Final review/rating: A Female Student arrives at the Imperial College (2021) - Hilarious, light-hearted, and lightweight
This is a 7/10 stars ✮✮✮✮✮✮✮ from Pandafan 🐼
Overall rating: 7 Stars Plot: 7 Stars Acting/cast: 7 Stars Couple chemistry: 7 stars Music: 7 Stars Re-watch value: 6 Stars Enjoyment factor: 8 Stars |
A Female Student arrives at the Imperial College (2021) is hilarious, light hearted, but undoubtedly lightweight. If you are expecting a serious drama on female empowerment, you will be disappointed because there is only a tokenistic nod to this despite the promising premise.
But if you want laugh-out-loud if somewhat cliched romcom hilarity, you're in the right place. The first half delivers this in spades - after all, it is the Queen of Romcom, Zhao Lu Si at the helm!
The second half takes a marked turn for melodrama and angst, wrapping up with an entirely predictable ending. But overall, an enjoyable and very funny watch for fans of Zhao Lu Si. I'm also now a decided fan of Ao Rui Peng, who played Yan Yan with commendable comic flair.
SPOILERS AHEAD
A classic opposites attract plot with plenty of comedy
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| Opposites attract |
The plot is simple. For a spoiler free synopsis, see mine 👉here. It's a classic opposites attract set up with an adorably mischievous heroine Sang Qi (played by Zhao Lu Si) who sets out to be the first female student at the male only Imperial College, and a staid and aloof hero in Yan Yun Zhi (played by Xu Kai Cheng), the Dean of the Imperial College who is both annoyed and attracted by the unconventional Sang Qi. It's the type of role and set up that Zhao Lu Si can convincingly and endearingly play with her eyes closed, and she lights up the screen as usual with comic flair. As for Xu Kai Cheng's Yan Yun Zhi, he competently plays the cool hero who falls head over heels but I spent most of the drama distracted by the hairline of his somewhat unflattering wig - what was the wardrobe department thinking??
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| Queen of Comedy Zhao Lus Si as Sang Qi |
The first 16 episodes are unadulterated FUN, with Sang Qi's hilarious antics. She comes up with increasingly weird and wonderful ways to try and foist her embroidered purse on Yan Yun Zhi, (it's never hurt anyone to have a purse shot at them with an arrow attached right?), earns the undying loyalty of her one-time bully Yan Yan (very well played by the hilarious Ao Rui Peng), and generally wrecks havoc at the Imperial College (including by some truly godawful qin playing, though she does have the singing voice of an angel). Anyway, with romantic trope scenes aplenty, it's not entirely surprising that Yan Yun Zhi falls head over heels with Sang Qi by episodes 3 to 4.
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| Shufu playing Cupid |
Although set in the Imperial College setting, there's not much learning going on and much of the plot occurs away from school (in comparison to say, In a Class of Her Own.)By episode 8, we are whisked off to the mountains when school is on vacation so that Sang Qi can learn martial arts from a hermit shifu (who happens to be Yan Yun Zhi's uncle, and is a hilariously irascible old man who basically wants to play cupid to Sang Qi and his clueless nephew).
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| Three's definitely company... |
Then there's the subplot in the Song tea plantations from episode 13 onwards, a field trip of sorts I guess, which is really an excuse to advance the somewhat lack luster mystery plot and to provide us with more situational comedy as Yan Yun Zhi and Zhou Wen Yuan vie rather childishly for Sang Qi's affections. One of my favourite scenes involved all three men in Sang Qi's life hilariously hiding underneath her bed in episode 14 - watch out for it, it will have you laughing out loud 😆
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| Exams = panda eyes |
By episode 14, the two lovebirds have confessed their love to each other and thereafter the comedy is in trying to hide their blossoming romance from their families and the school community with varying degrees of success.
Incidentally, probably because we are firmly in romcom territory, very little is made of the teacher-student romance being taboo in A Female Student arrives at the Imperial College, unlike in, say, One and Only. Here, it is just a source of situational comedy. There's some actual studying, and exams in episode 17.
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| Ren Hao as Zhou Wen Yuan |
And then the plot takes a decided turn for melodrama as the rather obvious mystery is slowly unraveled and Zhou Wen Yuan (childhood friend, competitor for Sang Qi's affections, and rather obvious evil mastermind) ups the ante and dials things to a crazy. Throw in his toxic inability to take no for an answer, angst, competing marriage proposals, two occasions in which our main couple pull the wool over Zhou Wen Yuan's eyes (with a bride switch and a fake death) and an investigation into what must be the most obvious mystery ever, and by episode 30, you are more then ready for the big happily-ever-after ending.
Final thoughts
Although Sang Qi does end up having an official post as the first female professor at the Imperial College and paves the way for other female scholars, there is really only a tokenistic nod to female empowerment and scholarship in A Female Student arrives at the Imperial College. Don't expect female empowerment and learning to be the main theme because it definitely takes a backseat to the romcom, and then the angst and melodrama.
If you watch this drama, it's likely that you will be staying for Zhao Lu Si's adorably cute and hilarious antics and the very funny Ao Rui Peng. He was definitely my breakout favourite - I'd love to see him as the main lead in the future.
Overall, an enjoyable watch, but I think some judicious editing could have made this more enjoyable as a 25 episode rather than a 30 episode drama. If you feel like something light-hearted and lightweight, this one's for you.
7/10 stars ✮✮✮✮✮✮✮
