Palace

Palace has built a devoted audience among viewers who want their drama to earn its emotional beats. The 3-season run is exactly the right length for what it is doing. With 16 viewer ratings on TMDB, this is not a title flying under the radar. Yuan Shanshan anchors it with a performance that rewards close attention. There is no real reason to keep putting it off.

Palace arrived without much fanfare and built its audience the hard way — through word of mouth. The writing in Palace treats its characters as people first, plot devices second. A series that follows different women and their stories during the Qing Dynasty Yuan Shanshan and Yang Rong lead a cast that treats the material with real seriousness. Across 3 seasons (2011–2014), it never lost the thread that made it worth starting. The performances in Palace do a lot of work in the silences between the dialogue. It knows exactly what it is, and does not try to be anything else.

Palace is what you recommend to people who say they do not really watch much. The tonal similarities to Perfect Match are real, though Palace carves out its own identity quickly. The complete run is available and best experienced without too much prior knowledge of where it goes. Yuan Shanshan is the centre of it, and it is one of their strongest performances on record. The patience it asks of you early on is paid back with interest.

Palace wrapped up in 2014 — and 3 seasons are available to watch from start to finish. Find exactly where it's streaming below, and TV Butler Pro's free voice app makes it effortless to track your progress as you go. Just say the name, and Butler finds it instantly, tells you which service has it, and remembers exactly where you left off.