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FL success story, medical version
I have watched a lot of shows about strong female leads who bulldoze their opposition to achieve resounding success. It’s a premise I like, though I find that my overall enjoyment depends a lot on how nuanced the show is and how relatable the main character is. It’s obviously harder, but not impossible, to achieve such things in a short drama.
Given all that, I find this show to be roughly middle of the pack. The FL, Rong Zelan, is not only a medical genius, but she’s also a smooth talker and really tough- a good portion of the show is her putting bullies in their place. She is on a mission to right a great injustice, get revenge, and break through the not-so-invisible (frosted?) glass ceiling, all things I was happy to root for.
Like most other shows in this genre, the FL is overpowered and confident, and there’s little suspense as to whether or not she’ll succeed. This always runs the risk of being boring, but here I’d say it wasn’t too bad (only slightly, maybe). Partly because it's a short show so her endless successes don't drag on too long, and partly because righteous indignation is always on her side, so I mostly just felt satisfied watching her win. Plus, the first episode is really rough on her and I felt so sorry for her, the momentum of that sympathy pretty much carried me through the entire show in wanting her to succeed.
There is also a ML who is her love interest, but the show isn’t that much about him or about their romance. He has his own mission which isn’t even shown. Mostly he just shows up regularly to help her out and/or subtly hit on her. Personally I liked that the romance isn’t too played up and the focus is on her.
The villains are fairly one-dimensional and nothing special, but at least they are easy to hate. The pacing is pretty good in terms of moving from one arc to the next, disposing of villains in good time and bringing in the next. There are almost no side characters of note. However, the emperor is one of the more annoying I’ve seen. He’s on the more extreme end of being a dumb and impulsive royal who faces no consequences- his arbitrary sentences are treated more like a force of nature than somebody’s decision.
It’s not that clear until more than halfway through the show, but gender issues play a big role. The limitations placed on women are tied to several of the conflicts, as well as her grand goal of shattering that frosted glass ceiling. I really liked this and she makes a great speech on it, too.
My biggest complaint might be that the medical stuff is pretty loosey goosey, especially in the second half. Some of it got so nonsensical that I almost wasn’t even offended any more- clearly they weren’t even trying to be medically sound. The teenage FL is also way more skilled than she has any right to be. I get that this is part of the fun, so we can feel good seeing everyone be impressed. But I’m sorry, surgery takes practice and training. And how can she be so confident about conditions and procedures that- setting aside her total lack of experience- have some natural risk to begin with?
For the acting, I thought it’s pretty good. I believed all the characters, and the leads had some good expressions. The child actress at the beginning did great. I like that the FL is not super pretty- she’s not bad looking, she just has more distinct features, which makes her feel more real. I had some confusion, though, with characters of different generations looking approximately the same age.
Costumes, sets, props, are all decent. For the music, I noted some nice background music, especially the piece with the violins/strings.
Overall this is a good show if you like the formula of strong FL kicking ass everywhere. I found it a casual and enjoyable watch but nothing too meaningful, and would probably have given it a 7 (“entertained but not a masterpiece”) if they hadn’t bungled some of the medical stuff so badly. It’s a show about medicine, they should at least try...
ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS
Happy ending, and the FL gets everything she wanted. The only slightly upsetting death is her friend partway through, though that’s not really made a big deal of. The show does remember to tie up the story with her family, though I had hoped to see more of it throughout since that was the source of my main emotional connection with the show and the FL.
Given all that, I find this show to be roughly middle of the pack. The FL, Rong Zelan, is not only a medical genius, but she’s also a smooth talker and really tough- a good portion of the show is her putting bullies in their place. She is on a mission to right a great injustice, get revenge, and break through the not-so-invisible (frosted?) glass ceiling, all things I was happy to root for.
Like most other shows in this genre, the FL is overpowered and confident, and there’s little suspense as to whether or not she’ll succeed. This always runs the risk of being boring, but here I’d say it wasn’t too bad (only slightly, maybe). Partly because it's a short show so her endless successes don't drag on too long, and partly because righteous indignation is always on her side, so I mostly just felt satisfied watching her win. Plus, the first episode is really rough on her and I felt so sorry for her, the momentum of that sympathy pretty much carried me through the entire show in wanting her to succeed.
There is also a ML who is her love interest, but the show isn’t that much about him or about their romance. He has his own mission which isn’t even shown. Mostly he just shows up regularly to help her out and/or subtly hit on her. Personally I liked that the romance isn’t too played up and the focus is on her.
The villains are fairly one-dimensional and nothing special, but at least they are easy to hate. The pacing is pretty good in terms of moving from one arc to the next, disposing of villains in good time and bringing in the next. There are almost no side characters of note. However, the emperor is one of the more annoying I’ve seen. He’s on the more extreme end of being a dumb and impulsive royal who faces no consequences- his arbitrary sentences are treated more like a force of nature than somebody’s decision.
It’s not that clear until more than halfway through the show, but gender issues play a big role. The limitations placed on women are tied to several of the conflicts, as well as her grand goal of shattering that frosted glass ceiling. I really liked this and she makes a great speech on it, too.
My biggest complaint might be that the medical stuff is pretty loosey goosey, especially in the second half. Some of it got so nonsensical that I almost wasn’t even offended any more- clearly they weren’t even trying to be medically sound. The teenage FL is also way more skilled than she has any right to be. I get that this is part of the fun, so we can feel good seeing everyone be impressed. But I’m sorry, surgery takes practice and training. And how can she be so confident about conditions and procedures that- setting aside her total lack of experience- have some natural risk to begin with?
For the acting, I thought it’s pretty good. I believed all the characters, and the leads had some good expressions. The child actress at the beginning did great. I like that the FL is not super pretty- she’s not bad looking, she just has more distinct features, which makes her feel more real. I had some confusion, though, with characters of different generations looking approximately the same age.
Costumes, sets, props, are all decent. For the music, I noted some nice background music, especially the piece with the violins/strings.
Overall this is a good show if you like the formula of strong FL kicking ass everywhere. I found it a casual and enjoyable watch but nothing too meaningful, and would probably have given it a 7 (“entertained but not a masterpiece”) if they hadn’t bungled some of the medical stuff so badly. It’s a show about medicine, they should at least try...
ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS
Happy ending, and the FL gets everything she wanted. The only slightly upsetting death is her friend partway through, though that’s not really made a big deal of. The show does remember to tie up the story with her family, though I had hoped to see more of it throughout since that was the source of my main emotional connection with the show and the FL.
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