EPISODE 1 RECAP
A pair of twin princesses are born on a day when the weather misbehaves (due to some activities in the Heaven Realm). Qingkui comes out on a good hour and Yetan catches the bad hour. This causes their father, the emperor to dote on Qingkui and lock Yetan in a different palace which he neglects.
Qingkui grows up to be a gentle and proper lady whereas Yetan is rebellious – you know, sleeping on a ceiling beam with her room full of inappropriate posters and all that.
Luckily, Qingkui and Yetan are good sisters. When they both turn eighteen, the emperor engages them to princes of different realms. Qingkui is promised to a Heaven Prince, while Yetan is betrothed to a Demon* Prince. He might just be doing Yetan a favor, demon princes and lords are usually better looking than the heaven ones in these dramas.
In the Heaven Realm, a prince named Youqin is watching a… Heavenly… magically-recorded video of his childhood.
He was separated from his family at a young age to study in isolation and prepare himself for the throne. This, however, was his own choice.
Today is the day he gets to be back out. Everyone at the court is excited to meet the young prince because they haven’t seen him since he was a child. Now, talented, skilled, and strong he might be, the prince has trouble being among people because he has always been by himself.
He can’t stand it when his sister and brother hug him, he even pushes his mother away. The only person who doesn’t make him uncomfortable is his father, the Heavenly King, since his way of greeting is attacking his son head-on to check on his progress.
But it seems that everybody likes the prince so far. He’s the kind of guy that would stock up on hand sanitisers and wait for someone to open the public restroom door so he can dash out without touching the doorknob, but he seems nice and responsible as a prince.
When the emperor announces that Youqin will be marrying a mortal princess, he says right away it is a bad idea. He is 100% devoted to his work; so if he dies on the job – which is very likely to happen — the princess will be a widow and that’s unfair to her. Hmm, very nice. This is what Yehua in Ten Miles would have been like if he had some basic freedom of thinking.
The real problem that might hinder him on the way to greatness, though, is the fact that he is awkward around people and seems to have little social skills. Just imagine a man with a regal gait and a deep, mature voice; but whenever he opens his mouth about something other than his area of study, the silliest things spill out of it. Not good at all for a future leader. I hope the drama sticks with this and develop his character with this flaw, it would be interesting to watch a fantasy male lead who isn’t good at everything at the plot’s whim.
Down in the mortal realm, Yetan sneaks out of the palace and goes to this voodoo place in the city to hire a kidnapper. You see, she knows that her sister Qingkui doesn’t like to be married to a stranger, so she figured that if she has this “Heaven Prince” kidnapped and gotten rid of, the wedding won’t happen. Not a great plan, but yeah, erm… Yetan was locked in one place her whole life, give her some time to catch up with the world.
Yetan upsets some people in the voodoo place and gets chased across the city where she runs into – oooh – Prince Youqin, who is here on a secret mission as well as to pick up his future bride.
Even though they do the same hero rescuing and staring as all other dramas, it looks less tropey here. Probably because of Youqin’s reaction afterwards – he brushes Yetan’s hand away and runs from her like she was a plague.
Yetan, on the other hand, begs Youqin to work for her.
YOUQIN: Who do you want to kidnap anyway?
YETAN: The Heaven Prince.
*Gasps and stares galore*
Yetan gives Youqin her sister’s name, making him believe that they are getting married. This works in her favor because Youqin can’t imagine having to spend the rest of his life with this girl who won’t stop talking or pulling on his sleeve.
Right then, a Demon Lord attempts to assassinate the newly arriving Demon Prince from a high building. It’s unsuccessful because he is seen by Youqin and Yetan. He pursues them. Yetan thinks maybe she should use this opportunity to let the Demon Lord get rid of Youqin for her, that way her sister won’t have to marry.
But no sooner does she finish that thought than Youqin’s arm shoots out in an attempt to protect her. Awww. Yetan gapes at his innocent gentility and probably feels a tiny bit guilty inside.
COMMENTS
Well, for once: a male lead with a solid reason to be aloof.
This lead couple is admittedly impressive. Not because the story or the acting is groundbreaking, but because the writing does a rather good job of introducing Yetan and Youqin and making us believe in their initial connection.
I cannot yet vouch for the entire drama, but as of now, they certainly strike a balance between humor and intrigue. From the first few episodes, this seems more like a romantic comedy than a fantasy, but we’ll never know. It’s bound to be one hilarious discovery when Youqin and Yetan face the truth about their mixed-up marriage, what with Youqin’s inability to endure human interactions and all.
*The Chinese words for this kingdom is not quite “demon”; I only refer to them so for simplicity and because their fashion choice does resemble demon kingdoms in other fantasy dramas.