Maid’s Revenge Review

I thought Maid’s Revenge (千金丫环) is a full length drama initially. It keeps popping up on my YouTube feeds and I thought why not check out one episode and see how it goes. To my surprise, it turns out to be a mini drama. So, I stuck with it as it is only 10 minutes per episode. I didn’t expect it to be any good given the usual low budget that these small productions have to contend with. But after a few episodes, I was still hooked. Why? Well, check out my Maid’s Revenge review below to find out more.

My rating: 7/10
Episodes: 30 (10 minutes per episode)
Type: Republican
Aired: September 2022
Images Credit: Youku Official Facebook

The Cast Of Maid’s Revenge

• Chen Fang Tong as Dong Ting Yao
• Dai Gao Zheng as Fang Tian Yi
• Vincent Wei Tian Hao as Fang Yu Ze
• Zhang Rui En as Dong Yan Er
• Dong Yan as Ji Ming Yue
• Hou Ying Jue as Mrs. Fang
• Hu Xi Fan as Lieutenant Liu

Main Characters

Dong Ting Yao

Ting Yao is the eldest daughter of a rich merchant and his official wife. She has been protected by her mother all along and seldom seen outside her home. She has a betrothal agreement with Yu Ze which was arranged by their parents when they were still young.

Fang Tian Yi

Tian Yi is the Governor of Jiangcheng and also commander of his family’s army. He is stern and domineering. He also seems ruthless and cold-blooded.

Fang Yu Ze

Yu Ze is Tian Yi’s nephew. They are about the same age and grew up together. Yu Ze appears as a kind and understanding gentleman.

Supporting Characters

Dong Yan Er

Yan Er is Ting Yao’s half sister. Her mother was a maid. She is a jealous and vindictive lady.

Ji Ming Yue

Ming Yue is Tian Yi’s fiancee. She is in love with him but her feelings are not reciprocated. Her father is a rich businessman with some influence.

Mrs. Fang

Mrs. Fang is Tian Yi’s mother and Yu Ze’s grandmother. Her husband was the previous Governor before he was killed with the murderer still at large. She is a traditional woman who tends to prioritize the family’s reputation over everything else.

Lieutenant Liu

Lieutenant Liu is Tian Yi’s subordinate.

Synopsis

Ting Yao’s family was brutally massacred one night. Her father told her to seek safe haven with the city’s Governor before he died. He also passed her a jade token which is the proof needed to show that she is betrothed to a member of the Governor’s family, Yu Ze. Ting Yao thought Tian Yi is the murderer as he was there on the night of the massacre and tried to confine her. During a scuffle with Tian Yi, she lost the token.

After her escape, she made her way to the Governor’s mansion only to find out that her half-sister, Yan Er, has taken her identity to become Yu Ze’s fiancee. As a result, Ting Yao ended up as a maid in the household and discovered that the Governor is actually Tian Yi! Tian Yi took a liking for her and kept her as his woman while she slowly plotted against him.

Maid’s Revenge Ending (Spoilers Alert!)

Maid’s Revenge has a sad ending. Tian Yi died after being shot by Yu Ze in Episode 30. With Tian Yi slowly closing in on him by cutting off his financial and arms support, Yu Ze took his grandmother and Ting Yao hostage inside the mansion in Episode 27. When Tian Yi arrived, he was tied up and tortured. Yan Er turned up hoping to exact revenge but was shot by Yu Ze and died in Episode 29.

During the commotion, Tian Yi freed himself and ended up in a scuffle with Yu Ze. Ting Yao shot Yu Ze and assumed that he has died. While kissing the injured Tian Yi, Yu Ze suddenly grabbed the nearby gun and aimed at her. Tian Yi used his body to shield Ting Yao and died from the shot as a result. Ting Yao shot back at Yu Ze in return and killed him.

5 years later, Ting Yao has taken over Tian Yi’s position and become a strong and independent woman. The last scene is of her noticing a new soldier who looks like Tian Yi guarding her mansion.

Why The Dong Family Was Killed

Yu Ze ordered the Dong family to be killed because he wanted to inherit the family’s assets. He revealed to Ting Yao his reasons in Episode 26 when she found out that he was the murderer. Dong Yao’s father was a rich man and had a map to a stash of ammunitions. He was also supplying to Tian Yi to help the latter expand his power base.

Yu Ze hated Tian Yi and was always jealous of him. He despised that his grandparents were always favoring their own son over him. Hence, he wanted the Dong family’s resources to oust Tian Yi. By killing the Dong family and marrying Ting Yao, Yu Ze figured that he will be able to control the Dong family’s assets.

When Did Ting Yao And Tian Yi Get Together?

Ting Yao hated Tian Yi initially because she thought he killed her family. He allowed her suspicion of him to fester because he was afraid that she would put herself in danger if she goes after the real killer. However, Ting Yao was moved when Tian Yi took a bullet for her in Episode 12. She was elated when she learned that Tian Yi is the boy she met when she was a kid rather than Yu Ze in Episode 17.

Unfortunately, Yu Ze’s maneuverings caused Ting Yao to stab Tian Yi in Episode 18 as she really thought that Tian Yi had killed her family. But she regretted her distrust of him and realized that she was falling for him in Episode 19 when he announced that he is going to marry Ming Yue. Ting Yao also learned the truth from Tian Yi’s subordinate in Episode 20. She confessed her feelings to Tian Yi in Episode 22 and they got together in Episode 23. There is no breakup after they become a couple but he died in the last episode.

Who Killed Tian Yi’s Father?

Yu Ze killed his own grandfather because he was caught trafficking arms and opium. His grandfather wanted him to surrender himself to the police. Yu Ze refused and killed his grandfather to hide his crimes. He admitted as such in Episode 27 when he was about to kill Tian Yi.

Maid’s Revenge Review – An Addictive Trash!

Maid’s Revenge is a type of drama that women really shouldn’t watch. it is a drama with an alpha male protagonist whose actions would constitute as sexual harassment or even assault by today’s standards. The whole story appears as if it is lifted directly from a trashy romance novel of a bygone era. And yet, it is easy to get hooked to the tale of a rich man’s daughter who ended up as a maid in the Governor’s mansion.

Perhaps the Republican time setting makes the mistreatment tolerable. We all know how females were treated a century ago and the drama simply reflected the mindset of that period. But I think what really makes viewers glued to the screen for this one is the yearning and passion in the romance. The guy’s intense feelings for the girl and his hot body are hard to ignore. The kisses are on fire especially in the deleted scenes. The short length helps as well to make you sit through to the end.

In short, this is addictive but in a dark kind of way. You will get rough handling, forced kisses, and non-consensual physical intimacy. If you don’t mind those, then this might be watchable. But once you reached the last episode, you could also be regretting why you watched it in the first place!

Mediocre Ending (Spoilers Alert!)

The ending could certainly be rewritten. The fight in the end is expected but the way the male lead dies is silly. He has been stabbed a few times but still finds the energy to engage in a long kiss with his beloved. They are busy kissing when the villain fires off a shot. As a result, the hero dies. It is laughable if not for the dreaded feeling that it is going to end on a sad note.

Then, there is a time jump 5 years later. The upside is the female lead becomes stronger and more capable. But on the other side of the coin, viewers are left with a new soldier who looks like the hero but without the same alpha male personality. He is simply a look alike who is seemingly put there to placate viewers. I can only say that the attempt to play down the male lead’s death a few minutes earlier is a miserable failure. So, the overall ending has a crappy feel to it.

Beauty Without Brains

The other noteworthy point about Maid’s Revenge is the less than flattering way the female character has been written. No doubt she has guts but she lacks the intelligence to go with it. At one point, she is drawn to the male lead but already betrothed to another. She is dancing in circles between the 2 men without the ability to discern the good one from the bad until the truth is plainly revealed to her.

Hence, it can be frustrating watching the not so smart female character which is a contrast to the protagonists in other Republican dramas such as City Of Streamer and Fall In Love. It is not a complete turn-off though as the short length makes everything more bearable. Just don’t expect too much from the character or even the drama in general and you will be fine with it.

Flammable Chemistry

I guess the great chemistry between Chen Fang Tong and Dai Gao Zheng is what makes this drama sell. You know you are watching something mediocre but the interactions between the leads simply make you stick around for more. You can feel the yearning and passion through the gazes and facial expressions. So, when they kiss, it does give you the right feels for a romance drama.

This is my second time watching Chen Fang Tong as a lead after Decreed By Fate. She also has a supporting role in The Lion’s Secret and Jun Jiu Ling. As for Dai Gao Zheng, he mainly plays minor roles such as the ones in Who Rules The World and A Camellia Romance. After Maid’s Revenge, perhaps he will be more noticeable by viewers. At the minimum, he has those abs that would make any woman feel hot all over!

On a serious note, the 2 leads did rather well with what they were given. With a minimalistic plot and little character development, the leads basically have to rely on their chemistry to make it work so that the intense emotions could come alive for the viewers. And kudos to them for being able to do that and save the drama from being absolute trash.

My Verdict – If You Don’t Mind Outdated Tropes…

In a way, Maid’s Revenge belongs to our grandmother’s era whereby such characters used to be the norm. If it is a full length drama, I do wonder if we will put up with it. That is the advantage of a short drama – the faults could be minimized. So, what we end up with is outdated tropes condensed into 5 hours of viewing time. And when less is more, that 5 hours becomes a kind of sinful pleasure with its brand of coercive seduction of an overly domineering male. The dark and melodramatic feel also add to its magnetism.

Personally, I’m no fan of mini dramas as I tend to find the scene transitions very choppy such as in The Queen Of Attack or Hold On, My Lady. Maid’s Revenge is much better managed in that aspect although not perfect. For a low budget production, I think it has done better than most. The question is just whether you can accept the sexism that comes from that era.

For this Maid’s Revenge review, I would rate it 7/10. It isn’t fair to compare it to big budget dramas, so you do need to lower your expectations with this kind of mini productions. For this one, I would say just treat it as an indulgence. Be swept away by the passion and romance and leave your brains behind for a while. It is wicked pleasure that is not often found in modern dramas now.

==> Maid’s Revenge is available on Amazon Prime (affiliate link)