Every once in a while, I come across a gem, unpolished, hidden and unknown. I wipe away the dust and the dirt and am met with something so beautiful that I can hardly believe my eyes.

This show is no exception.

It is lockdown 2020; I am at home and finished my second semester of first year uni. I have gone through almost every single historical kdrama on my netflix and I am BORED. I turn to Viki, "maybe it'll have something else that won't have constant porn ads popping up" I think, scrolling through aimlessly the suggestions. Then I stop, I pause and look at a show tile with the title "The Romance of Tiger and Rose". By this point I have only watched one cdrama ever back in 2018 and I have never strayed from kdramas since 2014. But there's something about this show - the premise is wacky, it's something a kdrama would never do, it's 24 episodes instead of the 48 that normally come with historical cdramas and most importantly: it's tagged as "rom-com". It's fully subtitled, it's completely finished. "What the hell," I shrug. "I have nothing for doing anyways."

I click "play first episode" and I go on a journey.

Xiao Qian has a problem - she's stuck in her own script and doesn't know how to get out. But there's an upside: she knows everything about everyone and knows exactly what's going to happen. After several attempts at thinking death would be her only escape, Xiao Qian decides there's only one solution: see the story to the end as Qian Qian.

The thing about TAR is that everything is done on purpose - the side character made for exposition? Yeah, turns out QQ wrote him like that to meet a word count. The "hero" having a heart defect? Well, he needed to be because how else was the initial female lead going to make him trust her after she cures him? The different cultures in either city making no sense? Yeah, QQ realises halfway through that she needs to change that ASAP once she gets home. The fact Han Shuo and Chu Chu don't really have a reason to love one another in the real script? Well, don't blame QQ, she's never even dated and she's just doing what she's seen in other dramas! But things are different: she's there and she's going to make sure that Han Shuo and Chu Chu fall in love and everything works out.

Only there's a slight, tiny, teeny, little bit of a problem: uh, Han Shuo is married to QQ and he doesn't seem eager to turn his attention to Chu Chu.

Because there's only thing QQ can't account for: her character's feelings. Having survived the wedding night (the night she was supposed to die) QQ works hard to turn things around because she wants to go home and not for one second is she going to forget that mission. She has two goals: make HS and CC fall in love and make CC the City Master. Seems easy, right?

WRONG.

Because QQ quickly realises that these people aren't just words on paper; they're real, they have goals, ambitions, dreams and, most importantly, feelings. And the person that shows this to her the most is her supposed arch enemy: HS. She's written him, she knows how he's cruel and vindictive and malicious, she knows what he's going to do, what he COULD do to her if she's on his bad side. So she tries to be nice to him - she celebrates his birthday, she gets him a new set of clothes, she's all about compromise - they will live by his rules in private, and her rules in public. This QQ is not arrogant or rude, she's kind, she's caring, sometimes a bit of a smooth brain but it's understandable why. And Han Shuo is all but helpless as he falls in love with her.

This HS and the HS that QQ wrote are two very different people and she doesn't realise at this point that it's all because of her; HS cares very deeply for QQ to the point he would turn his back on his own city to help her, and he knows falling in love with her is not a smart move but there comes a point where he doesn't care. He's at her heels, constantly making sure she's safe and protected, being a shoulder for her to cry on and he'll shake his head at her antics but he will never discourage her from them. He's her #1 supporter, he knows what she's really like and he will never talk down to her or act like she's some helpless maiden that needs to be protected.

But it seems smoothbrain QQ has this completely slide off of her brain because she's still deadset on going home and continuously tries to make her script happen. Not once throughout this show does QQ's actions aggravate me because there's always a reason behind them. Doesn't realise HS is in love with her? Well, he did try to kill her several times and she wrote him to be in love with CC not her. Blatantly manipulates people to do what she wanted done in her script? She wants to go HOME, she doesn't want to be stuck in a dream forever, she has bills to pay and she misses WiFi! Sends Han Shuo away and lies about her feelings? QQ thinks that she cannot change her script and therefore cannot change HS's fate, but perhaps she can save him long enough until the story is over so he doesn't have to die because of her meddling.

QQ's goal is constant: she wants to go home and needs to take the actions necessary to do so, even if it means hurting herself and others for it to come true. But for a moment so brief that you would blink and miss it, there is a time when she and HS get to live out their marital, blissful life, knowing that they love each other and want to be with one another. And it's so cute - you can tell that HS fell first and he fell HARD, while QQ still obviously has her reservations but she loves him and she's so happy that he loves her. Everything she has done has been to protect him and everything he has done has been to protect her, and he would never do anything to hurt her.

Well.

Sort of.

This show loses its 10/10 rating for a certain scene portrayed in episode 19. I believe that this scene needs to be talked about because of how triggering it is and I remember being completely shook to my core once the scene happened without warning so...

TW: SA.

Without spoiling too much, HS has been cast out from the city by QQ and he is not a happy camper. His love has turned bitter and he wants revenge, revenge that is gladly offered up to him by another character. He returns and he's not at all the happy, loving husband that QQ had turned away. He's angry, he's cruel and cold - he's the HS that QQ had written in the beginning and she knows that she should be very much afraid. HS doesn't believe QQ's reasoning for turning him away and she essentially becomes his prisoner and he the key to her cell.

a lover scorned, HS has a lapse in judgement and his feelings for QQ and acts maliciously towards her, his behaviour worsened when second male lead Pei Heng appears. Certain that QQ and PH have been loving it up, HS shoves PH down a set of stairs and beats him, until QQ steps in. HS wastes no time in throwing her over his shoulder and carrying QQ into her room while she's kicking and screaming, throwing her onto the bed and looming over her. You can tell QQ is afraid because she knows what he's capable of, and she begins to plead with him to calm down and listen to reason but HS refuses - instead, he says it's about time he's got what he's deserved after all this time. And then promptly begins to attack QQ, trying to take off his clothes and hers, not caring for the fact she's fighting back to get him off of her.

HS only ends his assault when QQ's crying grows louder and more afraid and he can see how frightened she is, begging him to stop and that he's scaring her. There's a moment where he reaches out, seemingly regretful, and his mouth opens, making me think he's about to apologise when his voice says: "You ruined my mood" instead.

And then that's it.

QQ brushes it off as "oh he's just super mad at me for saying I don't love him", it doesn't affect her or her opinion of him. HS never apologises. Bai Ji makes a joke saying he can lock the two in a room with an aphrodisiac. Everyone forgets and moves on because the end is in sight. I'm still staring at the screen, mouth slack and eyes wide, not quite believing that I just witnessed HS try to grape QQ.

But everyone is moving forward and I can't be left behind so I have to scrub that scene from my memory and pretend it never happened otherwise I won't be able to finish a show that has been perfect so far.

The comedy in the show is completely next level and I should expect no less from Lu Si who is a goddess at comedy and drama alike. I've watched this show three times and it still makes me laugh every single time because the comedy in this show is AMAZING. Like, I don't even know how to explain it because it's so situational and me trying to explain would ruin the joke. I feel like cdrama's are superior at producing comedies compared to other parts of the world because it's all so natural and doesn't rely on vulgar language or humour to be funny.

But the ACTING - everyone holds their own but you know i gotta talk about my girl Zhao Lu Si; she is one of my favourite actresses because she has the RANGE; comedy, drama, tragedy, romance, you name it. She's only getting better as she ages and I am constantly excited for anything new that she is in. I just don't know how she does it, her expressions, her body language, everything about her acting is so superb. The slightest, subtle movement can tell you exactly what she's thinking as a character and she never fails at making lovable, flawed characters for you to fall in love with.

Ding Yu Xi is fantastic as well, I only feel sorry that he got stuck with that horrible wig and I wish they fired whoever was doing his make up because, damn, man's had a LOT of make up on throughout this show. But he is fantastic as HS - he manages to expertly portray the two sides of HS, the cold and cruel side and the loving and caring side. The side that loves QQ and the side that hates her, and it always seems a battle of which side will win because you can FEEL the conflict HS is going through. Falling in love with QQ means betraying his city and his people, but carrying out his duty means betraying QQ, his wife. Bai Ji acts as the devil on his shoulder, reminding a reluctant HS what he must do for his city, but HS pushes it off time and time again until you can see that his love for QQ is more than for his city. And Yu Xi is amazing at portraying HS's constant internal conflict, his hurt over QQ's dismissive actions, when he's touched by her kindness, when he struggles between his city and his wife. All of it is so clear and portrayed through even the slightest of movements.

This show has become my all time favourite comfort show. I cry when watching it, I laugh when watching it, I blush when watching it, whenever I feel sad I can turn it on and just enjoy a few hours of blissfully watching it.

One of the best shows that I have ever watching and I will always return to it because it feels like home.