Kill Me Love Me (2024) Early Impressions: Episodes 1-6

The multi-talented Liu Xueyi is finally getting his due in recent offerings. He’s been the best thing in quite a few things for some time but 2024 seems to be his year as he cements his reputation as a male lead. In this currently airing drama, he plays Murong Jinghe, the third prince… not sure where the second brother is at this point… formerly a much venerated general until he becomes embroiled in what’s become known as the Qingzhou massacre. What begins as a campaign to retake territory turns into a blood bath. He and his troops bear the horrific stain of turning their weapons against civilians and razing the place ruthlessly. As punishment for his alleged misdemeanour he is exiled for 10 years and the story begins with his return to the country’s capital, forgiven by his father the emperor but still bearing the shame of the infamous fiasco. By day, he plays the idle wine imbing prince, cynical and jaded. By night he executes the first phase of his revenge through a series of investigations based on breadcrumbs left by the perpetrators. Murong Jinghe comes from a long tradition of masked anti-heroes patterned after Zorro and Batman. As we discussed on the most recent podcast, Liu Xueyi excels in playing my favourite type of male lead: Clever, cunning and a rootable conniver.

The answers to many of the questions posed in the first episode come thick and fast. The show doesn’t make the identity of the actual culprits a big secret and that’s for the best. In all honesty the list of suspects is a small one so the conspirators behind the Qingzhou incident are really not much of a mystery. What Kill Me Love Me is largely about is competing agendas and obsession. The incident is what connects the characters, for better or worse. There’s the cat and mouse game and it is surprising how strongly romance-centred it is as we are party to the unfolding of a love polygon waiting in the wings.

At some point the leads cross swords. Wu Jinyan’s Mei Lin is an orphan survivor of Qingzhou and in a fit of vengeance attempts to assassinate the errant prince not long afterwards. She fails (of course) and is set free but is later recruited by an assassins organization known as the Shadow Works and is tasked with killing Murong Jinghe by the mysterious chief. She infiltrates the wedding entourage of the Xiyan princess and begins her preliminary investigation into the idiosyncratic prince. It doesn’t take her very long to discover that the prince is quite likely not responsible for the deaths of her nearest and dearest. So what’s a girl to do? Like all smart people in a tight corner, she negotiates. With the dubious prince. And he grudgingly goes along with it when the trail leads to the Xiyan entourage.

So far so good. It’s an entertaining cat and mouse game dominated by larger than life personalities. Things are further complicated by the appearance of General Yin, a possible love interest for the Crown Prince (Baron Chen) although her heart is somewhere else. It’s fascinating to see Baron Chen reinventing himself in an antagonist role. He’s actually rather good as the conniving heir to the throne. Then there’s the Xiyan princess’ brother Yue Qin who is probably more interested in Mei Lin than is safe for him to be considering his hostage status. Already the lines are being drawn. The young Xiyan princess, Zi Gu is marrying the emperor to keep the peace between the two countries. She’s the obligatory cute spunk although I can see how her ingenue shtick might become cloying.

Wu Jinyan last seen earlier in The Double is much better here in so far as the role demands much more of her. It’s clear she’s been training hard for the action sequences but watching her here also justifies my belief that that she needs to leave behind the cute for more hard core gritty spunk because she is actually quite a versatile actress — one that is transitioning to emotionally demanding roles as nature takes its course.

Already it is evident that the leads have great chemistry. Being close in age is no doubt a major factor. It probably doesn’t hurt that the direction is competent and the staging of their scenes together are well executed. Continuing consumption of douyin content has reminded me how important it is to have a good director where romance is concerned. Even the best actors need a good director to stage and frame their intimate space in a way that makes the romance look believable.

Revenge stories are a dime a dozen and in all honesty, expectations are not high on my end. As a fan of palace intrigue, I was somewhat disappointed with Are You the One which was probably sanitized for the children with a villain with mummy (and perhaps daddy) issues. Palace intrigue should be bloody, messy, expedient and destructive in Shakespearean fashion because absolute power corrupts absolutely. It’s lamentable that a lot of these palace dramas are now essentially fairytales made for children. They can be entertaining, and I am easily entertained undoubtedly but they’re seldom satisfying nor memorable once it’s all done and dusted.

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