Except for a few more boring episodes in the middle, The Double was a good watch that kept me engaged throughout. What is good about The Double is that the protaganists and antagonists are generally intelligent and are able to keep outsmarting each other to keep the audiences on the edge.
Some dramas have unnecessary “drama” and “setbacks” just for the sake of creating problems for the leads to solve but this is not the case for The Double. (For first impression review and summary of The Double, please read here.)
Plot aside, it was surprisingly the side characters that captivated me more than the lead characters.
I feel that the 2 female side characters Ji Shu Ran and Princess Wan Ning had more intriguing characterization and brought more depth to these characters.
Stellar Performance By Princess Wan Ning
I enjoyed Princess Wan Ning’s portrayal the most.
It is a very complex role and one I think most actresses should fight to get (provided that they have the acting chops to pull it off).
It helps that I have never seen Lee Meng acting before so I do not have any preconceived notions of how she is like. As such,she became the psychotic, ruthless yet pitiful and love-deprived Princess Wan Ning in my eyes.
Princess Wan Ning is a formidable opponent to Jiang Li. She is of royal blood so she definitely has the resources and power to get what she wants and crush Jiang Li. Falling in love with Shen Yu Rong at first sight, she was determined to make him hers, even if it means eliminating his wife.
Obsessed with Xue Fang Fei, she went all out in destroying her and ruthlessly got Xue Fang Fei’s husband to get his hands dirty in killing off his wife. In her warped sense of morals, she is now compatible with Shen Yu Rong after she had tainted him.
Lee Meng really breathed life to this character even via small actions. From her haughty walk and grand twirl she does whenever she appears, to her vulnerability in front of the man she loves, to her despair when she was humiliated as a hostage in another country.
What I like the most is this slight craziness of the character that is subtly done. Not the super in-your face portrayal of crazy done by overacting and having contorted facial expressions, yet I can imagine her making her subordinates’ skin crawl.
On a side note, I find Lee Meng’s look quite unique and I quite like her type of beauty.
Chen Qiao En Is All Womanly Charm In Portrayal Of Ji Shu Ran
As for Ji Shu Ran, she is a bit different from the princess, as she is outwardly a nice person. Spiteful and vindictive in nature, she does sneaky things to put Jiang Li in unfavorable light to reduce her position in the family.
Joe Chen also nailed this role. She has this womanly charm that makes me kind of believe why the husband is head over heels in love with her to keep believing in her lies, even if it means at the expense of her daughter. She gives off the sinister and hypocritical vibe just by her gaze.
These 2 antagonists are really important as they are the ones pitting against the female lead and we want to see the lead overcome the obstacles created for her downfall. There were a couple of episodes in the middle where the female lead went out of the capital and hence the two female nemeses were not around. The Double then became a lot more boring to watch to me.
The Relationship Between The 2 Leads
The relationship between Xue Fang Fei and Xiao Heng is another highlight that has many fans rooting for them. Xiao Heng is quite a typical cool male knight in shining armor who keeps appearing to save the female lead in times of need but all the while looking straight faced and cool.
It is the sort of role that has females falling in love generally. I guess what is slightly different in their relationship is that both are straight shooters with more direct flirting and there is strong trust between both of them, never with a moment of misunderstanding.
Contrary to popular opinion, I don’t feel that the 2 leads are that compatible in looks and don’t quite get the fanfare over this combination. Indeed Wang Xing Yue who acted as Xiao Heng is only 22 years old while Wu Jing Yan is 30 plus. And to me, Wang Xing Yue looks very young.
Probably due to his slender frame, (he looks quite skinny in my eyes), I keep feeling that he looks like a teenager. I’m used to seeing Korean male leads towering over the female leads with thick chests and wide shoulders, as such Wang Xing Yue looks quite kiddish in my eyes.
However I feel that he acted decently though I wouldn’t go as far as to gush over him. As for Wu Jing Yan, readers of my blog would know that I have never been a fan.
All in all, I think The Double is a must-watch for fans of period dramas as there is seldom any boring moment. Plot-wise, it is fast-paced and it gets audiences’ adrenaline pumping as we are eager to see good triumph over evil and it is of high production quality. Acting-wise, I think Wu Jing Yan can do better but it is still acceptable I suppose.
Chasing Carefree 