The second season of "News Queen" is currently airing and gaining popularity. Besides the charismatic Wen Huixin, Zhang Jiayan's contradictory yet genuine personality is also worth exploring.
In episode 13, the four female leads, in order to uncover the truth behind George's death, once again put aside their past grievances and stood on the same side, bringing many viewers to tears. Some viewers said that Zhang Jiayan was enduring humiliation and hardship, not for power, but to "save the country indirectly" and find the truth. But in fact, this character is far more complex than that. She is not a "turnaround and redemption" type, but a three-dimensional character with complexities and flesh and blood. Compared with those flat characters that are simply black and white, Zhang Jiayan's career path is full of struggle: she doesn't understand office politics, but has to bite the bullet and enter the game, and is ridiculed as having an "office politics kindergarten" level; she holds pure journalistic ideals, but always bows to reality, and is criticized by netizens for being "hypocritical".
Isn't this the reality for many working professionals?
The art of balancing ambition and conscience
"News Queen 2" continues the core theme of workplace power struggles from the first season through the transformation of Zhang Jiayan. Initially, she looked down on and even loathed factional infighting, single-mindedly upholding her journalistic ideals. Ultimately, however, she was forced to compromise with reality and become embroiled in the power vortex. One netizen aptly commented: "Every time I watch Jiayan, I think of Anxi from 'War and Beauty.' They both have a touch of aloofness; it's not that they can't fight, it's that they don't want to fight from the bottom of their hearts." That kind of inner conflict—"consciously sinking into depravity while simultaneously reflecting on it"—is a true reflection of every idealist repeatedly whipped down by reality.
There are many online criticisms of Zhang Jiayan for being hypocritical, but from another perspective, isn't this a case of having both ambition and conscience, wanting to climb the social ladder while upholding moral principles? As one netizen said, "She is both decisive and hesitant; she has both ruthless methods and a compassionate heart."
Stills from "News Queen 2"
It's never a bad thing for women to be ambitious; Man-jie might criticize Liu Yan for lacking ambition. Zhang Jiayan harbored journalistic ideals, but later discovered she also wanted to shed the "perennial runner-up" label. Does that mean she's "turned evil"?
This inner turmoil finds profound reflection in both classical and modern narratives. She's like Wu Kezhi in *The Ordinary Glory*, possessing top-notch professional skills yet suppressed for not knowing how to flatter, yet refusing to bow her head; more like the prince in *Hamlet*, too concerned with moral boundaries, always hesitant when decisiveness is needed. Zhang Jiayan's inner conflict isn't hypocrisy, but the mental torment of knowing the dirty rules of the workplace yet being forced to participate in them. Every choice she makes is a modern workplace version of "To be or not to be."
The most authentic is the incomplete "darkening".
Some viewers commented, "Zhang Jiayan's biggest problem is that she doesn't admit she has political ambitions." This statement pinpoints her confusion about self-awareness.
Zhang Jiayan is precisely what Foster calls a "round character," her complexity and transformation giving the role a real vitality. Her trajectory of transformation can be seen in Jesse Pinkman from the TV series *Breaking Bad*—the young man who, amidst the abyss of crime, becomes the last guardian of moral conscience, struggling painfully between depravity and redemption; it also echoes Javert from *Les Misérables*—the collapse and reconstruction of his beliefs when his lifelong black-and-white worldview is shattered by the grayness of reality. Zhang Jiayan's "darkening" is incomplete precisely because she is constantly waging a gentle yet persistent "Javert-esque" inner war; her ideals, though worn down by reality, are never completely extinguished.
Stills from "News Queen 2"
With short dramas and fast-paced, action-packed shows all the rage these days, as one netizen aptly put it: "After watching short videos for so long, it seems like people are finding it increasingly difficult to accept complex characters." But it is precisely these imperfections of Zhang Jiayan that make the audience feel both angry and sorry for the character. This is exactly the reason why "News Queen" didn't just become a fast-paced, action-packed drama, but instead showed a deeper level of dedication.
