‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’
I’ve mentioned before that I am a sucker for rear palace dramas. So the minute the recommendation for ‘Though I am an Inept Villainess’ crossed my screen, I was intrigued. Set in a fictional kingdom inspired by historical China, it is centered around the Maiden Court, a place where potential consorts for the Crown Prince Gyoumei reside (presumably till such time as the formation of his official harem is required). The kingdom is broadly divided into 5 regions, each with it own powerful noble family, and each of the families in turn provides a candidate for the Maiden Court. The series (so far at least) focuses on two of these candidates – the ‘delicate butterfly’, Kou Reirin, and the ‘palace rat’, Shu Keigetsu (those nicknames alone should clue you into the toxicity of the palace environment).
Reirin is the niece of the current empress and is the Crown Prince’s favorite. She is widely viewed as a lock-in to be his official consort but despite that she is still almost universally adored (a clear-cut indication of her amiability and good nature). Meanwhile, Keigetsu lies at the extreme other end of the spectrum. On paper, she is in a reasonably good position since she is sponsored by the Noble Consort Shu (second in rank only to the Empress). But in reality, she is ignored by Gyoumei and despised throughout the court (not helped by her absolutely horrific behavior!).
At the festival where the court has gathered, Keigetsu, seemingly overcome with jealousy, pushes Reirin over the balcony. Bit of a premature end to the series no? Of course there’s a twist – Reirin wakes up to find herself locked in the dungeons and facing the scorn of her head lady-in-waiting, Tousetsu. She soon figures out that Keigetsu has swapped bodies with her. Through a nifty piece of magic, Keigetsu appears to her in a candle flame and helpfully monologues to get her (and us viewers by proxy) up to speed. Tired of being treated with disdain and contempt, Keigetsu has switched bodies with Reirin so that she can enjoy the pampered life. Keigetsu’s actually pretty cunning here and has closed off any obvious avenues for Reirin to convince people of the truth. The spell doesn’t allow Reirin to directly talk about the swap. And if she tries to use knowledge only she would be privy to as proof of her true identity… well, that’s taken care of as well due to the fabricated theft of her supposed diary. Furthermore, Reirin (in Keigetsu’s body) is now framed for her own attempted murder (yes I know it’s a tad confusing!) and is due to be executed the next day thus tying up all the loose ends.
The next morning, Reirin faces the Lion’s Judgement i.e. she is thrown into a cage with a hungry lion, and if she remains unharmed, she will be judged innocent. I must say Reirin faces her imminent demise with startling calm, whether that’s because she believes her innocence will save her or because she has simply reconciled herself to the situation. Whatever the reason, the lion in fact doesn’t harm her. It’s here we also see quite an ugly side to Gyoumei – infuriated that ‘Keigetsu’ isn’t getting punished for allegedly trying to harm ‘Reirin’, he orders the captain of the guards, Shin-u, to poke the lion and antagonize it into attacking ‘Keigetsu’. Of course, this goes against the unbiased nature of the trial. If Gyoumei is supposed to be the male lead in the show, this introduction is certainly not doing him any favors. Especially as Crown Prince, he shouldn’t be condoning such manipulation of the trail, let alone suggesting it. And if there were no witnesses to the incident (as he himself states), then on what basis was ‘Keigetsu’ even arrested? Smacks of a despot-in-making to me. Anyway, despite Gyoumei’s attempts at interference Reirin escapes unscathed.
Reirin is not quite out of the woods yet though. Unhappy that she has been associated with a scandal (never mind whether innocent or not), she is cast aside by her sponsor, the Noble Consort, and ordered to stay in a decrepit former storehouse, attended only by a single handmaid Leelee (who by the way hates Keigetsu since she constantly tormented her and berated her for being the daughter of a lowly dancer). Instead of getting upset, Reirin chooses instead to revel in the novelty of having a strong, healthy body that allows her to indulge in all sorts of pursuits that she couldn’t before (like gardening, eating fried food etc.). She sets about restoring the storehouse and enjoying her newfound health and freedom. Away from the ever-critical eyes of the court, she is free to do as she pleases with nobody judging her (well except Leelee but since she makes her disdain crystal clear from the onset, it’s not really of much consequence).
Meanwhile Keigetsu is discovering that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. Yes, she now doesn’t have to deal with near constant derision from everyone around her, but in exchange she’s saddled with a frail body that’s constantly either ill or on the verge of being ill. And rather than getting to relax in comfort and be pampered, she discovers to her shock that Reirin in fact trained intensively illness or no illness.
They say you never really know someone until you walk a mile in their shoes. The first two episodes do a good job of hinting at that while also introducing the main characters and setting up the story. Contrary to expectations, Reirin is not in any rush to find a way to reclaim her body. Perhaps more interestingly, after being cherished by everyone her whole life, her eyes are now getting opened a bit to how nasty people can be to the less favored. And Keigetsu in turn is finding out that Reirin’s life that she so coveted is not all peaches and cream. Should be interesting to see if this develops beyond a simple villainess vs. heroine narrative to something more nuanced.
Stray Musings
- Although Reirin, or more accurately her body, survives the fall, pushing her from the balcony seems like a risky strategy considering Keigetsu’s ultimate plan was to switch bodies and usurp Reirin’s life.
- Also, didn’t Keigetsu shove Reirin in full view of the court? And wasn’t that kind of the point so that her original body would be killed off as punishment? Then during the trial, why do they say that no one actually observed her pushing Reirin?
- While it’s fun to see Reirin approach all her tasks with such gusto, how exactly does a cosseted court lady (particularly a frail one) know how to do all this? Even accounting for the Kou clan’s affinity for the earth, it seems a bit unbelievable.
- Just a thought – if Reirin is so weak (which doesn’t seem to be a secret), would she really be a hot favourite for the role of future Empress, irrespective of Gyoumei’s preferences?
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