I think The Prisoner of Beauty 折腰 is my favorite 2025 Chinese drama so far.
It is a heart-stirring watch with themes of forgiveness, patriotism, couple love, family love, friendship, loyalty, and love for the people. Other than a good plot with no loopholes, I like that generally every character acted well and there was no cringey moment with bad acting that can really make me want to tune out.
The acting from the 2 main leads Song Zu Er and Liu Yu Ning were superb! Very natural with steady development in the relationship that made their budding love believable and sweet for the viewers.
Often, dramas like to have the main couple fall out over very minor misunderstandings which by right could be easily resolved just for the sake of creating complications.
Thankfully, there is no such lame misunderstandings in The Prisoner of Beauty and all the efforts from enemies( by Madam Yu Lou) to create conflict between the main couple was met with failure due to their enduring trust in each other.
From Hate and Suspicion to Love and Loyalty
The Prisoner of Beauty is about a marriage of alliance between the Wei and Qiao families to stop a long-standing feud. However Wei Shao, the current master of the Wei family is still unable to forgive the Qiao family for indirectly causing the deaths of his brother, father and grandfather, and hence still viewed his new wife Xiao Qiao with suspicion and hatred. The Prisoner of Beauty is about how this pair of enemies fell in love over time and ended up being the best ally for each other to protect the people and their families.
Song Zu er is mesmerizing in her role of Xiao Qiao
This is the first time I see Song Zu Er in a drama and she is so suitable in the historical getup as she has the very oriental type of beauty. She reminds me of Liu Yi Fei the first time I saw her as Wang Yu Yan in Tian Long Ba Bu. This is how stunning I found Song Zu Er in her role as Xiao Qiao. (Actually I think Song Zu Er looks better in a historical look than modern look.)
Xiao Qiao is a clever lady who has the wits, wisdom and courage to outwit her opponents to safeguard the benefits of her family and country. Yet she is understanding enough to know why her husband dislikes her so she is willing to compromise and serve her husband well.
I think Song Zu Er really nailed the role of the beautiful, brave and strong Xiao Qiao and it is no wonder that a man would fall for her eventually.
Liu Yu NIng Acted Naturally AS Wei Shao
I admit that I have never found Liu Yu Ning good looking. He really does not fulfill the stereotypical standard of Asian beauty, yet strangely he is starting to grow on me.
Often I could feel some actors trying to “act handsome” in front of the screen which made their acting really unnatural as I could feel that they are very conscious of how they look and how to best look handsome.
Thankfully, Liu Yu Ning is very natural in his acting and as the drama progresses, I feel that Liu Yu Ning made the role of Wei Shao very likeable.
Wei Shao is a gruff man who is brave and loyal with a heart for the people, but definitely not the sweet and sensitive sort who can read between the lines. It is quite funny to see Wei Shao feeling shy or totally misreading the cues from his wife. Helps that Liu Yu Ning is very tall, so it adds to the imposing stature of Wei Shao who is a brave general leading his troupe of soldiers.
Could Liu Yu Ning Please Not Wear Eyeliner!!!!
If I want to criticize something about Liu Yu Ning, it would be his heavy make up! I have no issues with how he looks but it is very strange when a formidable leader who is supposed to be very manly leading the soldiers against the enemies is wearing fair makeup and eyeliner!!!!
Heartbreaking Ends for Some (Spoilers Ahead)
Although the bulk of the drama lie on the two main leads, the side plots were also rather engaging. We have several other couple pairings like Wei Liang and Xiao Tao, Da Qiao and Bi Zhi, Liu Yan and Madam Yu Lou which saw bad endings.
Given that Wei Liang and Xiao Tao were kind of the comic relief characters in The Prisoner of Love, it came as a rude shock when Wei Liang ended up dying in battle before he got a chance to marry Xiao Tao. It was really sad given that there was a lot of build-up in his plan to marry Xiao Tao, and his death also showcased the senselessness of war.
The love between Da Qiao and Bi Zhi was a rather realistic one as Da Qiao does not have the grand selflessness of Xiao Qiao to do good for the people. All she wants is to have a safe and happy life with her lover Bi Zhi, a life where Bi Zhi hopefully does not need to go into a battle and risk his life to save anyone. Unfortunately, life does not go according to plan, and in the end she was taken hostage by Liu Yan to force Bi Zhi to go and battle Wei Shao. Heartbroken at seeing her loved Bi Zhi tasked to kill his brother-in-law Wei Shao and treated as a killing machine, she jumps off the building.
The most unlikeable role in The Prisoner of Beauty should be Madam Yu Lou. I really dislike characters like her that toy with the feelings of others and come up with low-class schemes to drive a wedge between others. In spite of being such an unsavory character, interestingly Madam Yu Lou has a few men besotted with her charm.
I was quite surprised that Liu Yan seem to have genuinely fell in love with Madam Yu Lou despite knowing that she has been disfigured and was willing to send soldiers to help save her at the expense of himself.
Chasing Carefree 