The First Jasmine

What happens when a lone survivor finds revenge?

The First Jasmine is a Wuxia CDRAMA that follows Ye Li (Bai Lu) as she enacts revenge against her father for events that happened in her past. In her quest, she’s forced to marry Mo Xiu Yao instead of the man to whom she’d been engaged since childhood, Mo Jing Li, who marries her younger sister instead. As Ye Li and Mo Xiu Yao get used to each other, Ye Li painstakingly enacts her revenge stemming from grudges against her father over the mystery of what happened to her mother and those on Lishin Mountain years ago. The First Jasmine actually explores the effects of the consequences of Ye Li’s trauma of being the only survivor of a plague that wiped out everyone else on the mountain. It shows the lengths she went to survive, and how that altered her brain chemistry. What I appreciated about this drama is it took PTSD very seriously (as it should) and took the time to explain what was happening. It wasn’t just a gimmick, and it wasn’t something they just “cured” overnight, and as someone with PTSD I truly appreciated that. They also didn’t treat the characters like they were less than because of their issues. It was just something they needed to learn how to navigate. Mo Xiu Yao is dealing with his own trauma stemming from a battle where he was stabbed in the legs, making him a paraplegic. He also lost his older brother to a treason frame up, and has been in a bitter, almost catatonic state ever since. It’s not until Ye Li comes back into his life that he starts finding reasons to fight back against his suppressors and truly find reasons to live again. As they overcome their differences and initial suspicions of each other, they form a deep bond of mutual respect and love that helps them through plots, their traumas, and own demons. If you love dramas that are intelligent, lean into the supernatural, and make you question everything, you’ll love this drama.