Ni Angie was also super silly and naïve, although very physically capable. I appreciated that she could take care of herself, knowing a host of martial arts, gunplay, how to ride a motorcycle, etc. I thought the actress playing Angie (Eugenie Liu) was utterly charming and so cute. She was instantly likable, and I applaud her for portraying such a wild character that both had a fangirl room covered in posters and photos of her celebrity crush and could also consistently dump people off the side of a huge bridge into freezing cold water. It’s a fine balance.
Angie runs away and becomes an undercover bodyguard because her father was pushing an arranged marriage with another triad family. I get that. But she runs straight into the arms of the handsome Xu Yi Hang (played by Jasper Liu). It wasn’t a typical hate-to-love romance, as she was already a superfan of his before they even met. But the romance was QUICK.
They have full-on sex by episode 4, and with each episode clocking in at just 40 minutes instead of an hour, it felt like we were missing a whole chunk of their relationship. Any other person would also say that Yi Hang was underdeveloped as a character. He’s certainly attractive, well-regarded as an actor, ambitious with wanting to become a screenwriter and director, and loves elephants. It felt like we were told all of these things instead of shown. Show and not tell!
The romance reminded me of the one from 500 Days of Summer a bit, especially the part where Rachel preaches, “Just because she likes the same bizzaro crap you do doesn’t mean she’s your soul mate.” That’s exactly how their romance played out! He loves elephants; she loves elephants. He loves gangster movies; she’s a wealth of knowledge about gangsters. He loves playing that DDR knockoff game; she’s already played through the entire thing. She supports his dreams of writing/directing and enjoys his screenplay, no questions asked.
It wasn’t the most believable, but it was certainly nice to look at. Angie was played so earnestly, that you can speed past the whole romance and be left with a warm feeling regardless. It was definitely cute to see his nervousness when he asks her to be his girlfriend.
Now, he totally implodes his awesome new romance when he lies at the press conference about there being any relationship between him and Angie. ::record scratch:: The reason he throws Angie under the bus is because the violently reactive agent/manager Sophia Kwang shows him a slew of hate comments on the Internet and threatens him that paparazzi will relentlessly troll Angie once their relationship goes public. Huh? You mean to say he had NO IDEA that Angie would be maligned by the media and by frenzied antis? It calls into question how he could possibly be a celebrity for so long (at one point even saying that they’ve been working toward this since he was a teenager!)?
Angie does give a rousing little line during the entire debacle: “I feel that misdeeds and misfortunes make up our whole story.” And that’s certainly a thought. Bad times certainly give meaning to the good times.
Points given to the show for its heavy use of profanity, and the (at times hilarious) gay romance between Ding Ding (Angie’s BFF) and Lin Gui (her gangster confidante). Also, Ling Yun, apparently the only other actress at this talent agency, had a dirty past that she wanted to keep secret—including a time when she was a drug addict and had a son with a douchey ex-lover. I loved that scene where she’s on location filming as a rough-looking druggie and then breaking down before the director yells cut. It nearly outshone the whole dang show with how dramatic it was!
With a grand total of six episodes, the show deigned to insert a short epilogue with a reveal that Angie’s Hong Kong triad fiancé is in cahoots with Ling Yun’s douchey ex-lover. The cliffhanger of our lovers meeting at the airport right before Angie escapes to Hong Kong and the implication that her fiancé is evil, this show is no doubt going to have a season 2. I just don’t know if it’d be any good.
Did you see Triad Princess? Tell me your thoughts in the comments below!
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