achiara

thank you

Is this similar in tone to King of Pigs? As in psychologically heavy and brutal in violence

Hwa-ryeong seems to have an interesting past from what we saw : her relationship with Cho-wol's mother (were they master and servant? were they friends?), how she seems to be protective of other women to the point of establishing that safe place (if I understood correctly) for women who are wronged by society, etc.
I'm confused by something tho, why did it look like she lived outside the palace even when she was already selected as a crown princess and pregnant with the princes?

thanks for the explanation and it's kind of funny people might be more inclined to believe the queen cheated than to think the king simply sought solace in his wife and spent a night with her despite it being against the custom

I knew what was coming at the end of episode 1 and yet... and yet... I will go collect myself before continuing.

Queen Dowager was never a queen. She was a concubine then plotted and killed CP Taein so that her son became CP. Then when the former king died, her son ascended the throne and they deposed the former queen (who is now living in exile outside the palace) and that's how she became queen dowager. I know the timeline can be a bit confusing but this is how it went.

lmao right? he's the realest tbh probably the most realistic portrayal of a teenager among the princes, it would be funny if he actually won and became CP

It looks like they're bringing back the secret and I'm gonna live in fear again for what might happen to GP Gyeseong until next week, like leave my child alone and let our queen breathe for a second please 😩

Prince Muan acts like a womanizer but is surprisingly faithful to that woman he keeps going to see whenever he gets the chance. We almost never see him flirt with other women, he just wants that one girl.

Yes please!

I downloaded the raw from dramacool because I didn't wanna use my google account either and it actually works with furritsu's subs, you can try it

It's technically interesting that this is shot in what looks like a one take, it gives a video game vibe but I'm afraid it's at the expense of characters depth and story development. It's one event/location after the other, it's quite intense and moves fast but we don't have time to know or relate to anyone or anything. I only saw 2 episodes but I will continue.

Thank you

Do we see more of Choi Dae-hoon's character in episode 2?

No, this drama doesn't focus on romance. They are hinting at a possible loveline but it is extremely minor and half of the possible pair isn't interested or even aware of it, it might not happen after all.

I'm with you. Maybe we're in the minority but I don't mind the drama reducing the focus on romance in favor of showing us other aspects relating to Sou's life and other people in his life like his family and his new friends and colleagues (?). Do we even know what he does now? Now that I'm thinking about it we never saw that. There's still more to explore.

I suspect there's a couple of scenes inbetween that were omitted and that we will see (maybe as flashbacks) in next episode that might explain minato's sudden decision, tho it won't excuse what he did because it still sucks

Yeah, that's my guess too. She's a combination of inferiority complex (most obvious in her personal hatred of the queen as she represents what she could never be and it does't help the queen isn't docile and obedient to her) and the usual power greed. She values the status more than supporting her own son and his beliefs. She wants to exert power but she also knows she can't antagonize the officials too much or else they could overthrow the same way it happened before.

I have trouble understanding the queen dowager's motives. She's even turning her back to her own son now, what is her ultimate goal?
Also, objectively speaking, prince Bogeom seems the most fit to be crown prince and even king later, if the palace people had any sanity and acted fairly instead of being power thirsty, he should be appointed and no one should be mad about it.
This being said, I do feel for our queen and I'm rooting for her all the way. KHS is simply superb in this role.

I'm a bit uneasy with the teacher's attitude as well but I appreciate the show addressing it and giving us all these different perspectives regardless of whether they're right or wrong. It feels real and human and a story doesn't need to be sanitized and politically correct to be good, it just shows things and people as they are. Notice how even Sou's friend and her other deaf friend were discussing and saying Sou is different from them because he could normally hear up to a certain point in his life so his experience is not the same as theirs, from this pov you can say the teacher might have a point in his reasoning and in not wanting to pretend he could entirely understand how they feel, maybe he's being /too/ conscious of it and putting a wall like the other teacher said and that's the problem.