Knavery

She was adorable in that, it's too bad she didn't get more screen time in that and more roles generally speaking.

People were put at risk needlessly and it's especially poor planning when you consider how much peer pressure there is in a society like Korean society. There may have been people in that photo who knew it was a risk but participated anyways due to that pressure.

Yes, the actors in scenes took off their masks but this is about risk management. You don't drive without your seatbelt on. You don't drive after you have been drinking. There are many things we do to minimize risk and mask wearing is now one of them. Society has determined they still want TV shows, they still want sports so it will be done in the safest manner possible. A commemorative group photo is not required to produce a TV show. It's a nice extra thing for the people involved in creating it. That's all.

The network apologized but the real test will be if this happens again. Hopefully no one was infected and nobody gets sick or dies.

It's not end of the world stuff but it was a dumb decision.

Let me spell it out since you don't seem to be that smart:

If I need to take off a mask to breathe fresh oxygen it is doing something.

Therefore a mask can't be doing nothing if it is doing something.

This means your opinion is worthless and you should be ignored and that is what I will do going forward. You are entitled to have an opinion. I am not required to respect it or you.

So wait - do masks do nothing or do they do something? In your own comment you contradict yourself. You claim they do nothing and then finish your post with "take them off and breathe fresh air!". So does it stop the spread or not? Do they do nothing or not? If we need to take them off to breathe properly clearly they must be doing something, right?

Sure, you're entitled to an opinion but you can't say the sky is blue and 2 seconds later say the sky is red and pretend your opinion is valid and worth respect. It isn't.

Hard to trust someone who spouts nonsense and contradicts themselves in a couple of sentences.

Nana really did a great job in those last scenes. I still think the ending was a little ridiculous even though I thought the way it ended was appropriate for the characters.

Honestly it's not that good. Pretty boring. I gave up at episode 25. It's a soap opera that's disinteresting even when you factor soap operas more generally are uninteresting.

Judging by what I've ready (haven't watched this week's episodes) it seems they are going for the ending of the novel and staying faithful to that. So yeah, you should probably put a spoiler tag around it but that's basically the ending of the book.

It's a tough one. There are so many endings for the writers to look at. I'll say they'll go happy but I'll list the endings that have been spawned so far down below.

If I could put the novel and TV show endings into categories it would be:
1. Tragic and brutal ending
2. Happy ending (it has its flaws but it is a happy ending from the characters perspectives)
3. Ambiguous (modern day ending)
4. Show breaks fourth wall and you hear the director and production team barking orders about scenes, telling off the two leads. It was weird for sure.

Given fan outrage at some of the endings I've listed... I'll go with happy ending. Not sure how they'll achieve it if they want to stay a little bit true to history but whatever...

From the descriptions of the novel down below it feels like the show could have been better. I appreciate not wanting the male lead in a polygamous relationship with more than one wife where things are harmonious. It definitely feels a bit weird in the 21st century and A Step Into The Past is probably the last TV show we'll see portray polygamy in a serious (and harmonious) way but I feel like the drama really suffered because it moved away from the novel and could not figure out where to take the relationships of the various characters.

I don't necessarily think sticking to the novel and being faithful was the right decision... just that they should have dealt with Xinyue and the Crown Prince in a better way. I think they should have just moved on from the one of those two characters to move the show along. Like the Crown Prince or Xinyue is killed off or sent to the border or something. But instead the plot of the show revolved around the two of them. It wasn't terrible but it made the plot a little shallow.

All in all I enjoyed it but I really like the concept where the male or female lead time travels back in time and has to adjust to life.

Depends on your definition.

First things first - the show for the first half is set primarily in the capital city so you don't see much action or many fight scenes.

Now that being said, she is the granddaughter of a famous general so she has fighting skills and they are shown off every now and then. She can hold her own against anyone and on a good day she can beat anyone.

The first half of the show is more of a contrast between her and traditional young noblewomen of the time. Ban Hua is outspoken, her contemporaries are soft spoken. Ban Hua will go out alone and meet a man, her contemporaries would see that as scandalous.

I think if I had to describe her for the first half of the show it would be "free spirit". She can get embarrassed, sad, upset, mad and make poor decisions. Some might call her character childish (I wouldn't, I'd say she's a teenager and that's probably how old her character is in the show/novel). But I suspect the back half of the show that will change dramatically. The show is still running but I suspect the last 20 episodes we're going to see a much more serious and determined Ban Hua and much less of the fun 'free spirit' Ban Hua. In some ways she is like many male lead characters in wuxia adventures. They start off as free spirited, they make friendships and then events unfold and they inevitably make the choice to stand up for what they believe in and become more serious.

I found the first half of the show a fun watch. She's not a stoic and strong female lead but I'd say she's strong. She will put herself out there, she'll encourage others to try things and do things. She's not afraid of saying what she thinks in most circumstances.

Could be interesting. It's got Kim So Hyun so I'll always give anything with her in it a try.

The plotlines of this show have to be up there among the dumbest ever. You can tell the writers struggled to get to 27 episodes. It should have been like 10-12.

The cards for the main characters are really well done.

They focus more on the murder case in 1913 than getting home. So it's more murder mystery in 1913 than the leads figuring out how to survive in 1913 and return home.

I enjoyed it, it's not great by any means.

6 more episodes to go. I'm really surprised at how faithful they've been so far to the original material and Chinese drama.

Yang Zhi Wen reminds me of Janice Wu with her facial expressions. She's animated and because Chinese dramas dub everything - it's important to be extra expressive and she does a good job at that. I'm only like ~10 episodes in but enjoying it so far.

Thanks for this. I watched season 1 and I think I remember it but I'm not entirely sure I remember stuff right so a recap to start season 2 should be enough.

I don't see how a show like The Mentalist can be done successfully in a Korean adaptation without it being so different I wouldn't think of it as an adaptation.

Looks like it could be fun. I'll check it out.

I'm surprised they've been fairly faithful so far to the spirit of the novel & Chinese drama. Korean stuff tends to be a lot more tame and safe but they haven't shied away from much yet. And the fact it's doing so well will help allow future directors and writers to take risks in the future. Here's to hoping the last 8 episodes keep it going.