Eleison

Rewatching-ish since this is on Netflix now, and phew! I forgot what a hot mess this drama is. 😅 The script is all over the place, but it stood out in my early Kdrama-watching days despite the mess that it is because the premise is really fun and Lee Jong Suk acted his bum off. He definitely carried the show almost single-handedly (this era was his heyday, though; he was rocking the dramas left and right from 2013-2014).

This should also have a Fantasy tag, as I know that the "medical" aspect of this (even as someone with no medical experience whatsoever) is wildly inaccurate.

I also vividly remember the ending goes off the rails and everything gets unhinged, so I'll probably skip most of that and save myself the agony of rewatching. 😉

This also messes with you more than the average Kdrama with 2nd lead syndrome. The FL is almost universally disliked, and most of us watchers wished he ended up with the 2FL. Female leads weren't always written well back then, and this drama is no exception. But the 2FL is still better than the FL, and in this watch I really want Hoon to get over his little childhood crush and move on. But alas, not happening!

Definitely has its charms, but if you decide to sign up for this, buckle up. It's a wild one! 😉😅

Both of the leads are a little insufferable right now. 😅 But it's a Kdrama, so they'll obviously get their arcs and improve. I think both actors are doing just fine so far!

I think we're going to have retroactive grief with the ML when he finds out his brother did all that to protect him (again, being a Kdrama, I know there's more to his brother's abandoning him than has been revealed; I'm sure it has something to do with their dad as teased in Episode 1).

Ha!

When she says to her friend, "They're only cute some of the time..." 😅

Oh my gosh, the baby. 😍 He's absolutely adorable. He made me smile so many times in this video. What a charmer!

In addition to what others are saying below, he also found out about the baby's existence (as do we, haha) the day he finds out his brother died. That's the same day they tell him he's the only remaining family besides his sister-in-law, so it's a lot to take in. I don't blame him for refusing at first. Totally valid to give him a chance to get his bearings! His sister-in-law at least knew the baby existed. 😉

I skip them, too!

Well, I definitely think she got some face work done or stopped eating (or both) since Our Beloved Summer, unfortunately, cause she looked pretty different in that, and definitely more healthy. I honestly didn't recognize her in Hierarchy at first and eventually only got clued in to her being the same actress eventually because of her voice (which is pretty unique).

How far did you watch? Cause if you keep going, you'd see the concubines' kids don't get along well with the queen's kids at all, and ALL of the plot's tragedy stems from the negative fallout and repercussions of polygamy in multiple generations as everyone is fighting for the throne. It's in no way glorified whatsoever.

And the king can't help but the respect the queen because she's a far better human being than he is, and he knows it. He's grateful to her, but does not love her. She puts up with him because she must, culturally, and in order to protect her children.

It's totally understandable if you're not interested because the plot is triggering, but you don't have to worry about it showing the "positives" of polygamy. There are none in this drama! 😅

I think there were just a lot of inconsistencies we're supposed to fill in with our imagination. 😉 The VR scenes do not hold up/make sense under careful scrutiny! 😏

I'm not sure what they'd be referring to. If they used AI with/on the baby, it's been very slight and played for laughs or comedic effect with cute little sound effects to go with it (as Kdrama rom-coms often do). I didn't notice anything (so far) to warrant all of the backlash. If the intro is what's making all the fuss, then it doesn't bother me. I never watch intros.

The king doesn't really love any of his wives/concubines (and vice versa), but he does have respect for his wife, the queen (if you watch the drama, you'll see why). It's not a romance drama in this sense at all (the relationship of the king to his wives is not romanticized or portrayed in a positive light), but it does have a cute romance between one of their (king and queen) sons and one of the minister's daughters (they're very cute).

All of this is fictional.

After I got to episode 4 I was completely invested. It's an excellent drama, and the highest rated sageuk on MDL for a reason. I'd say give it a chance. The beginning is heartwrenching, but it's a lovely story about a mother and her sons. The Queen Dowager is insufferable, but she's a great actress. There's honestly so many great performances in this. and it's great to see an amazing female lead who is a queen and strong and smart. She's a match for the Queen Dowager's scheming and it's fun to watch them play their game of chess: the Queen Dowager, always angling from a place of self-protection and self-interest, and the Queen, fighting with all she has to protect everyone she loves while championing the good and the just.

Highly recommend!

Haven't watched this yet, but she was disappointingly lifeless in Hierarchy (I'm kind of ashamed to admit I watched it, it was so bad; I don't think I added it to my watch list because it was awful), but she was actually good (and lively abd playful) in Our Beloved Summer. She almost stole the show! Don't know what happened to her after that? 🤷‍♀️

But when people want to save money... they will cut corners. People think this way about SO many things. And actual artists are obviously more expensive! Not saying I approve, but when money is the bottom line, we can't expect anything else.

I'm sure the world will be having a lot more convos about this in the coming months/years as it's going to become more of an issue, especially as AI improves.

Then never watch a costume Cdrama. 😬

This had SO much potential! The music was great and there were some amazing scenes; I think it is perfect material for a remake that improves on the weaknesses (which are fixable) and keeps the fascinating premise while spending more time building the bromance/friendship before separating the besties into different camps. I loved the concept of the guy with an alias trying to successfully keep his identity under wraps, but it could have been executed better here.

They also need WAY less torture. Too much of it in this! I get they're trying to show the Japanese were brutal, but it is possible to go too far and 'beat a dead horse.'

Yeah, I think I'd frustrated I spent 35 episodes on something with a sad ending. They're not usually my thing.

"You have that 'dating glow' "...

A 'dating glow' is totally a thing. 😅

It has Lin Geng Xin in it! Loved him in Legend of Shen Li.

The Korean version already sounded too sad for me, so I can't imagine I could stomach the original with a Cdrama sad ending. 😅

I picked up on the same thing (and not just in this drama, but in other Cdramas; I've noticed the government is always portrayed well and never critiqued or corrupt. There definitely seems to be less freedom for media to critique the Chinese government in Cdramas (that I've seen). And I think the media's ability to critique the government, while messy and unproductive sometimes if the media is unethical and trying to sell a lie, still speaks to the freedom of a place to be able to critique its leaders. How are the crooked mucky-mucks supposed to be held accountable if no one can breathe a word about their faults in media narratives without being shut down by censorship? History tells us humans do shady things when they have lots of power and influence (anyone who doesn't is an exception to the rule). That's not a country specific problem, it's a human nature problem. 😉

The police are still shown in this as heroic and hard-working, even if not always the brightest (I saw that as a way of drawing a contrast between the ML and the rest of his coworkers so he looks more brilliant).

This is one way to look at it. 😉