White girl watches cdrama: introduction and overview
or, I Wasn't Even Supposed To Be Here Today
Basically, I am a very boring person when it comes to media; usually I would rather reread something I love than try something new and hip, most movies and TV don't interest me, I never could warm up to graphic novels or anime. Anything in the Realistic Contemporary genre goes directly in the bin unless there's a really good hook (if I wanted to see that shit, I'd leave my house). HOWEVER at the start of 2024 I was desperate for an escapism binge For Some Reason and my friend H and I latched on to the first tropetastic costume drama Netflix pitched at us.
The costume drama bit is key; again, I do not need any more of the modern world than I am forced to deal with by virtue of living in it. And I don't know if you've noticed this, but most Western costume dramas these days fall into two categories: 1) gritty dung ages, 2) high school drama but everyone's wearing haute couture ballgowns or some nonsense. (I'm talking to you, Emerald.)
Now I'm not going off the orientalist deep end and claiming that Asian film is soooo much more meaningful or whatever, because ROFL. I'm just finding that this particular genre of cdrama scratches an itch that nothing currently airing in English can reach. So. Current protocol is that H and I marathon whatever takes our fancy, and if we make it all the way to the end we then inflict it on rewatch it with our friend N.
The Double (2023)
We settled on this for two reasons: it was the Hot New Thing on Netflix at the time, and it billed itself essentially as being created in a lab expressly to devour my brain. Identity shenanigans? check. Female rage? check. Spyjinks? check. Bickersons? check.
My very favorite thing about The Double, though, is the character development. Everyone has a backstory that makes sense of their behavior, even Princess Wanning (Li Meng), who initially seemed too evil to be true. (She's actually just evil enough to be true.) Some people start sympathetic, and promptly let you down; some people start sympathetic and only get better from there. Some are unsympathetic when you meet them, and then grow and change; some just keep doubling down for all forty episodes. It's a story where people are very much defined by the choices they make, rather than the role they fill or whatever the plot happens to demand.
It's not perfect; there are a couple unnecessary deaths that aggravate me, and a couple of "really? do we gotta?" stereotypes, and a weirdly tacked-on finale that really plays like the writers had fifteen minutes left and hadn't quite filled their PLOT TWIST!!! quota. But overall it's just a really excellent, feelsy, thoughtful show and I love it forever.
Story of Pearl Girl (2024)
This was the next hottest and next newest thing on Netflix, and we went into it with an open mind; after all, The Double was going to be a hard act to follow no matter what we picked. And… well, it wasn't bad.
It started strong, with the titular pearl girl attempting various complicated schemes and improbable feats in an effort to free herself and her girlfriend friend from the pearl mines, having highly charged encounters with two prospective pearl buyers, and generally being scrappy and lovable. But then she actually made it out, and things started to go downhill.
Largely this was due to Buyer #1, Yan Zijing (Liu Yuning), who is presented as a mysterious merchant captain with a mysterious disability, mysteriously interested in the escaped pearl diver… who he treats like crap. Consistently. For episode after episode, with no explanation beyond "I've arbitrarily decided she's lying and that means I don't have be fair to her".
This did not endear him to us. Look, I get that some people think selfish abrasive shitlords are liek sooo smexy for some reason, but I am not among them and neither is H. I did a quick internet check, determined that this asshat (rather than Buyer #2 the Posh But Kind Scholar) was indeed supposed to be our Romantic Hero, and we bailed.
("But if you watch the whole thing he's actually—" Cool, don't care. He had his chance.)
Kill Me Love Me (2024)
I am still mad about this one.
We'd enjoyed one revenge drama starring Wu Jinyan, so we decided to try another. And first of all I have to say that Kill Me Love Me is, hands down, the most VISUALLY DAZZLING show I've about ever seen. The color work! The cinematography! The sets! The costumes! Absolutely goddamn gorgeous. Second of all, it's impossible not to fall in love not only with Wu's character Meilin, but also with her friend Princess Zigu (Huang Riying), an Utter Cinnamon Roll who's also brave as hell and cute as a whole box of buttons, and whose first notable act is to defend Meilin from the weird bullying of the male lead, despite her own visible terror. I would die for Zigu.
Anyway, in a lot of ways this is a fantastic show, until about halfway through it throws Meilin's storyline into a woodchipper, along with the established characterization of both her love interests. Because why have an interesting relationship arc when you can undermine the heroine's agency for some overdone manpain, amirite? H was livid, and we dropped it for over a month, then decided to give it another chance only for the bullshit to escalate into outright character assassination. Hell with it.
Unveil: Jadewind (2026)
As H says, "it's a revenge drama, and a procedural mystery AND a really really good romance", and she might have added "with the most BANGIN' opening theme you ever heard in your life". It is also about power and corruption and patriarchy and how to punch them all in the snoot and survive to heal from your trauma. There's quite a lot of violence, including sexual violence, but also a lot of righteous smackdowns, so.
Also also, it stars Wang Xingyue — half my age, stupidly beautiful, ridiculously talented, previously seen in The Double — in a very different but equally delightful mode. Also also also, the crocodile is not a metaphor.
Story of Kunning Palace (2023)
This one was widely recommended, had several cast members we'd enjoyed watching before, and a mildly interesting reincarnation premise. What we got was a confusing prologue, a weird and gratuitous modern-day interlude that was apparently jammed in to pacify the Chinese censors, and then several episodes of… not very much, mostly an unconvincing love triangle and a lot of agonizing on the heroine's part.
Alas, the designated Male Lead, Xie Wei (Zhang Linghe), is what the fankids on mydramalist call "a red flag" and what I would describe as "a boring asshole". (Not Zhang's fault — see below; the writing in general was not compelling.)
Pursuit of Jade (2026)
We are halfway through this one, which just finished airing. (Marriage of convenience! Ordinary daily life! Weird little girls! Geopolitics! Designed in a lab to devour H's brain!) If it doesn't pull a KMLM and betray us in the third act, this is gonna be another favorite.
Honorable mention goes to Babysitter (2025), which seems very cute and enjoyable, just WAY sillier than we were in the mood for. We are saving the rest for a rainy day.