Court Lady (2021)

Karma is a Court Lady.

Billed as a love story between a reformed rake Sheng Chumu and a court lady Fu Rou, this is really an opulent tragicomedy about the succession turmoil that plagued the latter years of Li Shimin/Tang Taizong's reign. It is a surprisingly empathetic and riveting portrayal of the greatest Tang emperor's disappointing and much reviled crown prince Li Chengqian. It strikes me that his story is what the writer really set out to tell; all the other parallel sub-plots are much more indifferently written.

The way the drama is promoted as Fu Rou and Sheng Chumu's love story is misleading and misinforms audience expectations. Yes, I know how adorable they look together but their story is rather pedestrian and is not the main meal so they end up spending an incredible amount of time apart. Neither character has free will and their romance does not drive the narrative; it is in fact subordinated to and frustrated by the main succession plot. That is necessary as these two main parallel, interlocking plots are related primarily from Fu Rou's perspective as a court lady or official 女官 with close access to the workings of the inner palace and the imperial family's private moments.

Although Fu Rou is the eponymous character with the most screen time, this is a cardboard character that is made worse by Li Yitong's anodyne, colourless portrayal. Fu Rou is pretty much superwoman - an incredibly talented, resourceful and daring fixer who finds herself in the middle of every palace conflict large and small. She comes to the aid of anyone that appeals to her bleeding heart, taking on matters well above her pay grade. She has the temerity to lecture and chastise anyone and everyone from lowly palace servants to the emperor himself!  I would have loved this character to death if she had a bit of a dark side, an odd hobby or even some tiny flaw like picking her nose in public or something, anything. But no, Fu Rou is a suffocating paragon of virtue, moral rectitude and forgiveness; who genuinely believes that good deeds begets positive karma that pays off in the long run. But if karma is a bitch, then her title is court lady because there are heinous, irreversible and tragic unintended consequences to Fu Rou's meddling and her indiscriminate assistance to wicked people. Due to editing/censorship issues, we never get see Fu Rou reflect upon the folly and irony of her interventions or experience any sense of remorse or regret. Thus there is no character development and by the end Fu Rou to me is just a vapid, righteous prig of a character that I most resent - poor Chumu is so much better off remaining Changán's most notorious playboy.

In sharp contrast, Xu Kai's Chumu is a much more engaging, funny, relatable and outside of a lapse in the middle; a smart character that undergoes tremendous growth. It is a pity he gets so little screen time because he has a wonderful ability to just casually infuse a moment with comic relief. The comical antics of the gruffly hilarious Sheng Xianjing, Chumu, Chuling (shout out to the very funny Kris Fan), the gamine Princess Xinnan and Prince Han go a long way toward diffusing the dark undertones to the drama. Nothing made me laugh harder than Princess Xinnan balancing those dastardly bowls. Unfortunately the denizens of the inner palace and especially Fu Rou and Prince Zhou are humorlessly written and portrayed, resulting in some stifling and overly angsty inner palace arcs and a notable darkening of the overall mood in the second half.

With five or six couples, there is at surface a lot of romance in this drama but they are mostly flawed, complex and maddening relationships. This is due to the surfeit of unsavory, corrupt and chauvinistic male characters, from stalkers to lechers and murderers who simply cannot take no for an answer and lame brained female characters willing to indulge their flaws. As a result, most of the ships are leaky and not seaworthy enough to survive stormy seas. These messy, disturbing love-hate relationships are not consistently well written and there are arguably too many of them. That said, these characterizations are compatible with the times and the illogical pairings seem to curiously "work". They are certainly far more interesting than the usual lighthearted and fluffy standard fare of secondary romances.

The main appeal of this drama for me is Li Shimin, Tang Taizong's succession story, which I feel is what this drama is really about and it is compellingly portrayed. For a fictionalized account that takes a fair amount of literary license, it captures the essence of the main historical figures and remains astonishingly true to the important events of the day. The one dark stain in Li Shimin's history was the Xuanwu Gate Incident, where he personally killed both his brothers from the same mother and forced his father to abdicate in his favor. He went on to be a benevolent and revered emperor, one of the greatest in history. This drama is set in his twilight years as history appears to be on the brink of repeating itself. It is an intimate, at times a scathing expose on the insufferable privilege of imperialism and at times a compassionate account of how impotent, conflicted and utterly terrified this emperor and his beloved empress must have felt as they watch their sons at each others throats. In all the moments that count within this main arc, the writing holds up although towards the end when everything comes together, it is quite obvious that some scenes were lost to censorship.

The most phenomenal, multi-faceted and evocative performance that stands out among an absolutely fabulous cast is Li Zefeng's portrayal of the crown prince. I find it unfathomable that I have not noticed this actor before. He starts out as the highly regarded crown prince, showing so much promise and closely allied with his brother Prince Han. But he is slowly cracking under the immense pressure of being crown prince under the exacting eye of his father and the court and constantly measured up against his other talented brothers. The acting was so good I could understand why he sought refuge in frivolous pursuits and why he needed Chenji. I was surprised by how openly and sympathetically their taboo relationship is explored. It is the relationship that moved me the most, I grieved with him when it ended and I could see how he unraveled and gave in to his worst instincts. Prince Han is the other well written and well acted role. It is tragically comical how their sibling rivalry blew them up and I love how their bond is depicted with a multitude of emotions and a good dose of irony and humor.

I enjoyed this gorgeous and expensive production quite a bit although the story is quite dark and there are too many distracting sub plots and frustrating characters. Although the writing is at times lazy, fantastic acting by the veteran cast more than makes up for it. But it is definitely not the kind of story most viewers thought they would be watching when they picked this up and it definitely will not appeal to everyone. I enjoyed it enough to give it an 8.0 and would probably rate it quite a bit higher if they had diminished Fu Rou's role.

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Lots of Actions, Frustrating Relationships

Recently, there have been multiple historical dramas set during the reign of Emperor Tang Taizong (626 – 649): “The Long Ballad” is set when Li Shimin (Emperor Tang Taizong) came to power whereas “Weaving a Tale of Love” is set at the end of Li Shimin’s reign and the beginning reign of his son, Li Zhi (Emperor Tang Gaozong). This drama is set in between those two periods with events that lead to the abdication of the first crown prince and the coronation of Li Zhi as the crown prince.

Fu Rou (Li Yi Tong) is the daughter of a wealthy businessman. She is intelligent, well-bred and strategic with a mind that can instantly come up with win-win solutions. When Sheng Chu Mu (Xu Kai) meets her, he falls head over toes in love with her. Sheng Chu Mu’s father is a general serving the Emperor, and Sheng Chu Mu is pampered and spoilt by his mother and older sister who is married to Prince Han, making him a good-for-nothing flamboyant playboy. To get Fu Rou’s love, he vows to better himself, both academically and martially (military). What takes normally years to accomplish, Sheng Chu Mu turbocharges his accomplishments in weeks, if not days, for Sheng Chu Mu is not a normal person - he’s a genius. How he accomplishes his academic and martial prowess is similar to Gump in “Forest Gump”; it is really hilarious, cute and cartoonish. By the middle of the drama, he loses his youthful tomfoorlery and the drama turns rather serious and dark with outrageous actions and events.

Both Fu Rou and Sheng Chu Mu love their families and siblings, especially the latter. He has adorable relationships with his parents and his siblings. Their dynamics are really funny and enjoyable to watch. As Sheng Chu Mu, Xu Kai brings out his adorable charisma. He is egoistic and at the same time, self-deprecates. He is playful, shameless and babyish, but when the situation is dire, he instantly becomes the fearsome and formidable general; he’s the hero who saves the day. Though unrealistic, his scenes are hilarious and I really enjoy watching them.

Li Yi Tong is a natural beauty. Her Fu Rou character is stoic and calm, and she always sticks to the book. I can’t say I like the Fu Rou character very much because I find her too inflexible though this is necessary to maintain law and order in the palace, and to safeguard herself and those she cares. At times, I find it stressful watching Fu Rou for her saintly endurance of mistreatment. Multiple times Sheng Chu Mu and Fu Rou break up and then make up, only to break up again. It is really frustrating for the viewers.

Overall acting by the whole cast is fabulous. Each actor has totally immersed himself/herself into his/her character and it shows in their acting. Every minute emotion and expression is captured. Most characters are black and white except perhaps one or two who are greyish and the actors have brought all the personalities out on the screen.

Everyone seems to be in love. Apart from our main couple, we have Han Wang or Prince of Han (Liu En Shang) and his wife (Sheng Chu Mu’s sister), Princess Xin Nan and Sheng Chu Ling (Kris Fan), the Crown Prince and his wife, the Emperor and the Empress, and so on (you get what I mean). And quite a few lose their virginity before marriage. My favorite female character is perhaps Lu Ying Ying (He Rui Xian). She comes from a powerful and corrupt family with murderous father and brother, and yet she is kind, strong and truthful. Her only fault is for being born to a power-crazy father who has no mercy for others. Multiple times she is thrown into disarray yet she takes it in stride with dignity. Her ending, including the endings for some very well loved characters, is sad and undeserving. Most other characters end either with rewards for their good deeds or retribution for their misdeeds. Having said that, despite all the misdeeds by our antagonists, their punishments are not shown explicitly to satisfy the viewers, and are just skimmed over with.

My Verdict

This is a historical fantasy with a superman who saves the kingdom and the world. A lot of the actions by the leads are over exaggerated. It is intriguing and funny, and the pace is fast. Apart from the Emperor and his princes, most of the characters are fictional and the events are not based on historical records. The writing for the endings of many supporting cast is quite lazy, with many being dropped off like flies – they are dead, and some don’t even have endings, leaving viewers wondering what has happened to these characters. The editing of some episodes are also choppy and incoherent.

Despite these short-comings, this drama is still very entertaining, and I have really enjoyed the Sheng Chu Mu character as he reminds me of "Forrest Gump" which is one of my favorite movies. As long as viewers do not take this drama seriously, it is rather a fun watch.

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