The Romance of Tiger and Rose

🌹Tigers are strong ❣ Rose stems are long

Thorns, Duty, and claws ❣ What beauty it draws

This script has no flaws ❣ It will bring applause

This romance is stronger ❣ Their love will last longer ❣ In the 💓 it belongs there

Sorry about that:) Gotta follow the mood where it leads

Anyway, TROTAR is 65/35 RomCom/DramRom and 100% heady romance. It's about a novice screenwriter whose script has been sold, but she was advised to make some changes. She's also questioned about whether she truly understands what love is. "Have you ever been in a {relationship/in love?} she's asked, while she fumes.

She then scrambles over a feverish, junk-food-fueled weekend to make 'corrections.' Exhausted, she goes to sleep (with a tissue still up one nostril) and wakes up in the world of her script. It isn't a dream: She's really there, and she's stuck there. What's worse, she pieces together that she's a disposable character that gets whacked early on, to her unnerving. She decides to not risk finding out if dying in her vision equals real death. She turns her eyes to her perfectly black-hearted villain who is to poison her in ep3. (Nobody can tell her what episode she's in, so she has to figure that out as well.) She'll have to do some editing on the fly.

The script reflects XQ's frustration over the disparity between the sexes. She created two adjacent cities. Xuanhu is ruled by men, which is the case in most (all?) of our collective history on this planet. The women are to serve the men and manage the home. In Huayuan, however, the situation is the exact opposite. Women are the army, government, teachers... Women do everything, and those worthless men manage the home and serve their wives.

XQ manages to avoid being killed on schedule, but she'll have to watch that villain, while trying to set him up with her heroine, so the story can meet its conclusion quickly. Hopefully, she can go home, then. As she studies him, he is not showing all the deplorable traits that she wrote into him. In fact he seems... Ha! Not telling. Just watch it.

Typical for Chinese fantasy, the filming is next level elegant. The show mostly takes place in the city of Huayuan, which makes fireworks. The Chinese brought the gift of fireworks to the world. When they light the night, it suspiciously appears that they don't sell us their best stuff. Why are their fireworks so much more spectacular than ours? The sets are arrayed in perfect detail. The costumes are breathtaking as well. At times, I was unable to avert my gaze from the resplendent rainbow of silks. Along with the acting, writing, directing, and editing, the result is mesmerizing. The fact that they can top it off with some levity and a romance that proves 'they get it,' is where the pleasant surprise abides.

With only minor exceptions, every technical aspect of TROTAR is excellent. The show creators succeed despite their apparently limited budget and add value to the action scenes (always leave them wanting more). The fighting scenes are captivating, sans the Kung Fu test. The swordwork, the dance, the exalted acrobatics and flowing robes all augment the actors' movements. As almost every line seems to carry significance, there's foreshadowing, metaphors, excellent (superb!) editing, skillful juxtaposition and other devices utilized, TROTAR is a production of the highest quality. It could hardly be improved on.

The actors were tasked to embody a male-female roll reversal as citizens of Huayuan City. They did an amazing job. Women are boorish and contemptuous of men. The male actors are mind blowing. Every muscle in their bodies mirrors a woman that is gentle, doting, and subservient. It's worth a rewatch just to focus their performances.

Luxi Zhao, as the script writer/Xiaoqian/XQ is utterly darling. She is petite and sparkling, particularly in the marvelous costumes. Her smile electrifies the screen. She is just as cute in I Hear You-7.3, a romance that is good, being both graceful and clunky. This show soars 30,000ft above IHY. Ding Yuxi, as Han Shuo, displays phenomenal skill. He's handsome, but not the most handsome. He's fit, but slender. He has to step on a stool at one point to square off with a taller man, so he's apparently of average height. His presence, however, is Lebronish tall. He just has the goods when it comes to acting. He can credibly appear ruthless & sinister or the complete opposite. It's not his words that project how he feels about XQ, it's his body language, his focus, and his eyes. He has intensity. There's a scene in which she's frightened for him - frightened about her /plot/, rather. At that moment he is the 🐅. He stares at Xiaoqian fiercely, like he would devour her, and says: "You don't know how strong I've become." Next, he's taking everybody down. It's worthy of a 3 second swoon. Move over Rhett and Ri Jung-hyuk.

Han Shuo has the most attractive form of masculinity, which is a strong and capable protector who loves his woman so much that, if necessary, he would give his life for her. Also, he would never let family or politics get in the way of their relationship. Heck, he'd help with the housework. As it's the opposite of toxic masculinity, let's call it Ultimate Masculinity. This manliness is tempered with a loving heart. Together this couple is the equilibrium that the two cities lack.

She created the script with its flaws that manifest themselves in front of her. She devised uh the characters with their disabilities, problems, and deficiencies, only to now work tirelessly trying to fix (undo) everything and everybody that she constructed. That's seriously entertaining. Her only advantage is that she knows the story, as well as each character's background and motivations. It shouldn't be too difficult, right? To her dismay, the changes she makes start to change the story and, thus, the characters' reactions. This alters their trajectories. She, herself, is tragically misunderstood at every turn. Xiaoqian is just trying to preserve her life, but the rewrites push the first Mahjong tile. Now they are all ting-ting-tinging to the floor, albeit in a beautiful pattern.

She must get help! She runs to 3 story writers (who else?!). Every time she has a crisis they all meet together. She only gives them the barest info, though. She grabs some fruit and presents the main characters: Miss Apple, Miss Orange, and Mr. Banana. Yep, they went there. The fruit sets up a collection of silly, but quite amusing metaphors. As her character is the Miss Orange, when offered one she exclaims: "PEEL the orange? That's bad luck." Given that at that moment she's angry with Han Shuo, her next statement is: "Peel the banana." Not so much later, after saying: "I don't want to see you anymore," she slips on the banana peel and goes airbourne, but of course, he catches her in his eager arms.

She's charged to eliminate the threat of bandits along the trade route. The whole trip is delightful. At one point she gets caught up in some excitement and seems to have completely forgotten her mission. Sorry, no details are permitted. In a spoiler free review. Expect to laugh. There's another hilarious scene where characters meet at a restaurant/playhouse to have a discussion, meaning an argument. There's a stretch where the characters say nothing. They just stare at each other as the actors in the play voice exactly what each is thinking. It's high flown comedy.

TROTAR has so few deficiencies that the minor ones stand out a little more. While on the runaway horse in the show opening, close-ups of Xiaoqian are out of sync with the moving background. They overplayed the cute, but kitschy, theme song. Otherwise, the soundtrack is lovely. In the last couple scenes Xiaoqian's makeup looks ghastly pale and uneven. In addition, they have a bad habit of not putting makeup on the back half of the actors' necks, so they appear red and sickly on screen. Finally, I think the last line in the show should be: "Are we married?"

There's some truth in TROTAR as well. The commentary on men and women's relationships is true. The romance is true. Han Shuo suffers some nasty disrespect in Huayuan due to prejudice. Regardless of gender, etc, it's not amusing when it happens to someone we care about, like him. It's tragic that the out-of-control battle of the sexes has thrust the sword through romance and made so many relationships miserable. What would a "winner" get anyway? It's a zero-sum contest. While we absolutely should always speak out about wrongs and defend the downtrodden, we should not get caught up with complaining. It's a fast replicating and highly contagious virus. People that get infected will become angry, then bitter, and then miserable. XG gives us the answer: Work on yourself. Never stop. Complaining about others habitually can be a form of self-deception. It takes the focus off of the improvements we all need to make. Not one of us has "arrived." Perhaps trying to give a little, to choose happiness and contentment, to choose patience, forgiveness, and honesty, will usher in peace.

That's enough of the deep thoughts. The show is truly funny, with tears in the mix. It's also a top-level love story. You don't have to be a romance junkie to enjoy TROTAR, but most romantics will be swept away by this series.

Sweet dreams!

Quotes📢

Pain is unavoidable.

Great sorrow comes from great joy. Tragedy and comedy have always shared the same root.

IMHO〰🖍

🎬10 🎭9 🤔7⚡8 🎨10 🎵7 Age 11+

I also did a spoiler review

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