This was only the second Asian drama I ever saw. My first Asian drama was Yunxi Palace, and I definitely enjoyed it enough to see what else was out there, so I came across this one, and I binged it. Now that I have seen countless C Dramas, this one seems like nothing special, but at the time when I first watched this one, I was absolutely entranced by it all. The cinematography, sometimes I forget that some C Dramas are live-action, just because of the colour editing, outrageous physicality (flying, etc), and the manicured authentics (skin blurring, elaborate wigs, prosthetics, etc). It's all so out of this world, that in my mind, I think of it like watching an animated series.

Anyway, I had nothing to compare Princess Silver with at the time, so I was completely absorbed by watching and learning about C Drama culture: blood spitting, mask-wearing, Chinese royalty, flying around, love triangle, and most of all, the fight scenes. I had never seen fight scenes like these. I still remember the fight scene where the ML flung the FL around whilst taking out the bad guys with the Go game pieces. The fight scene where the SML takes out bad guys with a boat paddle. These look like dance choreography, indeed, they have an element of dance choreography to them, and the colours!! The blue-themed daylight fight scene, and the black-themed night fight scene.

This is a melodrama. There is tons of blood-spitting, revenge, jealousy, over-the-top plot points. The SML stole the show, despite him being given crappy dialogue, he was the only rounded character in the whole thing, and of course, having not only suffered the most, but also having done the most for the FL, she remains cold and dismissive towards him and chooses the ML. Not that the SML was perfect in any way (except looks), but he wasn't arrogant like the ML, and he was a character that wanted to be a good person, but was thwarted at every turn. The FL was middle-of-the-road in terms of both characterisation and acting. Not a doormat FL at least, which was good. The ML is just an immature and arrogant character with no interesting qualities and although he was meant to be a warm character, in contrast to the SML's stoic character, the actor portraying him had no acting skills to apply to make him interesting in any way. Ironically, the SML, who was meant to be a stoic character, was the only charcter that displayed a range of emotions.

The scene/ plot point that was the most problematic to me, was when the SFL essentially raped the SML by pretending to be the FL. This wasn't a big deal to the script writer, since the SFL is still seen as a perpetual victim that the audience must feel sorry for, but this was a bridge too far (and that's saying something about a melodrama!). We later learn that the main antagonist of the entire plot had been raped by the king and father of most of the male protagonists, so rape was the reason for the entire revenge plot, and subsequent death of the only interesting characters. Interesting duality that rape is no big deal if it happens to a male character. The SFL not only rapes the SML, but afterwards, also attempts to kill the FL and frame the SML for her death. The SFL was just as wicked of a character as the main antagonist, and the SML shouldn't have had to die for her.

So, in conclusion, I didn't hate this drama because I had a good time watching it, in all its absurdity. It is a kitchen-sink melodrama C drama, and certainly not worth viewing if you are looking for a good story, with strong performances and good dialogue.

But if you are looking for a guilty pleasure C drama with gorgeous costumes, fight choreography, and a SML to gawk at, then give it a try.

If you want an actually good costume drama, not just a guilty pleasure one, then watch, "A Dream of Splendor", or "The Longest Day in Chang'an".