Triad Princess Review: Skip It, Ignore It, Avoid It

Why did I see this drama? Can I unsee it? Netflix’s original Taiwanese drama ‘Triad Princess’ stars my two favourite ‘Lius’ i.e. actors Eugenie and Jasper which means I was bound to watch it sooner or later. Wasn’t it what Netflix tried to do, cash in on their popularity? Sadly, having a fresh lead pair does not help a show. With barely 6 episodes I am still at a loss to know the purpose of this series.

Triad Princess (2019) (6 Episodes)

Angie Ni (Eugenie Liu) is the daughter of the gang leader who belongs to the formidable triad. Since childhood, she has been trained by her father in all kinds of martial arts and so she has grown up to become a tough fighter. When she turns 25, her father insists she gets married to the son of another gang which will not only strengthen their might but will also fulfill her dead mothers’ wish of seeing her daughter married. Angie however, has just dumped her latest boyfriend and has no plans of settling down. When she retaliates her father confines her to her room.

She somehow manages to fool the guards and escapes her room to accept the job of a bodyguard for the actress Ling Yun (Cecilia Choi) who has been receiving threats mails from an unknown person. Angie accepts the job only so she can get close to her favorite star Xu Yi Hang (Jasper Liu) who happens to be Ling Yun’s boyfriend. Does her dream of meeting Yi Hang come true?

Let’s weigh this gangsta cum fangirl love affair on our drama beam balance and see if this unlikely couple manages to develop a convincing love story.  

Good Weights

I enjoyed watching ‘Triad Princess’ because…

…I loved Angie’s action in the drama. In fact, the feisty Angie is the only thing I liked in this short drama. I love Eugenie Liu after watching her in ‘Behind Your Smile’ and I know how adorable she can be on screen. When you take her natural cuteness and add some action and fire to it, you get an overload of adorbs.

Her action may not be smooth but she still does reasonably well. Be it her maneuver with the butterfly knife or the sharp shots with the gun or her one on one with goons, she does it all with ease and seeming expertise. Her fangirling moments are each one of us dreaming about our favourite celeb.  

Had it not been for her and Jasper, this series would have been even more unbearable than it already is.

Bad Weights

I did NOT LIKE ‘Triad Princess’ because…

…the script was lacking beyond belief. When I read the synopsis I thought the show would be somewhat like other short dramas like 1% of Something or Noble, My Love wherein the story is focused entirely on the main couple. Since this drama had 40 minutes running time I was hoping to see a lot more of our beautiful leads. But no such thing happened. Our lead couple hardly has any screen time together as the show goes on to develop other parallel stories. This could be because the drama is supposed to have multiple seasons and perhaps the writers were preparing content for continuation. If this is the case then it is sad because the reason why most viewers like me must have started the drama felt cheated. Even more so because the leads fall in love in just four brief meetings.

Yi Hang lets Angie in on a huge secret they very first time they actually talk. Who does that? Yi Hang confesses his love after their fourth or fifth meeting. Let me add here these ‘meetings’ I am talking about are really brief encounters nothing serious where you can see him fall in love with her. But he still does. And then they even separate just to go through the unwanted pain that most drama leads are subjected to. Yeah right.

… Jasper Liu is wasted in the drama. Okay, there is a shirtless scene in the show, but that is not enough. Yi Hang is shown to be a good and kind guy.

His superstardom has not gone to his head and he remains really grounded and humble. But his character is so poorly written that you feel bad for Jasper. He suits the part of a good guy but that is all you get. Forget character development he is even shown to be naïve enough to trust a rival and stay away from Angie.

 

A special mention to this guy (Tsao Yu Ning) whoever he is…he’s cute. 🙂 He’s Yi Hang’s supposed rival and Angie’s childhood friend, Eddie. 

 

It is really disappointing that this show could not make full use of Eugenie and Jasper’s on-screen chemistry. With only 6 episodes in hand, the writers should have focused on developing their story especially if they intended to get a season 2. If there is a season 2, I don’t think I’ll want to watch it unless it looks really promising, unlike this first season.  

I give ‘Triad Princess’ 1.5 out of 5 rating. Except for the pretty and tough protagonist Angie I liked nothing about this show. You can happily skip it and trust me you won’t regret it.   

 

Screenshots and Feature Image Courtesy: Netflix.com 

 

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