狼殿下（The Wolf)- an epic love story

It’s been awhile since I watched a decent period idol drama, and a year since I watched any worth raving about. However, 狼殿下fills that order.

This drama was ambitious, well thought out and well planned. From the soundtrack, to the actors to the clothes and sets,you can see the effort that went into planning and producing this refreshing story of a wolf boy and his princess.

At episode 2, I was already trying not to cry. The two main leads of this drama- 渤王and 星儿 are ill fated lovers who have a sizzling, unmatchable chemistry that is constantly shadowed by their cruel fate. Throughout the drama, the couple have an unending number of obstacles to overcome with only pockets of sweetness scattered in between. It is all actually quite depressing and dismal as we constantly see their potential but yet choices and destiny tear them apart. What was a light in this show for me was 疾冲, the second male lead and a vagabond prince from 晋国. His, is a deep, simple and honest love for 星儿 and he communicates it by being always by her side and helping her out of trouble. This is a stark contrast to 渤王and 星儿 who have a complicated, angsty but electrifying kind of relationship.  渤王 loves 星儿deeply but due to his painful position, tends to hide his love, demonstrating it through careful planning and action which is all unbeknownst to 星儿 but obvious to the viewer.

This love triangle is set amidst a background of a rivalry between two kingdoms 炀国and 晋国, with a neutral 契丹 that sometimes lends soldiers to either side, based on their offers.  炀国and 晋国 both have smart and scheming kings which I always think is great. I enjoyed the contrast between the two kingdoms which symbolically can be seen as ‘dark’ and ‘light’ and I really liked how the show brought out the stark contrast between having a benevolent or tyrant for a leader. The ‘dark’ kingdom was also filmed in dark settings with characters wearing dark coloured clothes while the ‘light’ kingdom was a lot more colourful and bright in its clothing choice. There were lots of plot devices, political scheming and manipulation used in the show to move the story along so that it was always interesting. These were all well executed by a strong ensemble of main and supporting actors who all seemed to understand and pull off their characters well. What’s admirable is that nearly every, if not all characters came off as reasonable and believable in this show. Full attempt was made to ensure that each character had a point of view and acted the way they did due to believable reasons. I really enjoyed how different perspectives and voices interacted with each other and explored themes such as the the value of a life, retribution, family, morality, justice, love and conflicting duties towards kin and country. I also give extra credit to 王大陆and 丁勇岱 for pulling off the complex, layered characters that they were given. Especially 王大陆 for embodying the title of ‘狼殿下’.

Overall, I really enjoyed the drama and I was hooked for over 40 episodes which is no small feat. This drama more or less succeeds in keeping things interesting till the end. However, if I had to flaw this, it would be for the last few episodes. For me personally, the pace dropped a little, the gripping plot came close to being repetitive and our leading couple had simply played the ill fated lovers a bit too many times. I admit, I was tired by the end. Tired of the excuses the leads gave to not be together and irked by a few sequences. The most frustrating of all was that 疾冲’s grand love was…in my eyes cheapened by the immediate introduction of a 星儿 substitute for him….as if the show was trying to ensure fans would not feel sad he had been dumped and that love that had spanned more than 30 episodes could be so quickly dealt with. Who says that unrequited love is less powerful or less deep than requited love?

That being said, all in all, the characters all had acceptable endings and with the type of shows that we get these days, I’m grateful for the decent conclusion to an epic tale.