InspectorMegre

The drama is a decent and showy makjang until about ep 7.
The 2 Joseon women tried to be wise from their heart and it was very nice -
but then it started falling apart in ep 7 when I got tired of their whispering voices and ALWAYS ANXIOUS SUFFERING FACES... ALWAYS IN FEAR.... always lying... more and more lying...

AND NO CHARACTER GROWTH IN ANY DRAMA CHARACTER****

SO IT WAS ALL SNAKE OIL, SMOKE AND MIRRORS, TOTALLY FAKE!!!!

I wrote several long posts in the Discussion for this drama on MDL, so you can read that.
I FINISHED THE DRAMA FEELING FURIOUS THAT I WASTED TIME WATCHING THIS TRASH. It was a great study of how cheesy writers bait the audience and how to pay attention to what you are watching and what the red flags are. .

The drama left me absolutely FURIOUS. I was watching and things were ok until I figured out what I was watching - utmost sexism and women as powerless slaves, scared for their life,

Koreans brainwashing that female lying, silence, chronic anxiety and suffering, and "whispering voices" and "demure elegant" conduct is something desirable.
HECK NO. It comes from women being scared for their life and well being, as slaves with NO power or rights; and the brainwashing that they have to sacrifice themselves - for example that a woman must not eat much. KOREAN SOCIETY TREATED - AND STILL TREATS - WOMEN LIKE SLAVES, SO BADLY IT IS DISGUSTING

Practically every culture in the world mistreats women, some more some less, but it is THERE
It was just disgusting to see how Asia did it and STILL DOES IT that is why we get those anxious lying never talking stupid women in 2026 dramas about year 2026.

That gotta STOP we need good female role models. -


So b y ep 7, I started to doubt what I was watching, and then in ep 15, 16 I got very angry at what I was seeing esp in older Joseon woman.

What the drama calls demure, elegant, feminine, considerate, pleasing, trustworthy is actually a POWERLESS FEMALE SLAVE who does not dare say anything that could piss off anyone, so SHE LIES, KEEPS SILENCE, DESTROYS, just to keep her as@ safe.
IT IS DISGUSTING ADVERTISEMENT OF PATRIARCHY

Durian's Affair was not sugarcoating LGBT+ and made this character super selfish and ordinary, "same as usual selfish", just with that orientation.
Also the drama made fun of Catholicism and CHristian "lamb", of Western Food, or plastic surgery for actors, and many many other societal issues.

There is no character growth in this drama, WHATSOEVER, the drama says it is for "ordinary ppl to temporarily forget their rough life" and indeed that is what this drama is, lots of juicy shocking and gossip scenes, lots of meaningless dialogues, ...

It has karmic lessons, ok... and advertises Buddhism... ok ..
but other than that... it is pretty much useless for real life, it is mostly fluff

FOR STARTERS, UP UNTIL ABOUT EP 7:
2 Joseon ladies embody just plain old honesty politeness and kindness that goes waaaay beyond any rotten old moldy sexist Confucianism.... Indeed! So thank you for that thoughtful review.

This drama indeed is a pioneering piece of work, and the script is actually very good and effective, acting is stellar, and of course - the music totally adds to the drama, pun intended. I am glad I watched it.

For the record: I got to this drama by accident, bc there are no dramas for 2 weeks bc of some sports event. So someone recommended the "classic" daily Princess Aurora, so I researched it, found the review on Dramabeans, and watched ep 148, 150 to see for myself. So I got curious about the writer and read her bio here on MDL. Definitely a very contraversial person... who makes effective makjangs. The secrets are great dramatic music, juicy "real life" stereotypes and gossips, ... and even deeper. I already noticed in the 2 episodes of the Princess that many societal issues were addressed, and the overall topic of this drama is the good old "being driven by hormones in spite of all visible red flags."