24
117
7
PeachBlossomGoddess
Hong Kong
One step forward for mankind and two giant steps backwards for womankind.
This romanticized account of the life story of Xiao Yanyan, the accomplished Khitan Empress Chengtian (953-1009), gives voice to folk or unofficial history of her relationship with Han Derang. Wild history of their love affair survived over a thousand years and continues to fire the imagination of Chinese historians today.
Please be aware of mild spoilers ahead (unless you already know the history).
It is known that Xiao Yanyan, was once engaged to Han Derang, who was from an elite Han Chinese family loyal to the Khitan rulers. According to the drama (which is based on a novel), her father chancellor Xiao Siwen and Han Derang help Mingyi (Emperor Jingzong) ascend the throne. Mingyi is sickly and his hold onto power is thus unstable; many branches of the royal family vie for the throne. Mingyi insists on marrying Yanyan so that like both his main rivals who married Yanyan's older sisters, his wife is also of royal bloodline. This kind of ill fated romance has limited appeal to most romance watchers and is an unnecessary digression for most historical or political drama buffs.
Although I was primarily interested in the history, Tang Yan and Dou Xiao's portrayal of the young lovebirds captured my heart and I was devastated by their forced separation. But alas their chemistry fizzles out later on in the drama and leaves me unconvinced that they are soul mates whose love is as deep or as epic as folk history suggests. At face, the bare facts are tantalizing - he shores up her regency over her young son Emperor Shengzong; is her trusted confidante and is highly ranked in her court; they may even have married and had a child together and; he was likely buried besides her. But in their more mature personas, both characters just seem sad, tired and lonely and not long lost soul mates who finally have their moment in the sun. It does not help that Tang Yan appears to have an easier, more natural chemistry with Jing Chao's Mingyi. To make matters worse, there are no nuances or subtleties in Yanyan's interactions with Mingyi and Derang that suggests they mean different things to her, that her relationship with and affection for each of them is not the same.
Mingyi is the most layered, complex and interesting character in this drama and probably one of the best grey characters I have seen this year. Although I resent his manipulation, his selfishness, his obscene sense of entitlement and his disingenuous excuses for doing terrible things, I also grudgingly empathized with him and the monumental task in front of him. Jing Chao really delivers one of the most convincing portrayals of a sociopath emperor who has the audacity to steal his best friend's fiancé and yet demands and expects them to protect his legacy. Unfortunately although she delivers a few good scenes, Tang Yan fails to evoke a strong and powerful empress who can rule alongside and then after the emperor. She cannot hold onto her strong moments, just defaults back to her comfort zone of a very beautiful and feminine woman that is to be rescued and protected. Her attempts at gravitas just results in a cold, aloof empress that doesn't allow any sparks to fly; even when she is free to be with the alleged love of her life. To be fair Tang Yan was pregnant during the shooting and that put limits on her ability to do the more physically challenging scenes but she still did not have to be written to be so mopey and passive aggressive.
The other magnificently and effortless acted role is Sheh Szeman's Xiao Hunian who is everything and more of what I imagined Yanyan would be. Her portrayal of a strong, yet feminine woman who bows to duty without wallowing in self pity; who is a fierce, strategic warrior that stands up to the menacing Yansage; who does as she pleases and shows her displeasure as effectively in words as in action puts Tang Yan's meek and insipid performance to shame. When Hunian tells Han Derang that it was just a twist of fate, else she would be just as great an empress, that resonates because art imitates life; a younger Sheh Szeman would have conveyed an unforgettable Xiao Yanyan. I did not approve of how the writing undermines Hunian in the final arc - even though Sheh Szeman got more airtime and had some awesome scenes, it was just not the right thing to do to the character.
While this drama as a whole does not live up to my expectations, I found many parts of it to be riveting. The power struggles and the battle for the throne are well written and shot but the story peaks at the Yansage arc. The battle footage and strategies used to route the enemy in this arc are bloodthirsty and exciting but is too early for the climax of the drama. To some extent that cannot be helped as it is the correct sequence historically. That said, after the Yansage arc, the focus of the story should shift from internal strife to external strife rather than focus on a series of much weaker, rather pathetic attempts at coups by the least interesting characters in the drama. It does little more than to drive home how hard it is for a widowed empress to hold on to the throne as regent without a strong military backer. It does highlight Han Derang's contributions and achievements as the unsung hero and the true power behind the Liao throne.
To me this is a 7.5/8.0 but I am going with 7.5 because I expected to watch a drama about a woman warrior who chose her country over her true love and then went on to make Liao great so that her sacrifice would be worth something. Instead, I may as well have watched her get her revenge on Mingyi by doing nothing besides get fat on sweet cakes and having flings with stable boys. But I learned many things about Liao/Khitan culture, including that Khitan women were very equal and progressive - they can get divorced, remarry if widowed, lead armies, hold positions and even rule in court. Which is really ironic because Mingyi's legacy Han reforms that were among Yanyan and Han Derang's greatest achievements basically Sinicized the nomadic Liao people to their vast benefit in terms of agriculture, language, culture and administrative and legal systems. But it also set Liao women back thousands of years in terms of the status and freedom. So what our warrior empress really achieved was one step forwards for mankind and two giant steps backwards for womankind. Maybe Tang Yan's portrayal wasn't that far off...
Please be aware of mild spoilers ahead (unless you already know the history).
It is known that Xiao Yanyan, was once engaged to Han Derang, who was from an elite Han Chinese family loyal to the Khitan rulers. According to the drama (which is based on a novel), her father chancellor Xiao Siwen and Han Derang help Mingyi (Emperor Jingzong) ascend the throne. Mingyi is sickly and his hold onto power is thus unstable; many branches of the royal family vie for the throne. Mingyi insists on marrying Yanyan so that like both his main rivals who married Yanyan's older sisters, his wife is also of royal bloodline. This kind of ill fated romance has limited appeal to most romance watchers and is an unnecessary digression for most historical or political drama buffs.
Although I was primarily interested in the history, Tang Yan and Dou Xiao's portrayal of the young lovebirds captured my heart and I was devastated by their forced separation. But alas their chemistry fizzles out later on in the drama and leaves me unconvinced that they are soul mates whose love is as deep or as epic as folk history suggests. At face, the bare facts are tantalizing - he shores up her regency over her young son Emperor Shengzong; is her trusted confidante and is highly ranked in her court; they may even have married and had a child together and; he was likely buried besides her. But in their more mature personas, both characters just seem sad, tired and lonely and not long lost soul mates who finally have their moment in the sun. It does not help that Tang Yan appears to have an easier, more natural chemistry with Jing Chao's Mingyi. To make matters worse, there are no nuances or subtleties in Yanyan's interactions with Mingyi and Derang that suggests they mean different things to her, that her relationship with and affection for each of them is not the same.
Mingyi is the most layered, complex and interesting character in this drama and probably one of the best grey characters I have seen this year. Although I resent his manipulation, his selfishness, his obscene sense of entitlement and his disingenuous excuses for doing terrible things, I also grudgingly empathized with him and the monumental task in front of him. Jing Chao really delivers one of the most convincing portrayals of a sociopath emperor who has the audacity to steal his best friend's fiancé and yet demands and expects them to protect his legacy. Unfortunately although she delivers a few good scenes, Tang Yan fails to evoke a strong and powerful empress who can rule alongside and then after the emperor. She cannot hold onto her strong moments, just defaults back to her comfort zone of a very beautiful and feminine woman that is to be rescued and protected. Her attempts at gravitas just results in a cold, aloof empress that doesn't allow any sparks to fly; even when she is free to be with the alleged love of her life. To be fair Tang Yan was pregnant during the shooting and that put limits on her ability to do the more physically challenging scenes but she still did not have to be written to be so mopey and passive aggressive.
The other magnificently and effortless acted role is Sheh Szeman's Xiao Hunian who is everything and more of what I imagined Yanyan would be. Her portrayal of a strong, yet feminine woman who bows to duty without wallowing in self pity; who is a fierce, strategic warrior that stands up to the menacing Yansage; who does as she pleases and shows her displeasure as effectively in words as in action puts Tang Yan's meek and insipid performance to shame. When Hunian tells Han Derang that it was just a twist of fate, else she would be just as great an empress, that resonates because art imitates life; a younger Sheh Szeman would have conveyed an unforgettable Xiao Yanyan. I did not approve of how the writing undermines Hunian in the final arc - even though Sheh Szeman got more airtime and had some awesome scenes, it was just not the right thing to do to the character.
While this drama as a whole does not live up to my expectations, I found many parts of it to be riveting. The power struggles and the battle for the throne are well written and shot but the story peaks at the Yansage arc. The battle footage and strategies used to route the enemy in this arc are bloodthirsty and exciting but is too early for the climax of the drama. To some extent that cannot be helped as it is the correct sequence historically. That said, after the Yansage arc, the focus of the story should shift from internal strife to external strife rather than focus on a series of much weaker, rather pathetic attempts at coups by the least interesting characters in the drama. It does little more than to drive home how hard it is for a widowed empress to hold on to the throne as regent without a strong military backer. It does highlight Han Derang's contributions and achievements as the unsung hero and the true power behind the Liao throne.
To me this is a 7.5/8.0 but I am going with 7.5 because I expected to watch a drama about a woman warrior who chose her country over her true love and then went on to make Liao great so that her sacrifice would be worth something. Instead, I may as well have watched her get her revenge on Mingyi by doing nothing besides get fat on sweet cakes and having flings with stable boys. But I learned many things about Liao/Khitan culture, including that Khitan women were very equal and progressive - they can get divorced, remarry if widowed, lead armies, hold positions and even rule in court. Which is really ironic because Mingyi's legacy Han reforms that were among Yanyan and Han Derang's greatest achievements basically Sinicized the nomadic Liao people to their vast benefit in terms of agriculture, language, culture and administrative and legal systems. But it also set Liao women back thousands of years in terms of the status and freedom. So what our warrior empress really achieved was one step forwards for mankind and two giant steps backwards for womankind. Maybe Tang Yan's portrayal wasn't that far off...
Was this review helpful to you?
