Pursuit of Jade (2026) From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

In the wasteland of C drama disappointments, this one is fated to rank high. Only because it started off so well that it hurts so much when it loses sight of its set up. While I can’t pinpoint the exact the moment that Pursuit of Jane jumped shark, the labour pains were there even before the show devolved into a parody of itself in that final phase where Fan Changyu had to be at the centre of everything while she was clamouring to go home and leave behind the horrors of war.

Even if a drama claims to be “female centric” it still has to justify why a rising military star with one or two successful exploits is promoted beyond her experience and competence. Well, apparently it’s politics as usual and we are meant to believe that two supposedly shrewd operators are playing political football with the female general’s newfound popularity. They send along a screechy and petty eunuch who really believes himself to be the emperor’s proxy rather than his messenger. His antics (I can only speculate) are meant to elicit a laugh or two but they come across as time-wasting filler that adds no value to the storyline. In fact, it is likely at this point that the showrunners have completely given up on seeing through a coherent resolution to the narrative.

As a prop the young puppet emperor is scarcely any better. A ventriloquist doll would have saved them time and money. I’m not even sure why Chancellor Wei Yan thought that installing the lad was ever a good idea. For a mere puppet, he whines so much. All of this also speaks to the chancellor’s judgement and commitment to the nation’s well-being. If Wei Yan was able to invest so much in his nephew’s upbringing, why couldn’t he have done the same for the emperor? Between Qi Sheng and Qi Min, a strong case for a dynastic change could easily be made. One’s a manchild, the other’s a paranoid mad man lusting over a woman who finds him revolting. Seems like good help in Dayin is really hard to find when the best man for the job of ruling is a boy wet behind the ears notable for craving sweets.

The jumbled trope fest reaches its pinnacle with the use of aphrodisiacs by the evil people so the leads can finally have that bedroom scene long after the push and pull has outstayed its welcome. Except it’s a bathroom scene which the leads seem to teleport into. It’s a plot device overused in the world of C dramas. It’s in every micro drama (that or a drunk scene) usually to ruin someone’s reputation or to force a pregnancy.

Nothing is worse than when the show gropes around in the political arena. The show takes the term “political circus” to new levels of absurdity. The emperor’s a clown for one, then there’s so much verbal and mental acrobatics going on in the royal court which leaves heads spinning in befuddlement. When it finally comes, the palace coup that the villain had planned for his entire life feel is akin to auditions for Romeo and Juliet.

Thankfully the show puts us out of our misery when Wei Yan finally tells us what really happened 17 years ago with an efficiency of a team meeting that nobody wants to be at: several minutes with a powerpoint presentation. I mean who cares right? It’s not as if the Jinzhou massacre was all that important in the scheme of things. Many good men died. A good man had his reputation dragged through the mud. Killers were dispatched to silence the curious. A crown prince switcheroo took place. Yeah. Just a footnote.

By far the greatest casualty in this girlboss adoration is the character of the Marquis of Wu’an. As the show progresses he transforms into a side character and love interest and little more. The great war hero of Dayin is not much more than a trophy husband. He fared better in Lin’an. We assume he’s doing a fair bit of fighting offscreen as most of his screen time he’s seen nursing injuries or barking orders. Otherwise he’s pining for the woman who keeps telling him to marry someone else. The political aspects of being Marquis of Wu’an are barely touched on. It would have been far more interesting to see him leveraging his title and accomplishments on the battlefield in defiance of his uncle to get at the truth regarding the Jinzhou massacre. Confrontations between the two men over the truth of the matter would have elevated the show and kept it coherent. Instead we get the slop of dragging Fang Changyu into a shouting match between Grand Tutor Li and Chancellor Wei Yan with the clueless emperor nervously hedging his bets.

More importantly the diminishing of Xie Zheng demonstrates why “showing” is far more effective than mere “telling”. It is not enough to have side characters talk/gossip about the Marquise of Wu’an and his military prowess, the audience also needs to see him in action for significant reasons. True we caught glimpses of his speed and skill when assassins were afoot in Lin’an but very little of that translated into crucial battles with larger opposing forces. In fact, the muting of his character correlates with how small the show actually feels. Distances and timelines are compressed. How long does it take for Xie Zheng to get from his post to Xigu Alley? There’s no feeling of scale, size, time, awe or achievement. The downside to all this is that much of the payoff feels easy, convenient and unearned.

That is how important the Marquis of Wu’an character is.

A better and more logical way to conduct the final act would have been for Xie Zheng to head off to the capital to deal with the palace shenanigans after the skirmishes with Prince Changxin’s troops while Changyu returns to Xigu Alley to rebuild her town or deal with the aftermath with her ragtag team. Changyu has a Scouring of the Shire moment on reaching home. Looters and bandits have laid claim to Xigu Alley so she uses her newfound skills to take out the rubbish aided by her ragtag team. The townsfolk struggle to put the pieces back together and the wayward boys who have travelled afar get to shine in their hometown. Changyu is proclaimed hometown heroine. Later the leads reunite in the capital where truth about 17 years ago come to light and Changyu puts forward a petition to redress the wrongs levelled at her father. During that time, Qi Min puts his plan for a palace coup into motion in vengeful fashion but is thwarted by the leads. The emperor who was pretending to be an obsequious idiot all that time works with the leads to repel the enemy reveals to the world what really happened 17 years ago in Jinzhou. Grateful for the leads’ contribution in saving the country he rewards them and grants Changyu a title of County Princess. The leads return to Lin’an and start their married life afresh in the town that brought them together.

It’s a shame really because I was so enchanted by the first 17 episodes. They were magical. I didn’t mind the next 12 although the show gradually began to lose its lustre. And the last 10 episodes… well I’ve done my rant. Sadly it’s the sad state of C dramas these days — the longer they are, the more opportunity those in charge have to stuff them up.

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