FINALLY – A Female Lead Who Actually Earns Her Skills

In sooooo many Cdramas nowadays, the main characters just happen to be masters at everything and anything under the sun. They’re supposed to be wicked smart, good at martial arts, incredibly scholarly and/or innately good at business. Here, Li Zhen, despite her immense talent, is humbled quite significantly by her grandfather and others in the industry when she starts learning how to make ink.  She quickly realizes that talent doesn’t overcome hard work, dedication and attention to detail. After encountering a traumatic experience, she decides to hunker down and focus. It’s 3 years before she’s ready to work with ink on her own and graduates from her training.   There are still obstacles along the way, especially as a woman in this industry, but she earns the respect of those in the industry and in the Li Ink family because of how hard she works. 

I really appreciated this depiction because it shows that mastering a craft actually DOES takes time and effort. There is a level of groundedness to the story rooted in how difficult ink making is portrayed, which gives genuine respect to the craft itself. Not even the main character gets to sidestep her way to the top.

Refreshingly Rational Conflict and Character Motivations
I will be honest, I was quite pleasantly surprised by how the major conflict at the beginning of the show was handled. The Li Ink family’s imperial ink shipment was burned due to Li Zhen’s father’s negligence, resulting in significant punishment for the Li family and even the death of one of his brothers. This led to the eighth branch of the family, (Li Zhen’s entire family, including herself, her paternal grandfather, her parents, and her brother), to be expelled from the Li clan entirely. A significant and humiliating punishment. 

Maybe because I have been watching too many detective and crime dramas lately, but I fully expected someone to cry foul and for this to spiral into a sweeping investigation and then some type of major revenge plotline. But nope. The 8th branch took responsibility for their negligence and accepted their punishment. The fact that Li Zhen’s father and grandfather responded with integrity rather than deflection shows that the characters in this drama behave rationally with the information they have at the time. Li Zhen and her family, though obviously devastated, accepted their fate and kept on living. 

This extends to how the drama handles its antagonists. Throughout the early episodes, Li Zhen’s biggest adversaries are members of her own extended family. Yet they are written in such a way that you can fully understand why they are so antagonistic toward her. Were they right in their anger? Not really, but the source of that anger makes complete sense. After all, it was Li Zhen’s father whose negligence caused Tian Jiang Yue’s husband to die and left Li Jing Dong without the use of his legs. They absolutely needed therapy to process that trauma, and their behavior toward Li Zhen was inexcusable, but you always understood where their anger stemmed from.  This is rather humanizing script writing and again, helped keep the story grounded.

What impressed me most about the screenwriting is that most character reactions were rooted in the information they had at the time. You may wince at how certain characters treated Li Zhen, and be angered at how they can’t let things go after so many years, if you were in their shoes, would you have behaved dramatically differently in their shoes? Probably not. These antagonists aren’t purely good vs evil, well not all of them, which is what makes for good writing.

An Expansive but Memorable Cast
Li Zhen’s world encompasses her nuclear family, the eighth branch, and the broader Li family clan. Beyond that, there are rival ink families to contend with as well. What is impressive is that the screenwriters managed to make each of these individuals feel unique and memorable rather than interchangeable. The result is a drama with genuine depth and breadth, one that takes the Hui Zhou ink industry seriously as a world worth inhabiting.

A Romance That Earns Its Place
Another thing I appreciated about this drama is how restrained it is with the romance. The main male lead does not even appear to meet Li Zhen until ten or more episodes in. When they do finally meet, he does not immediately swoop in to trigger a romance or rescue her at every turn, even though he remembers her from their childhood while she doesn’t remember him. Instead, he is more bemused and curious, content to let her do her own thing. They do fall into some familiar clichés later on, but their relationship is far more of a slow burn built on a foundation of genuine trust than an immediate romance. Which makes complete sense. Li Zhen’s first true love, after all, is ink.

(I do want to say, Han Dong Jun (main male lead actor’s) mandarin enunciation is fantastic. Quite soothing on the ears. I must practice my mandarin to be as accurate as his. )

An Homage to Chinese Ink

Of course, I must gush about the detail in the production of this show. The set design, the Ming dynasty costumes and of course, Chinese ink or 墨 “mo4”. Even though I’ve written and painted with Chinese ink for calligraphy and painting, I’ve never seen ink making before. I never knew about all of the various processes that went into making a stick of ink. It was a delight to see it depicted on screen and the level of deference and respect the show gave to the craft as told by the characters themselves.