DramaAjumma

There's certainly an interesting story in all of this but it's moving unnecessarily slowly with the overuse of flashbacks and backstories. Aspects of it remind me of Uncanny Counter although it lacks the warmth of the latter. The story as it stands doesn't feel like 16 episode material.

Nobody in this show does what they're told. This show seems to be largely driven by people doing reckless and silly things. Except the two Bulgasals who have to clean up after everyone.

Nah. Still don't see it. ;)

Bingo! That's exactly my problem too. I don't think defenders really understand why some of us have such a problem with HOW Deok-im is written.
To me she was playing mind and word games until the last couple of episodes. She had plenty of opportunities to keep a low profile but the truth is she likes the danger, she loves the king and she can't help herself but get involved. Which flies in the face of her objections and claims.

The script wanted to make her an extraordinary person so that she would stand out but they also wanted to make her reluctant to lose her independence -- whatever that means in late 18th century Joseon palace hierarchy.

Welcome to the minority. I agree that the performances are great all round... the script? Not so much.

While I did enjoy the performances all around, the script wasn't really anything special to me. Jun-ho did good here. Really good.

I honestly don't see the resemblance to Vincenzo unless it's just a reference to the overthetop humour.

There's an element of that. It is an underdog triumphs story.

I'm not sure if they're also responsible for Tribes and Empires as well. The director of Longest Day directed that but I don't know if he used the same production team on that project. I liked Tribes and Empires but I don't recommend it because it's incomplete. It's beautifully shot but slow moving. Not everyone's cup of tea I imagine.

It's made by the same production team behind Longest Day.

I honestly didn't find her all that bad. Maybe it's because I have daughters. :D But I've seen far more objectionable female characters before and some of them bicker needlessly with the male lead and get into far more trouble.

It's good but some of the writing requires a suspension of disbelief. I don't like how the FL character is written as a modern take on a late 18th century palace maid turned royal consort although Lee Se-young is a great actress. It's fanfiction for the most part.

I think what makes this show good are the performances. The script itself isn't anything special for a sageuk.

I won't worry about it too much. It's par for the course. The K drama community is often divided over something. Usually it's over romantic pairings or ships. Reply 88 is a classic example. There have been numerous dramas where fans have been noisily and sharply divided. Sometimes it's about idols as well.
This whole affair will blow over soon enough.

I have no doubt that's what the fear is. But bad thinking is not remedied by more bad thinking. It is dealt with by good thinking and critical thinking.

Human rights abuses perpetrated by governments are still going on today under the guise of "safety" or "cracking down on political unrest" or "misinformation". Nothing's changed.

That's what libel laws are for. People should be sued and taken to court if that's the case. The stuff that goes on in social media is an abomination.

No that's not what I meant. :D What I meant is that the government could make that excuse work on some level because there were real spies.
As for McCarthyism -- by golly, I don't want to go there. It's very complicated. There's been a lot of new thinking on that front as well. Talk about controversial.

Agreed. It is a ridiculous conflation of facts. The way I would counter that is to say that the only reason why the spy rationale could be a viable justification for clamping down on pro-democracy protests is because there were actual NK spies at work elsewhere. It wouldn't surprise me if the government agencies actually knew who the real spies were.

It wouldn't surprise me if there are still sleeper agents in the South.

It's very odd to me that North Korean spies existing in 1987 in the South would be controversial in any way. It's the Cold War. There were spies everywhere.
It must be nice for some people to use Snowdrop as a punching bag for their own political agendas.

This is has always been the problem of trying to talk about and denigrate a drama that nobody in the world has seen yet.

He has hope and another reason to live.

I need to finish that one but yeah, it's good.