Editorials 
This review may contain spoilers
this show has many flaws but it's still a gem
I went into this a little bit wary given the amount of negative reviews and this is yet another reminder that I need to stop trusting the consensus for anything on this site LOL. As is the case with many of the CDramas that have stuck with me, the show goes in some unexpected directions in the final third, but all the negative reviews are blowing it out of proportion. The resolution, while not my ideal ending, is very in line with the rest of the show.
I've seen a handful of complaints about the acting, and while there is *something* not fully there with the production, I don't think the issue is the acting. (Also, if you're willing to meet the show where it is, it has a lot of charm!) Wu Jinyan and Chen Zheyuan are BRILLIANT in this, and while I don't think the rest of the cast was at their level, I still found myself immersed and engrossed. I've also seen a ton of people claim Wu Jinyan and Chen Zheyuan lacked chemistry, which just makes me convinced that ppl with that critique watched a completely different show. I watched the show with a friend and it is typically disinterested, if not outright repulsed, by most onscreen romances and yet our dms for the first half of the show was like 80% us screeching about how explosive their sexual/romantic chemistry was. Most of the rest of the complaints I've seen are about plot holes/inconsistencies — which I did notice some as well; but narrative messaging, characters, and dynamics matter to me more than plot — or people just being misogynistic and hating on Tinghui.
Speaking of Tinghui, let me talk about what a f*cking powerhouse she is. She's bold and fearless; relentless in her pursuit of justice. Her integrity is unshakeable, as is her loyalty. She's been hardened by the horrors she's had to endure but is still full of so much love and care and a desire to protect. The scene where her childhood abuser comes to taunt her and she chases him down before stabbing him repeatedly in front of a crowd of civilians, because she was determined for that man to die regardless of the consequences, was literally one of the most incredible sequences I've ever seen put to film. Ying Gua was also so so good — a young ruler desperately trying to push for progress while being repeatedly blocked by older officials in his court who want to cling to how things have always been; who has the same desire to protect as Tinghui does, but keeps having his hands tied. Ying Gua is methodical and never does anything rashly, no matter how impulsive any of his decisions might appear to others.
Tinghui and Ying Gua's romance was MAGICAL. The fact that they're both immediately drawn to each other even though initially he doesn't trust her and she feels like she has to manipulate him for her safety... The scene of them playing weiqi demonstrating how they know they are playing mindgames with each other... The way he was constantly concerned about her safety and his need to protect her no matter what, even at times when he thought she was potentially plotting against him... The way when they first meet Tinghui leaves him for dead, but before they've even confessed their feelings to each other, she's jumping between him and danger, ready to die for him... As we see them work together and grow closer, it's so easy to believe they understand and know each other's hearts better than anyone else and that Tinghui comes to view Ying Gua as safety and that he comes to trust her more than anyone else. Genuinely, they came to mean SO MUCH to me that I am trying to keep myself from crying as I write this out.
Now onto my ACTUAL complaints. I'm convinced someone in the crew or a producer or smth gets off to women being brutalized bc the violence towards women was so gratuitous. We get so much detail of baby Tinghui and A-Xiang's abuse; we see a graphic scene of a woman who was sex trafficked being tortured, the scene where two men attempt to rape Tinghui that feels like it lasts for an eternity, a lengthy scene where a woman is murdered... etc, etc. While I would argue that the show does have feminist leanings, these scenes just go to show that we are always filtered through a male lens first and a reminder that there are men out there who truly enjoy our suffering. My second big complaint is the Fuzhi x Zhishu romance... the show repeatedly stresses Fuzhi and Tinghui's relationship and how much they mean to each other in a way that hits a lot of romantic cues (i.e. the scene where Tinghui is planning to sacrifice herself to the villain in order to save Fuzhi after she was abducted) and there's even a scene when Fuzhi straight up gets dazed upon seeing a pretty woman, so she does read as a lesbian imo. The mere existence of Fuzhi x Zhishu comes off as an attempt to obfuscate the (imo unmistakable) GL vibes of her relationship with Tinghui, so it already inherently irritated me. But then Fuzhi x Zhishu decides to play into the "we want each other so bad that we just have to bicker bc we don't want to admit how we feel" bs that I despise and then the scene where she seems to realize her feelings for him is when he comes to her rescue after being traumatized (another trope I despise!) and then the first time she even voices an interest in him is when he manipulates her into visiting him by holding onto a permit she needs for her business LIKE GOD JUST THROW THIS SHIP IN THE TRASH. I can't believe most ppl view this "romance" as the best part of the show like we are still in the trenches!!! Also, one final complaint bc I feel wrong not mentioning it: I've seen accusations of the opening credits using AI and while I do not have the eye for discerning human art vs AI, it did have a very generic look that makes me feel like the potential that it is AI is greater than zero. And bc I couldn't shake the feeling that the opening credits might be AI, it made me worry about whether landscape shots were AI as well.... ugh I hate that creatives are jumping on board with this tech.
There's definitely more I could say, but as always I've written an already lengthy review so I'll leave it here.
TL;DR: Even with it's many flaws, I think Royal Betrothal is absolutely worth the watch.
I've seen a handful of complaints about the acting, and while there is *something* not fully there with the production, I don't think the issue is the acting. (Also, if you're willing to meet the show where it is, it has a lot of charm!) Wu Jinyan and Chen Zheyuan are BRILLIANT in this, and while I don't think the rest of the cast was at their level, I still found myself immersed and engrossed. I've also seen a ton of people claim Wu Jinyan and Chen Zheyuan lacked chemistry, which just makes me convinced that ppl with that critique watched a completely different show. I watched the show with a friend and it is typically disinterested, if not outright repulsed, by most onscreen romances and yet our dms for the first half of the show was like 80% us screeching about how explosive their sexual/romantic chemistry was. Most of the rest of the complaints I've seen are about plot holes/inconsistencies — which I did notice some as well; but narrative messaging, characters, and dynamics matter to me more than plot — or people just being misogynistic and hating on Tinghui.
Speaking of Tinghui, let me talk about what a f*cking powerhouse she is. She's bold and fearless; relentless in her pursuit of justice. Her integrity is unshakeable, as is her loyalty. She's been hardened by the horrors she's had to endure but is still full of so much love and care and a desire to protect. The scene where her childhood abuser comes to taunt her and she chases him down before stabbing him repeatedly in front of a crowd of civilians, because she was determined for that man to die regardless of the consequences, was literally one of the most incredible sequences I've ever seen put to film. Ying Gua was also so so good — a young ruler desperately trying to push for progress while being repeatedly blocked by older officials in his court who want to cling to how things have always been; who has the same desire to protect as Tinghui does, but keeps having his hands tied. Ying Gua is methodical and never does anything rashly, no matter how impulsive any of his decisions might appear to others.
Tinghui and Ying Gua's romance was MAGICAL. The fact that they're both immediately drawn to each other even though initially he doesn't trust her and she feels like she has to manipulate him for her safety... The scene of them playing weiqi demonstrating how they know they are playing mindgames with each other... The way he was constantly concerned about her safety and his need to protect her no matter what, even at times when he thought she was potentially plotting against him... The way when they first meet Tinghui leaves him for dead, but before they've even confessed their feelings to each other, she's jumping between him and danger, ready to die for him... As we see them work together and grow closer, it's so easy to believe they understand and know each other's hearts better than anyone else and that Tinghui comes to view Ying Gua as safety and that he comes to trust her more than anyone else. Genuinely, they came to mean SO MUCH to me that I am trying to keep myself from crying as I write this out.
Now onto my ACTUAL complaints. I'm convinced someone in the crew or a producer or smth gets off to women being brutalized bc the violence towards women was so gratuitous. We get so much detail of baby Tinghui and A-Xiang's abuse; we see a graphic scene of a woman who was sex trafficked being tortured, the scene where two men attempt to rape Tinghui that feels like it lasts for an eternity, a lengthy scene where a woman is murdered... etc, etc. While I would argue that the show does have feminist leanings, these scenes just go to show that we are always filtered through a male lens first and a reminder that there are men out there who truly enjoy our suffering. My second big complaint is the Fuzhi x Zhishu romance... the show repeatedly stresses Fuzhi and Tinghui's relationship and how much they mean to each other in a way that hits a lot of romantic cues (i.e. the scene where Tinghui is planning to sacrifice herself to the villain in order to save Fuzhi after she was abducted) and there's even a scene when Fuzhi straight up gets dazed upon seeing a pretty woman, so she does read as a lesbian imo. The mere existence of Fuzhi x Zhishu comes off as an attempt to obfuscate the (imo unmistakable) GL vibes of her relationship with Tinghui, so it already inherently irritated me. But then Fuzhi x Zhishu decides to play into the "we want each other so bad that we just have to bicker bc we don't want to admit how we feel" bs that I despise and then the scene where she seems to realize her feelings for him is when he comes to her rescue after being traumatized (another trope I despise!) and then the first time she even voices an interest in him is when he manipulates her into visiting him by holding onto a permit she needs for her business LIKE GOD JUST THROW THIS SHIP IN THE TRASH. I can't believe most ppl view this "romance" as the best part of the show like we are still in the trenches!!! Also, one final complaint bc I feel wrong not mentioning it: I've seen accusations of the opening credits using AI and while I do not have the eye for discerning human art vs AI, it did have a very generic look that makes me feel like the potential that it is AI is greater than zero. And bc I couldn't shake the feeling that the opening credits might be AI, it made me worry about whether landscape shots were AI as well.... ugh I hate that creatives are jumping on board with this tech.
There's definitely more I could say, but as always I've written an already lengthy review so I'll leave it here.
TL;DR: Even with it's many flaws, I think Royal Betrothal is absolutely worth the watch.
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