This review may contain spoilers
Slow-Burn Tragedy That Needed 10 Fewer Episodes
48 Episodes of 'Why Did I Watch This?' (And Why You Might Want To Too)
This drama has been sitting on my watchlist for literal years. I kept putting it aside because, let’s be real, I knew it didn’t have a happy ending and I wasn't sure I was ready for the heartbreak. But as a total fan of Dilraba Dilmurat and Vin Zhang, I finally made it my mission to binge it just to see what their acting was like back in their rookie days.
In a nutshell, The King's Woman is a tragedy mostly based on the life of on the first Emperor of China, starring Dilraba Dilmurat as Gongsun Li, a compassionate and free spirited woman forced into the palace of the ruthless Qin Emperor, Ying Zheng, who is played by Vin Zhang. The catch? She’s secretly pregnant with her first love's child. Ying Zheng's toxic, possessive self decides to accept the baby anyway just to keep her by his side, creating a super messy and dark bond with Gongsun Li. Meanwhile, her childhood sweetheart, Jing Ke and father of her child, played by Liu Chang, goes down a dark ‘no way out’ path to become a legendary assassin.
Fun fact: Jing Ke and Ying Zheng are both real historical figures.
Honestly, the whole show is just a massive twist of fate. These three actually met as kids when one was in danger, and the other two saved him. Flash forward, and that little kid who they saved grows up to be the first emperor of China—and the literal reason they both die.
Yikes. So, word of advice: if you go into this expecting a fluffy romance, you are doing it wrong. I see quite a lot of hate online from people who watched this one when it came out, criticizing the actual romance. The romance in this drama is a myth. This is a tragedy, plain and simple.
And don’t forget that it’s loosely based on history; while the assassin and the Emperor were real people, Dilraba's character is fictional to make the drama interesting and actually show the real price of power. If you drop the romance expectations, it actually gives a pretty realistic look at how trapped women were in ancient China. Romanticizing the story between her and the Emperor was pretty much for the sake of viewership and dramatization and the reasons I mentioned above.
Yes, there is absolutely crazy chemistry between Dilraba and Vin Zhang and that’s the reason why this drama is controversial because people totally misinterpret the "romance" between the female lead and the king because of this chemistry. She didn't magically forget her first love. She was genuinely in love with her childhood sweetheart, the father of her kid. But she had to survive for the sake of her son.
Sure, spending years trapped in a palace with the king meant she grew to understand him, but half her heart was elsewhere. I think perhaps there was quite a lot of screen time given to them to portray them as a couple and it perhaps was a mistake because the drama gives a feel of a romantic drama with that much time given to the relationship between Gongsun Li and Ying Zheng. If writers were to concentrate on everyone’s stories equally and just take a full on ‘historical tragedy’ approach that would perhaps not have given viewers an idea that this was a romantic storyline. Also, despite the amount of the toxicity between the couple and the fact that she is forced into being his wife, there’s barely any skinship. We hardly get any intimacy. They share a few kisses on screen and that’s it. The only real romantic intimacy-filled scene is between Gongsun Li and Jing Ke at the beginning of the drama, which tells you that he was always the one despite her loving Ying Zheng in her own way.
As for the execution? The actors were super young here, but the acting is surprisingly good. That said, the pacing was a snail-paced test of patience at times. This show easily could have chopped off 10 episodes and been way better for it. On the bright side, the fight scenes actually serve and super fun to watch, considering this is a drama that was filmed more than 10 years ago. Yes, there are way too many irrelevant side characters and political filler, but hey, that’s 2017 C-drama logic for you.
The production value is a bit of a mixed bag. The costumes and sets look great, and I love that they actually shot on location instead of abusing green screens and cheap CGI. But oh my god, the makeup! Specifically for Jing Ke at the beginning? Absolutely criminal. The make up. team eventually made him look really. Bada$$. I loved it but first half of the show feels like they try to make him look ugly on purpose.
As far as the ending goes, yes, it’s extremely sad, but I was surprised at the fact that I didn’t hate it at all. Everything that the characters did and Gongsun Li’s final choice at the end made total sense. We are left with the lingering filling of the possibility of the better future for Ying Zheng. Perhaps in that fictional universe, he could be a really benevolent ruler. Obviously, historically, we know that while he did unify China, he was pretty much a dictator. But he still goes down in history as someone who ultimately did an important thing.
It’s an old drama and it’s definitely not for everyone and people who are only coming into C-drama now will probably not be able to stomach it, however, I’d still recommend it if you are in the mood for a good cry or if you love Dilraba Dilmurat and Vin Zhang and want to see them in their breakthrough roles…or just want a vintage c-drama, or if you just want to finally check it off your list since the drama community still brings it up all the time.
This drama has been sitting on my watchlist for literal years. I kept putting it aside because, let’s be real, I knew it didn’t have a happy ending and I wasn't sure I was ready for the heartbreak. But as a total fan of Dilraba Dilmurat and Vin Zhang, I finally made it my mission to binge it just to see what their acting was like back in their rookie days.
In a nutshell, The King's Woman is a tragedy mostly based on the life of on the first Emperor of China, starring Dilraba Dilmurat as Gongsun Li, a compassionate and free spirited woman forced into the palace of the ruthless Qin Emperor, Ying Zheng, who is played by Vin Zhang. The catch? She’s secretly pregnant with her first love's child. Ying Zheng's toxic, possessive self decides to accept the baby anyway just to keep her by his side, creating a super messy and dark bond with Gongsun Li. Meanwhile, her childhood sweetheart, Jing Ke and father of her child, played by Liu Chang, goes down a dark ‘no way out’ path to become a legendary assassin.
Fun fact: Jing Ke and Ying Zheng are both real historical figures.
Honestly, the whole show is just a massive twist of fate. These three actually met as kids when one was in danger, and the other two saved him. Flash forward, and that little kid who they saved grows up to be the first emperor of China—and the literal reason they both die.
Yikes. So, word of advice: if you go into this expecting a fluffy romance, you are doing it wrong. I see quite a lot of hate online from people who watched this one when it came out, criticizing the actual romance. The romance in this drama is a myth. This is a tragedy, plain and simple.
And don’t forget that it’s loosely based on history; while the assassin and the Emperor were real people, Dilraba's character is fictional to make the drama interesting and actually show the real price of power. If you drop the romance expectations, it actually gives a pretty realistic look at how trapped women were in ancient China. Romanticizing the story between her and the Emperor was pretty much for the sake of viewership and dramatization and the reasons I mentioned above.
Yes, there is absolutely crazy chemistry between Dilraba and Vin Zhang and that’s the reason why this drama is controversial because people totally misinterpret the "romance" between the female lead and the king because of this chemistry. She didn't magically forget her first love. She was genuinely in love with her childhood sweetheart, the father of her kid. But she had to survive for the sake of her son.
Sure, spending years trapped in a palace with the king meant she grew to understand him, but half her heart was elsewhere. I think perhaps there was quite a lot of screen time given to them to portray them as a couple and it perhaps was a mistake because the drama gives a feel of a romantic drama with that much time given to the relationship between Gongsun Li and Ying Zheng. If writers were to concentrate on everyone’s stories equally and just take a full on ‘historical tragedy’ approach that would perhaps not have given viewers an idea that this was a romantic storyline. Also, despite the amount of the toxicity between the couple and the fact that she is forced into being his wife, there’s barely any skinship. We hardly get any intimacy. They share a few kisses on screen and that’s it. The only real romantic intimacy-filled scene is between Gongsun Li and Jing Ke at the beginning of the drama, which tells you that he was always the one despite her loving Ying Zheng in her own way.
As for the execution? The actors were super young here, but the acting is surprisingly good. That said, the pacing was a snail-paced test of patience at times. This show easily could have chopped off 10 episodes and been way better for it. On the bright side, the fight scenes actually serve and super fun to watch, considering this is a drama that was filmed more than 10 years ago. Yes, there are way too many irrelevant side characters and political filler, but hey, that’s 2017 C-drama logic for you.
The production value is a bit of a mixed bag. The costumes and sets look great, and I love that they actually shot on location instead of abusing green screens and cheap CGI. But oh my god, the makeup! Specifically for Jing Ke at the beginning? Absolutely criminal. The make up. team eventually made him look really. Bada$$. I loved it but first half of the show feels like they try to make him look ugly on purpose.
As far as the ending goes, yes, it’s extremely sad, but I was surprised at the fact that I didn’t hate it at all. Everything that the characters did and Gongsun Li’s final choice at the end made total sense. We are left with the lingering filling of the possibility of the better future for Ying Zheng. Perhaps in that fictional universe, he could be a really benevolent ruler. Obviously, historically, we know that while he did unify China, he was pretty much a dictator. But he still goes down in history as someone who ultimately did an important thing.
It’s an old drama and it’s definitely not for everyone and people who are only coming into C-drama now will probably not be able to stomach it, however, I’d still recommend it if you are in the mood for a good cry or if you love Dilraba Dilmurat and Vin Zhang and want to see them in their breakthrough roles…or just want a vintage c-drama, or if you just want to finally check it off your list since the drama community still brings it up all the time.
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