Same Place, Another Story
Let’s talk about the drama with the strongest female characters and the most supporting male ones, and yes, it is historical. When all the women are strong, and the nontoxic characters have their priorities straight, a drama with enough laughter, fluff, fight, darkness and love emerges.
The drama highlighted chosen family and life choices. so let me highlight the drama characters:
We have Jang Dong Yoon as NOKDU (the one the tale is about), he lives in a small island with his family. One day, they were attacked, so he followed their attacker trying to know who and why. The character was well written and well balanced to view a male lead other male characters should aspire to be. |  |
 | Dong Dong Joo, the under training gisaeng who fights injustice in her own secret ways, is played by Kim So Hyun. Her character showed great development throughout the story, always using her guts and wit. |
Kang Tae Oh, who did a fabulous job acting as Cha Yool Mu, the smart mysterious nobleman with a big crush on Dong Joo. |  |
Also, the best of them all, the village widows, these forever amazing and empowering women who only depend on each other and live their life fearlessly with morality and pride (I can talk about them forever and ruin this article more, but I’ll just stop myself here). |
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| And how can I forget the adorable scene-stealer Aeng Do and the Vice-curator Yeon Geun with their mature and funny interactions and stories? | |
All-female characters were empowering and courageous regardless of their role, age, or status. Dong Joo was righteous and fearless, the widows were brave and strong, and Aeng Do was physically strong and wisely opinionated (with even a wonderful queen and mother).
How is it possible that every female character in this drama is the best?! …
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With a great OST and mesmerizing cinematography, this drama highlighted the journey, plot, and great relationships.
The first part has a comedic and whimsical sense to it and while you think you’ll always stay protected in this fluffy cloud of cuteness, the second half starts with the plot twists and serious outline.
I don’t want to spoil anything, but the writers had me and the entire drama fan world shocked, and we all went crazy over the sudden turn of events, even though things got back on track fast. They kept the family aspects and mature choices alive through the whole drama. The political stuff only acted as a spice to elevate the drama without compromising romance and fluffy relationships.
However shocking and sudden it sounded, the maturity and sensibility of our leads only continued to make the plot more entertaining without any dragging whatsoever.
Starting this drama I was expecting a usual gender bender, with the twist being the man cross-dressing as a woman, -and some clichéd comedy of it - but looks like Jang Dong Yoon knew we’d all expect that and just aimed to exceed our expectations.
The thing is, LADY KIM is way too comfortable and proud of who she is for anyone to think the comedy is in disguise. His portrayal of the role puts other actor’s attempts to dress as women to shame. The comedy in the drama transpired that part and focused on the actual situations they face in the village and their survival.
 Hot male lead as a man | Hot male lead as a woman |
There was no exaggerated male ego, no exaggerated acting as a woman and definitely no overcompensation. The one thing that was clearly obvious with Nokdu’s character is his comfort and ease being Lady Kim, there was no shame what so ever despite his surroundings, he was always proud. There was no shame being a woman or doing anything considered feminine that we would think would bring shame to his male identity.
Despite having political angles, the character’s choices and journey gave it a new twist that made the drama different from any saeguk you’ve seen. None the less, here’s a recap about the history that influenced this drama. {The plot of the drama is different, so this isn’t a spoiler}
---- As I see it, the drama is like a fan-fiction about these characters, honestly. ;)
Real history - as expected - was very dark, bloody and melodramatic with lots and lots of greed.
A man born from a concubine helped his father, the king, during the war and led the country to victory and became the de facto ruler. Yet his ruling was not recognized, especially when his father took a new queen that gave birth to a legitimate son. While the king’s abrupt death gave the man a chance to take the throne, he felt threatened by his half-brother status as other’s started to use him as a dethronement tool. Soon after, he exiled the 7-year-old boy where he died a year later and imprisoned his mother in the palace for treason. Hence the 15 years he ruled were known for conspiracies, his records were even empty for two weeks and the words “secrets should not be recorded” were written. The man fathered a son, born during the war when he wasn’t a king yet, who became his crown prince and married a crown princess. Then the factions became stronger and tried to overthrow the family again, successfully this time. The crown prince and princess were killed while trying to escape, the queen died in exile soon after, while the dethroned king lived in exile for years. |
(Again, history is different from the drama; this is just to give you an overlook about the main historical characters that inspired this amazing fanfic, uh I mean drama)
A small gift
The drama’s already completed so if you haven’t already seen it you should really binge it next and tell me what you think. I have actually watched the drama while it aired and I have to say that it was a fun ride. Have you seen it too? What do you think about it?
