Drama Special Season 12: Them (2021)

Nice Short Historical Short

I actually liked how this drama special didn't focus on romance and instead decided to focus on politics and friendship inside the palace. Historical dramas with political action are my favorite. If you are looking for romance or comedy, you're not going to get that here, but if you want some heartbreaking moments and sismance (with a side of jealous woman), you've come to the right place.

Although some of Sae Ron's acting is left to be desired (for some reason the small romantic scene she had didn't seem that romantic but in fact extortion), for the most part, she and her costar Da Eun do a great job portraying the characters they are given. I really like Da Eun's character even though originally I thought I was going to hate her.

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Based on a true story, a puzzling but a decent watch

This drama special was based on https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deposed_Crown_Princess_Bong , who supposedly forced herself on her maids, was found, and was deposed for that reason. Now, I know that this does not paint a very appealing picture for a mainstream drama. In a country that still has conservative views towards LGBTQIA+, portraying such a story as-is could be disastrous, even. Stories get retold/reimagined all the time.
I do get the appeal of reframing this story as "Crown Princess and her girlfriend intentionally out themselves so they can be kicked out of the prison-like-palace so they can live their own story".
This is where my mixed feelings about this drama and the choices it made, kicks in.
Important: Whitewashing queer stories so they become more "palatable" for certain demographics is not something I condone. It is just another, disguised form of censorship. But like I already said, I do see why this can be the only option left in certain countries, so I would've grudgingly accepted the fairytale-fied plot I mentioned above.
But is that truly what this drama did? From what I felt like, it completely removed the queer part and reduced them to just "best friends". I would never complain about implicitness born out of necessity/circumstances (which many dramas made in conservative countries have already done and BEAUTIFULLY so, included SK), but I felt like there was even that, here. Nothing. It felt like the dramamakers truly believed that "being gay is bad, the two main characters themselves think so!" and not "they loved each other but the society they lived in made them feel terrible about it".

In simpler, harsher words: this is queer erasure. This was no delicate, heartfelt attempt at portraying a subtextual feel-good queer romance.
And this short got awards for it, and I don't know what to feel about it.
Sure, you can say "but you don't know what exactly happened in history, maybe she wasn't really gay and it was just a rumor!". Maybe. But imagine what would happen if you go around invalidating every historical queer story with "No solid proofs! Therefore can be discarded as a rumor!"🥲
No thank you.
I came here after reading the historical anecdote, all excited to see what the drama would do with that premise, and left quite dissapointed.

But I will allow that if you take it as an independent story, with no knowledge about the background, it's a cute watch? So there's something at least.

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