Princess Agents (2017)

Don’t dread the ending, enjoy the journey!

Princess Agents has most definitely been my favorite drama of 2017. I have been waiting for a long time to write this review and many a times I almost gave into the urge to gush about it to everyone but unlike some impatient little boogers, I decided to wait for the drama to completely air first. I'm glad I did.

Even though, Princess Agent's story remained interesting from start to finish, it was the cast and characters that were the essence of the show.
Everyone who knows me, knows that I for one have a lot of love for my lady badasses and Chu Qiao was the definition of a badass. She was brilliant, witty, an excellent fighter, loyal to the bone and fully determined in her beliefs. Nobody could boss her around and she always stuck to what she thought was right. Watching Zhao Zanilia on-screen has always been a pleasure. She's such a versatile actress and her effortless elegance along with her sincere charisma never fails to make her acting seem extremely natural. I loved Chu Qiao so much and her fighting scenes always blessed me with these unexpected bursts of adrenaline rush that left me jumping around in excitement.

One thing I absolutely hate in Chinese dramas are the robotic and emotionless male leads that are perfect in every way and while, YuWen Yue started off as being cold and aloof, he soon began to win hearts with his unadulterated devotion towards our girl. He's someone who's not afraid to express his honest feelings and show his vulnerable side and that is what made him so endearing. Lin Geng Xin put out the acting of his life and was able to easily deliver YWY's innermost emotions without having to do much. The chemistry between Chu Qiao and YWY was simply electric.
Princess Agents was Kung Fu made sexy and these two characters communicated their every feeling with it. Every time these two were in a room together the temperature rose a few considerable degrees until everything felt hotter and a lot more sensual.

However, even though I was wholeheartedly rooting for YuWen Yue, my love for Yan Xun wasn't insignificant in any way. Dou Shawn brought to life, with his stunning acting, an unforgettable character. His transition from a reckless, know-no-better, kind-hearted prince to a cruel and blinded by vengeance duke was heart breaking. No matter what he did, it was so hard to truly hate Yan Xun because he was a man shaped by the scars of his life; someone slowly losing grasp of the humanity that defined him and it was all just such a shame. With his sharp eyes and an even sharper jawline Yan Xun slayed the hearts of the viewers without even trying.

Normally, I despise love triangles. Primarily because I'm almost always more inclined towards one of the male leads and then all the romantic scenes with the other just piss me off. However, deciding between Yan Xun and Yuwen Yue was such a hard thing to do because they were both fully committed towards their love for Chu Qiao. Whenever my heart was cheering one of them on, there came fluttering a scene with the other man that melted by insides. Chu Qiao had significant history and a strong bond with both of them and by the end of the show, I was almost praying for YX to mess up in some way so she could go to YWY.

Another actress whose work needs to be commended is Li Qin. She played the role of the extremely annoying, holier than thou, too stupid to live princess and played it in such a way that she was still tolerable till the end. Chun'er, time and time again made me want to bang my head with the wall. Not only was she extremely naive and selfish, she always ended up making a tragedy out of herself. She had everybody bend over backwards to save her worthless ass from her own mistakes and then she chose to blame others for her failures. All of her schemes always failed and it ended in her being utterly humiliated. So it was only because of the brilliant acting that by the end of the show the watchers still harbored some sympathy for her. Li Qin is undeniably talented and her portrayal of some scenes often left me open mouthed.

Backed by stunning visuals, a hauntingly good soundtrack and a gripping plot-line, Princess Agents was a treat throughout. It had me waking up at 7 am every morning because I wanted to see the new episode as soon as the subs were released. It had me watching entire episodes in raw form just because I was too impatient to know what happened next and it had me wishing away my weekends because I had no episode to look forward to then.

All in all, this review clearly shows how much I loved this drama so you must be wondering why then, did I not give it a solid 10? That is where we address the elephant in the room. Up until most of the show, I was willing to give it a 10 without a second thought and then came the outrageous ending.

The drama ends with the worst cliff hanger in Asian Drama history with absolutely nothing resolved. It's like the thing that you've been looking forward to throughout 67 episodes finally appears and when everything is at its peak, the show ends and your celebratory moment is snatched away from you. However, it would've been all okay if a second season with the same cast had been confirmed. Then this horribly disappointing finale would've been converted to a powerful episode that filled one with anticipation for the next season but that is not the case. The news for the second season is muddy at best and there's a high chance that the actors for the show will be changed out.

That is what makes millions of viewers so angry and devastated because this seems like a huge injustice. A disrespect to the drama, the actors who worked their ass off and the viewers who had been wholly attached to the story. What we wanted was closure but instead it was like we were handed the short end of the stick. The last few episodes were filled with unnecessary filler trash and the writers cramped everything into the finale, shoved all of it under a rug and dusted their hands with it.

This is the reason why this show could have been something phenomenal but ended up having its head cut off due to poorly planned decisions made on the behalf of the Princess Agent's team. Just like in the show the foul actions of an insecure King ruined the lives of many, the reckless actions of the drama creators eradicated many hopes.

I myself felt betrayed. The ending was like a personal offense and all the hours invested into the drama suddenly felt wasted. In that moment I wanted to give it a 4/10 rating out of rage, which is why I completely understand the low reviews and the hate comments. Once you see the ending, slowly you start to judge the entire show and downplay everything about it. All the things that seemed so great before, start to leave a sour taste in the mouth. However while I understand it, doesn't mean I would do the same myself because even if I had known beforehand the way it was going to end, I would have still chosen to watch the show. Because upon further thinking I realized that for me being on this journey with these amazing characters and creating a bond with all of them, alone was a great experience and discrediting the whole show just because of the ending seemed unfair.

So if you're considering watching it, don't dread the result rather enjoy the process.

Good Luck!

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Could have, would have, and should have been epic but just isn't.

This drama's thrilling opening had me on the edge of my seat with my heart in my throat. It is one helluva start that brilliantly sets the stage for the backstory. We are immediately transported to ancient Wei, a wicked, immoral, debauched kingdom where the dissipated nobility hunt slaves for sport. Our titular character Xing'er/Chu Qiao is no ordinary slave she is a superhero; assassin, gladiator, warrior and survivor. Her courage and fiery fighting spirit draws the interest of many suitors including her owner and spymaster Yuwen Yue, Yanbei hostage prince Yan Xun, Prince Yuan Song of Wei and Prince Xiao Ce of Liang. If not for the fact that she pulls her weight when it comes to the rescuing, this would sound absurdly Mary Sue. As it turns out, the most powerful men across three rival kingdoms simply have a death wish and are fatally attracted to dangerous, irascible and bad-ass women. Recognising her indomitable spirit and lethal fighting ability, Yuwen Yue trains her to be a top notch spy and assassin.

I enjoyed every moment of the first half of this drama - despite some discontinuity in the editing, the plot is intriguing, the characters are flawed and complex, it moves at a fast pace and the fight scenes are powerful and exhilirating. The chemistry between Zhao Liying and Lin Gengxin is off the charts and their supercharged one on one fight scenes are hot, hot, hot. The way Yuwen Yue grooms her, her gratitude and resentment and the push and pull attraction between them and their strong personalities results in a highly combustible build-up in passion between them. I just love how his eyes reveal how vulnerable he is, his grumpy sullen glower conveys his displeasure at being enslaved by his slave while the tiniest wry smile suggests a sense of acceptance and humor about it. The fierce answering spark in Xing'er's fiery eyes and her combative, resentful stance is a dead giveaway as to who this spitfire also most unwillingly longs for. I believe she would never have left with Yan Xun if her pride had not been so wounded at the thought she was nothing more than a lean mean killing machine to Yuwen Yue.

I have always considered Zhao Liying a vastly overrated, creepy life sized LOL doll with her gigantic head and eyes. This drama has given me a newfound appreciation for her acting skills and commanding screen presence. Her fight scenes are phenomenal and it is obvious that she immersed herself in this fabulous, kick-ass role of a fearless heroine with a big heart and bold dreams. It is hard to pull off the typical cold male lead well but Lin Gengxin effortlessly depicts the iceberg that conceals a dormant volcano. It is such a waste that his masterful articulation of such a complex and interesting character does not get nearly enough screen time. With one glaring weak link, this boasts an all star cast with complex, interesting and funny supporting characters with Xiao Ce (Deng Lun), Yue Qi and Yang Song being my favourites.

After peaking near the middle with a barbarous, heart wrenching massacre that results in irreversible divisions, the plot digresses into a long winded, meandering, melodramatic and ultimately trite tale of revenge as the focus shifts to the second leads Yan Xun and Chun'er. They are parallel selfish and amoral characters who go off the rails albeit for good reason and become consumed by hate and revenge. Although Li Qin does a fantastic job making a delusional, entitled and spoilt princess somewhat empathetic, the character Chun'er is not smart or interesting enough to command the amount of screen time she got and in so many gratuitous sub-plots. Xing'er/Chu Qiao's character is thrown under the bus in these arcs where she is dumbed down, stagnates and even regresses on several fronts when she excuses Yan Xun's misdeeds and lies at the cost of many lives. Like Chun'er she closes both eyes to the fact that Yan Xun sold her an empty dream and is nothing but a selfish, heartless prick with no game plan, is of mediocre ability and has no vision.

Yan Xun is a well written, complex and interesting antagonist. It is hinted from the beginning that he is innately selfish and quite manipulative, traits that rule him after the loss he experiences. This has to be said - this role however was badly miscast and that is why the drama pretty much implodes in the second half, from the moment Yan Xun takes centerstage. Shawn Dou is a blank actor that never compelled me because underneath the surface of his toothy, million dollar smile, there is not much to him. He can only pull off easy going, laid back two dimensional good guy roles and from his blank placid gaze it is clear he never really gets deep into character, he is the epitome of still waters run shallow. They would have been way better off sticking a Darth Vader mask over him rather than to inflict the wooden, constipated expression he wore for over half the damn drama on us. And the annoying sibilant "dark" whisper that became his voice made him the first male character I have ever been tempted to mute in a c-drama. To me, there is no believable triangle in this drama because there is zero spark between him and Zhao Liying. Put against an intensely masculine actor like Lin Gengxin, Shawn Dou's utter lack of sex appeal (男人味) is painfully obvious. I don't mean to offend his fans but this is too important a role that got way too much screen time to have been so poorly cast. I struggled to complete this drama because I lost all interest in the Yanbei arcs and the last few episodes are simply incoherent.

I was well warned that this drama has the worst open ending ever. The problem is that unlike The Rise of Phoenixes, it is not just about one bad ending episode. This drama starts to sink from about the halfway point where my intriguing historical spy / assassin drama turns into yet another boring revenge drama and my strong female allows her dreams to be subsumed by someone else's agenda. The only reason I didn't drop this is the remarkable chemistry between Yuwen Yue and Xing'er. I am reading the book (which is long but riveting) so I know their story does go on and the portrayal of both characters are quite faithful to the novel. Many much more interesting sub-plots didn't play out because they wasted 15-20 episodes on the most boring Yan Xun and Chun'er. Sadly the odds of this ever being completed with the original cast are low.

This drama could have, would have, and should have been epic but it just isn't. All it is is unfinished. Thus I rate the first few arcs 9.0/9.5 but the second half is at best a 5.5/6.0. My overall score is 7.5 which I consider generous. This is one that must be watched with adjusted expectations.

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