TheUnhinged
so-called australia
This review may contain spoilers
Needed more CEO shooters
There are already over 100 reviews of this drama so I’m going to focus mostly on the class politics of The Story of Pearl Girl. It’s the fatal flaw of this drama and, oh boy, there’s a lot to chew on.
Before I get to that, a quick note on the gender politics. I hard agree with PeachBlossomGoddess who identifies bad gender politics as one of the key flaws at play. Indeed, I was incredibly worried when the ML strayed into Overbearing CEO* territory for a few episodes. Fortunately, the writers didn’t fully pursue that angle, but did ultimately undermine the FL’s fiery spirit in other ways (as PeachBlossomGoddess’s review describes in more detail).
What I think killed The Story of Pearl Girl was its frustratingly contradictory class politics. Now, I promise I’m not about to call the FL a class traitor like I did to Wei Lingyou in my review of Yanxi Palace**. However, what started as a strong underdog narrative for Duanwu in the first half of the drama, collapsed in the second half. Let’s consider the good part first, shall we?
For me, the highlight of the first 18 episodes is the condemnation of the Lawful Good character (don’t worry, we’ll get to ep 18 in a jiffy). This Lawful Good character is embodied by government official Zhang Jinran who believes that, if everyone simply followed the law, then all would be well. Of course, he fails to realise that it takes a high level of privilege – particularly class privilege – to act within the confines of the law.
Our ML, Yan Zijing, is quick to point out that while Zhang’s intentions may be good, his methods are crap: “Mr Zhang, you have a heart to save others but lack the power to do so.” Our FL, Duanwu, backs up this critique of the Lawful Good approach and tells Zhang, “You’re a man on top. You don’t understand how we [the bottom class] are.” This makes perfect sense. After all, even though Duanwu has escaped slavery as a pearl diver, she still struggles to survive. This clap-back at Zhang’s character is incredibly refreshing given the ‘Good Governance’ narrative*** tends to be heavily promoted in most Chinese costume dramas.
However, before the pivot point of ep 18, there were a couple of red flags that things were about to go astray. First, is Cui Shijiu. Shijiu is the daughter of the Cui family that owned the pearl farm on which Duanwu was enslaved. She starts out as a cruel Girl Boss but, after several twists and turns, ends up in a sticky situation. It’s at this point she likens herself to Duanwu. “How am I different from her?” Shijiu says, “Both of us struggling in this world, just trying to grasp our own fate.” Ummm gurl… one of you was a slave, and the other was the master. You cannot get more different than that. Unfortunately, her line of thinking crops up later in the drama (and I’ll get to that below).
The second red flag was Yan Zijing’s appraisal of Duanwu as she works her way up the (metaphorical) ladder on his trade ship. He remarks of her quick progression, “She wants to stand on her own…Many people in this world are stuck in misery, yet don’t want to lift a finger.” Other than the fact this sounds like the ‘dole bludger’ narrative that comes from the lips of conservative politicians, this assessment also misses many factors. One: Yan Zijing doesn’t acknowledge that Duanwu has a lot of natural talents that can be commercialised. i.e. you need more than effort alone. Two: pretty privilege. Big time.
And then finally comes episode 18. This is when the underdog narrative dies. It dies alongside a big handful of characters: all are Duanwu’s lower class friends. She also loses Shrimp, the only character left from her pearl farm days. By killing off all these characters in the Desert Ambush scene, the storyline also effectively severs Duanwu’s class roots. Henceforth, she joins the class of Small to Medium Enterprise owners (read: merchants) and realises her individualistic Girl Boss ambitions.
And…so what? Well, Duanwu enters the jewellery business. And she does so without blinking, which is surprising given she knows that pearls are the aquatic equivalent of blood diamonds. She is fully aware of the cruel supply chains on which she relies to create her jewellery. Yet, they are never mentioned. They are kept entirely off-screen. As far as we know, the pearl farm continues on the same, likely under different management after the fall of the Cui family. All the while – or at least after their brief separation – Yan Zijing pats her on the head and tells her what a good little Girl Boss she is.
I was still interested in seeing what would happen with Cui Shijiu after going through a whirlwind of ups and downs. Her story was a lot more interesting, embracing the complexities of a villain you can’t help but feel for. Near the end of the drama, Shijiu and Duanwu forge an unlikely alliance where Shijiu finally recognises Duanwu as her equal. Purely because she’s her commercial equal. A fellow Girl Boss. Duanwu even refers to Shijiu as her “confidante” and the chumminess between these two leaves a real bad taste in the mouth.
And that bad taste is what The Story of Pearl Girl ends on. Thank god Liu Yu Ning looks good in purple, cos that was the only redeeming feature of this drama.
===
* I use the term “Overbearing CEO” the way Geng Song does in his fantastic article on Chinese workplace dramas, found here: https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full/10.3366/mclc.2023.0031
**My Yanxi Palace review, ‘Wei Yinglou is a class traitor. Change my mind.’ https://mydramalist.com/profile/TheUnhinged/review/305311
*** I talk about the ‘Good Governance’ narrative more in my review of The Double: https://mydramalist.com/profile/TheUnhinged/review/392435
PeachBlossomGoddess’s review: https://mydramalist.com/profile/PeachBlossomGoddess/review/408704
Before I get to that, a quick note on the gender politics. I hard agree with PeachBlossomGoddess who identifies bad gender politics as one of the key flaws at play. Indeed, I was incredibly worried when the ML strayed into Overbearing CEO* territory for a few episodes. Fortunately, the writers didn’t fully pursue that angle, but did ultimately undermine the FL’s fiery spirit in other ways (as PeachBlossomGoddess’s review describes in more detail).
What I think killed The Story of Pearl Girl was its frustratingly contradictory class politics. Now, I promise I’m not about to call the FL a class traitor like I did to Wei Lingyou in my review of Yanxi Palace**. However, what started as a strong underdog narrative for Duanwu in the first half of the drama, collapsed in the second half. Let’s consider the good part first, shall we?
For me, the highlight of the first 18 episodes is the condemnation of the Lawful Good character (don’t worry, we’ll get to ep 18 in a jiffy). This Lawful Good character is embodied by government official Zhang Jinran who believes that, if everyone simply followed the law, then all would be well. Of course, he fails to realise that it takes a high level of privilege – particularly class privilege – to act within the confines of the law.
Our ML, Yan Zijing, is quick to point out that while Zhang’s intentions may be good, his methods are crap: “Mr Zhang, you have a heart to save others but lack the power to do so.” Our FL, Duanwu, backs up this critique of the Lawful Good approach and tells Zhang, “You’re a man on top. You don’t understand how we [the bottom class] are.” This makes perfect sense. After all, even though Duanwu has escaped slavery as a pearl diver, she still struggles to survive. This clap-back at Zhang’s character is incredibly refreshing given the ‘Good Governance’ narrative*** tends to be heavily promoted in most Chinese costume dramas.
However, before the pivot point of ep 18, there were a couple of red flags that things were about to go astray. First, is Cui Shijiu. Shijiu is the daughter of the Cui family that owned the pearl farm on which Duanwu was enslaved. She starts out as a cruel Girl Boss but, after several twists and turns, ends up in a sticky situation. It’s at this point she likens herself to Duanwu. “How am I different from her?” Shijiu says, “Both of us struggling in this world, just trying to grasp our own fate.” Ummm gurl… one of you was a slave, and the other was the master. You cannot get more different than that. Unfortunately, her line of thinking crops up later in the drama (and I’ll get to that below).
The second red flag was Yan Zijing’s appraisal of Duanwu as she works her way up the (metaphorical) ladder on his trade ship. He remarks of her quick progression, “She wants to stand on her own…Many people in this world are stuck in misery, yet don’t want to lift a finger.” Other than the fact this sounds like the ‘dole bludger’ narrative that comes from the lips of conservative politicians, this assessment also misses many factors. One: Yan Zijing doesn’t acknowledge that Duanwu has a lot of natural talents that can be commercialised. i.e. you need more than effort alone. Two: pretty privilege. Big time.
And then finally comes episode 18. This is when the underdog narrative dies. It dies alongside a big handful of characters: all are Duanwu’s lower class friends. She also loses Shrimp, the only character left from her pearl farm days. By killing off all these characters in the Desert Ambush scene, the storyline also effectively severs Duanwu’s class roots. Henceforth, she joins the class of Small to Medium Enterprise owners (read: merchants) and realises her individualistic Girl Boss ambitions.
And…so what? Well, Duanwu enters the jewellery business. And she does so without blinking, which is surprising given she knows that pearls are the aquatic equivalent of blood diamonds. She is fully aware of the cruel supply chains on which she relies to create her jewellery. Yet, they are never mentioned. They are kept entirely off-screen. As far as we know, the pearl farm continues on the same, likely under different management after the fall of the Cui family. All the while – or at least after their brief separation – Yan Zijing pats her on the head and tells her what a good little Girl Boss she is.
I was still interested in seeing what would happen with Cui Shijiu after going through a whirlwind of ups and downs. Her story was a lot more interesting, embracing the complexities of a villain you can’t help but feel for. Near the end of the drama, Shijiu and Duanwu forge an unlikely alliance where Shijiu finally recognises Duanwu as her equal. Purely because she’s her commercial equal. A fellow Girl Boss. Duanwu even refers to Shijiu as her “confidante” and the chumminess between these two leaves a real bad taste in the mouth.
And that bad taste is what The Story of Pearl Girl ends on. Thank god Liu Yu Ning looks good in purple, cos that was the only redeeming feature of this drama.
===
* I use the term “Overbearing CEO” the way Geng Song does in his fantastic article on Chinese workplace dramas, found here: https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full/10.3366/mclc.2023.0031
**My Yanxi Palace review, ‘Wei Yinglou is a class traitor. Change my mind.’ https://mydramalist.com/profile/TheUnhinged/review/305311
*** I talk about the ‘Good Governance’ narrative more in my review of The Double: https://mydramalist.com/profile/TheUnhinged/review/392435
PeachBlossomGoddess’s review: https://mydramalist.com/profile/PeachBlossomGoddess/review/408704
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