The Similarities between The Double and Story of Kunning Palace

((Just my opinion))

After watched 17 episodes of The Double, I can't stop myself to not write this kinda similarity between these dramas.

First, the similarity of clans/family name. In SoKP, Jiang's is the name of the main character. Also, Xue's is the villain one. In The Double, Jiang's also become the name of the FL, and have relationship with Xue's name (in good term).

Second, I found this kinda funny. The young actor that plays Young Xue Dingfei/Xie Wei/Xie Ju'an in SoKP, is the same actor that plays Little Xiao Heng in TD. I think what's funny is that, how dramas make one person (young) can be two different person when grow up hahahaha. Well, they reunite in the drama.I know the actors, but I am not detail at the name of them.

Third, both of the dramas is solving cases and have heavy plots. I have read some review about TD that said, this drama every person, every roles/casts are not stupid. So, it's difficult for Main Leads to get their goals or smt. In SoKP and TD, ML and FL work together to achieve their goals. Well, I am not finish TD yet, so I don't know the ending, but TD is good, but also too heavy for me to catch up every detail.

Oh, but I think the Main Leads' character are not similar between SoKP and TD, of course they're two different stories.

Well, that's 3 similarities between two dramas. I'll add more if I get any. Just my opinion so it's possible to be wrong~ thanks!

I don't understand why make discussions or comparison between dramas. If 2 dramas are identical just make a recommendation and keep it to that. 

@Alone sorry it's my 1st time joining MDL so I still don't understand about the menus.. i'll keep it in mind for next time! Thx~

@Yintian 

No problem bro! Welcome to MDL. Enjoy the stay and be free to discuss anything.

I watched The Princess Royal, after watching The Double and now I'm  rewatching The Story of Kunning Palace 

I'm finding myself comparing these 3 shows since they have similar characters and plot lines and I wanted to share my very many thoughts. (Disclaimer: This is very long)

Reverse Harem: Xue Fang Fei- Xiao Heng, Shen Yu Rong and; Jiang Xie Ning- Xie Wei, Zhang Zhe and Yan Lin; and Li Rong- Pei Weixuan, Su Rong Qing (and Cui Yulong)

The female leads are all strong smart fl archetypes on a redemption arc as the choices they made in the past(lives) lead to death of their loved ones.

The male leads are adjacent to the Emperor's power politically cunning ml archetypes on a getting justice arc as they all work to cleanse the corruption eating the heart of the country in a battle that is closing linked with their personal lives.

The Double is overall the best story (to me) as all the characters complete their arcs. You can see their struggles, their growth or decline and their satisfactory endings (except the  main leads, if you believe it was a sad ending. I'm team happy ending). All the characters are exposed through the  journey of magnificent storytelling of The Double to have relatable human flaws and their equally relatable choices lead them to ends that are satisfactory for us the viewers.

While SOKP also gives a wonderfully crafted story and engaging story plot and characters, the focus is always on the main leads driving the story and the ends and endings of side characters doesn't pull your heartstrings as much as TD, even though it is also exceptionally well done in its own rights and by normal standards. For example compare the emotional toll Tong Ye's death in The Double takes on you to the death of Ms You in Story of Kunning Palace; both unnecessary screenwriter forced deaths but only one of them really captures the audience's hearts.

The Princess Royal loses hands down in this head to head as the storytelling doesn't allow you to care about any of the side characters and to some extent even the main leads as it gets chopping for no reason. The characters constantly go back and forth on simple decisions and their motivation or reasoning for their actions are never entirely clear. Nobody important dies so you don't even have to wonder what would pull your heartstrings or not. With the exception of Li Chuan and Li Ming, none of the characters go through an arc because of the events of the show. PWX has already matured as soon as the 2nd life begins and he hardly has to struggle to become a better version of himself; Li Rong doesn't grow at all and is exactly the same by the end of the drama just with a new male lead while SRQ... just lacks clear direction or motivation as a character and this is even more glaring when compared with SOKP's Xie Wei or TD's Shen Yu Rong.

The Toxic Love Interests: Shen Yu Rong, Xie Wei and Su Rong Qing. Xie Wei is in bad company here as the only main lead but this category fits his archetype better. The three of them had the chance to be the leading man in the female lead's story; all three of them cause the death of their fl and get a chance at redemption- only Xie Wei takes it. They all manipulate the female with SRQ and SYR using gaslighting and emotional manipulation while XW favours overt physical manipulation and death threats. Their 2nd chance love story all start with 3 of them ready to give up love for their goals: to hold onto power and avenge their families. All three of them have to reassess their plans when the female lead starts falling for someone unexpected who is also an obstacle to their carefully crafted plans. All 3 of them have a mental breakdown when they realise they may lose the girl they had already given up and may lose the game they had paid too high a price to set up. While you clearly see XW and SYR, go through these major storylines, it is always somewhat ambiguous for SRQ. SRQ noticing LR's feelings for PWX never reaches the level of intensity as SYR or XW even at their first time in these encounters. The jealous intensity of Xie Wei watching JXN watching Zhang Zhe walk away after their "1st" meeting when he settles her palace case or SYR noticing Duke Su's intervention for XFF/JL after the archery incident; is never really felt in The Princess Royal even at as big an event as the LR-PWX's wedding. This intensity explains all the subsequent descent into madness the characters will display, turning their decision making erractic and increasing the thrill level of the drama- SYR tries to remarry XFF as JL; XW stabs himself to relieve JXN of her fear of him and SRQ burns down a government palace building. The level of crazy that these characters are riding on from those points onwards should be equal and express to the audience the level of obsession for the female lead  and their innate toxicity as characters.  We see and feel it in TD and SOKP but it's hard to get the same vibe with the way it plays out in TPR.
Xie Wei's redemption in SOKP which allows him be worthy of being the male lead unlike these other two,  even with this archetype is that he learns to respect the fl's wishes. He doesn't harm Zhang Zhe for the fl and for his own conscience and allows JXN to make her own choices as he opens up his information network and plans to her to come to her own conclusions ; to comprises when possible or pull her to his side under other conditions. SYR and SRQ never achieve this. They are completely blinded by their vision of how things should be and neither take accountability for the harm they directly cause or try to consider the female leads agency and goals. It's only their way that is tenable and she must sit quietly as they achieve their goals and then they can be happy together when it's done.

The Double and Story of Kunning Palace give satisfactory story arc endings for these characters based on their actions and decision:  redemption for XW after fulfilling his hero journey and becoming a better man; failure and a grand death for SYR as he learns nothing and only destroys everything he touches. TPR remains indecisive about the ending SRQ deserves because even as they let die as grandly as SYR, they make both FL and ML attempt to jump into fire to save him as he plays one last song on the guqin, confusing their feelings and messaging about the character to the very end (Compare that with the similar scene in The Double, XFF denounces SYR in every way and doesn't turns back to him as he kills himself for her attention).

The Strong and Smart Female Lead: Before I get too long winded: Li Rong falls short in comparison to Jiang Xue Ning and Xue Fang Fei. This is particularly pitiful as Li Rong has over 20 years life experience, higher pedigree being born and raised as a princess and has the achievement of being the reigning monarch for at least 10 years prior to her rebirth. JXN also made it to being Empress before she died (although it doesn't seem to have lasted up to a year) and schemed against the best of them on the biggest backyard playing field: the Emperor's Harem. She has an additional 5 years of life experience and consort training in the palace. Her knowledge of the past allowed her to make tactical changes and very importantly she was able to look inwardly and understand her mistakes and grow as an individual. Something we never really see Li Rong do, even though Li Rong had greater responsibility for the chaos in the 1st life than JXN has. XFF has the highest level of guilt and repentance for her choices even though she is the least responsible and has the least power to have stopped the events that lead to the chaos her family and village suffer. Of the 3 she achieves the least in her "1st life" only ever rising to be a scholar's house wife even though she is especially well trained and talented.
In a head to head battle of scheme versus scheme, I would put my money on XFF over these two even though they have the benefit of prerecognition haven both come from the future as Fang Fei without having two lifetimes to pull from displays better war tactics, attention to details and enemy study as well as decisiveness in completing her missions than Xue Ning and Li Rong. There's also a level of enjoyment in execution of schemes that Fang Fei shows that Li Rong and Xue Ning lacked which made The Double even more entertaining to watch than the other two dramas. 

In comparison with the other two fl, Li Rong lacks stage presence; there are rarely any scenes with Xue Ning or Fang Fei where they aren’t the centre of attention while Li Rong walks through crowds with or without her entourage and fails to elicit the effect of "someone important" is passing and she is a powerful Royal whereas the other two are able elicit this reaction simply being "pretty" girls!
While this might actually be a comparison of performances given by Zhao Jin Mai, Bai Lu and Wu Jin Yan; the real issue is portrayal and direction in general of the respective dramas. A good scene comparison to highlight this point is the guqin music performance scenes in The Double and The Princess Royal. In the Double, Fang Fei's guqin performance was accompanied by cgi, camera motion and audience reaction in line with the actor's delivery of the scene: Wu Jin Yan is emotional, crying and bleeding and everything in the scene tells the same story as the music that is being heard: a woman is in terrible pain and her performance is able to express this to the audience. In The Princess Royal, the performance is delivered matter of factly neither the music, camera work or audience reactions shows that something significant has happened and Zhao Jin Mai's performance is equally underwhelming along with everything else. The accompanying flashback doesn't elevate the music or the emotions of the scene; the commentary or side looks by the characters doesn't move the story along for any of the performers or main leads, infact the only true progress in the plot happens for Li Ming and Li Chuan, whose relationship further deteriorate. Li Rong somehow seemed to be sharing the spotlight in all her scenes (exception being her tirade at the Pei Mansion), Xue Fang Fei would clearly cede the spotlight when she wanted to observe a situation before she acts and Jiang Xue Ning was always centre of attention unless Xie Wei was on the scene and then they would share it equally.


The Politically Cunning Male Leads: Talking about a head to head battle: the fight between Xiao Heng, Duke Su;  Junior Grand Preceptor Xie Wei and Prince Consort Pei Wei Xuan would be one for the ages. In terms of style and success dating the fl: Xiao Heng- the beauty in red who was able to achieve it in one life and was never suspected of wanting her dead, wins it?? .
But scheme vs scheme vs scheme- it would be a very slow fight because all 3 only starts confrontations after rigging the board to their favour.
They are all brilliant and able create an information network with a Web of spies from scratch and achieved the lofty position of being the right hand man of the Emperor, with Xie Wei going so far as successfully overthrowing a Dynasty. All three are orphaned (PWX's mother is alive but hapless) before the story starts and are seeking redress on some level for the injustice of their parents' death to varying degrees. 

Xiao Heng is the most mentally stable as he wears his trauma as a fashion statement and rather than internalising his hurt l, he makes it everybody's problem by being the most viscous peacock of an untouchable flamboyant Duke the Empire has ever seen. Pei Weixuan is also better adjusted and his only character flaw is being a case of a mild inferiority complex stemming from being the only child of a legendary father and marry exceedingly above his station. Xie Wei on the other side of the mental health coin, is absolutely insane and we love him for it. A deeply traumatised boy raised by an abusive uncle with what appears to be a slight drug use problem, having to rise to the peak of power by his own strength with the added emotional pressure of being an imposter; he is exceedingly close to the edge by the start of the events of the drama and makes for a very entertaining male lead.

In terms of fighting prowess, Xie Wei has none but is closely protected by two elite martial artist. Pei Weixuan is a skilled fighter but is no "expert" and while he has no expert martial artist personal bodyguard or manservant, his secret guards are always on the ready.  Xiao Heng on the other is both a martial artist expert in his own right, skilled in multiple weapons: weaponised fan, sword and long spear but he is also always guarded by two experts as well as commands his own private army. 

If I had to put my money on which of them would win in a fight, I would bet on Pei Weixuan. If we assume they have similar levels of cunning, military power and information network, then Xiao Heng gets taken out first because he isn't willing to be as viscous and evil as either Pei Weixuan or Xie Wei are willing to be. In a head to head between Pei Weixuan and Xie Wei, Pei Daren wins due to martial art skills and stabler mental health. But then again, Pei Weixuan is the only one that gets taken out in his drama so this might be rubbish anyway ?.
As characters and male leads they are all first class and entirely lovable and crushworthy. Xie Wei was the main character of SOKP as his actions drive the story along most of the time and he is never far away from plots lead by JXN. Xiao Heng is somewhat of a side character but steals the show everytime he shows up but they were stingy with his appearances making us thirst for him. They were similarly stingy with Pei Weixuan's appearances but it did not seem as deliberate nor was it logical since he should have driven the story as much as Xie Wei.
Zhang Ling He did a wonderful job of bringing both Xie Wei and Pei Weixuan to life and Wang Xing Yue's Xiao Heng is unforgettable and irreplaceable.

The Green Flag Love Rival: Zhang Zhe, Ye Shi Jie and Young 1st Life Su Rong Qing. Zhang Zhe and SRQ 1.0 give the male leads a run for their CP, being the first love of the female leads and remain like a shadow over their hearts as the "one that got away". Xue Ning dies to save Zhang Zhe and Li Rong remains blinded by the memory of a young SRQ that no longer exists for the entirety of the drama. While JXN is able to put ZZ behind her and move forward in her relationship with Xie Wei, Li Rong- PWX only survive because PWX learns to live with the ghost of young SRQ. Unlike the other green flags, Ye Shi Jie barely gets to be called a love rival. He spends most of the show in an unspoken unrequited love but thanks to pressure from Shen Yu Rong during rhe marriage plot he atleast gets to "confess" and effectively escapes being "cousinzoned" to join SOKP's Yan Lin in the friendzone..

Rating The Couple Pairing: 1. Xiao Heng and Xue Fang Fei 2. Xie Wei and Jiang Xue Ning 3. Pei Weixuan and Li Rong
XH and XFF become an item long before they become a couple. They are insync and make an untouchable team before they even realise its happening. They don't need to question what they are to each other and the faith, commitment and flirtation with each other had the audience blushing from day 1.
Xie Wei and Jiang Xue Ning also made an amazing fan favourite coupling. They gave us a classic enemy to lovers journey and ended with a long and clear "they lived happily ever after" arc (something that the other two failed to do to the satisfaction of the audience).
Li Rong and Pei Weixuan was the least satisfactory of these couples; with fans of the show going so far as saying Li Rong doesn't deserve Pei Weixuan. There is alot of implied back peddling in the relationship especially on Li Rong's side. The couple is honestly sweet when they are together; their bickering is adorable and their journey back to each other is very moving but some character decisions about Li Rong really ruin the beauty of this couple.

The villains: The Double is chucked full of first class easy to hate and wonderfully satisfying to hate villains. Some are cartoonishly evil,  others are terrifying characters and some of them are just plain annoying but all of them are memorable and well placed in the story to keep you thrilled from start to finish. The villains in Story of Kunning Palace are more toned in quantity and presentation. The arcs to overcoming a villain or obstacle presents a good problem for our main leads and test their resilience and ingenuity and is very enjoyable to watch for the audience. The Princess Royal never wants to call any character the villain. All the characters are morally grey and depending on the POV wrong is right and right is wrong, leaving the audience underwhelmed at the end of each story arc.

Other considerations: The music, Fight scene choreography and the cinematography for The Double is the best; Indoor Set Design and Costume for The Princess Royal is impeccable and the best of all 3 while outdoor location set design is best in Story of Kunning Palace.

For the tone of the shows: The Double is very dramatic and if this isn't your cup of tea then on the other end of that scale is The Princess Royal while Story of Kunning Palace is a happy middle. All 3 shows are a credit to the cdrama industry and deserve the love and attention they are receiving.

@DefyingDestiny

Thank you for your intelligent, in-depth analysis. I enjoy revenge-plots and have seen some REALLY good ones (cue Nirvana in Fire). Seeing as I've watched SOKP and agree with most of your sentiments, I'm looking forward to watching the Double since you seem to like it so much : )

I think analysis like this is often so helpful for people choosing between shows on what to watch next or watch at all : )