AH

Ah okay that's really helpful. Thank you!!

Now that they're airing 4 episodes each week instead of 6, will this drama still finish airing on October 17th or will it end later?

Can someone tell me how much skinship there is? The cast looks young, so I'm guessing there isn't much. I'll have to emotionally prepare myself if it's another one of those no-kiss or one-peck-on-the-lips-and-that's-it dramas.

Yes!

You're welcome!

The ML dies at the very end of the drama, but that scene takes place years after the final showdown with the villain. In that showdown, he and the FL are both poisoned but there is only one antidote pill. He gives the antidote to the FL (he tells her he has already taken one), so his death years later when the poison can no longer be staved off by medicines other than the true cure is tied to his love and sacrifice for the FL. Before he dies, the ML and FL marry and live together in the palace. They have a son and, although the ML has to hide his deteriorating health, they live happily and establish a strong reign that serves the people. When the ML dies, the FL becomes empress regent and carries on the ML's legacy while raising their son until he is old enough to take the throne. So even though the ML passes away, they get some time to be happy and the FL is not left totally alone. Instead she takes on the role she was truly born for, and she has their son in her life.

My response will be very spoilery.

Did she?? I completely missed that!

Yes, he specifically asks if that style of teacup is "the fashion" now. He drinks out of a similar style of teacup at the hotel first before he notices the similarity with the teacup at the legation and asks the question. There's a close up shot of the cups that Dong Mae and Kudo Hina drink out of in one scene where the cups also have a similar design (even though they're not teacups).

I can't tell if all of this focus / attention to detail is just meant to highlight a nice detail that the director has included to build the setting (i.e. including Korean porcelain with designs from the era to really set the scene) or if it has a deeper meaning, like showing potter Hwang's influence and presence (and by extension, the Righteous Army's influence and presence) throughout Hanseong.

I wish I could hear what the director / script writer / set designer have to say about it.

The Imperial Doctress, Sound of the Desert, and the Eternal Love (the 24 episode webdrama, not TMPB - it has a little bit of fantasy but not much).

I was rewatching a bit and somehow only just realized (after rewatching this drama several times!) that we never get a kiss on the lips from the lead couple?! Or did I miss it somewhere??

The heroes don't come out of the final showdown completely and unrealistically unscathed, but the sacrifices they made were not frustrating or in vain and they do get some happiness. The villains get what they deserve.

I personally consider it one of the most satisfying drama endings I've ever encountered. It is bittersweet in a satisfying way that wraps up the storyline really well, with lots of closure. Definitely not an open ending.

Eugene is 39 (Hui Seong is 30 and Eugene was 9 when HS was born) and when Wan Ik learns of Ae Sin's birth year he concludes that she must be 28 or 29. So the characters have a ten year gap even though the actors have a 20 year gap.

There's also very little skinship.

In case anyone else was curious, in episode 9 he says it took a month!

Question 483: what is the deeper meaning behind the blackbird / blue sky observation? In that saying, does the blackbird represent a bad omen? Something that doesn't belong?

I'll let you know if I find a good source :)

I think the focus on the tea cups might have been a reference to the old potter's famous white porcelain. Yoo Jin also mentioned following "the bowl" to the potter. I'm not sure exactly which bowl he was referring to, unless it was a mistranslation and should have said tea cup, but again it presumably was a bowl or cup made in the potter's unique and coveted white porcelain style.

Is there a good place to read recaps / analysis / meta for this show? Every episode I have a million questions. Like Yoo Jin's comment about the style of the tea cups and all the shots focusing on them - is that meant to be significant in some way? And butchers being a low position in society... I read the wiki page on Baekjeong but I'd like to know more. Please let me know if you know of any good sources!

I'm watching episode one now (I've been trying to hold off watching until it was finished airing) and I'm really curious about the route Yoo Jin's ship took? The journey he took as a child would have been in the late 1800s. The Panama Canal wasn't used until 1914. Does the show ever say what route the ship took or how long the journey was?

Also when the narrator (Ae Sin I assume?) says that "The Joseon that many died to protect was destroyed by the landing of the Japanese naval forces. The number of their troops was only 14." Does she mean 14 ships? 14 battalions? Only 14 Joseon soldiers put up a defence? Surely she doesn't mean only 14 Japanese soldiers attacked?