Kate

she completely forgot about the real reason behind her family's assassination < to be fair, she gave up the revenge quite early on. She said she knows Gye Won ad Lee Tae are her enemies and the reason why her family died, but she chose her people over her person revenge. Now she does not really want the revenge, she wants the truth. She wants her father's name to be clean.

"Park Gye Won is a tyrant who caused the death of entire scholars families (including FL's) simply because he wanted to control who would marry the future king" Wrong. The late king, late queen and Lee Tae are also guilty of her family's death. Putting it all on Gye Won is just not correct. He did not want the late queen to die, he wanted to remove her from the court. She decided to kill herself as she rather die a queen than lose the title (she said it lol) and protect the little royal power they had. And it's not like the King wanted to put blame for it on Gye Won and just kill him, he said he will annihilate 3 generations of the families of people involved (in his mind that would be Gye Won's), which also mean killing countless innocent people. Lee Tae said - we must cut off the limbs of The Left State Councilor and the officials and wiped out their families too. His plan was as evil as whatever Gye Won planned - Gye Won succeeded, does not make Lee Tae a better people, just because he did not get want he wanted. He had exactly as awful plan made and would put it in actions if he could.

You need to remember that the queen was connected to the tyrant king, she was part of his family. The idea of her being a queen and royal family gaining more power could sound like a threat in that context. We don't know much about Sarim clan stand during the tyranny rule of the king. All we know that Yoo Jung's dad studied with the tyrant king in the past. It's hard for us to make a judgement if the Sarim clan was actually a possible danger or not, since we don't know much about them.

The king protected the daughter of the tyrant king, made her a queen and then tried to gain more power during his ruling. Depending on the perspective you take, you might see the whole past plot in a different light. The point is, the situation was far more complex that Gye Won being tyrant and wanting power - if that was the case, he would make the official make him the king after they deposed the tyrant king.

Lee Tae created Queen Dowager. Gye Won was always honest with her - he will always pick the country over her, always. He is willing to take some actions to protect her when situation needs it, but if it negatively affect the country, he will not support her. Lee Tae drove her to her obsession over power, making her think Gye Won does not care for her anymore (with the use of the monk), he set everything up for her to gain said power which led to all the people dying. Gye Won actually tried to stop it, quite a few times. With all the awful things Gye Won did, I don't think we can blame him for Queen Dowager. It's all on her and Lee Tae.

Both Gye Won and Lee Tae did some awful things. both had lives of innocent people on their hands. For me the difference is their motivation - one does it to protect the country (whenever we see it as a justification or not is not important) one does it to gain power. IF they showed me Lee Tae has ANY plans or ideas how to use the power he wants to gain to make the country a better place for his subjects, I would be more willing to understand his behavior (as I am with Gye Won), but till episode 14 his ONLY goal is power, with no idea how to use it when he gets it.

I think the drama shows perfectly the political aftermath of the tyrant king. It's not over just because new king is picked. We did not see Lee Tae's father take any actions to better the country, same with Lee Tae. They were both solely focused on gaining power. We never saw them trying to cooperate with the officials on any neutral issues of the country - it was always battle of the things that might give them power. That is what made the official more fearful and take stronger actions against them to limit their power, which led royal family to make some plans with awful consequences to to gain the power and fight against the officials. One action was the result of the other, and for a long time none of the sides was willing to stop. They were both guilty.

For me the difference lays on how Gye Won at some point was willing to step down, allow the king to gain more power, prove that he is a good ruler. He was planning to resign, but the king had his QD plan in motion. What's more - while Gye Won killed many innocent people (in his mind) to protect the country from potential tyranny, he is also willing to end like that, if that means stopping the tyrant - being executed as a traitor.

I mean we know how the author works form previous works. Dan Oh was the main character in the previous work (the historical one) and was just a supporting character in the one that takes place in the drama. By the end when the new webtoon starts, the main characters become supporting ones, the supporting ones become mains, some extra. The author just uses the few characters they once created to fill their work - character wise they are not like themselves (as we see how they are completely different in the newest webtoon at the end of the show). They tell the same love triangle story, just different setting, and switch characters each work 🤣

For me, the show kind of gave me an impression the author is just a shitty writer who can't write a good written original work, so they rely on the cliches and just rehash their own ideas with small twists or different setting for each webtoon they create 🙃

the 4th wall - episode 10, time: 13:51 (around). Context - they were coming up with ideas for fan cafe name. It's a bts joke there.

Coz the writers are trying to overdo the main couples, when with romance the simplicity and good chemistry is all that is needed.
I might try to find the episode and time stamp if you want hahahah

i was honestly surprised it was not boring with that format and that plot

yeah 18 days ago 🤣

Even tho I did not enjoy it as much, I appreciate when a show knows what it wants to be and who the target audience is. Instead of trying to fit everything in and please everyone.

Totally agree about the opening sequence - honestly felt unnecessary and confusing taking into consideration the show as a whole. Memories of the Alhambra was fine for me for one simple reason - the whole show was told in a non-linear style, so opening a show not with the beginning of the story did fit the overall storytelling, even if it was confusing.

About flashbacks, sometimes I feel like they add so many in different shows coz they truly think the audience is too dumb to connect some dots themselves. Insulting a bit 🙃 At the same time I saw people arguing about plot lines that basically never took place, because they missed a scene or two, or did not pay attention for one moment and it was impossible for them to understand the overall progression coz of that.

Overall, great review! Was a pleasure to read.

"too much yelling and stress" < I agree. It felt like even the good things eventually led to misfortune around the middle point of the show.

Great review! Loved the 3rd paragraph, perfectly describes what we can find in the show :)

Lady Park assumed a lot based on what Lee Tae told her.

Gye Won said he never wanted the queen to die, he wanted her out of the court. Her death was not his plan, her death was the result of her trying to not protect her son, but rather protect the power the son still had. If she was named the traitor, he would stop being crown prince and probably they would both be banished.

Lee Tae's father agreed to cover it up that led to countless innocent people to die, it was his choice he could have made a different one. These specific lives are on the hands of both Gye Won and Lee Tae and his family, Lady park said it herself.

Lee Tae could have tell the truth for years, did not and is still not telling it because power > truth. He said it - he needs more power before he clears her family's name. Literally every character except from YJ picked power and protecting themselves over the truth and other people. Lee Tae is going around manipulating people for his benefit, putting Jo Won Pyo's family in danger coz he needs help, and he honestly does not care much what might happen to them if his plan fails. The same way he does not care about Jo Won Pyo's daughter now. He lied to her, made her become consort for his political gain, and now she is screwed.

I get it, I just tried to explain some past event, coz saying it's just Gye Won's fault her family died is not exactly correct

YJ’s family died because the queen killed herself and royal family and Gye Won decided to put the blame on her father instead of telling the truth.

Gye Won did not want the queen dead, he wanted her out of the court, but since that would put Lee Tae in bad position in the future and no protection as the son of the traitor, she decided to kill herself to protect him. The late king, late queen and Lee Tae are also huge part of the reason why her family died.

About why he works against LT, I'll copy what I wrote as a reply to OP:

"Up till now every ruler after the tyrant one was focused on fighting for the power and against Gye Won, and not fighting for the people. Yoo Jung was the first to pick people over her personal gain and her personal revenge - that's why he is willing to risk quite a lot to support her in power, coz he trusts she will be able to protect the country from falling into hands of tyrant and raise the new king to be wise and good."

All characters are gray here. Gye Won is also gray from start to finish (most likely). Set the show in times of the tyrant king and he will be a hero of the story. I think it adds to the depth of his character - his motivations are good, how he implements them is extremely misguided because of his paranoia and trauma caused by the king before Lee Tae's dad.

Up till now every ruler after the tyrant one was focused on fighting for the power and against Gye Won, and not fighting for the people. Yoo Jung was the first to pick people over her personal gain and her personal revenge - that's why he is willing to risk quite a lot to support her in power, coz he trusts she will be able to protect the country from falling into hands of tyrant and raise the new king to be wise and good. I find his story the most fascinating. I want to see the prequel of him scheming to remove the evil king from the throne.

He supports Yoo Jung knowing fully where it will lead him most likely to death, and probably to a great harm to his family. It just shows how his extremely path is nit limited to others, he is willing to lose everything too for the cause he sees as good - peaceful country.

Technically speaking if he is bad, so is Lee Tae and his father. Because of them covering up the queen's suicide her whole family was annihilated. Innocent people died because they tried to protect each other and the power they had as a royal family ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

glad you could relate 🤣

random thoughts as i watched episode 10

"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘯."
"𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦."

I LOVE HER SO MUCH 😭 She is literally the best female character this year.
I fear they will ruin her. Just keep her amazing as she is now!
What an opening for episode 10 it is.

We all know Gye Won will get a tragic ending. He will get what he wanted - good ruler with a wise queen to help him stay righteous and not make dumb mistakes. But he will pay for it with his life.

Lee Tae should stop playing that Go match. Ain't he aware yet he ain't a player, but a pawn? 🤣 The way he thinks he won over Gye Won and Gye Won is the only white pawn now, when the only reason things go well for him now is the fact Gye Won works with Yoo Jung to make it happen 🙃 This is basically a comedy hahaha

Btw another reason why Lee Tae is shit - he wants everything (power, control, love) while not willing to sacrifice anything. While Gye Won is willing to even die for what he stands for.

The servant lady needs to go. I cannot, she is so stupid. oof. They had a perfect opportunity to make it seem as if she died in that attack and send her away so she will not cause any more trouble...

When Yoo Jung covered up for Gye Won, it should make Lee Tae understand how he is not part of that court politics and they treat him like a child that should not get involved hahaha

"so to protect her you have chosen to lie to me" bitch... you are in NO POSITION to question her about lying, when you kept the truth about her family's death away from her for year and even now you tell her she needs to wait before he confesses it to others 🤣

Where the heck does Queen Dowager think she can go? She has exactly 0 people on her side and now everyone wanting her out 🙃

Check the reviews, I'd say you get some different [perspective from every that rated it under 8. There are around 8 of these?

yeah it's the type of a show that relies on the viewers connection to the characters and the plot. It's not a bad thing, coz if someone relates to it, it will have a huge impact on them, not just some forgettable entertainment. But at the same time, if someone does not relate to it, the drama will be... just ok.

I get that. But I do tend to rate based on the enjoyment and since I write review for everything I watch, that's where I try to point out good and bad more objectively (well, as objective as any other person can be, so not that much).

Tho Why R U is an extreme case for me, since a lot of my enjoyment came from discussing the good and the bad with mdl community on feeds, making memes about it etc. Usually even if I enjoyed a drama a lot, but it's objectively not that great, I try to not rate it higher than 7.5.