyi's stylists are Ye Jingtian, an Oscar recipient, and Zhang Shuping, an Oscar nominee (all the information about the production crew came from a YouTuber, AvenueX's video "Monarch Industry/The Rebel Princess - First Impression"). The production crew is one that you would see work on an internationally acclaimed film; however, Zhang Ziyi managed to unite them for this drama. With such an amazing production team, this drama is very beautiful. The sets and costumes are gorgeous. Even her makeup, espeically her eyeliner, is gorgerous. I would like to specifically applaud the cinematography. This drama is filled with beautiful shots. 

The cast is pretty amazing as well. The older cast members are comprised of Yu Hewei, an amazing actor famous for playing Liu Bei and Cao Cao in two separate dramas; Zhao Yazhi, who is famous for her role as Bai Suzhen in New Legend of White Snake; Jiang Kai; Shi Ke; and Zhen Yu. The younger cast is comprised of Zhang Ziyi, one of China's most acclaimed actresses, Zhou Yi Wei, Tong Yang, Zuo Xiaoqing, Liu Yun, Jia Yiping, and Yuan Hong.

However, despite all of these pros, this drama sadly only has a pretty exterior. The amazing production crew, large budget, and amazing cast deserve a way better script. The drama falls under the Mary Sue, big female lead, and political power struggle categories. Sadly, it is not a great Mary Sue drama, very mediocre big female lead drama, and the political power struggle is a joke. For some background for those who may not be familiar with the terms, Mary Sue describes a character who is unrealistically free of weaknesses and every man's dream girl. Big female lead dramas are dramas revolving around one major female lead character. According to a lot of drama reviewers, these types of dramas were very popular a couple years back. Examples include The Princess Weiyoung and Fuyao. These drama reviewers argue that since this drama was supposed to air in 2017 when these types of dramas were more popular, it no longer fits in with what is trendy in 2021. To that, I agree; however, I do not think this helps to justify how bad it is. In my opinion, Mary Sue dramas and big female lead dramas could still be filmed well; however, almost all recent ones have had terrible plots and poor acting. There were so many things this drama could have improved to be a decent Mary Sue and big female lead drama. How? First, let me list a couple of cons (to be honest, I could rant about the cons for days but I shall try to consolidate).

1. They tried too hard to build her character and FAILED.

Wang Xuan is supposed to be a beautiful, intelligent, brave, and noble princess. Beautiful and noble yes, but brave and more importantly intelligent... not so much. Let me preface, I think Wang Xuan is not dumb. She has slighly above average intelligence and is pretty brave. However, the drama goes out of its way to build her character to be as smart as someone like Zhen Huan from Empress In the Palace. One example would be the defend a city arch. In this arch, she is held hostage in a city next to the capital by an accomplice of the enemy army. The enemy army is about to attack the city which will give them access to the capital city so they can usurp the throne. This is an important arch that is supposed to help build her as this intelligent and brave character through her ability to wield her tiny army of thousands to protect the city against an army of tens of thousands. However, the reason the city was ultimately protected from the enemy army's attack had very little to do with her. Everything she needed to protect the city was basically given to her. In China, there is a saying, "golden finger" which means the ability to easily accomplish anything they desire. Wang Xuan has a major "golden finger" and thus she really did not have to do much to win. Sorry in advance but here is my super long rant about this entire arch and how it FAILED to build her as an intelligent character.

1. The person who held her hostage was going to send assassins to kill her. His fucking wife went and told her about his plan and warned her to be careful. The wife also introduced Wang Xuan to her nephew who is a commander of sorts in the enemy army and said he is a reliable person if Wang Xuan ever needs anything. As a result, Wang Xuan "persuaded" the commander to help her. How did she do it? She literally said, "I know you respect my husband. If you help me, I will get you a position in his army." In what way does this show off her intelligence?! This is cheating. It is as if you got the exam ahead of time from your teacher's wife who also introduced you to a tutor.

2. Her family actually has a secret army scattered throughout the nation. Once again, she did not have to do anything to gain this secret army.

3. The one thing she actually did to help protect the city was to go persuade the enemy army's general to give them one more day to prepare before they attack. Everyone praised her for being brave because she went by herself to talk to the general. However, I think she was just dumb. Why would you do that? He is the person who ordered people to kidnap and assassinate you. Why would you willingly walk right into a tiger's cave?! She is lucky because the general is stupid. The general actually agreed to her request to give her one more day and just let her go back. What?! The reason for him to give her an extra day is super illogical. She told him to give them one day to help evacuate the people. He refused, understandably, because it would give Xiao Qi time to make it to the city. At that time he would have to fight an entire army rather than the small troop that is currently protecting the city. Then she responded, "Over my dead body." Because of that one line she said, the general decided to give them an additional day. WHAT THE FUCK If I were the general and she said that, I would have taken her hostage and successfully taken over the city that very day. If he captured her he would be able to successfully take over the city and have access to the capital, as well as, use her as a hostage to force her husband, her father, and the emperor to surrender. But of course, he is stupid. The characters and plot progression often lack logic which makes the drama unbearable at times.

4. They wanted to show her being a down-to-earth, empathetic person who truly cares for her people. Thus, they had her volunteer to care for injured soldiers and help the people evacuate. What does she do? She would literally walk around with her servant and use a cloth to wipe some blood off of a soldier for 3 seconds then quickly hand the cloth to her servant for her to finish wiping. Then, she would talk over to another soldier and give him some water. Then would help a limping soldier walk like 3 steps then hand him off to her servant for her to finish walking him to his destination. What is this? It is so half-assed. One similar scene could be seen in Too Late To Say I Love You. The female lead's husband is also a general. After seeing how hard he works to protect his people, she also wanted to contribute to the war. Thus, she volunteered to be a nurse. She went from someone who would scream and tremble while helping bandage up a wound to a competent war nurse. Please, can you be a little bit more convincing? Throughout the entire scene, I was laughing about how little they tried to convincingly build her character.

5. She refuses to leave when the enemy army was about to take over the city. Why would you do that?  According to Wang Xuan, she will not run away just to save her own life. However, if she is captured by the enemy army, they CAN USE HER AS HOSTAGE. Literally, how does she not understand how important she is. Leaving the city would not be betrayal. Instead, you are not giving the enemy army any opportunity to have an advantage over your own team. But of course, she has "golden finger" and at the last moment, her husband and his army arrive and annihilates the enemy army.

Though this whole arch lacks a lot of logic, I would be able to still bear it had it not tried sooo hard to build her character. After the battle, EVERYONE starts to make speeches about Wang Xuan's bravery and intelligence. 

"she is as brave as any man because she went to talk to the general all by herself" I consider that stupidity.

"she was so kind because she tried to help injured soldiers" barely... more like her servant was helping injured servants

I just didn't buy it. This is just one example. There are so many other instances. One more example that I just have to share because it is hilarious. She needs to send someone out of the capital to seek help but the border patrol was given strict orders to not let anyone in and out of the capital. Thus, she kidnaps the mother of the general in charge of one of the exits to use the mother as a hostage. The general loves his mom but was still very reluctant to let her send someone out of the city because this would be going against an imperial order. Guess what happens. THE MOM FUCKING PERSUADES HIM. The mom who was kidnapped—literally snatched out of her bedroom in the middle of the night— persuades her own son to help her kidnapper. THE FUCK?! And the son agrees. When sending the mother home, the mother asks her, "What would you have done if my son refused to help you?" Wang Xuan responds, "Sorry but I would have to torture you to force him to comply." GUESS WHAT THIS OLD LADY SAYS! The mother LAUGHS and PRAISES Wang Xuan for being decisive and doing what needs to be done during a crisis. LADY! SHE JUST SAID SHE WOULD HAVE TORTURED YOU. ARE YOU OK? Even if torturing her could possibly persuade the general to let her send someone out of the capital to get help to save the emperor, it should not be done. You should not hurt those who are innocent. If you were truly that smart, you would be able to persuade the general without holding his mother as a hostage.

The drama tries too hard to build her as an intelligent and brave character and fails but continues to force how "smart" she is down our throats. Wang Xuan is not dumb but she is definitely not a Zhen Huan or a female Mei Chang Su. If the drama did not try to force her character down my throat, I would not mind Wang Xuan. To be fair, there are scenes where she is better than a lot of female leads who are overtly kind to the point where it is stupid. One example is the scene where her cousin tried to accuse her husband of raping her. In many dramas with stupidly kind female leads, they would forgive people no matter what to show how kind they are. Wang Xuan, on the other hand, did not just forgive her for no reason. She made sure she received her deserved punishment. I was so happy because I really wanted to like her but until this scene I could never justify liking her.

2. Lacking Logic

Building off of what I said in my first point, this drama has a lot of illogical moments.

Example: Wang Xuan is being chased by an enemy troop and needs to leave the capital to find help. She arrives at the border and the border patrol refuses to let her pass because there was yet another imperial order preventing anyone from exiting the capital. Thus, her team of bodyguards start to fight the border patrol. Soon, her enemy troops arrive. Then ALL OF A SUDDEN, the border patrol commander said, "We used to be in her husband's army. He is a good person. We should help her since she is his wife" then lets her out of the city. WHAT THE FUCK What was all that fighting for then? You should have just let her out of the capital right from the start. Why fight and waste time in the first place because now the enemy troop is closer and she is in more danger.

I know this scene was to up the suspense and also to build Xiao Qi's character as a good leader who gained the loyalty of his fellow comrades, but it is so unconvincing and illogical. As more and more of these illogical scenes occur, I just cannot treat the plot and script seriously.

3. Power Struggle

The power struggle in this drama is a joke.

In this drama, the two most powerful families aside from the royal family are the Xie and the Wang. The Xie controls the country's money while the Wang controls the military. The two families are always going against each other politically and in the emperor's harem. One day, the Wang family drugs the emperor then blames it on Concubine Xie. The emperor is bed-ridden and the Wang family blackmails the doctor to say the cause of the emperor's sickness is a drug in the wine he drank at Concubine Xie's place. With that, the Wang family captures THE ENTIRE XIE FAMILY and imprisons them under the name of treason. There is no trial, minimal proof, and barely an investigation, and they successfully took down one of the most powerful families in the kingdom. It would make sense to imprison Concubine Xie since the emperor got sick while at her place and there is technically proof (though fake) that she drugged the emperor, but to imprison an entire family for this, WHAT A JOKE. Regardless, the Wang family took down the entire family in 2 episodes.

Now let's look at the "power struggle" in the emperor's harem. The empress goes to the prison to visit Concubine Xie to force her to sign the papers saying her family plotted against the emperor and drugged him. Now, if you are a normal human being what would you do? Of course, you would choose not to sign the paper because you did not do it. What does Concubine Xie do? SHE SIGNS THE FUCKING PAPERS. The empress told her if she signs the papers, she will not hurt her son. Concubine Xie said she will sign the papers as long as she promises to not hurt her son. This is flawed in two ways. First, her son is a prince, so they cannot just hurt him for no reason. At the end of the day, he is still royalty. Second, even if they secretly send someone to hurt him, how would Concubine Xie be able to prevent that? I thought Concubine Xie would think of a way to protect her son by forcing the empress to at least sign a contract or make the empress promise in front of the officials to never hurt her son. What does Concubine Xie request the empress do to ensure she keeps her promise? High five her. She essentially made the empress pinky promise her and vow to never hurt her son. I'm so dead. What is a pinky promise going to do? Right when you sign the papers, the empress could just go back on her words and kill your son. The inner court literally has no struggle because everyone is stupid. 

The rest of the power struggle is pretty much the same. EVERYONE except the Prime Minister would be dead if they were in Nirvana In Fire. Mei Chang Su could get rid of them without lifting a finger.

4. Romance

I actually quite like the relationship the two leads have, but there is room for improvement. I think their romance could have been developed more. Xiao Qi fell in love with Wang Xuan because of her beauty. Superficial but fair. Wang Xuan, on the other hand, was initially very against their marriage for many reasons. First, she has someone she already likes. For 15 years, she has been in love with her childhood sweetheart. It only took a few episodes and essentially one conversation for her to fall in love with him. Not very believable. Second, the difference in their status. The nation is essentially divided into noble and peasant. The noble families look down upon peasant families. As one of the noblest people in the entire kingdom, it would only make sense for her to look down on Xiao Qi. Though he is a lord and general, the difference in status and upbringing is definitely something that cannot be easily ignored by Wang Xuan, but she does not seem to care. Props to her for not discriminating but I think if the plot was changed so that it was initially a major issue for their relationship and slowly through time Wang Xuan learns to ignore his upbringing and status, it would add a lot of character development, improve the romance in the drama, and add depth to the drama.

Overall, the romance is fine. It is the only reason I finished the drama. However, I just know it could have been improved.

Conclusion

Out of 10 points, I rate this drama 6-6.5 points.

With such an amazing production team and a large budget, this drama could have been amazing. This is Zhang Ziyi's silver screen debut and had the entire nation's attention. Why, just why, is the plot and script so bad? It has so much wasted potential it hurts. A lot of people blame its outdated Mary Sue and big female lead premise but I do not think the premise is the issue. Also, I actually quite like the drama's premise of a couple trying to save a nation that is rotting at its core due to the noblemen's corruption. I think if the drama focused more on this premise, improved the political struggle, fixed all the logic loopholes, it could be a decent drama. The power struggle is so stupid and boring but yet took up the majority of the drama. I feel if they just didn't focus on the power struggle and instead focused on the romance, it might have been more interesting.