The Romance of Tiger and Rose

The Romance of Tiger and Rose – 3/10
Tags: Misleading Feminism / Problematic Content / Romanticising SA / Dropped Drama
Categories: Dropped Dramas, Overhyped Dramas That Fell Flat, Rom-Coms That Got It All Wrong, Fake Feminism in Dramas

I don’t even know where to begin with this one. The Romance of Tiger and Rose started out with a premise that intrigued me—a screenwriter gets transported into her own script set in a matriarchal society. Sounds progressive, right? I was sold on the idea that this would be a clever, satirical feminist take on romance dramas. But what I got was something else entirely—and not in a good way.

Let’s start with the female lead. In public, she plays the witty, bold Third Princess who’s supposed to be smarter than everyone around her. But the moment she’s alone with the male lead, she immediately reverts into a shy, submissive, lovestruck stereotype straight out of a patriarchal fantasy. Where’s the feminism in that? The “strong woman” act felt like a gimmick—just for show. And I absolutely hate when dramas do that: sell strength and independence on the surface but reduce their women to docile kittens when romance shows up.

And the male lead? Honestly unbearable. He’s written as the typical cold, arrogant prince with a superiority complex and an ego the size of a palace. There’s absolutely nothing likable about him. The fact that the FL constantly tries to win him over despite his toxic behavior was exhausting to watch.

But the real deal-breaker for me—and I mean the hard stop—was the show’s romanticisation of sexual assault. There’s a scene where the FL drugs the ML to get him into a situation where her sister and her husband can consummate their marriage. That is not funny. That’s not quirky. That’s setting up a scenario for non-consensual sex, and the fact that it’s played off in a light, humorous tone left me stunned. Not only is that situation horrifying in real life, it also reinforces the idea that manipulating people’s bodily autonomy is acceptable in love or marriage. Absolutely not okay.

To top it all off, the story blatantly favors the FL despite her often stumbling through situations without much competence. Meanwhile, her older sister (the second princess) is pushed toward a villain arc—something that felt forced just to make the FL look better. Ironically, I found that sister far more layered and interesting than the main couple. She at least had the potential for a solid romance arc, but I dropped the drama before seeing it unfold—I just couldn’t stomach it anymore.

Verdict: The Romance of Tiger and Rose pretends to be progressive but ends up glorifying everything it claims to subvert. The so-called feminist world collapses the moment the ML appears, and the show spins manipulative, non-consensual behavior as “romantic comedy.” I was fooled in the beginning, but after reading more about it and seeing where it was heading—I dropped it without regrets.