TV REVIEW: 'Triad Princess' is a charming, bingeable watch

Eugenie Liu as Angie and Jasper Liu as Xu Yi Hang in Triad Princess, available on Netflix.

There’s a scene in the opening episode of Triad Princess (極道千金) where Angie, the show’s heroine, is placed under lockdown in her room after disobeying her father, a notorious gang leader. Tough, independent and whip-smart, Angie cuts off her long hair and coerces her friend and bodyguard, Lin Gui, to swap clothes with her so she can make her escape. But, she’s also compassionate, and understands that her bodyguard could face her father’s wrath for not doing his job. In an effort to make it look like he wasn’t complicit, she roundhouse kicks him in the face without warning and knocks him out.  

This sort of slapstick sitcom has dominated East Asian TV series for decades, and it continues to be just as fresh and funny. Triad Princess is Netflix’s second original Mandarin/Taiwanese Hokkien show, a very bingeable six-episode series about a girl and a boy from opposite sides of the railroad tracks who fall in love. It’s not uncommon to see these kinds of stories; in East Asia, socioeconomic backgrounds are vital in matchmaking, especially when parents get involved. The show’s light, cheery tone is a far cry from the cheerless Nowhere Man, and the lively Angie is very much the driving force of the show.

Angie (Eugenie Liu 劉奕兒) is the daughter of Boss Ni (Michael Huang Chung-Kun 黃仲崑), the leader of the powerful Cosmos gang, and yearns for independence as she enters her mid-20’s. When a local talent agent, Sophia Kwong (Tien Hsin 天心) receives a blackmail letter, she asks Boss Ni to provide a female bodyguard to help protect her prized actress, Ling Yun (Cecilia Choi 蔡思韵). Angie volunteers for the job, in large part because Sophia also represents Angie’s favorite actor, Xu Yi Hang (Jasper Liu 劉以豪, no relation to Eugenie… because that would be weird), but she’s quickly denied by her father. Undeterred, Angie secretly plans a rendezvous with Sophia and offers her services; Sophia agrees, but Angie has to keep her triad background and her assignment a secret. What follows is a cutesy love story where Angie and Xu Yi Hang quickly fall in love, but opposing forces – media attention, triad business, showbiz drama and a rival suitor for Angie – make things difficult.  

The star of the show is undoubtedly Angie. Though she constantly talks with her mouth full of food and is often split seconds away from putting a knife to your throat at the slightest hint of an insult, she’s full of energy and loyal to her friends. That includes Lin Gui (Chang Tsai-Hsing 張再興), Boss Ni’s top henchman and the recipient of her roundhouse kick, who remains by her side despite her constant emotional and physical abuse. While Angie’s not afraid to wield her immense political and physical strength against him, their relationship is more sibling rivalry than master-servant. It is easy to root for Angie, whose characterization departs drastically from the usual East Asian trope of the meek daughter of a domineering father who needs a Romeo to save her. In Triad Princess, Angie is Romeo and Xu Yi Hang the more passive and obedient Juliet.

Thanks to director Neal Wu (吳子雲) and his clever smash cuts and selective use of graphics, the show remains lighthearted with its anime-like sensibilities, but when things get tough and Angie is forced to kick ass, the action sequences feel natural and well choreographed. What makes this show stumble a little bit is its rather ordinary story and its pacing – a villain from a subplot all of a sudden becomes the main villain in the second-last episode, and its cliff-hanger ending teases another kind of story altogether.

Poor translation also hinders the storytelling; because the series features at least two translators, there are some discrepancies with certain names and Chinese idioms. For example, one of Lin Gui’s lieutenants is named “Cai Tou” (literally “radish”) in one episode and then “Tsai Tou” in another, and for the uninitiated it can cause some confusion. The dialogue needs fine-tuning as well; in one romantic exchange, the words “應該是” is translated as “maybe,” when it should be translated as “probably” or “should be.” There’s a minute difference, but in conversation it could mean the difference between “maybe I love you” and “I probably love you.” Triad Princess isn’t the only show that suffers from such frustrating inconsistencies – most foreign subtitled productions do – but it’s a glaring error in conveying nuanced meaning, especially between two characters who are supposed to have chemistry.

While it was unclear if Nowhere Man was set up to have a Season 2 – it really shouldn’t – it’s clear that Triad Princess is set up for multiple seasons, and there’s enough potential in an overall enjoyable Season 1 that Netflix shouldn’t lose hope and give up despite initial reports of poor viewership. Understand that outside of North America, Netflix is not the first nor the only streaming service available, and that its entry into foreign markets will come with road bumps along the way.

Triad Princess gets three stars out of four.