mochachen

I'm so glad this horrible ritual/custom of burying childless wives of the king is abolished in mid Ming.

I have it on haitus. May get back to it one day.

Is the Goblin's Mansion located in Korea? I at first assumed it was located in Quebec.

Aww man, it's always the gambling parents

Is fl supposedly the historically based Empress Xiaogongzhang?

Where did you see trailers for eps 18-20? I don't think it's even released yet

I wasn't entirely sure if fl's character or real identity existed historically

Ik for sure when she made him his bday noodles that looked exactly like his mom's. That brought sentimental feelings. Also when he got her a hair pin

Yes i saw the promo

So fl was previously chosen, by ml's grandmother, to be ml's wife. But she was switched to another. Fl came to the palace and intentionally got close to ml to find out why and to see what ml's wife looks like. I actually teared up, since she was chosen as a kid to be his wife, her childhood was to basically be compatible to him. She had to learn and excell at everything or else get punished. And in the end she got switched. I would be mad and find it unfair

I just saw a trailer for ep 14-15(not entirely sure if those are the correct eps since it seemed way too early) the king died already (so quickly), crown prince is king now. Ml already know fl's real identity. All these doesn't seem like it would happen in ep 14-15...more like in mid drama.

It's hard to explain since it's loosely based on history (not the romance part but the politics part). I only rmb that The current king has 3 sons (from same queen mother), the crown prince (oldest son) has a son (xukai's character). So xukai's character is crown royal grandson, who is most favored from the King (I take it bc ml is intelligent, and probably most like the king himself. perhaps the king sees ml in himself). The king doesn't favor the crown prince bc he finds him foolish or w.e. But I guess he keeps him as crown prince bc crown royal grandson can only officially and formally have entitledment to be next king only if his father is crown prince. Ml's father and uncles constantly fight for the throne or try to get each other in trouble or save their own asses. The crown prince dies shortly after he's made king, and ml becomes king. It's an era full of war, I believe the old king died in the battle, but it had to be kept a secret or else the kingdom will go in to chaos like perhaps one of the uncle will try to kill crown prince to take the throne etc (this I got from Ming Dynasty drama). Fl probably has a secret identity, she came into the palace to be a cook. fl and ml became sort of secret penpals in the palace for a short while and they fell in love. There's going to be trial and tribulations ofc. After that they it seems like a happy ending where they end up together and she as queen (I got this from trailers). 2nd ml seems to have a thing for fl as well, but I think it's a one sided thing since fl liked ml before she even entered the palace. Honeslty, I find the actor (2nd ml) to be lacking. He plays, I guess, the embroidery guard who are known for their cruelty and ruthlessness, but his gaze and eyes really lack those emotions. I've watched Under the Power and Allen does a fantastic job with that gaze. So watching 2nd ml really lacks it.

One thing I don't like is the repeat or cycled casts in this drama. Which is inevitably predictable given it's a YuZheng production. He uses his own artists. It gives me Court Lady and Song of Youth vibe since it's the same colour scheme and actors from these two dramas. What I can appreciate is the effort and knowledge they put on the cuisine portion. Other than that, I basically skip scenes and just watch the romance part or sometimes the politics if it fancies me. I don't particularly like WJY (I can't get into her horrible acting) nor do I care about their previous CP in Yanxi Palace (I'm sure that's YuZheng's intentions to put these two leads together. This drama is the last chance for wjy to hit it big again). I'm not watching this particularly for the plot, cuisine concept or anything. Mainly bc I'm out of good dramas to watch so I need a filler.

The drama is really popular in China, but mainly bc of the strong cp. I only watched it the whole way through bc of the main leads. I grinded through the 2nd leads and the cases. Those cases sometimes got me so confused , but Idc I just wanted to watch the leads.

If I rmb correctly, from Ming Dynasty drama, this emperor dethroned his nephew ( I might be wrong, could be uncle or newphew) to become emperor. The era he lead was full of wars and he was an intelligent emperor. He had 3 sons by the same wife (queen), and the three sons fought for the throne a lot. I think the Emperor favored the grandson (Xukai's role), so even though crown prince was a pushover or too belevolent, emperor still stuck with the crown prince bc Xukai's character was best fit to be the next emperor. That's what I got from the previous drama. Idk if it was historically correct, but usually those big historical biopics tend to follow closely to history.

This is the same setting as Ming Dynasty drama, so at least for those that watched the previous drama will understand some of the politics or characteristics of these characters.

Yup, hence why I'm so over it with YuZheng's productions. It's basically all the same, the same style, colour scheme, and actors. I get bored, no matter if the lead interests me. I am looking forward to Xukai and YM's drama, chemistry seems good.

I'm glad you liked the novel. I saw a few mixed reviews about it, some liked it while some didn't. Is it a male centric novel? I'm quite confident the adaption will at least follow through with the novel since author is involved with production.

Yes, she is. I saw some lines but that doesn't hid her beauty. She's 35 now and she still ages beautifully. Also, I think she lost even more weight.

I expect a breakup as secret office romantic relationships will eventually be find out. I think that's inevitable in this drama and pretty obvious it will happen. What I'm looking forward to is how they will handle this breakup and how they will get back together again.

I have 0 predictions or theories. At first I thought it would be his ex but the solemn expressions seems like a more serious person. Perhaps it's one of his parents that he has dishormony with bc he/she didn't approve with ml's carrer choice? Maybe he's from a wealthy family and his parents wanted him to take over the business but he defied them? loool, it's what I hope since that'll definitely boost his status 1000x since his ex looked down upon him bc he was poor and cheap. Imagine he was a secret richie, that'll really give his ex a slap in the face

I have got to say, I haven't been this into a kdrama for a long while, even Squid Game didn't really do it for me. I'm anticipating every weekend and hating that it's only 2 eps a week. I at first expected this to be boring since the trailer didn't really entice me much, not interested in weather reports or office romance (it seemed boring and lack the excitement or novelty). What got me interested was the leads, so I gave it a try and I'm loving it so far. Can't gauranteed if I will stay for all 16 eps (I'm notorious for dropping dramas). I thought I would be bored of the work aspects since I'm not interested in weather or geography, but it's pretty good so far. The romance part is cute and natural in a way that I don't find it cringey or forced. I've watched plenty of cdrama romance and most times I feel it's forced or unnatural or just stupid, hence I don't watch idol romance anymore. But the directing is well done. I find Korean dramas do very well in showing the revelations at the very end that surprises the unexpected audience. They tend to show the results of an action but intentionally skip the details until the last moment to surprise the audience and I'm in it for that. I've watched Find Yourself (starring SWL and Victoria Song) and it was a drama that I dropped 3x and only managed to finish, with lots of skipping and skimming, bc I wanted to see how it fared out in the end. So far, I'm impressed with the pace of the drama, and the balance of the work and love aspects shown as neither overpowers the other.