Currently my kdrama intake (Romance is a bonus book, Crowned Clown, & The Last Empress) is interrupted by this really amazing, feminist, and complex Chinese drama called The Legend of Hao Lan. If you like flawed anti-heroes and anti-heroines, swoony AND dysfunctional romance, court politics done right, fab costume, and really confusing Chinese warring state history, this drama is for you! (I guess I revealed too much about myself with that description) Copy&paste with slight edit from my rant on soompi (there’s barely anyone watching and discussing on soompi or anywhere else, so here’s to hoping that my incoherent rant will get more beanies to watch!).

Note: this is NOT a harem drama. There are wars, politics, and women being boss in and out of the Inner Palace!

First off, this is a really feminist drama. The women in the show are constantly smarter than the men, and do not hesitate to use their brains and beauty for survival and desires. Even a “bad” character like Princess Ya has real moments of connecting with Hao Lan on the basis of being a woman in a shitty era. Hao Lan constantly asserts her own will in her decision, and always maintains a balanced view on gender equality. To her, being a strong woman doesn’t mean you have to lose your femininity or deny real physical differences between male and female. I just love all the discussions between the characters, male and female, about gender roles and the restrictions that women suffer in that era. Hao Lan said (I paraphrased): “I decided to love myself the most. So whether it’s Yiren, or Lu Bu Wei, if a man doesn’t treat me right, I’d leave.” That self-esteem and self-respect! This, in contrast with all the other women in the drama who let themselves ruin their lives for terrible men, is ever the more amazing. Not to say that one shouldn’t go all in for love, but a lot of these men really, really didn’t deserve it.

Second, both male leads in this drama are SO flawed (I mean, everyone in this drama is, but considering they’re the “main” roles, I find it fascinating that they’re neither “good” nor “bad”. They are both just men, often extraorinary in their abilities, know how to fight for what they want, are ruthless yet conflicted about it). I think everyone is on the Hao Lan – Lu Bu Wei ship, and it is a very compelling romance, but for some reason I really eat up the Hao Lan – Yiren romance. He’s so swoony! And a total puppy for her! I have this stupid smile on my face when I watch their scenes, only to become even giddier to find out later that Yiren is no less manipulative and cunning than Lu Bu Wei, even if in a different way. He made certain political choices that he knew would hurt her feelings, and then turned around to abandon everything political just for her. It’s so fascinating!

If I have any complaint, it would be…people die so often in this drama -_- don’t let yourself get attached to anyone but the three leads, I suppose! There’s literally no law and order anywhere, anything and everything is based on hearsay LOL Almost makes me want to write a fantasy palace drama where the from-the-future character brings a recording device to record everything everyone ever says! Maybe it will reduce the number of deaths!