Kate

seeing how her servant was worried about her never finding a proper match and getting older, I'd say she is probably in the older range of a typical married age which would be around max 20. Noble women had the luxury to marry not as young as others.

She's probably around 18-20. Since the commoners usually married younger as far as I know, while noble class a bit later. The expectation would be royal family, they went with teens probably.

But it does not matter if she is 15 or 20, she has exactly ZERO experience in anything physically related to romance anyway 🤡

As someone who have neither read not watched Gone With the Wind, I am not really qualified to make any decent reply 🤡🤡😂

most people don't complain about the editing, they complain about dead fish not moving just putting the lips together aspect of it 🙃

The whole passionate forceful kiss to awaken female leads feelings only works in the classic cliche rom-coms with naive FL and toxic ML 😂But I get the negative reaction to the dead fish kiss, coz while it makes sense here, it usually does not make sense at all (especially modern dramas with full on adult leads lol), so it's kind of an instinct in us viewers to criticize it.

He also likes her too much to go full sexual assault on her 🙃

atm she is his priority, so no... I don't think he would go for a full on forced passionate kiss knowing she does not quite like him yet (from his point of view).

I get such a conflicting feelings about who the man is. Because by what's written and other characters are saying it fits Yeon Jun more. But somehow the reaction to Jang Hyun's name fits Ryang Eum more 🤡

what I wrote about the dead fish kiss in reply below:
"Going by the realism, this was 100% first time she kissed anyone ever and I'm sorry, but your first kiss is either dead fish or a wet fish trying to survive out of water moving in despair 😂😂"

It's brave to follow your moral code and principles when you know the chances of succeeding are low. And that's what he did. I disagree with his principles that subjects should sacrifice themselves for king no matter what and it's their moral obligation to try to save the king even if they are not skilled nor equipped, for me it's dumb. But it';s still brave of him to follow said dumb principle. Someone else with same moral compass as him who would want to go, but did not out of fear would be a coward. He was brave in terms of following his moral compass in terms of serving a country, and cowardly for not being able to be honest with his feelings and act according to them with Gil Chae and Eun Ae.

Most people are not 100% brave nor 100% coward. It changes depending on the situation.

oh shit. damn. Well... they are going to soon Qing, so I guess it does follow the history.

Listen, I know nothing about the history of Korea 😂😂
I don't remember any other prince being shown except for So Hyun, so I kind of assumed he the only one, to be future king (he was a crown prince after all). 7 years older or younger too? Coz older... then why was he not Crown Prince?

So by the history Hyojong is the 2nd son of King Inju. So Hyun dies before he can sit down on the throne, so Hyojong becomes crown prince and then the king?

analysis of opening scene in episode 1 in context of what we saw so far.

Spring 1659 10th year of king Hyojong's reign - 23 years AFTER the events we follow right now.

PEOPLE
King Hyojong
Jipyeong (5th rank inspector) Shin Yi Rib
Crown Prince So Hyun - dead (yey!)

✅WHAT WE KNOW
Crown Prince So Hyun kept the recording of all that happened in the past, even thought it was supposed to be destroyed. It makes him look extremely bad. Since Jang Hyun's name is being brought up in many instances in said recording, they need to make sure the truth of what is written there will never come out (as it would make look the royal family real bad).

What's written in the documents:
"He lured the poor crown prince into wrongful acts"
"One of the officers [...] became insane gradually"

Later Shin Yi Rib says "By chance, is there one who claims to be the late Crown Prince's loyal subject?"
Then the doctor says, that the insane officer kept saying "He says when the time comes, that person will come to get him".


🔎 What it means?
There is no recording of the fate that Jang Hyun met. We don't know if he is dead. If he was dead, there would be no reason to risk the investigation.

He lured the crown prince, which might mean crown prince and Jang Hyun will actually work together. Tho more probable - Crown Prince based on his status will make it impossible for Jang Hyun to refuse working with him, but then all the blame for the bad will fall on Jang Hyun. Reality - it was all Crown Prince idea and he used Jang Hyun. What is being told in history - it was all Jang Hyun's idea and the Crown Prince was lured into evil deeds.

Since it says one of the officers became insane, I think it's more probable it's Yeon Jun. I think he will go insane when his idealistic mentality truly faces the reality - maybe Eun Ae will die? Something will happen that will shaken his whole perception of reality, morality, integrity etc. No way on the planet Ryang Eum would call himself Crown Prince's loyal subject, but it is another hint that points at Yeon Jun.

"Come to get him" gives me more - seek revenge, less save me vibes. Chances are bad shit happened because of Yeon Jun and his blind loyalty to royal family, and now he fears Jang Hyun's revenge. Which makes me think even more about the possibility of Eun Ae dying. In episode 7 Jang Hyun tells Yeon Jun that if he was not Eun Ae's fiancé, he would basically get killed. Her death would be a green light for Jang Hyun to not hold back anymore.

If the man is in fact Ryang Eum, I question what he would have to do to make Jang Hyun go after him, and the only valid reasoning I can think of is if Gil Chae dies because of something Ryang Eum does. And I do not like that ides, hence I ignore this theory.

🏖️🗡️ scene
Jang Hyun looks young, hot and all that. Ain't no 23 years after 1636. This will probably we the aftermath of Crown Prince So Hyun's dying and the blame being put on Jang Hyun. So like right in the middle of 1936 and 1959?

thoughts?

Ps. I know nothing about Korean history, so thanks to everyone who corrects my dumbass incorrect assumptions.

oh that's for sure. he is cowardly in terms of making choices for himself. he just follows whatever is expected from him 🙃

I would not call Yeon Jun cowardly, but rather weak and idealistically dumb. Because technically speaking he was brave to go to war, brave to keep going when everyone wanted to go back, brave to not give up even tho he knew the changes of him dying were big. Was it all dumb? Yes. But his misguided motivations and lack of any fucking skill needed at war does not take away from the fact he was brave enough to not give up even tho he was more than likely to fail.

I wrote a longish comment explaining why it makes perfect sense she is still into him right under yours 🤡 but long story short - she does not even love Yeon Jun, She loves the idea of a perfect love with a perfect man that will last till her old age. And since she idealized Yeon Jun most of her life, she became the idea of that perfect man. She never saw all the flaws we saw. At the same time, all the sincerity and sacrifice we see in Jang Hyun, she does not. Jang Hyun himself hides it under the silly flirting and playfulness, going as far as lying about the times he saved her life. He plays into her idea of him being a playboy and not someone whom she can achieve that perfect stable life with. He only showed how serious about her he is, when she is not looking (when talking about romantic setting, not pure survival). And even when he shows a bit of sincerity towards her, she quickly goes back to flirting. And it's established by how she is written, Gil Chae is EXTREMELY bad at reading people, so whatever he feels for her is not simple and easy to understand. On the other hand Eun Ae is good at reading people, and she is the one who sees the depth of his feelings for her, and her feelings for him.

Exactly. He is creating a wall between himself and Gil Chae every freaking interactions. He cannot keep it serious. Even during the danger scene when he was truly worried about her, perfect scenerio to show how sincere he is, he still goes back to his teasing playfulness. Gil Chae is bad at reading subtle meanings behind actions, if he is playful and flirty - she sees is as him being playful and flirty, and she does not see the depth of his feelings behind it. As much as Gil Chae refuses to accept her growing feelings towards him, he also refuses to act in a serious manner with her. They are both frustrating 🤡

I don't even think she loved Yeon Jun. She just loves the idea od perfect romantic love with the perfect man - and she idealized Yeon Jun in her mind for YEARS, never really witnessing any of his flaws. Not to mention, she is not good at reading people, so it's hard for her to see Yeon Jun for who he is, and not who she created him to be in her mind.

I honestly feel so bad for Eun Ae. She is truly mature woman, and while she is not as brave and quick witted as Gil Chae, she is really caring and good at reading people. She could do so much better than Yeon Jun...