An unscrupulous general forces young bandit Changle to take his daughter’s place when the latter decides to commit suicide rather than marry Crown Prince Li Che. In spite of their differences, the young couple grow closer.
Surprising Dynamics
I started Fake Princess for the female protagonist, and was absolutely not disappointed. This drama is really the one in which the women fly to the rescue of their men, and let me tell you that it feels so good. Changle’s smart, resourceful, competent, and is often the one to pull people out of a tight spot by thinking ahead. I loved seeing her show up at the last minute with a clever plan to save Li Che.
All the same, it was also fantastic to see Nongying destroy assassins while her man Gongsun Mo could only lie still and watch as she saved his life.
To Each Their Own
Which is not to say that the men of the show are incompetent or useless, because, with one exception I’ll get back to later, they’re really not. In fact, they have their very own skills, which happen to be very different in nature from their ladyloves’.
Two Beautiful Love Stories…
Overall, what Fake Princess has to offer is beautiful relationships between people who are equally competent and complementary, and I adore that. Li Che and Changle’s love and mutual trust was a joy to witness, especially with all the cute moments they had to offer, while Nongying and Gongsun Mo, even if they took longer to get there, had a beautiful dynamic, too.
…and the Sleeping Pills of a Lifetime
Contrary to what one could expect, Gongsun Mo and Nongying are not, in fact, the secondary couple. No, that extremely undeserved honor goes to Li Che’s insufferable brother Li Heng, and boring noblelady Zhu Yan. It only took a few scenes of them together for me to start falling asleep as soon as they showed up on screen. Their story was sleep-inducing for the simple reason that they’re both completely insipid, and that the prince, on top of being a doormat, clearly doesn’t know how to use his brain—provided he does have one.
This couple should have been switched with Gongsun Mo and Nongying.
All in All…
In spite of a few genre-typical faults such as uneven pacing, useless characters and editing oddities, Fake Princess is a fun and easy watch thanks to two lovely love stories, competent female characters and nice bromance.
Title: Fake Princess
Country: China
Starring: Zhao Yi Qin, Yu Kai Xin (Eleanor Lee), Chen Si Yu, Wang Yi Tian, Zhang Jia Wei
Aired: 05/17/2020 to 06/01/2021
Number of episodes: 27
Genres: Romance, Politics, Comedy
My Rating: ★★★☆☆
Leave a Reply