Shi☆

(spoilers for the ending of Within the Grip and Dong Lan Xue ahead)

I honestly really disliked how the FL ended up abandoning her pursuit for power and the sect-leader position to just kinda... wander? Do nothing? I don't think the decision came entirely out of left field, nor do I think it's a particularly bad way to conclude her arc, but I just don't think it was a good way to handle her character and this ties into a greater problem I've seen in cdramas and I'm gonna give you a second to guess what that is...

You're so right! Misogyny! What else is there?

I can't help view this decision as another cop-out for the trope cdramas (or ig probably the censorship board) loathe with a burning passion and that is 'women vying for positions of power and actually attaining them'. Whenever women do pursue such positions shamelessly, they are villainous monsters that die a horrible and most justified death (yikes) and otherwise you get something like this, where the oh-so-righteous FL decides she, as the woman doesn't actually want to chase her own power and gives it up to... well, of course... become powerless.

And if we were to separate the character from her gender (we certainly can extend her this grace, but the story won't let us forget it), this would be an acceptable decision for the story and her character. She outgrew her desire for power to feel in control of her life and found power in her own inner strength and thus wanted to pursue different things in her life. It's a fine decision and had it been a man, I would've thought it to be most refreshing. But she is not a man and the drama makes sure we remember this, so it feels very intentional.

And the drama is also not equal with its treatment. Because, while the FL is allowed to have this 'growth' and discard her trauma-born desire for power (again, yikes). ML is not granted this grace. Don't forget, the ML is the crown prince...

So if FL is forced allowed to collar herself discard the shackles of her life and "choose her own fate", so should the ML, right? Ahaha, of course not, because he's the crown prince. What greater honor could anyone choose? Admittedly, it's not like we get a whole lot of character development for the ML, so it's kinda hard to figure out what exactly his life goals are. It's very much FL's story and he's more like her pretty lover, but what we do know is that ML holds a lot of resentment towards the palace and especially his father. So it's not really a stretch to think that this man who already convincingly faked his death once and truly found someone he cherishes and wishes to follow, would leave behind the foul life that had strangled him thus far and join his wife in wandering the world and finding their place within it, right?

WRONG.

He decides to remain the crown prince. And, get this... asks FL to marry him as his crown princess and help him navigate the dangers of the court with him. And she... for some unfathomable reason accepts.

Yup. That's the ending that they seal with a tender kiss.

Now, do I hate this ending? Honestly, no. I'm tired and I expect disappointment. But I also don't think it's too atrocious of an ending despite my lengthy rant above, lol. I do think they can still spin it in an interesting and RR way if they wanted, but I just can't help but feel the disgusting shadow of misogyny looming above it. Yes, the woman sacrifices everything, the power she needed to feel secure and the freedom to do as she pleased all to... trap herself in the prison that is the palace? As a future empress at that? P l e a s e. I've seen enough historical dramas to know damn well that being the monarch is nothing more than a gilded cage. I know she's more than capable of taking care of herself, but I don't think someone who fought tooth and nail every single day of her life merely to survive and gave up the power she had been chasing for at least a decade would then suddenly go "yeah, I do actually want to fight even more all day, every day until the day I die, lol that facecard sure is lethal <3". I'm sorry girl, just kidnap your man if his eyes are that important to you, I promise you he would be more than happy!

Compare this to a drama with a similar, but far better executed ending: Dong Lan Xue. In that drama FL also decides to stay with ML in the palace and help him weather the political shitstorm, but the dynamic and story was completely different. ML couldn't really leave nor did he have anywhere to go. Sure they could probably choose to escape together and could make a living as mercenaries or something like that (her being a mercenary for hire and him being her quietly lethal scholarly husband would be an ADORABLE alternate ending tho- like omg), but the drama does nail home the themes of trauma, obsession, and mental prisons. Like, that's kinda the whole point.

Sure, he could maybe physically leave, but his mind and soul are bound to the palace that took so much from him. His thirst for revenge not yet quenched. And FL understood this. Because she had been in his exact position until mere moments earlier. So by the time she had earned herself freedom (from her mind) to leave, she looked back and saw a man (sorry, her pookie babygirl) still trapped within that cage of hatred and she couldn't find it in her heart to leave him behind to face it alone. Not when they had always depended on each other. Not when she cared so deeply for him.

Her words at the end sums it up perfectly: "This imperial city is still a prison for me. But I couldn't stand to leave you here alone."

The WHOLE point was that he was not done with his revenge yet. His mental chains still bound him to the source of his misery. So though he could probably physically leave, he was still stuck in that palace. And thus, her choosing to stay with him and protect him and aid him in breaking these shackles until he could leave makes sense and actually serves the narrative themes of solace and comradery that the drama so beautifully crafted.

Not to mention that DLX actually takes place in the palace. So FL choosing to stay feels like a pretty reasonable and possible ending. She never rose to high power. She was a sex worker turned high ranking assassin maid to an unfavored prince. Marrying ML would at least grant her power she did not previously have.

Compare that to the ending of WtG then... and yikes. FL ONLY loses in marrying into the royal family. All the power she could have as the crown princess does not even hold a candle to the power and influence she would have as the leader of a prominent and powerful sect...

Like what the fuck is this???

They could have played it better, make it in a way that at least fits the characters and the narrative. But no.

It would have bothered me less if, as you said, they both left the power struggles and traveled jianghu peacefully. At least it would seem like they were seeking peace and freedom after all the schemes and drama. Especially since they kept saying she didn't really want the position and all that (although they didn't exactly say she hated it, it just wasn't her goal specifically).

Or they could have gone with her entering the palace while keeping the pavilion leader position as support. We could go down the path of her gaining more and more power. But then again, also no.

They just left her a husk of who she was. Stripping her of both freedom and power.

This pattern is always repeated in dramas non-stop, it's no longer shocking. I have seen worse, recently My Captive Marshal (Spoilers ahead), where they gave us 50~ eps of nice RR then decided to completely and entirely flip the roles in the last 10~ eps. The flip was so bad it made me hate the whole entire thing, wish I stopped watching at ep50. They took her position and power, erasing all that she was, even though she spent the whole drama fighting to keep her power. While they gave power to the ML who never really seemed to care or want for said power, if anything, he seemed to like being a simple opera performer. All gone just to drop them into trad roles of the genre??? Never really understood the need for that switch.

This isn't just misogyny, it's misandry as well tbf

Over and over again, every show insists on the ML being 'the man' at the end. I have seen an abundance of shows where the ML does NOT want power or authority. He just wish to live in peace, but somehow always ends up as the crown prince/emperor/leader of something. Like, give the men a rest?

Constantly stripping the women of power and shoving it into the men when neither of these characters want that outcome is honestly crazy work. Can you really call that a happy ending when both of them are internally miserable?

That's way watching Fated Hearts was a surprisingly refreshing experience. (Spoilers ahead) He did not want the throne at the beginning, and he did not want the throne by the end of it. Leaving everything to his little sister to manage and if she does well she becomes the empress while he and his wife pull away from the political, scheming world. I kept waiting for them to push him into the emperor role, but it was so nice to see him free as he wished.

Aside from the fact that those fiends' are supposedly very very strong. Strong as in even Nie Jiuluo, who is supposed to be this powerful mad blade and all that, still struggled to beat two of them.

I mean, sure, you could argue that he was weakened after his fight with her so Yan Tuo managed to kill it in that state.

BUT he's so chill about it??

The story seems to forget that Yan Tuo is supposed to be a normal man for the most part. He never killed anyone before. He wasn't trained to kill. His adoptive mother might have been a monster, yeah, but she did mostly raise him as a regular boy. Even mostly sheltered by what we have seen from the drama to this point.