Royal Rumours (2023) - Final Review

Final review/rating:  Royal Rumours (2023) - Cute romcom with a pretty pretender and her prince 

This is 7.5/10 stars ✮✮✮✮✮✮✮ from Pandafan🐼

Overall rating:         7.5 Stars Plot:                       7 Stars Acting/cast:            7 Stars Couple chemistry:   7 stars Music:                    7 Stars Re-watch value:      7 Stars Enjoyment factor:   7.5 Stars

Royal Rumours (2023) is a cute romcom with gorgeous people and gorgeous costumes that is the drama equivalent of comfort food  The tone of the drama is light-hearted and the stakes are low (no high highs or low lows), but there is plenty of gentle comedy to chuckle at with personable leads who have perfected pretence as an artform. 

The drama moves at a pedestrian pace and logic falls by the wayside in the later episodes, but that does not really impair enjoyment of a drama that is clearly intended to be light and fluffy.  

SPOILERS AHEADS

Cute romcom plot: the great pretender meets her prince

Meng Zi Yi as Hua Lu Li

For a spoiler-free synopsis, see mine 👉 here, but essentially, our main female lead is Hua Lu Li (played by the gorgeous Meng Zi Yi), the youngest daughter of the Hua family.   The kingdom of Jin owes much to the loyalty and military prowess of the Hua clan, but because the civil officers of the imperial court fear their military might, Hua Lu Li is bestowed with the title of County Princess and summonsed to the capital, ostensibly to enjoy the capital's prosperity. The reality, of course, is that Hua Lu Li is a hostage in all but name. 

To get under everyone's guard, Hua Lu Li presents herself as a physically frail and ill beauty - one that even the wind can blow over. In reality, behind the innocent kitten-like exterior, she is a skilled martial artist with a rapier sharp mind, who runs mental rings around everyone she meets. It is just that she prefers to use weakness as both a disguise and as a weapon, to great effect. It is pretty hilarious to see everyone around her underestimate her, to their peril😆 

Xu Zheng Xi as Crown Prince Ji Yuan Su

Few see past Hua Lu Li's façade, but Crown Prince Ji Yuan Su (played by the delicious Xu Zheng Xi), who is quite the pretender himself, soon sees that she is more then she seems.  Besides, they were childhood pen pals so he does have a distinct advantage in terms of seeing through her antics...  

Much of the fun in the first 12 episodes or so centre around the cat and mouse game between Ji Yuan Su and Hua Lu Li as he seeks to uncover her true motives, while battling his growing attraction for her (as well as the booby traps set in her front yard to deter assassins)😆

Ji Yuan Su and Hua Lu Li 💗

Before long, he is head over heels (but adorably clueless about it) whilst Hua Lu Li also finds herself attracted to the Crown Prince who sees her for what she truly is💕  The romance is of the slow burn variety however, because for two such otherwise very clever people, Ji Yuan Su and Hua Lu Li are slow to realise their own hearts (or perhaps characteristically cautious about unreservedly putting down all their barriers even when they realise they have meet their match). 

Both leads do a fine job and share some very cute flirtatious chemistry.  

Cartoon of CP: Wolf and Kitty

Their path to true love is not entirely smooth but there are also no major obstacles, and this is one of those wholesome dramas where there are no silly misunderstandings because the leads communicated with each other, wholly supported each other, and there was never any chance that they would allow any second parties to come between them.  They are both clever and on the same wavelength, and it's obvious right from the start that the cute fluffy cat (sheathed claws) and the wily wolf, are the perfect match - 3rd Prince's cartoons say it all. 

CP sweetness

In terms of acting, Meng Zi Yi absolutely nailed the role of Hua Lu Li, making her both loveable and relatable as she wraps everyone round her little finger.  She pleasantly surprised me with her comic abilities as well, while looking as pretty as a picture (big kudos to the wardrobe team because the gorgeous costumes and accessories were absolutely stunning).  

Xu Zheng Xi also gives a competent performance as Ji Yuan Su, balancing the cunning prince and the funny young man in love, with comic flair.  That said, while he and Meng Zi Yi share wonderful romcom chemistry, I was somewhat unconvinced by the bashful never-been-kissed boyish vibe.  The character is meant to be in his early 20s, whereas Xu Zheng Xi is a dangerously attractive man with some years under his belt who better suits the more mature, devious anti-hero roles (for eg, his Liang Yi in The Autumn Ballad (2022) (see my review 👉here)).  I must add that the drama's choice to overdub his gloriously gravelly real voice was a missed opportunity - there's nothing quite like that expressive voice of his.  

Although there are some external and internal threats to the kingdom (and therefore to the leads), the stakes are fairly low because it is fairly obvious to the audience who the "baddies" will be and there are no moments where satisfactory resolution and a happy ending are ever in much doubt.  

Wholesome family, kingdom, and friendship dynamics and cute secondary CPs

#Squadgoals

Royal Rumours (2023) also has some really healthy relationship dynamics outside the romantic.  We get wonderfully supportive parents in General Hua and General Wei who love their daughter unconditionally and are even willing to take on the Crown Prince himself if that is what it takes. Hua Lu Li also has a loving older brother and loyal allies in her maid Yuan Wei and in Uncle Song, and eventually she has great friends in once-frenemy-turned-bestie Princess Jia Min and the lovely Du Xiu Ying - some great squad goals friendships.  

Crown Prince Ji Yuan Su also has a rare-for-drama-land non-toxic imperial family, for the most part.  Although he no longer has a mother, he has a loving grandmother in the Dowager Empress as well as a fantastic Emperor father who backs him to the hilt.  Although there is some sibling rivalry between him and his hilariously clueless elder brother Ji Yuan Hao, the latter is rather harmless and will stand with him when it truly matters, whilst his little brother (3rd Prince) also has no desire for the throne. Ji Yuan Su is also blessed with close friends (eg the ever loyal Pei Ji Huai and the-loyal-even-if-conflicted Yun Han, both of whom, incidentally, are serious eye candy).    

The drama also offers us cute secondary CPs in:

• clueless-but-overweeningly-confident Ji Yuan Hao (played by Yi Yun He)and equally clueless-but adorable Princess Jia Min (played by Su Meng Yun) who both need a bit of help from cupid Hua Lu Li💕;

• the more tragic pairing between double agent Yun Han and the lovely Du Xiu Ying, which ends in a somewhat inconclusive open ending (he survives, but does not tell her he is alive because he wants to protect her from his dangerous job... but I like to think he will cave on that pretty promptly)💕; and

• Smart smooth talking Pei Ji Huai and silly Maid Yuan Wei 💕

Secondary CPS:  Prince Ji Yuan Hao v Princess Jia Min; Yun Han v Du Xiu Ying; Pei Ji Huai v Yuan Wei

Final Thoughts

🐼:  Royal Rumours (2023) is a fun and easy watch - lots of gently funny comedy in gently paced drama that pokes fun at pretension but invites the audience to share the joke with the the greatest pretender of all and her prince.  The cute epilogues at the end of each episode were always funny, pointing out some oddity or other 😆

Ep 12: Lui Li - Pretence as an artform

24 episodes is probably the right length and the earlier episodes are more fun than the later ones, because they balance the push and pull, cat and mouse dynamics between the leads and show us the novelty of a heroine who wields weakness as a disguise and a weapon to maximum and hilarious effect. My favourite scene is in episode 12, when Hua Lu Li's true abilities as a sword wielding badass are revealed to the hereto clueless Princess Jia Min when she singlehandedly defeats their kidnappers and then, resorts back to being a demure wide-eyed innocent, to the latter's terrified shock 😂 

I wish there had been more moments of kickass Hua Lu Li and her sword skills but alas, the drama only allows us two glimpses of this side of her (in episode 12, and later in episode 23, when she rides off to Ji Yuan Su's rescue). 

Happy ending 💕

Regrettably, the last few episodes suffer from some logic defying moments which seem to dumb down the intelligence of the leads in an uncharacteristic way to ensure last minute angst.    

However, because the drama is clearly intended to be fun and fluffy, this does not really detract too much from enjoyment.  

And of course, a happy ever after ending is a foregone conclusion, with Hua Lu Li marrying her prince, and despite the entire world now being in on the secret of her ill-frail-beauty façade, she is assured by all and sundry that they will go with it and she will go down in the history books as the most ill and frail beauty of them all 😅     

An enjoyable 7.5/10 stars ✮✮✮✮✮✮✮