Platinum Fox

Thank you for your thoughts on Baek Seom. I understand where you are coming from, but I disagree with you. Many viewers felt like it was Baek Seom who betrayed Suho and Si Eun, but it was actually the other way around. Remember what his dad has literally beat into him, stand up for yourself. Suho may have beat the bullies for him, but that is not what Baek Seom needed. He needed to physically do it himself. A good friend helps you, not do it for you.. Suho treats Baek Seom just like the rich treat their underlings. They are expendable.

Let me ask two questions. If Baek Seom would have been allowed to use the mic to beat up his bullies would we have had the end result we do? Also, why is Si Eun allowed to fight his own battles with weapons and not Baek Seom? Suho took away Baek Seom's physical weapon, but not his most powerful weapon, his money.

Thank you for the discussion. People want a villain in these dramas. For me, the villains are the parents, teachers, cops, and the boys themselves. All are complacent to the issue of bullying. Change the mindset and the environment will change.

Episode 11 was all about figuring out a way to save Gang Cheol from having to sacrifice his life to save Yeo Ri. Viewers have said that in the end, it will be that Gang Cheol will have to give his life to save Yeo Ri. In other words, use up the essence of his moonlit pearl. But now we have a fire spirit with a water spirit's moonlit pearl. What can "kill" the Colossal Shadow, the essence of the moonlit pearl. My theory is that the Celestial General will give its life and spirit to save everyone from the Colossal Shadow. Doing good deeds to make up for doing bad ones during its human life and the afterlife. Redemption is the backbone of the fantasy genre. What did the Celestial General do that it feels it needs to atone for its sins.

If BiBi hadn't been there, Gang Cheol would have died too soon.

Yes, I was wondering about that as well. Something tells me that all of this has been over a woman and her child. The child who saw Gang Cheol ascend was the son of that woman. Something tells me the great-great grandfather coveted his brother's wife and had a child by her. The child was placed in Yongdam away from the palace to protect him. The brother found out and had the son killed. This is why it is the royals' fault and not the Celestial General's fault. The Celestial General was trying to save the innocent child and was killed. jmo

That's the point of the whole drama. How many times in these dramas has an underling done something "wrong" and been killed for it? Like dropping and breaking a royal's cup. The underling says, "I deserve to die." Why just for breaking a cup? Why should the royal family be able to play god? jmo

Glad to see you back.

Actually, what appears to be the stupidest thing, was actually the smartest thing. Now the fire spirit has the moonlit pearl of a water spirit. Isn't that what will "kill" the Colossal Shadow. Everyone has assumed that the Celestial General is something evil, but what if it is like Gang Cheol, something that has been trying to protect the "right" royal bloodline rather than kill it!

Kill two birds with one stone. If the spirit can get a moonlit pearl and drain the other imugi of his essence, then there is no one to stop him. The imugi's are the only thing strong enough (at present) to stop the Colossal Shadow and the Celestial General. That's what Yeo Ri figured out. This is why Yeo Ri asks if there is another way to make the spirits disappear. The monk doesn't know of one. The grandmother summoned a grim reaper and died herself. So what will "kill" the Colossal Shadow and the Celestial General. Love and understanding.

We still don't know what this spirit wants. All we know is that it hates a particular branch of the royal bloodline. The one the present king and the crown prince is in. The king wants to find out what happened 100 years ago when his great-great grandfather was king. Find out what happened and solve the problem.

Yes, me as well, but then when he started talking about finding a daycare and preschool, I thought what did you do Sang Yan?!

If you love political dramas watch Joy of Life Season 1 and 2. Season 3 is on the way. Also, try Who Rules the World (the female lead is in that one). Happy drama watching.

I disagree. The fire spirit is separate from the 8 ft. creature. My reasoning is the 8 ft. creature is represented by the crawling bugs that infest a human ( the crown prince, the king, and the queen dowager's son). Of the three humans it has infested, only one has died. The one who died was a horrible person. The fire spirit just uses fire. Grandmother died trying to put out a fire on the ceremonial table. Her death, for me, was purely accidental (even though the blind shaman was there). She was not infested with bugs.

One hundred years ago two people escaped the massacre of the village ( which I assume is Yongdam): the child who saw Gang Cheol and the person who saved the child. However, both must have been caught and were killed. Now, the blind shaman has both inhabiting his body. Which is why the one spirit says I am not the spirit you want, you want someone from the royal bloodline.

There are three concepts being played out here. One if a household breeds good deeds, then the household will be blessed with good deeds. If the household breeds discontent or evil, then the household will have nothing but misery. Two, any ruler has the shadow or decisions (both good and bad) of previous rulers hanging over his/her head. What one ruler does affects future generations. Three, people and spirits are not born bad, they are just made to do bad things by the circumstances in their lives.

The spirit that inhabited the crown prince was sad. Why? Is it being asked to do something it didn't want to do?

These are just my thoughts. Happy drama watching.

My guess is because the palcheogwi wants to make sure the right "spirit" gets the blame. This drama is about making the abstract concrete. Every king has the "shadow" or "spirit" of every king who has come before him. All the good and bad decisions of each preceding king has an effect upon the present king. Remember Yeo Ri says if people realized that what they do now affects future generations would they act differently? Gang Cheol, who is a 1000 year old dragon, knows what has happened in the last 1000 years, so it wouldn't take too much for him to remember what happened 100 years ago. It is why his character is an archivist.

Whatever happened a 100 years ago is still affecting the present palace. So this means Gang Cheol needs to remember what happened 100 years ago in order to understand what is happening in the present. It all has something to do with the grandpa of the king. We don't know why the grandpa is full of rage, so that BiBi would eat him. jmg

I understand. I'm the same way. If it doesn't suck me in on the first episode, then I'm done. Sometimes I do go back and try again when I am in a different frame of mind. Hope you find something. Happy drama watching.

Yes, I loved Sang Yan. I was always wondering what he was hiding!

Yes, I don't go by ratings any more. They are so subjective. You have people rating things a 10 because of who is in it, and you have people rating it a 1 because of who is in it. So I just now watch dramas that interest me despite the rating. I do rate ones that, for me, deserve a 6 and above.

Yes, and now his spirit is being used to harm other members of the royal bloodline. But it seems to be very discerning as the spirit only seems to kill royals who do bad things. The reason I think it is sad is because it accidentally killed the present king's father. Unless the present king's father did something heinous. jmo

Thanks, I just wanted to know your take on it. I did ask someone else.

The rating of 8.9 is the average rating of everyone who has rated the drama. This includes everyone who has rated it with multiple accounts. The verified rating is what you should be looking at as it tries to take out all the multiple ratings by one person. That rating is an 8.35. In my opinion, that seems a little low. More like an 8.5. However, I have only watched two episodes and am enjoying it so far. jmo

Just curious what were you expecting? There seems to be a mix of fantasy with the supernatural.

How is Dear Hongrang?

I thought the same thing until episode 10. The spirits who have been haunting the palace have been doing so for a 100 years. The child who saw Gang Cheol ascend seems to be the fire spirit. The fire spirit tells Gang Cheol that the royal family are to blame for Gang Cheol not ascending. In other words, the massacre in the opening scenes of episode 1 took place 100 years ago, not 13 years ago as we thought. There must have been a rebellion among the royal family and the person who took the child either saved him or killed him. It seems as if the child was killed, so that he could not ascend the throne. The child must have been burned alive as he is now a fire spirit.

Now that Gang Cheol knows that the fire spirit is 100 years old. He can do research into who was king at the time and figure out what happened and plan accordingly.

Whatever is killing the royal family is very discerning. It seems to only kill those who do bad things. Unless the king's father did something heinous, I think his death was an accident because Yeo Ri's grandmother did not understand the spirit. I think that is why the fire spirit is sad. It killed someone he shouldn't have killed.

This is just my speculation.