Review: The Road to Splendor (花开锦绣)

Strong Writing

1. Providing a framework for (and lack thererof) female agency in a deeply patriarchal society.

One of my biggest gripes with many of the female dominant dramas of late is that they don’t do enough to establish why the female lead is so determined to fight back. There’s usually this vague idea that women are oppressed and that they’re limited to what they can do, and therefore we’re supposed to accept whatever rebellious or aggressive actions the female lead takes to oppose the patriarchy and better her position in life. But often times I’m left wondering why the female lead is so ready to fight and if her actions are justified within the confines of that drama.

The Road to Splendor meanwhile actually first establishes the oppressive and restrictive rules that these women live in, and that is the entire basis for how various women behave in this drama. There’s a clear reason why people do what they do, regardless of whether or not you agree with them.

Take the Fu family. Much of the family’s status rests on their 贞洁牌坊, or Chastity Archway. The men haven’t managed to improve the family’s standing themselves, so ironically, the family’s prestige rests on the supposedly virtuous behavior of its women and they burden of maintaining that reputation.

That’s why Grandma Fu is willing to kill her own granddaughter. Fu Tingyun’s supposed affair didn’t just embarrass the family, they threatened the key foundation of the family’s social standing. In Grandma Fu’s mind, Ting Yun’s death was the only way to save the Fu family.

Fu Tingyun herself said it in one of the most powerful lines. She said that an unmarried woman simply has very few options in this society. She needs a man. The subtext is that it’s not because she’s incapable, but because the society she lives in requires one for her to have security and standing. That’s part of why she’s so invested in Zhao Ling’s career and why she ultimately chooses to marry him. Fu Tingyun understands the rules of the game. She’s trying to accumulate whatever leverage she can within a system where she has very few cards to play. And that’s what gives her ambition more depth for me. She’s not fighting against society simply because the script wants a “strong female lead” and that she was wronged in a former life. She’s trying to create as much freedom for herself as she can within the boundaries of the world she actually lives in.

2. Nuanced and layered characters
In this world, there are very few characters in this drama that are simply good or bad. And importantly, understanding why someone behaves a certain way doesn’t mean the drama asks us to excuse what they do.

Extending what I discussed earlier, Grandma Fu raised Fu Tingyun well and taught her many of the skills she later uses to manage a household. But the moment Fu Tingyun threatens the prosperity and reputation of the Fu family? Grandma Fu doesn’t hesitate to order her death. The widow, Madam Zuo was vicious towards Fu Tingyun, but when her own maid attracts the advances of her loathsome lover, she immediately steps in to protect the maid. She understands exactly what could happen to this young woman if the man succeeded and doesn’t want that fate for her. Yu Jingxiu, the second male lead, often behaves like a petulant child who seems determined to oppose his mother simply for the sake of opposing her. But then you hear some of the incredibly cutting things she says to him about controlling every aspect of his life, suddenly, some of that resentment becomes a lot more understandable.

There are plenty of characters I haven’t raised but I feel like we could do a deep dive analysis on each of them to better understand their motivations. The fact that I wanted to do that? Means these characters were written well.

3. The scheming and strategy are actually intelligent—both in the household and at court

In The Road to Splendor, you clearly saw who was intelligent and observant and who was not.

Here, I must raise Madam Yu. You can tell she is quite the impressive adversary. She didn’t miss a beat and immediately saw how Fu Ting Yun shared wealth amongst other women for the opening ritual to ensure her safety. She also immediately understood Fan Yake’s ambitions toward her son simply from seeing the flowers in his room.

Fortunately, Fu Tingyun can actually keep up with her and I guess that is what makes her the female lead. It is what made watching Madam Yu and Fu Tingyun battle through various rounds so much fun. They’re evenly matched, and because the drama establishes what intelligent maneuvering actually looks like, it also becomes painfully obvious when other characters aren’t playing at the same level. There are soo many examples throughout the drama where Fan Ya Ke and Yu Jing Xiu are behaving on literally 2 or 3 levels below Madame Yu and Fu Ting Yun that at some point you even feel bad for Madame Yu for having to care/plan for her son and daughter-in-law that just drag her down.

I actually loved reading so many comments on Chinese social media that were like – Ting Yun should’ve married Madam Yu and that family would have been unstoppable. Hahahahaha.

This type of “fighting” so to speak extended also at court. Once Zhao Ling and the others reach the capital, we see the reality of the saying 伴君如伴虎—serving the emperor is like keeping company with a tiger. And despite my not liking the court episodes as much, I liked seeing how dangerous and fickle the Emperor could be. One wrong move, or even one perceived act of disloyalty, can have horrific consequences. And that does happen. The Empress Dowager says one pointed thing and the Emperor becomes annoyed and doesn’t send any gift to Zhao Ling. People notice, but Zhao Ling and Ting Yun don’t understand what happened until someone points it out to them later.

So for this show, you have Zhao Ling battling every day with various court ministers and the Emperor to survive while Ting Yun is fighting with the household politics in challenges that actually made sense.

4. Dialogue with real cultural depth
For those of you that have listened to Chasing Dramas when we were just a podcast, you know that we started the podcast by analyzing poems, idioms, historical allusions etc portrayed in historical Chinese dramas to learn about Chinese culture and history. In the Road to Splendor, I finally felt like I wanted to dive into the history that was discussed or portrayed because there was actually depth.

From the get go, we hear about Yu Jing Xiu being moved to the East Room when visiting the Fu family. He was later on moved from East and West rooms depending on what Madam Yu thought about marrying Ting Yun to him. There’s real significance to what that means but it wasn’t explicitly stated. This is tied to the idiom (东床快婿).

When Fan Ya Ke’s father asked her about a question Yu Jing Xiu posed, Fan Ya Ke brought up the story of Empress Dowager Lv, Han Emperor Han Hui Di and Empress Zhang Yan. There’s a whole story there about that tragic pairing beyond what Fan Ya Ke raised in those 2 sentences but she brought it up to make her point.

And here, episode 2, Madam Yu says the lines 独自芬芳不自媒. It speaks of a flower blossoming on her own and not seeking her own marriage which obviously refers to Fan Ya Ke at this point because Madam Yu could tell Fan Ya Ke had ambitions to marry her son.

All of these lines were subtle or more poetic ways to make certain points to move the plot along. But with history and culture embedded into it. Given how much my co-host Cathy and I like analyzing Chinese culture and history from these dramas, this definitely tickled that itch which for me is always a win.

High production value

1. Beautiful cinematography

I particularly liked the very first scene in the drama and one that is revisited in episode 5. Fu Ting Yun’s funeral procession with her family all dressed in white is sending her off while Zhao Ling brings a wedding procession with the real Fu Ting Yun in the bridal sedan chair. The two processions cross paths as away to signal that Fu Ting Yun has died while Xie Ting Yun now has a new chance at life. It was quite a symbolic scene and beautifully shot.

And, there are many scenes in the first 4-5 episodes where the Chastity Memorial Arch is front and center of the shot. This one in particular of the miniatures serve as a block or even a prison for Lady Zuo. Which again, is symbolic for what these arches mean for the women of the Fu family. I thought how the shot was filmed was quite clever and added depth to this show.

Lastly, many of the scenes in this drama, particularly from episodes 10-17 when the group was in Gan Lin Town was shot on location. Gan Lin Town was filmed in Dun Huang and it absolutely elevated the look and feel of the show. The stunning vistas of the desert gave weight to the dry and harsh conditions they were in. But there were also beautiful 胡杨林 or Desert Poplar trees added to the mix. There’s finally some diversity away from the familiar film locations in Heng Dian here.

Costumes/Hairstyle
This year funnily enough, my favorite dramas were all Ming Dynasty inspired. The Road to Splendor exudes quality not only from the cinematography, but also the costumes and hairstyles. The jewelry, embroidery and hairstyles all elevated the show. Women’s hairstyles of that time period were also different depending on whether or not you were married and that was pointed out multiple times in the show as well. So it wasn’t only just what looked good on screen, but there were historical ties as well.