Princess Agents

Princess Agents is a historical action-adventure series, or low fantasy, if you will. It is based on a novel, and begins in the Chinese capital Changan (Xian), sometime around 300-500 AD. At the time it aired, it was the most popular Chinese fantasy series ever. It has several story arcs, and countless subplots, but can roughly be summarized as the escape of the slave girl Chu Qiao.

Among the secondary characters in the first episodes, we have the playful Yan Xun, a hostage prince from a vassal state, who has his own reasons to escape. We also have Chu Qiao's owner Yuwen Yue, a cold-hearted noble who is the chief of the emperor's intelligence organization, his wily rival Yuwen Huai, and the lively princess Yuan Chun, who is an expert in flashy entrances.

There is a huge cast of side characters, many of whom have interesting stories, secrets, and agendas, and some of whom are cool enough that they could theoretically have their own spin-offs. Some play the political game, while others are warriors (both men and women), with particular weapons and fighting styles.

A special category is the older generation of characters, whose members are not seen often, but are played by classy veteran actors and actresses, and who tend to be extremely cunning. An adventurous past is hinted at.

Chu Qiao is basically an introvert with low ambition, who just wants to be left alone. She contributes to the sparse comedy with sarcasm, and is relatively intellectual for a fantasy hero, able to formulate her own world view, make long-term plans, and make speeches. Her internal monologue can be bone-chillingly icy. In the beginning, she is quite feral, but shows empathy and loyalty. It would be easy to just sneak away in the night, but after a while she realizes that she also wants to save a few other people, leading to ever more complicated situations, in a "from the ashes into the fire" way.

Chu Qiao is a strong protagonist in that she not only reacts to external events but has her own agenda, and partly drives the forward motion of the plot with her own initiatives. She is also perfectly balanced. She is smart enough to not do anything annoyingly stupid, while not being so intelligent that success is guaranteed. Her plans are clever but straight-forward, so that anyone might agree and imagine that they would do the exact same thing, if they had the courage.

Generally, the median IQ of the cast is relatively high. Most of the characters are able to make good comments, make deductions, see through deception, and take appropriate action. It's quite refreshing.

Chu Qiao is also good at fighting, but there are many opponents who are stronger or smarter, most often making her the underdog, forcing her to think hard to survive in every episode, so that the tension and oppression never recedes. Sometimes she wins, and sometimes she is defeated, and suffers cruelly.

Furthermore, she has one of the longest character arcs I can think of, spanning over years, with several distinct phases of world view, emotional state, clothing style, and hairstyle. Sometimes I wish that she could have lived a more peaceful and happy life, instead of electing the way of pain.

Fortunately, Chu Qiao is played by the genius actress Zhou Liying, a.k.a. Zanilia Zhou, who basically just is herself, but more self-restrained than usual in this drama. She shows her skill and draws the attention in every scene, even when just standing in the background looking bored. It is possible to understand exactly what she is thinking (even if complicated), just from face expressions. She even sings a few lines of the opening song (mostly sung by another singer).

Similar descriptions can be made of other characters, from various factions, who also have long character arcs and change a lot over time, but maybe it is best to skip it, to not spoil who the survivors are.

"We were born in this time when lives are cheaper than grass. And we are born with a low class, and can be hurt by anyone." It is often safe to assume that the main character of a show will survive for most of the show, but the same cannot be said of side characters. Anyone who has seen any Chinese fantasy knows that blood and tears may flow. Since many of the side characters, and even extras, are so endearing, this also raises the stakes and adds to the ever increasing fear and tension. There was for example a cool female ninja who never said anything or did anything important. Nevertheless, I was hoping that even she would survive, and was relieved every time I saw her in good health. At one point, I was so worried for everyone that I almost was too scared to continue.

Visually, the series is magnificent, with exquisite settings and fancy costumes (not very historically correct). There are countless beautiful scenes and camera angles. But there are also scenes where they must have tried to save money, or ran out of time. Especially the underwater scenes, which are obviously fake, with no water touching the actors. This seems to be common in Chinese fantasy. I don't know if it's because it is more difficult to film under water, or if it's for actor safety reasons.

The soundtrack contains several nice songs, that if analyzed gives clues about the characters and story. The instrumental background music fits well with the plot and adds emotional weight. It is mostly orchestral music, sometimes with Chinese instruments added in, like flutes.

Oh, there are so many anecdotes to talk about. For example a scene with a group of soldiers walking in a desert. I was surprised when one of them suddenly fell to the ground. Then I realized that considering how hot it can be in some parts of China, maybe it was the actor who fainted for real?

There is a great variety of fight scenes, ranging from unarmed kung fu scuffles between slave girls, to deadly sword duels, to army battles. Especially a few of the duels are high points, finding their way to my top-list of duels. They are set in interesting locations, well choreographed, short, brutal, visually appealing, and meaningful for the characters and story. Of course, many vases get broken.

Another attraction is the luxurious parties, where all the nobles gather, and their romantic relations, intrigues, and murder plots play out, usually ending up putting the servants in danger, one way or another. The dialogue is always sharp, and it is great to see how everyone becomes more defined by interacting in a group.

In such a long series, with so much content, that was produced under time pressure, naturally there are weak points and slow passages. But it is evident that the creators wanted to show something that had not been seen before. They wanted to create astonishing scenes where unimaginable things happen, cruel and heroic. With this energy, it is like a little bit of extra effort was added into every aspect, to make it just a little bit sharper; from plot, dialogue, and character design to settings, clothing, and music. They succeeded beyond my wildest expectations.

The main reason this show got me hooked within the first couple of episodes. The storytelling is atypical and the visuals unusually brutal for a Chinese TV show. It dives deeply into a world of politics, intrigue, diplomacy and murder, with the main character caught in between with no proper understanding why with, the reason for which being rather uncreative though. Not that it bothers much - the personalities of the Chang'an nobility, their superficial relations and their struggle for power and influence behind the curtain is entertaining enough to spark interest where this is going. The choreography of the fight scenes looks pretty good, which is a quality that remains strong throughout the first season. Unfortunately the storytelling fails to keep its initial depth, though. The strong female lead does her best to carry the tale, but is for the most part only able to retain her standing and importance due to the fact that every noble male of note that she meets immediately and immortally falls in love with her, leaving her in the middle of the romantic hexagon (?) of their power struggle. Animations and CGI appear pretty cheap and outdated, which is unfortunately a common flaw amongst the majority of Chinese TV shows (with a few notable exceptions), but not to an extent that it hurts the numerous martial art scenes too much.

The last and final point I need to mention is the way the creators decided to close the first (and, as the time of this review: only) season. This show is drawn after the story of a book, and in order to avoid spoilers I only can say that the point to end the season was probably the most horrible decision of the entire show. Rumours have it that a second season can possibly be expected - four years after the first season's release this is more than unlikely. While the show itself was, despite its obvious flaws, quite enjoyable for me: prepare for a very unsatisfying conclusion of the season.

You will fall in-love with the heroine of the story literally in the first five-minutes. Zhao Liying, aka Zanilia Zhao, is is arguably one of China's most promising, up-and-coming actresses. With this show, it seems, if she hadn't already, she has for sure now arrived!

With sweeping vistas, breathtaking Chinese locations, wonderful costumes, a huge cast of top talent and one over-the-top scene of martial arts after another, the prior reviewer hit the nail on the head, this series has it all! Don't be put-off by the prior review, this is now available on Youtube, in full HD, with consistent, proper English sub-titles. If you ever thought you might like to try something from this genre, please, please, please give it a shot!

This is strictly adults-only; you've been warned.

Love how the story started. Really did not like the ending. There were no season closure to it at all. It just ended in the middle of a climatic scene. And who knows when season 2 is coming out.....

From swashbuckling to romance, this series has me anxiously waiting for the next installment. The largest impediment to my enjoyment are the dubious attempts at English translation. One episode will be translated, while the next is not. Is is so frustrating to miss an entire piece of the complicated plot and try to put it together by guessing. PLEASE help those of us who do not speak mandarin!