Titles: 传闻中的陈芊芊 (Chuan Wen Zhong De Chen Qian Qian) / The Romance of Tiger and Rose / The Third Princess From the Rumors / The Rumored Third Princess / The rumored Chen Qianqian
Cast:
- Zhao Lu Si as Chen Xiaoqian / Chen Qianqian
- Ding Yu Xi as Han Shuo
- Sheng Ying Hao as Pei Heng
- Zhou Zi Xin as Chen Chuchu
- Quan Pei Lun as Su Mu
- Xiao Wei as Lin Qi
- Chen Ming Hao as Su Zi Ying
- Zhao Xin as Chen Yuanyuan
- Hu Cai Hong as Chief of Huaheng City
- Wu Yi Jia as Zi Rui
- Liu Shu Yuan as Bai Ji
Directed by: Cha Chuan Yi
Plot (from Wiki):
Despite facing criticism from fellow staff, Chen Xiaoqian (Zhao Lusi) exerts all her energy writing her drama screenplay. After falling into a well-earned nap, she finds herself transported into her own screenplay, becoming the hated third princess, Chen Qianqian, who is scheduled to be killed by the male lead, Han Shuo (Ding Yuxi) by episode three. Armed with knowledge of her own story, Chen Xiaoqian must struggle to keep herself alive as well as advance the plot forward by bringing her two lead characters together.
Review:
The first time I saw The Romance of Tiger and Rose (TROTR) in my YouTube recommendations I had a hunch it would be binge-worthy. That’s why I waited until the day the last episode was scheduled to start watching it and binge-watched its 24 episodes (as expected, I’m taking far more time writing the review than watching the series).
It’s been forever since the last time I published an entry (sorry for that!) and I still have so many entries pending to be finished, but I couldn’t resist the urge to talk about TROTR and sharing it with all of you (✿◠‿◠)
(SPOILERS) The Romance of Tiger and Rose (TROTR) tells the story of Chen Xiaoqian, a modern-day scriptwriter who is always busy working on her screenplays. She throws herself into her work wholeheartedly, to the point of not having time to experience love or taking care of her own health. While waiting to get paid for her most recent work, she is informed that the actor chosen to play his main male character has problems with her script and wants to talk to her.
Therefore, Xiaoqian goes to visit the actor, whom is extremely popular. He is filming his next movie/series in the set, using a wire for some fighting scenes. Xiaoqian tries to talk to him, but everytime he flies away with the wire, exasperating her. He explains that he doesn’t understand the character setting of Han Shuo (the male lead of her script).
The script of Xiaoqian takes place in two cities: Huaheng City, where women rule over men, and Xuanhu City, where men rule over women. The actor questions how is his character supposed to fall in love in such unbalanced conditions when the premise of love is equality. Xiaoqian tries to explain herself but then the actor mocks her for probably never having had a real relationship with anyone, which is unfortunately true. After this interaction, Xiaoqian is furious and refuses to step back… until she sees the money being transferred into her account. Now she starts working frenetically.
In her script, the female lead is the second princess of Huaheng City, Chen Chuchu, a brave, kind and beautiful heroine. She is engaged to the heir of Xuanhu City, Han Shuo, and falls in love with him. Nevertheless, Han Shuo has been diagnosed with a terminal heart disease that will take his life at the age of 20 and arrives to Huaheng City to obatin the “dragon bone”, the treasure of the City that can cure all illness. Because only the City’s chief has access to this treasure, he purposedly approaches Chen Chuchu knowing she’s the princess with the highest chances of being crowned heiress.
Much to his dismay, the third princess, Chen Qianqian, forces him to marry her before he has the chance to meet Chen Chuchu. So Han Shuo poisons her in their wedding night. After a series of events, he wins the heart of Chen Chuchu, who cleaverly gets him the “dragon bone”, but also falls in love with her.
Still, he does not hesitate to denotate the bombs that destroyed Huaheng City during the Qixi festival, because his ultimate goal is to conquer the city and its resources. Even though, he is incapable of killing Chen Chuchu and lets her go. The story comes to an end when the heroine finally returns, takes her revenge by killing him and is crowned the next Chief of the city under a beautiful sky view (that is considered to be a celestial omen of her reign).
One moment after finishing the script and putting end to her story, Xiaoqian faints. Shee wakes up in a strange place, which she soon recognises as the universe she built. She is now the third and youngest Princess of Huaheng City, Chen Qianqian. As the scriptwriter, she knows very well that this character is supposed to be poisoned to death by the male lead in the third episode. Just like this, she begins an incredible journey to survive and try to return to the real world.
The third Princess, Chen Qianqian, is a capricious and spoiled girl who is well-known for her wrongdoings. She spends her time in the brothel, surrounded by beautiful musicians and dancers. She frequently abuses her power and is literally afraid of nothing (since her mother, the City’s chief, loves her the most among her three daughters, being especially permissive towards her actions). The best example is how she accidentally bumps into Han Shuo (the only heir of enemy Xuanhu City and also the future fiancée of her sister, the second Princess) and decides to marry him by force just because she found him handsome. When Han Shuo tries to deter her saying that he is severely ill with a heart disease that will only allow him to live until the age of 20, she badassly replies to quickly arrange the marriage so she can enjoy him as much as she pleases before he dies.
The next thing we see of Chen Qianqian is already with Chen Xiaoqian in her place, so it’s technically not that bratty and despotic princess anymore. Soon enough, Chen Xiaoqian will learn that she will need to pay for all the wrongdoings her character, Chen Qianqian, had done in her life. Note: From now on, I’m just calling her Chen Qianqian but it is important to me to mark this difference since they aren’t the same person.
She first thinks that the only way to return to the real world is by killing herself but has no courage to fulfill this. Later, she assumes that she needs to lead the events to the end of her script to get out of there. With her knowledge as the scriptwriter, Chen Qianqian is able to dodge death and prevent danger in many occasions. However, since the moment she fell into her script, everything has started to change and a lot of things get out of control.
Chen Qianqian isn’t one of those innocent cliché female leads (how could she when she has basically the knowledge of a god?). She is naturally good-hearted and treats people fairly, without taking in consideration their gender (which is so very rare in both Huaheng and Xuanhu City). She is smart and takes advantage of her knowledge of the story and its characters as much as she can. When things are too much, she seeks advice from three storytellers (whom she kinda considers to be her ancestors as a scriptwriter).
The scenes with these three storytellers are just amazingly funny. I really enjoyed how she tries very “subtly” to tell her situation through fruits: Chen Qianqian herself as an orange, Han Shuo as the almighty banana, Chen Chuchu as the apple, Pei Heng as the peach and Su Zi Ying as the cherry.
Chen Qianqian needs to keep Han Shuo alive so the events can continue until the end of the script (her way of going back to the real world), so she tries to get closer to him and earn his trust. Besides, she also fears for his own life because Han Shuo initially loathed Chen Qianqian for being that spoiled and despotic obstacle-princess and wanted to murder her.
As the scriptwriter, Chen Qianqian knows Han Shuo is poisoning her in their wedding night so successfully dodges death. However, Han Shuo is accused of trying to murder the third princess and Chen Qianqian has to save his life the very next day to their wedding ceremony by saying she’s pregnant. Of course, the (fake) child could not be Han Shuo’s but in Huaheng City, men have no say and Han Shuo can keep his life as long as he recognises that child as his. Her lie is very soonly debunked by her mother, the City’s chief, because her virginity mark remains intact. After that, she can only claim to be deeply in love with Han Shuo to save his life. Han Shuo later also learns the truth behind this fake pregnancy and is surprised to know the so ill-rumored Chen Qianqian is still a virgin. This is the first time he starts to question if she’s the same terrible person as he assumed her to be. Note: It is noteworthy that they did not go through all the tradicional ceremonial procedures during weddings, so their married status is questioned sometimes throughout the series.
In addition, Chen Qianqian also needs to make sure that Han Shuo and Chen Chuchu (the original heroine of her story) meet and fall in love. With this aim, she tries to create opportunities for them (following pretty cliché romantic drama scenarios) but all get sabotaged or turn against herself for one or another reason.
The fact is that the closer Chen Qianqian gets to Han Shuo, the more she cares about him and soonly, she understands she has fallen for him. She still tries to push him away (towards Chen Chuchu) because that’s how things were supposed to be, but at some point, she recognises how helpelessly in love she is and starts a (real) relationship with Han Shuo.
She commits to this relationship believing she can defy her own story, the fate of the character she created (remember that Han Shuo is killed by Chen Chuchu in the original plot). However, she panics when she realises that her characters are ending the way she wrote despite taking a different path (her mother falling ill and unconscious, Lin Qi “dying”). In other words, even if her appearance changed some details of the story, the characters were still bound to the same end she initally designed. This would mean that Han Shuo’s finale was inevitably death as well.
This is when, to my great dismay, she decides to push Han Shuo away. She uses his unconditional trust to “betray” him, accusing him of the (fake) murdering of Su Mu and exile him from both cities (so he could stay away from the plot and live). She lies to Han Shuo, making him believe that their relationship meant nothing and that she was only using him for political reasons.
Afterwards, when Han Shuo returns as a “villain” to take revenge, Lin Qi is revealed to be alive and the City’s chief wakes up (meaning the characters defeated the fate she originally planned for them). Only then Chen Qianqian understands she has broken Han Shuo’s heart for nothing. She tries to amend the harm but the circumstances and her inability to explain why she had to betray him in the first place make everything more difficult.
Later, when Han Shuo’s invasion of Huaheng city fails and he is captured and imprisoned, she goes to visit him and promises she will save his life. Just there, in his prison cell, they finally consummate their love (after twenty episodes of intense fangirling). When Han Shuo is about to be executed for his “crimes”, Chen Qianqian begs her mother to let him go and shows how her virginity mark is gone (meaning they are now, more than ever, a real couple). Still, this isn’t enough to change the City’s chief mind, so she fakes her own death to save Han Shuo.
They leave Huaheng city and go to Xuanhu city now. Han Shuo’s father, Xuanhu city’s chief, isn’t very happy because his son didn’t achieve all the things he was supposed to do (snatching Huaheng’s city resources, killing the third Princess, invading the city, etc.) when he left (apart from curing his heart disease). Moreover, he dislikes Chen Qianqian, who has brought to the court a lot of complaints because all the women in the city now want to be like her. Remember that in Xuanhu city, men rule everything and women have no say in any decision. Even though, (cutie pie) Han Shuo publicly defies this tradition by treating Chen Qianqian as his equal and even washing her feet for her (when it’s always been women serving men).
Chen Qianqian’s arrival to Xuanhu city provokes a literal revolution. When Chen Chuchu takes over the militar force of Huaheng and forces Xuanhu city to “send back their treacherous run-away princess”, the City’s Chief wife (Han Shuo’s mother) decides to divorce his husband, reprise her role as the general of Xuanhu and fight with and for Chen Qianqian. Note: Han Shuo’s mother is a very interesting character: strong, noble and intelligent. She is the daughter of the most important general in Xuanhu and commanded troops in her youth. She met and fell in love with Han Shuo’s father, current City’s chief, after a fight where she (very easily) defeated him. After marrying, she gave up on the things she loved to form a family and be the good wife she was supposed to be. Chen Qianqian’s appearance in Xuanhu reminded her all these things and made her angry with the way women were being treated in the city.
Zhao Lu Si is the actress playing the role of Chen Qianqian (Chen Xiaoqian). Although I have seen her before in Mars Intelligence Agency, this is my first time seeing her acting and her performance in TROTR is just delightful. She did a great job showing her cutest side while still being witty and endearing, making Chen Qianqian an utterly adorable and dorky little pie (which I know Han Shuo agrees ¬‿¬).
TROTR may be a romcom that doesn’t demand stunning breathtaking performances, but taking this in considering, Zhao Lu Si truly nailed her role. For instance, when Chen Qianqian cried, I instantly felt the need to hug and comfort her. Everytime she was on screen, I’d follow her, looking forward to her next adventure and occurrence. She was like a child most of the times, the precious treasure you want to protect, but also a badass woman who certainly knows more than she’s showing and you don’t want to anger. As Han Shuo’s actor himself said during an interview, Zhao Lu Si feels like the only and best actress to portray Chen Qianqian.
Our beloved male lead, Han Shuo, is portrayed by Ding Yu Xi. The whole cast did a great job, but I would like to specifically praise Ding Yu Xi’s performance. Throughout the series, he had this difficult to explain charisma that made Han Shuo an unforgettable and charming character. I’m looking forward to seeing him in more (and different) roles.
As Chen Xiaoqian described in her script, Han Shuo is a very intelligent and ambitious man who had a promising future before being diagnosed with a fatal heart disease. He arrives to Huaheng city looking for the “dragon bone” that is capable of curing him. He was already very skilled before getting cured, but after that, he is like an unleashed ninja that can’t be stopped by anything or anyone.
In the beginning of the series, Han Shuo has clear ideas and knows perfectly what to do to achieve his aims. However, after getting to know Chen Qianqian (after Chen Xiaoqian took over her place), all his convictions start to fall apart. He is shocked by how different Chen Qianqian is from all the things he has heard of that terrible Huaheng’s third princess. Despite suspecting her intentions at first, he gets irremediably attached to her the moment she risks her life (and everything) to get the “dragon bone” for him. After tricking her mother to let him take the “dragon bone”, the court and the citizens are enraged with the princess for stealing the city’s most precious treasure, so they demand her to be punished. The City’s chief, in an attempt to protect Chen Qianqian, tries to take a bone from Han Shuo (to substitute that “dragon bone”) but Chen Qianqian willingly rennounces her title as a princess to keep him unharmed.
All these sacrifices convince Han Shuo that Chen Qianqian is that person meant to be his savior, his significant other. So he starts chasing her (trying to conquer her heart), being (hilariously) jealous of her other suitor Pei Heng, doing things for her sake and even plotting to grant her position as the next City’s chief (despite Chen Qianqian never wanted that).
To prove his real feelings towards Chen Qianqian, Han Shuo even accepted to be “marked” as her property by the City’s chief, by wearing a very tight bracelet (that could not be taken off without hurting his muscles). Note: This bracelet is considered to be extremly humilliating for its wearer (and even more for Han Shuo, being the only heir of Xuanhu city) since only slaves are marked in that way. The fact that this scene took place without Chen Qianqian’s initial knowledge broke my heart even more. Chen Qianqian only realised how much Han Shuo loved her after being aware of what her mother did.
The last proof was the festival of Qixi, the day Han Shuo was supposed to detonate the bombs installed in Huaheng city. Han Shuo, knowing that he would lose her forever by doing that (destroying the city, taking over the power, killing her mother), decided to abandon his political ambitions and change all these bombs for beautiful fireworks. In the same way, it’s in this moment when Chen Qianqian (more like Chen Xiaoqian) gives up on returning to the real world, willing to stay in her script just to remain beside Han Shuo. In my opinion, this scene was very touching because as they said, the moment the tiger (Han Shuo) met the rose (Chen Qianqian) everything changed. Note: these nicknames appear throughout the series (and in its title). The hu in Xuanhu city literally means “tiger”, while the hua in Huaheng city represents “flower”. Precisely because of this, in Huaheng city, “tiger” is somewhat used as an insult, meaning that someone is very silly and impulsive. On the other hand, Han Shuo says that Chen Qianqian is like a rose (“flower”): she has spines but she’s so precious that he can’t avoid the desire to keep her close to him.
In appearance, the almighty tiger that was supposed to devour everything becomes a cute little kitten in front of Chen Qianqian. It tore me to pieces when Chen Qianqian had to betray him and send him to exile. He was unwilling to believe that Chen Qianqian would betray him and was convinced that she had a reason, but was forced to accept that was the truth after she told him so. However (and knowing very well that Han Shuo is a character that takes his revenges), when he escaped and came back as the “villain”, taking control of Huaheng city, you can tell from the very first moment that he is unable to actually hurt Chen Qianqian.
His care towards Chen Qianqian is so genuine, you can feel he’s worried from every fiber of his body when, for example, he’s told that her hand got burnt (while ironing his clothes), even when they are supposed to be “enemies” now. It’s also hilarious to see him completely shocked (and embarrassed) when Chen Qianqian offers to have sex with him to prove that her feelings for him were authentic. If I didn’t make it clear yet (shame on me), I just adore Han Shuo’s character.
Before going to Xuanhu city, Han Shuo learns that Chen Qianqian is Chen Xiaoqian, a scriptwriter from the modern days who created everything, including himself. He’s initially upset because she never told him, but immediately returns to “his cutie pie status” when Chen Qianqian says she is willing to stay there for him. Moreover, he questions if that means that all of them (her characters) are unreal. Chen Qianqian explains that she initially thought that they were all “people-in-the-paper”, fictitious indeed, but she soon realised that all of them were real people with their own feelings and aspirations. I personally really liked this scene because it showed her love towards the characters and the universe she created, as a scriptwriter.
We witness even more his positive traits as the ideal husband when they arrive to Xuanhu city, where the tales of him spoiling and treating her wife as a real queen spread all around the court.
In the final battle, when Chen Qianqian (helped by Xuanhu city’s forces and Han Shuo) returns to Huaheng to fight Chen Chuchu, Han Shuo uses his body to save Chen Qianqian from Chen Chuchu’s sword. His lungs are severely damaged in the process and no one or nothing can cure him. Han Shuo says (another) beautiful quote here:
It’s not the ending you wrote, it’s the decision I took as Han Shuo myself.
Knowing that he’s going to die, Han Shuo wants Chen Qianqian to return to her world, because he can’t stand the idea of leaving her alone after dying. Indirectly forced by Han Shuo, the script Chen Xiaoqian originally wrote comes to an end. Chen Qianqian (instead of Chen Chuchu) is coronated the next City’s chief and a beautiful sky view (the celestial good omen) appears. This celestial omen is precisely her only way of returning to the real world, a world where Han Shuo doesn’t exist…
Suddenly, Chen Qianqian (now officially Chen Xiaoqian) returns to the real world, at the exact moment where she fainted just after finishing the script. She is heartbroken because she knows that Han Shuo is gone. That’s when she learns that the actor who was chosen to play Han Shuo in the series (Han “Cinematic Emperor”, in case you forgot) had have a car crash in which his lungs have been hurt. She has a hunch and immediately runs to the hospital where the actor is resting. Note: When Chen Xiaoqian initially arrived to the universe in her script, she was surprised to meet Han Shuo and see that he was the rude actor who didn’t understand her story. However, despite sharing the same face (and body), Han Shuo and the actor were, in theory, not the same person.
Chen Xiaoqian arrives to the hospital and meet actor Han (I’m calling him “actor Han” because, if I remember properly, only his surname is revealed). She asks him if he remembers any of the things they lived as Han Shuo and Chen Qianqian but he says no. She leaves the room, completely desolated, until she realises that actor Han called her “orange”, a nickname he isn’t supposed to know since it was never in the original script he saw.
Chen Xiaoqian runs back then and confirms that actor Han is indeed Han Shuo. Actor Han explains that after the car crash, his mind was filled with “memories” and scenes that he has never lived, all related to her. He tried to deny everything by pretending those weren’t real but was startled when she suddenly appeared in his hospital room. Chen Xiaoqian doesn’t want to listen to anything else and hugs him. Yes, it’s a happy ending! (✿◠‿◠)
Quite like other similar series, they chose to give us a happy ending in which the leads live happily ever in the real world. As someone who dearly enjoyed their relationship, I’m pleased to know they had a happy ending (anywhere), but personally I’d have preferred a happy ending in the universe created by Chen Xiaoqian.
Furthermore, the conflict and the differences between the cities of Xuanhu and Huaheng were starting to ease thanks to the relationship of Chen Qianqian and Han Shuo, so I was looking forward to knowing what would happen next. Of course, I understand they kinda had no other option but to return them to the real world since Han Shuo’s character was about to die in the alternative universe (and dead Han Shuo would have been something unacceptable). In any case, I was satisfied with the ending.
As much as I’d like to continue talking about the leads (because 4k words weren’t enough to fangirl), I feel forced to follow my blog’s tradition and talk about the rest of the characters of TROTR.
Firstly, Pei Heng (Sheng Ying Hao) is our second male lead, the competitor of Han Shuo to conquer Chen Qianqian’s heart. Pei Heng is described by Chen Xiaoqian as her script’s Chu Xin (Chinese term meaning “original aspiration”, the thing that inspired the rest). She also states several times that, as the creator, Pei Heng is her favourite character.
Pei Heng’s mother was the most important and respected general of Huaheng city, to the point that even as a man, he is allowed to be a teacher and instruct the noble ladies of Huaheng. However, as Chen Qianqian says, Pei Heng is able to be a teacher not because of his mother, but because he’s intelligent and has worked hard for that position. This is important to Pei Heng because he’s been always “hindered” by his gender, knowing that a man can’t be anyone important in Huaheng city. It’s probably the moment Chen Qianqian encourages him and assures he can be whoever he wants, even the first male general of Huaheng, when he truly falls in love with her. By the end of the series and motivated by his wish to save Chen Qianqian and Huaheng city, he truly manages to become the first male general of Huaheng.
Due to the good relationship (and position) of their parents, Pei Heng and Chen Qianqian had an arranged marriage for more than ten years. In spite of this, Pei Heng disliked Chen Qianqian (before Chen Xiaoqian took her place) and kept delaying this marriage. He only fell for her after Han Shuo appeared and regretted not having followed the arranged marriage for the rest of the series, basically.
Zhou Zi Xin portrays the character of Chen Chuchu, second princess of Huaheng and the heroine that was initially promised for the story. Her character is a good example of how someone “breaks bad”. The more the series progresses, the more you dislike her. By the end, it’s curious to think of her as that original heroine that was going to save Han Shuo and the city of Huaheng.
Chen Chuchu has always tried very hard to live to the expectations of the City’s chief, who has always been especially demanding and harsh towards her. She never understood why the City’s chief treatment towards her was so different. When she initially appeared, I was looking forward to a kind older sister that would look after Chen Qianqian. She kinda delivered that role for the first part of the series but when Chen Qianqian is named the heiress of Huaheng city, she completely resents and assumes Chen Qianqian has been hiding her true intentions. Afterwards, Chen Chuchu demands Chen Qianqian to return everything that should have belonged her: the heiress title and Han Shuo (remember that before Chen Qianqian forced him to marry her, Han Shuo was supposed to marry Chen Chuchu).
Only towards the end of the series, it is revealed that Chen Chuchu isn’t the biological daughter of the City’s chief. Her mother is actually general Pei (making her the younger sister of Pei Heng), who died in the battlefield not long after she was born. The City’s chief adopted Chen Chuchu as her daughter and raised her strictly so she could grow up to be a remarkable woman like her mother was. Even if Chen Chuchu wasn’t her biological daughter, the City’s chief already assumed that she would be her heiress, because the oldest princess was disabled and Chen Qianqian was too spoiled and bratty. However, the actions Chen Chuchu took, slowly breaking bad, made her aware that she wasn’t a good candidate for the position.
I felt bad for Chen Chuchu during the first part of the series, because the City’s chief treatment towards her indeed felt very biased (even if it was “for her sake”). But the decisions she kept taking and the person she turned by the end just made me pity and dislike her. I was constantly wondering how she would feel if she knew that in the original script, she was supposed to have all the things Chen Qianqian achieved. The fact is that even with Chen Xiaoqian’s appearance, Chen Chuchu still had the chance of being that heroine (without Han Shuo, because our male lead belongs to our female lead) but unconsciously moved away from that path with her own actions.
The oldest princess of Huaheng, Chen Yuanyuan (Zhao Xin), reimaned a mystery for several episodes. After an accident, Chen Yuanyuan became disabled, unable to walk anymore. Apparently, Chen Qianqian (before Qian Xiaoqian took her place) used to bully her as well; but they become close after Chen Qianqian tries to approach her and help her overcome her fears to “exercise” her legs to walk again. Chen Qianqian is also who introduces her to Su Mu (Quan Pei Lun), a musician who at first belonged to the city’s brothel. Chen Yuanyuan and Su Mu fall in love but they both have very low self-esteem (one because of her disability and the other because of his past as a brothel musician). Despite this, in the end, they get a happy ending.
Their relationship was simple but sweet. Chen Yuanyuan said that Su Mu was the only person who cared to squat down to talk to her (because she can’t stand and is always sitting in her wheel chair). As for Su Mu, he described Chen Yuanyuan as the only person who overlooked her past and saw him as himself.
Finally, I’m briefly mentioning some side characters that made this show even more enjoyable. The personal servants of both Chen Qianqian and Han Shuo, Zi Rui (Wu Yi Jia) and Bai Ji (Liu Shu Yuan) respectively, were an absolute gem. They are probably the funniest characters of the series and their interactions (between themselves and with Han Shuo and Chen Qianqian) always made me laugh. Despite portraying a minor role, I can’t imagine TROTR without them.
I had a complicated relationship with Chen Qianqian’s mother, Huaheng City’s chief. I hated her when she pushed Han Shuo to use that bracelet but understood her intentions (to prove his feelings and if he was worthy of Chen Qianqian). I couldn’t support her way of treating Chen Chuchu, even if it was “for her sake”, but saw the point as well. I liked how intelligent she was and how she helped Han Shuo and Chen Qianqian get away when they faked the later’s death to leave Huaheng. Overall, she was a pretty badass City chief, especially in the way she faced Chen Chuchu (in complete villain mode) and how she put the City’s safety over everything.
Han Shuo’s parents were two interesting characters as well. I already mentioned his mother before in a note but his father, Xuanhu City’s chief, was such a huge idiot (in an affectionate way). His interactions with his wife were very hilarious, especially how he obviously respected and kinda feared her but had to pretend to be in charge as a man in Xuanhu city. When he later decides to follow her wife to Huaheng to help Chen Qianqian, he also proves to be a huge idiot, stopping in the middle of the rescue mission to pick up a random flower and gift it to her wife or just being completely useless and clumsy. Even though they only appeared briefly in the last episodes, I loved the contrast between Han Shuo’s parents.
Lin Qi (Xiao Wei), one of the noble ladies of Huaheng and also the owner of the city’s brothel, was sort of a “villain” at the beginning of the series. Chen Qianqian and Lin Qi always had a bad relationship, and Lin Qi would always lose their martial arts competitions. Contrarily, Lin Qi sees Chen Chuchu as her best friend and kinda dislikes Chen Qianqian because of the preferential treatment of the City’s chief. Besides, Lin Qi has a crush on Pei Heng and hates Chen Qianqian for their arranged marriage and the attention Pei Heng gives her. Only after she is betrayed by Chen Chuchu, her relationship with Chen Qianqian gets well. She matures a lot in the process (though keeping her proud attitude and impulsive manners) and even finds love in a businessman from Xuanhu city that rescues her.
Conclusion:
The Romance of Tiger and Rose won’t be the best series you have ever watched but with an interesting yet uncomplicated storyline, the unbeatble chemistry of two incredibly likeable leads, funny and endearing secondary characters, and no time wasted in 24 awesome episodes, it will surely give you a great time. I highly recommend it to you if you like romcoms or are looking for something lighthearted that can distract you from “real-world-issues”.
The costumes weren’t impressive but they had good quality and looked well and suitable for the characters (Han Shuo’s clothes, especially the black outfit, were very nice, tho; or maybe it’s just Han Shuo himself? ٩(˘◡˘)۶ ).
I’m not giving the soundtrack the maximum puntuaction because personally, it didn’t deliver me any amazing song that I’ll be listening in a loop even after ending the series (but again, this is completely subjective). It was still a nice soundtrack, cute and sweet, romantic and soft, that suited the scenes it accompanied.
- Plot: 19/20
- Cast: 20/20
- OST: 9/10
- Scenography: 10/10
- Costume: 10/10
- Overall: 9.7/10
dramastation 
You did a good job summarizing TROTAR. We love this masterpiece, you know what i mean when you already seen the series. TROTAR was well executed by the actors, as if watching them right there and then. One of the best drama ive seen.
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Amazing personal review of the drama, thank you. I’m currently half way and enjoying it so far – the martial art competition is the funniest so far. Totally agree with the personal servant characters.
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Thank you so much for your words! They mean a lot to me 🙂 hope you enjoy the show until the end!
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Totally loved it and the ending. I have to say it’s a tear jerker both funny wise and sad. Great acting. Will watch it again
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