Deep in the Realm of Conscience (深宫计): 4 ways to make yourself miserable

TVB's Deep in the Realm of Conscience was overrated and all in all a terrible drama. 

However, I always believe there are lessons to be taken away from any drama series, good or bad.

I discovered 4 ways to make your own life miserable, each personified by one of the characters in the series. Warning: This is a spoiler-rich "review" of sorts.

1. By blaming all of your problems on everyone else except yourself
Personified by: Princess Taiping 太平公主

Over-bearing, arrogant and cruel, Alice Chan's Princess Taiping is the powerful youngest daughter of Empress Wu Zetian.

You would think given her inability to hide her emotions and her open animosity towards her cold-blooded nephew Li Longji, she would not even live to see the second episode of the drama. Instead, Princess Taiping led a whooping 36 unhappy episodes of existence.

We learn through a conversation with her second husband Wu Youji 武攸暨 that her first husband, Xue Shao 薛绍, who she was deeply in love with, was executed by her mother for a crime he was framed for. She was then forced to marry her cousin Wu Youji (presumably because her mother wanted to consolidate power within the court). Scarred for life by that ordeal, she swore to become the most powerful woman in the court, because only with ultimate power can she protect the man she loves.

The only gripe I had with her was blaming everything on everyone else without stopping to think about what she was really doing. The most glaring example would be of her imprisonment and torture of a lady-in-waiting for 20 years because she believed the lady-in-waiting framed her first husband for treason. Her second husband took the rap for her and got beheaded, repeating the story of Taiping getting depressed all over again.

Trauma of losing her husband twice aside, there was no revelation that her actions directly caused her second husband's death, no remorse for the choices she made or for taking her second husband for granted. Immediately she chose to blame Wang Zhen and gang for causing his death, who merely found the tortured lady-in-waiting and brought the case up for investigation. She took her anger out of the lady-in-waiting by driving her to suicide.

Apparently, based on comments online, a lot of people are fans of Princess Taiping (including me!) despite her being the main villain of the series. Frankly, I can see why. Princess Taiping was the only character in this series who behaves like an actual human being, with actually human motivations, that a real human audience can relate to. (Plus many felt sympathy towards her plight, being ganged up against again and again without mercy by Li Long Ji and gang)

I'm sure we all know someone like Princess Taiping in our lives. They never stop to assess if everything bad that happens to them is a result of their own actions. No self-reflection, no ownership. Just blame, blame, and blame. I pity her because she never saw how much of a difference it could have made to her ultimate fate had she taken more control over her own actions instead of simply having angry kneejerk reactions towards Li Long Ji. Really, it was a tragedy because I would have loved to see her defeat Li Long Ji. More on him on point 4.

2. By refusing to learn your lesson again and again
Personified by: Princess Linglong/Yuan Yue 玲珑公主/元玥

Princess Linglong, by Annie Liu

Before becoming the foster daughter of Emperor Ruizong, Yuan Yue entered the palace to locate her sister Yuan Rou who was sold into the palace as a child.

Upon entering the palace (and I am talking about literally on the way from the main palace entrance by the way), she immediately requests to be promoted to a 女史 (second rank lady-in-waiting) in the Bureau of Dining 司膳房 specifically. Only her first day there and already she has given them so many reasons to execute her, but obviously she is given divine protection by the producers because they need a "funny" character.

Here is a list of "funny" situations our resident "Miss Funny" got into throughout the series:

• She trespassed a restricted zone then gets framed for murder
• Openly went against Princess Taiping in a physical conflict to protect Wang Zhen then got captured to be abused by Princess Taiping
• Wang Zhen took her under her wing out of gratitude, yet Yuan Yue betrayed her by trotting off to pander to Concubine Zheng (郑昭仪). Wang Zhen got pissed (who wouldn't?) and recommended that she be married off to Tujue as part of a peace treaty.
• Found out that she had offended Wang Zhen by being close with Concubine Zheng YET still thick-skinnedly begged Wang Zhen for a favour to allow Lady Wang (汪司膳) to return to her hometown 
• Immediately deflected to Concubine Zheng's side despite singing praises of Wang Zhen just one episode ago
• Directly caused her good friend Concubine Zheng's miscarriage out of her own ignorance
• Had all of 36 episodes yet still never found out the truth behind her sister's death, instead bought into Li Longji's lies and left the palace to live stupidly ever after with He Li

Anyone having gone through any of the above would have learnt a lesson about keeping your head down and not causing trouble, especially in the palace. Yet it is almost like Yuan Yue was purpose chose to stay oblivious, sticking out like a sore thumb in every scenario, like she was trying to figure out what it would take for them to finally execute her.

There are so many other things wrong with her, like her continuous claims that she wanted to stay in the palace to investigate her sister's whereabouts/death, yet poking her nose into every other issue except issues related to her sister.

Her taking Lady Wang's words at face value about her sister's death was what broke the camel's back for me. For all that bleating about "我要找我善良的姐姐!" she clearly did not care very much for her sister. What had she been doing the entire time apart from one trip out of the palace and a few failed interviews with Lady Wang? All it took was one statement from Lady Wang (who could have not known the full picture, had incentive to lie, been forced to lie, or all three) for her to frame poor Princess Taiping for her sister's death. Maybe she chose not to care so she could take the lazy way out and finally have closure on the case. She let the real culprit go scot free, enjoying the ultimate power he never deserved, and considered it a job well done. Disgusting.

I thought Yuan Yue could have been a good lesson to youngsters who think they can barge into any place and demand whatever they want with no consequences, without earning the right to do so. The producers could have used her to teach people that you can't believe everything you hear, that everyone is a hypocrite (just a question of extent), and that no matter how kind your sister is, she is nothing but a pawn in the larger context of political struggles.

In fact, wasn't that EXACTLY the point of this series? But somehow Yuan Yue managed to stay alive and have her happy ending out of sheer luck with zero lessons to be learned. It is completely inconsistent with the premise of the series, making all the supposedly inevitable plotting and backstabbing for survival irrelevant. Why bother scheming if they all apparently have a second option to be stupid like Yuan Yue and still become princess?

Here's the reality: you can't behave like Yuan Yue and expect to lead a smooth-sailing life. Lady luck and a handsome bodyguard are not always on your side. Learn some lessons from your mistakes and be smarter next time.

3. By letting your husband determine your life's worth
Personified by: Empress Wang Zhen王蓁

You can't have a palace drama without a scheming Empress. 甄嬛传 had Ada Choi, so 深宫计 must have Nancy Wu. Wang Zhen was initially everybody's idea of the kind, virtuous, dutiful wife behind a successful man's back, yet little did anyone know she had long crossed her moral horizon by disfiguring her sister years ago, the original candidate to be married to Li Long Ji.

Even though her position as the Crown Princess was gotten by underhanded means, she tried to make up for it by being a good wife to her husband Li Long Ji. She stood by him through thick and thin, managed the Imperial Household Bureau diligently, and even allowed him to hit her so they could both frame Princess Taiping for abuse to get her out of the palace.

Wang Zhen had one fatal problem- she was barren. This would eventually pose severe problems for Li Long Ji should he inherit the throne because he would have no descendants to pass the throne to. Princess Taiping had it all figured out by introducing her niece to become Li Long Ji's concubine. This was Concubine Zheng (郑昭仪).

From this point, Wang Zhen went all out to destroy Concubine Zheng. Her motivations for going full evil so abruptly were not explored in depth, but I infer that it was a combination of 1) the realisation that everything she had done for her husband amounted to nothing 2) status-conscious Wang Zhen could not allow Concubine Zheng to conceive a son, allowing two Empress Dowagers to co-exist in the court in future 3) what woman can tolerate her husband having another woman?

Wang Zhen was initially my most disliked character. I hated that she kept acting like a victim of the "cruel" Princess Taiping, and that she was not even an accomplished woman in her own right yet was allowed to ride all over Princess Taiping only because of her husband's power.

In one scene where she was having a verbal sparring with Princess Taiping, Wang Zhen jabbed at Princess Taiping with this statement: "Some women may have all the power in the world, but they do not have the love of a husband."

Let's face it- I would rather be like Princess Taiping than like Wang Zhen. Taiping at least had her moments of unadulterated happiness with her first husband Xue Shao, and never had to suffer a strained relationship with him over another woman. In addition, everything Taiping had, she had it in her own right- her power, her identity, her status were hers alone. Everything she gains and loses were the consequences of her own actions and her value was not tied to that of a man.

Wang Zhen on the other hand would be nothing without Li Long Ji. Her identity, goals, actions, even her own morals were driven by this man, for this man. She was nothing but a shadow to Li Long Ji only to be tossed aside once he had achieved what he wanted. I am not saying it is wrong for a woman to want to be nothing but a supportive wife to her husband, I am just saying it is not necessarily a bad thing to be a spinster if the alternative meant living with a man like Li Long Ji.

By the end of series I realised what I really felt for her was pity. Pity because her evil deeds aside, I am shocked at how little anyone inside the palace actually cared about her. Everyone was quick to label her an evil lying conniving bitch, but think about it. If your close friend suddenly shows an abrupt change in character, what would your first reaction be? Shock? Confusion? Wouldn't you want to find out what triggered that change before cutting them off? If you are her husband, who recently got a mistress and got her pregnant, surely you would understand why your wife is jealous. Shouldn't he at least try to work out his marriage problems with her and stop her from going down the wrong path because of him instead of tralala skipping off to his concubine?

Wang Zhen had nobody to confide her marriage troubles in, all the years of kindness she had shown Yuan Yue suddenly became nothing to that ingrate, and suddenly everything she had done paled in comparison to another woman who could bear a son. Look at this scene of Yuan Yue 100% believing Concubine Zheng's words that Wang Zhen wanted to burn her to death with zero questions, and instantly condemning Wang Zhen:

A normal person who had observed consistent kind behaviour from Wang Zhen for years before would have expressed shock and disbelief at such a statement. Even if it was true, there should have been at least some worry or fear for Wang Zhen's mental state. A real person would DEFINITELY NOT immediately go "this woman is so evil she must be destroyed" with such a straight face. And that everyone from Ren San Shu to her own husband reacted this way was so inhumane, almost frighteningly abnormal.

Were they so oblivious or did they genuinely not care that they all had a hand in Wang Zhen's face-heel turn somehow?

And if the point was to show how cold-blooded the palace was and how everyone would pander to the powerful/favoured at the drop of a hat, then why paint all of them as good people?

It is not that what Wang Zhen did was justified, it is that if my friends and husband were such cold-blooded psychopaths who would ditch me at the earliest opportunity during difficult times, I may just go a little kee-siao too.

And with that, I no longer hated Wang Zhen. She was a stark reminder to all to not put 100% of your heart and soul into a rotten man like Li Long Ji.

4. By letting your life revolve around the accumulation of power at all costs
Personified by: Li Long Ji 李笼鸡

Look at that picture above. Do you see a handsome and imposing man who looks a superhero who saves the citizens from crime at night? The grey-faced dude next to him is 李笼鸡, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, grandson of Empress Wu Zetian. Real-life accomplishments: pleasure-seeking with Yang Gui Fei, putting corrupt officials in important positions, the An Lu Shan Rebellion, and almost losing half his empire.

(On a side note LLJ even has grey lips. Poor Steven Ma must have offended his makeup artist)

From episode one to episode 36, LLJ had only one clear goal: to destroy Princess Taiping and have absolute reign over the empire. You know how in army navigation exercises in the forest where soldiers have to navigate to a designated point, and out of fear of getting lost they just walk in one straight line destroying all the plants in their path? Li Long Ji does exactly that for the entire show. There are only two differences: i) LLJ doesn't destroy plants but innocent human lives; ii) a soldier knows exactly the significance of his designated point- be it endex, to set up camp to sleep, etc. LLJ is the equivalent of a solider finding that tree and then not knowing what to do with it so he burns it down so others won't find the tree and steal it from him.

Early in the series, LLJ's brother Prince Song lavished praise upon him in front of their father, saying that LLJ would be a good Crown Prince who would care about the well-being of his people. Already I called bullshit on that because the past four episodes showed him doing nothing of significance for his country except go on and on about his aunt. (Spoiler alert: he will continue going on about her until the last episode)

Throughout the series we were never told exactly how this guy deserved to rule the Tang empire. What we are told, however, are the following:

• He was willing to punish and kill innocent people (like Eunuch Cheng, Gan Ruo Qian, Yuan Rou) for the sake of his own image as an Emperor
• He let his Empress go scot free after almost killing Concubine Zheng twice just so that Princess Taiping would not be able to stir up a commotion on the political front. Coincidentally "had his conscience awakened" when Princess Taiping was eradicated (and by extension he no longer needed Wang Zhen) and ditched Wang Zhen after all she had done for him
• When an imperial doctor told him that Wang Zhen might not be able to conceive, LLJ's first instinct was to kill him so word would not go out and jeopardise his position as Crown prince. 
• His first thought when Concubine Zheng lost her child was that his position as the Emperor was no longer stable. He nearly killed his adopted sister Yuan Yue over that only because the baby was an important tool in for him to win the throne.
• He nearly killed his half-brother and "best bro" He Li (by asking He Li's best friend Ren San Shu to kill him, what an amazing specimen of the human race) to protect his throne
• He spent a significant amount of time being bothered by crimes in the inner bureau, low-key hoping they could be traced back to his aunt.

(LLJ threatening to kill Ren San Shu over god knows what. But I guess when you are a murderous psychotic shithead every reason is a good reason to kill another person)

The series gave me the impression that LLJ cared about absolutely nothing except consolidating power, and his actions against Wang Zhen, Yuan Rou and even He Li were in direct contrast to the "benevolent Emperor" they kept calling him.  Everything he did from start till end was not out of self-preservation, not to protect the people he loved, but only because he was a greedy asshole who could not stand splitting power with his aunt in court.

The producers tried to give little hints at the end that LLJ had sacrificed everything in his quest for the throne. Nice try, they were really poorly done. When Princess Taiping mocked him in the last episode at the verge of her death, saying that she wasn't the only one who was left with nothing in their quest for power, he walked away with such a smug victorious expression, it was as if that statement Taiping just made meant NOTHING at all. The flashback at the end that revealed that LLJ killed Yuan Rou was so quickly brushed aside, the next scene of him was him standing victorious over his empire that he finally "won". I didn't feel like LLJ even realised he had sold his soul for the throne, regretted anything at all or even felt bad about anything he had done. Was I supposed to cheer for him? What was the point of that ending?

I actually feel insulted that the producers keep forcing me to take his side by having every character praise his wisdom and compassion as if repeating it often enough will eventually make it true. It is doubly annoying that no one else saw his true colours except Princess Taiping and everyone so readily rushed to kiss his feet and without any mind of their own!

The best part was, after stepping over so many dead bodies to attain power, he didn't even know what to do with it. The evidence that this guy was a terrible Emperor was written all over history. He led an extravagant life, neglected affairs of the state, and placed corrupt officials like Yang Guo Zhong in critical positions, eventually setting the stage for the fall of the Tang Dynasty. All in all I am not convinced of anything except the fact that LLJ is pure evil dressed in sheep's skin.

Deep in the Realm of Conscience is the intellectual equivalent of a Starbucks frappe: looks good at first glance, makes you sick after you consume it. It is delivered to the audience like a series of detective stories and whenever each case is solved I am just expected to clap like a monkey for LLJ and his gang. Characters are simplistically painted into two distinct camps: Princess Taiping (later Wang Zhen) as 100% "bad" and everyone else as 100% "good". There is no anchor plot, no character development, no multiple dimensions to anyone's character (except princess Taiping) and no alternative views offered by anyone but Princess Taiping. By the way here's a surprise: everybody in this series is evil because they all aided and abetted the deaths of innocent people in some way or another. 

Taking reference from historical dramas of a similar genre, Zhen Huan Zhuan teaches you that there is a price to pay to attain and retain power. You empathise with Zhen Huan because there is an imminent threat to her life and she has people to protect.

Nothing Gold Can Stay teaches you that many of life's problems do not have a simple answer. That one-sided love is foolish because they may not love you back no matter how much you sacrifice for them. That sometimes people the you love can be cruel. That sometimes hard work alone is not enough to give your family a better life.

The only message Deep in the Realm of Conscience sends out is that it is okay to be a greedy, hypocritical and bloodthirsty asshole. Just talk about compassion often and loudly enough and everybody will automatically take your side without question, paving the way for you without needing any actual work on your part.

If they wanted to make a story about a "Big Baddie" being flogged left right and centre by a bunch of "good guys", they could have set it in a kindergarten classroom instead of the palace. Would have required way less budget and would have been less insulting to the audience this way.