Goodbye, my princess is a gorgeous deconstruction of the “three lives, one love” trope that we see in a lot of Chinese dramas (but specifically xianxia). But unlike those epic magical romances that end with eternal bliss, this show brings that fantastical set up to a historical, realist setting and studies the dark side of it by exploring the sentiment in a very cutthroat world with irreversible consequences. This sad story unfolds through three romances: first, the young love of two innocent teenagers, then a prince and a princess united through a political arrangement to bring their countries closer, and lastly, the horrifying entanglements of a ruthless and power-hungry crown prince and his unwilling crown princess who is more of a political prisoner than a bride.
I really loved this show! In fact, it’s my new favorite Chinese drama. The worst part of watching this show was seeing stupid comments under the videos. Otherwise, the show itself was nearly perfect. Not perfect maybe, there were things in it that I didn’t love but they were no glaring issues.
Also fair warning: I also read the book while watching this show so 1)I will not shut up about the book and 2) I will compare the show to the book. So minor spoilers in the “negative” section. Really minor. Tiny.

You should watch this if you like:
1. Tragedies
2. But also, sad middles and semi-sad beginnings. It’s not all sunshine then tragedy. It’s just: sad-oh cute!-oh sad again-haha funny-oh that’s too sad-OH NO-NOOOO!
3. Extremely well-done morally ambiguous characters (everyone is good and bad. Except for Xiao Feng. She's a sweetie)
4. Innocent female leads (but not dumb. She's just 15yo, ok? Cut her some slack!)
5. Historical fiction focusing on political schemes
6. Wedding night like: me, my new spouse, and our murder weapons of choice
7. Magical realism genre
8. Romeo and Juliet-esque dynamics
9. Mature stories about life and love. It’s not idealistic at all.
10. The threat of maybe…being attracted...to the villain…I don’t know…it’s more likely than you’d think!
11. Did I mention it’s sad?

It starts so cute and sweet, like children just playing at romance but the stakes get so high so fast and it’s so overwhelming. It is a tragedy in slow motion. From the first moment the story starts, all these small machinations come together to set up a situation that could only end in blood and tears.
The main plot is not really the romance. The main plot is “How to survive as an eastern palace resident in the grander palace environment, as depicted through Xiao Feng and Li Chengyin’s dysfunctional survival tactics.” So, the romance is a part of that, but so is the political intrigue and the revenge plots and the haram catfights, etc. And that’s why I like the plot because there’s a bigger picture and a lot of the smaller details are all connected to each other but they also branch out into B plots that do not take over the main plot’s time but develop slowly and surely in the outskirts of the main plot. I just think it’s important to have fair warning. This is a tragedy and it’s set up that way from the start. If you are looking for a cute romance between two people trying to work out their arranged marriage and find happiness, this show is not it. It’s simply not one of those soft historical fiction dramas. This is more like those hardcore political intrigue shows with big productions and seasoned actors, except it just happens to view that kind of story from the perspective of a young princess so the cast are young and new!
I would say this show will probably operate well as a gateway show to watch more critically acclaimed Chinese dramas with heavier plots and higher quality, if you are used to watching more lighthearted shows. It’s very in-between.

Plot: It’s important that you know, this show is a very good adaptation. I think this is important because knowing the book helps understand why the show is the way that it is. You see, the book is very short and very concise and it’s only from Xiao Feng’s perspective who is a foreign princess with limited knowledge of language and culture in her new country and very few people she interacts with. So for most of the story, she just has no idea what is going on around her. Then by the end, it turns out Li Chengyin was doing all this political cold war stuff behind the scenes. The show had to bring all the “implied” events of the book into life and that’s why the book is romance but the show isn’t. Because it just wouldn’t be possible to make a show that only adapts the novel's content. It’d be 4 episodes long and nothing would make sense! That’s why there are so many political subplots in the story and that meant Xiao Feng wasn’t really a big part of a lot of the stories going on.
I personally enjoyed all that they did with the plot. Overall. There were details I wasn’t crazy about. I’ll get to that later. I liked most of the story. Some things get lost in the transition from text to screen, like just how much Xiao Feng is out of her depth in Central Plains and how most of the things she does and how she does them are due to cultural difference but I still think the show managed to present her as a well-meaning if a bit confused girl.

Acting: The acting in this show is on another level for me. It’s so good. There’s a huge cast. A lot of them are older actors playing complicated people and they were all a joy to watch. For example, Zheng Xiao Ning plays Xiao Feng’s grandfather and his role is there for a short time but he’s just amazing. The way he carries himself, his voice, his gaze, all of it was just chilling and amazing. Or Nagima who plays the mute A’Du. Oh, she was unreal! She doesn’t talk for most of the show but her expressions are enough to cut into your heart like a knife. The things this woman communicated through her eyes. I cried, every time she cried. These are just two out of many actors who blew me away. Most of all though, Peng Xiao Ran and Chen Xing Xu just redefined my expectations of young actors.
A moment of silence to appreciate the fact that Chen Xing Xu was only 22yo when he brought the complicated and extremely enigmatic Li Chengyin to life. How?! What was I doing when I was 22?! I was mostly just crying (tbh he did a lot of crying in bts videos too, lol. Same dude, same!) I can’t compliment these young actors enough. They did such a wonderful job. Their performance was just outstanding. Peng Xiao Ran was also wonderful. She plays what would have been a typical playful cute girl in the hands of another actress but she brings such weight and groundedness to the character, without overacting or looking stupidly childish. She's so in control and I just love that in her performance.
And their chemistry! The chemistry between these two was so good that you can tell the censorship had them cut out kisses because it was just too much, apparently! They were that good.
Also as an ensemble, everyone did such an amazing job. There wasn’t really a performance among them that I can point out and say it was so bad it ruined the scene. Everyone hit their marks perfectly.

Music: The music in this show was great too?! And I don’t mean I got used to it so it was fine. No. It was actually good. It’s gorgeous. They use this heartbreaking leitmotif over and over again that must be some famous chord progression because it steadily made me sad from episode one even though nothing sad had even happened yet. Also fun fact: the most playful track in the music is called “Fear” and I think that’s all you need to know about the mood in this show!

Production: The production gets a special mention because it was that good. The aesthetics of this show are gorgeous. The color grading, the sets, and costumes, the number of sets, and the attention to details in each of them, was just so satisfying. Everything looked pretty expensive too. I don’t know if there really were expensive or not but the clothes looked really regal and the sets were so grand with colors that were so beautifully matched in thematically different settings. No conversation about this show is complete without mentioning the beautiful cinematography. A lot of the natural settings were filmed on location and that has meant the existence of golden dunes and majestic mountains that look breathtaking on screen. It’s a true feast for the eyes. The CGI was very good too. There wasn’t too much of it but you can really tell the director made sure that everything looked as good as it could. It was in little acts of continuity that you can see the dedication of the director to the project.

Rewatch value: Oh sure!

Negatives: As I said, there were some changes made due to the complication of perspectives in the novel. One of these changes was that they kind of do a character cleanse of Gu Jian and also add to his plotline. In the book, Gu Jian visits Xiao Feng three years after her arrival in central plains but in the show, he shows up three months later. That’s at least 21 months’ worth of nothing for him to do! So he just has all these scenes where is sitting around, getting drunk, and…it’s kind of pointless?! I think someone on the production team was probably a Gu Jian fan and they decided they wanted to give him a romantic redemption arc, or they figured since the male lead will become so cruel later, it’ll probably be in their best interest to have a blandly romantic second male lead to soften the blow. I guess?
For the most part, I like what they did with humanizing both men. Li Chengyin and Gu Jian are so much worse in the novel and a whole lot less likable generally but the show does a lot to empathize with both and I love that. I just feel like they sacrificed a bit of Gu Jian’s nuance towards the end of his journey. He managed to redeem himself in pretty much the same way in the novel as the show but for me, the book’s version was more powerful because you knew he was doing bad things before but the one time it mattered, he made the right choice and it was so powerful and I freaking sobbed reading that part. Unfortunately, the show’s version didn’t touch me as much. I was still emotional and very touched by everyone’s great acting but then…two sad-music montages? Come on! That was the only thing I fast-forwarded in the show!
This was a part of a bigger issue with the plot. There are three arcs in this story and the show did a great job with the first two but they kind of lowered their quality in the third and last one which happened to be my favorite part of the novel and the most emotionally touching part. So maybe part of my disappointment is that they derived so far from the novel in the only part that the book actually starts to give details and plots move forward really fast. I still understand why the show ended the way it did and they still kept a lot of my favorite and iconic scenes from the novel but towards the end, there were some choices that I squinted at a bit. It wasn't so bad though that I would redact points for it.

Overall: Best Chinese show I have watched so far. I loved it. I didn’t even expect to like it and I had heard it was so painful but I loved it anyway. I hadn’t cried this much over a show since The Untamed (and Yanxi Palace…it got me with their friendships, okay?!) so it’s somehow very precious that I watched this show a whole year since I discovered The Untamed. Very fitting.

Pro-tip: If you want to cry less while watching, read the book first. You’ll cry while reading the book and the show hurts less!