Two superb dramas I recently watched with this type of hero are:
"Romance of Tiger and Rose"
"Goodbye my Princess" (55 episode director's cut)
Both dramas feature ruthless and powerful MLs who's only soft towards the FL and can't live without her -my favorite type of ML!
I watched "Romance of Tiger and Rose" right before "Goodbye my Princess" and thoroughly loved both. Only reason I prefer GMP is due to my preference for more serious dramas ("Tiger and Rose" is a comedy with some heavier angst later on). But both are good quality dramas with leads that share amazing chemistry. I'm glad I started with a more comedic drama before following up with GMP because the latter was so heavy/haunting that it seriously would have hampered my enjoyment for any drama that comes after. I'm seriously poisoned by GMP with no hope of an antidote anytime soon. I got really lucky with these two dramas and villainous, relentless (neither can ever let the h go), black-bellied MLs (Han Shuo and Li Chengyin) that I doubt I'll find anything else comparable.
SPOILERS below about "Goodbye my princess......"
I initially never even bothered to look at "Goodbye my princess" as not only is it a tragedy, it's based on a novel by Fei Wo Si Chun, an author I avoid like the plague because I don't like the type of angst she writes -depressing plots and angst just for the sake of torturing her characters. Even when someone who shared my exact taste for possessive MLs recommended it, I still resisted. Luckily, my sister stumbled upon some clips and finally convinced me to watch at least the first and last 10 episodes since they have the kind of angst I like and an extremely compelling obsessive ML as well as a very lovable FL. The clips she showed me peaked my interest and the rest is history. I hunted for the director's cut and knew from the first episode that this drama was going to be my jam. It had everything I wanted in a drama: Irreplacable leads with explosive chemistry, an obsessive/powerful ML, high quality production, and a decent script that mainly stayed on track even if the pacing did slow down massively from episodes 15-29. I loved episodes 1-15 and 30 to the end the most. The ending was unforgettable and will haunt me for the ages.
And aside from being a tragedy, GMP surprisingly embodied the kind of romantic angst I love and avoided almost every type of angst I hate.
GMP mainly had angst I liked and it all fit into the story naturally and didn't feel forced. I generally can't tolerate the ML sleeping with anyone other than the FL, but in GMP, he actively avoided it as much as he can while keeping up his charade and it can even be argued the number of times he may have touched the OW was minute as she was constantly subjected to house arrests by the Empress due to his shenanigans (ML's a crown prince in an unstable court and wanted to protect the FL from his enemies, the empress and another powerful court official, as she's his weakness, so he acts like he dislikes her and loves the OW -very obvious to us viewers that it's all an act). I was able to handle it because the drama made it clear the ML, Chengyin, only wants to be with the FL, Xiao Feng, but is forced to spend the occasional night with the OW to keep up pretenses. Even then, he does his best to keep himself pure by using work/the Empress to ward her off. Luckily, the drama only showed two scenes of him spending the night with the OW and the first night he was drunk and passed out, so definitely didn't do anything. The other scene just showed him with his clothes on lying awake/miserable, so it can be argued he didn't touch her -only went to the OW because it was the night before an important festival and it's tradition for the crown prince to not spend the night alone and the FL was missing (he didn't have full power yet and needed to avoid doing anything suspicious).
Above all else, the ML, Chengyin emcompassed everything I could possibly want in a leading man. He's obsessive/possessive and unrelenting when it comes to XF -will never give up on her. Plus, he's faithful, capable, intelligent, charming, charismatic, hot as hell, and can see through subterfuge.
He can be ruthless to everyone except for his beloved XF and that just really appeals to me in a romance story. Ruthless and powerful MLs who's only soft towards the FL and can't live without her is my kryptonite in a romance. Never in a million years did I expect one of Fei Wo Si Chun stories to have this kind of ML. Especially when the source novel has Chengyin being abusive and always hiding his affections. I never expected the drama to portray the "abuse" in such a humorous and charming manner. It just never felt malicious to me (there was too much love/affection in Chengyin's eyes and mannerisms -he acted more like a spoilt child) as the drama made it so blantantly obvious that every cruel act's a show that I was thoroughly entertained and enjoyed all of their bickering. Lol, I found it as endearing as Chengyin did. He's literally engaging in foreplay with the heroine even in their public fights and whenever he gets mad for real, it's always due to his petty jealousy. Lol, this guy becomes wary of every male Xiaofeng has a good relationship with. It's like he wants to be the only recipient of her smiles and laughter.
I really felt his all-consuming love for the Xiao feng: I actually loved watching their married life because even though he couldn't display his feelings in front of his beloved XF, he still wore his heart on his sleeve for us viewers. Every one of his supposed "mean" actions against the XF was juxtaposed by his pained/regretful reactions when he later talked to his subordinates.
Lol, as a viewer, I actually thought the OW suffered more in the palace than XF because of Chengyin's fake love that effectively used her as a meat shield to protect XF from the Empress's jealous antics. Many people in the palace were very nice to XF as the ML concentrated on surrounding her with trustworthy people.
Unlike some fans, I didn't mind his scenes with the OW as his fake interactions with her made for a brilliant contrast compared to his genuine interactions with XF. His eyes literally light up whenever he sees XF, even when the OW's around -his eyes are always kind of dead when he's spending time with the OW. In my opinion, the OW's presence in this drama highlights Chengyin's deep love for XF even more.
He always acts so distantly polite whenever he interacts with the OW and it just gets worse as he finds it harder to rein in his passion for XF. Towards the end, he looks like a zombie and is struggling to even maintain decent courtesy whenever he bothers to see her. I found it hilariously entertaining.
I love Chengyin and find him to be one of the most fascinating and compelling protagonists I've ever seen. I've always loved more villainous MLs and Chengyin is a poster child for that trope. I live for drama characters like him. Honestly, the only thing Chengyin did wrong was to fall in love with the key pawn in his plan to decimate the FL's maternal clan (the plan was set before he officially met the FL). His unwavering love for Xiao Feng is both his curse and salvation. My heart bleeds for both XF and Chengyin as she can never be with him with her memories intact and he can never stop himself from chasing after her because she's his only hope of happiness, the light to yank him back from the darkness. Only when Chengyin is with XF does he let down his guard completely and show her his true self. I completely understood why he went nuclear and full on yandere when he thought she hated him and loved someone else. He's terrified of losing the one thing he can't live without. It's utterly heartbreaking when what he feared the most inevitably happened and he couldn't even follow after her as he was binded by his promise to her to live on. Even then, he had to delude himself into thinking she faked her death in order to make it through those 30 yrs. His love for XF is all-consuming and he will go down as my favorite ML along with Ye Hua from "Ten Miles."
Whew, sorry for rambling, but I'm so consumed by this drama and needed to vent out all my thoughts. I just want Chengyin and Xiaofeng to be happy together and I'm in so much pain for the both of them.
Luckily the production team felt sorry for the fans and shot an epilogue where our leads are happy together in modern times. They couldn't be together in their previous life, but found salvation in another lifetime.
Here's an incredible and intense mv of them based on the ost song, "Love Catastrophe" (spoilers):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QRiuqwuLt0&list=PLb1LOHwB0DcHr59bMmS_SOi8KAD6qMJiG&index=10&t=0s&ab_channel=Chibiaya
Here's another really intense mv that portrays the ML's obsessive love for the FL:
https://youtu.be/yupt0GNG8A8
This third mv showcases our ML's devilish/dark side -the actor's incredible and really brought this compelling character to life (can't imagine anyone else playing Chengyin -love his eyes and all his facial expressions):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7IK3zrgD_8&ab_channel=Anna
For more plot related and ML details, look here:
https://valvalisrei.wordpress.com/2019/04/21/goodbye-my-princesss-li-chengyin-is-an-incredible-protagonist-and-does-not-deserve-your-hate/
I highly highly rate this drama for the unforgettable leads with amazing chemistry, a villainous ML who's desperately in love with the FL, and a romance that'll tear your heart out. It's the only tragic ending drama I've watched since 1997 and it was worth every moment of my time because of the plot and characters.
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