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The Most Disappointing Watch This Year!!
This is one of those shows that even a good main lead couldn't save!I kept contemplating if writing a final review for this show was worth the effort; because it was an utter disappointment. In the end, I decided that I should finish the work that I started. The story focuses on the female lead, K gets transported into the novel that she is reading as Cha Seon Chaek, daughter of the Chief State Minister. Supposedly, a supporting character Seon Chaek suddenly becomes the main lead & gets entangled with the dreaded male lead, Prince Gyeong Seong. The novelty of this premise lies in the fact that K tries everything possible to get away from Prince Gyeong Seong and get him back to Cho Eun Ae, the true main lead in the novel. Frankly, the novelty wears off as K suddenly develops feelings for Prince Gyeong Seong and from there the story is a windfall. We are treated to the same old jargon where the protagonists face parental issues and a hundred different problems before ending up together!
Read the complete article here-
https://kcdramamusings.wordpress.com/2025/07/22/the-first-night-with-the-duke-series-review/#more-1977
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Enjoyable.
Aug 2025.Overall an enjoyable watch, although I thought Seon-chaek's hair when in period costume, was weird at the front ~ it always looked messy. For some reason, once seen.... 😬
Some very irritating characters. OTY was his usual cool self, and his character was one I felt a lot of sympathy for. It felt a bit like he cruised this part though, as compared to some of his other roles, it wasn't exactly challenging. That isn't to say he wasn't good in this... I don't think I've ever seen him act badly, in any drama ~ even weakly written ones (he's often carried them).
Another character, that I'd rather have seen get some kind of punishment for their actions, again got off with no reprisals, which always irks me. Another mean character was at least a WYSIWYG ~ rarely bothering to conceal it!
Nice ending.
I doubt I'd watch this again, but I never considered dropping it. It made me laugh as well, which I like!
Worth a look.
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It's strange
some things could have been left out and some things are just left behind, like they forgot it even happened,the concept was there but I never read the webtoon so idk if it's like that in there,Id say the only good things that came out of it was the MC's,the story kind of felt unfinishedthe y/n girl becoming a villain and then barely having any screen time to have that ending felt so useless, but I loved this drama only cuz of Seo Hyun and Teac-yeon
just filling up space 💀
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Charming little fantasy/historic romcom.
This drama is just so fun to watch! There are a few cringy bits (very few ), & some WTF logic, but it's meant to be a fantasy about a girl falling into a WEBTOON - & thereby changing it's course! It's not meant to be serious nor historical!I loved the cast, thought Taecyeon looked fantastic (as usual), and really couldn't figure out how the plot was going to go, which kept my interest
I am not familiar with the source material, so I'm thinking a lot of the hate here has to do with the drama veering from the original. I have no idea where all the negativity is coming from other than that. Still, it did an excellent job of keeping my interest. I really feel it should be judged based on it's own merits & not on faithfulness to the source.
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A solid 8
I once again learned not to trust the reviews too much and just watch with an open heart. This drama gave the sort of watching experience it promised to deliver. Nothing too heavy but still immersive. I even teared up at the end.It wasn’t phenomenal in any way, since this synopsis been used over and over again. I have to agree with some commenters’ grievances what comes to some twists and turns, but it definitely didn’t spoil my viewing experience. Then again the drama did still manage to positively surprise me and within the short 12 episodes we had a nice plot and likeable characters.
Your regular rom-coms usually don’t rate very high, so if you want something light-hearted, short and fun to watch do give it a go!
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Taecyeon and Seohyun's sizzling chemistry elevate a mediocre script
A heroine being pulled into the webtoon world is not new in the kdrama scene. However, the First Night with the Duke gives a unique spin by turning up the heat and adding spice which is a dream come true indeed for avid fanfiction readers.Adapted from a webtoon, the story starts off with a university student who finds herself in the world of her favorite period romance web novel. As a minor character named Cha Seon Chaek, she tries to be a bystander and watch how the romance between Prince Gyeong Seong and Cho Eun Ae unfolds.
Everything went off the rails when when Seon Chaek had a passionate night with Prince Gyeong Seong. The next day the duke immediately asked for her hand in marriage and is seemingly determined to keep her by his side. Wanting to undo her actions, Seon Chaek tries to escape her fate of replacing the female lead of the story.
What I like about this show is how it keeps the storyline relatively simple and easy to follow. Initially,
the pacing of the story feels off and drawn out. Eventually, I grew accustomed to it and I have finally come to terms that this is a mediocre romance sageuk. Not that this is a bad thing but this is the perfect guilty pleasure and no-brainer watch.
Seohyun plays Cha Seon Chaek with a relatable and bubbly demeanor. Before she had an otherwordly journey in the webtoon, Seohyun is university student "K" and she is as cheerful as Seon Chaek until her friends outcasted her due to cheating allegations. She then leads a lonesome and secluded life. Seonhyun captures K's desire to start anew in the new world she now lives in. Her past mistakes initially holds her down but then she showed determination and ultimately follows her heart.
Meanwhile, Taecyeon is the dark, brooding hero of the webtoon. As the king's personal assassin, he is aloof, intimidating and constantly carries a sword with him scaring people and spreading false rumors about him. He slays people and so does his face card. Taecyeon is the epitome of young, fine, tall and handsome. With broad shoulders, strong build and jawline and high self-confidence, he undeniably suits the role of a leading man always ready to risk his life just to protect his leading lady.
The villains are so annoying and cunning. This is how you properly create a compelling villain, you set up their back story clearly to know how they ended up as evil. They have unique perspectives and strong motivations to do something bad. I'm glad Eun Ae and Prince Yi Gyung are not one dimensional villains unlike the king.
However, the fate of these antagonists doesn't sit right with me. Their resolutions are too neat for my liking. They hardly paid for their sins and got away with it easily. I understand that no one wants more blood to be shed but a proper ending for these villains would have been more satisfying.
I must say this is decent kdrama compared to other mediocre shows out there which either has poor writing or acting. Of course, it's not the most groundbreaking of shows. We have seen kdrama plots in the past where the female character is pulled into the webtoon world or travels back to Joseon period (W, Scarlet Heart and Extraordinary You), but what makes The First Night with the Duke memorable is how flirty and naughty our main leads are.
Pairing up Taecyeon with Seohyun is undeniably the best decision of this show. Seohyun's cheerful yet provocative nature complements Taecyeon's guarded and intense character. They are the ultimate sunshine-grumpy trope.
Overall, The First Night with the Duke is a guilty pleasure through and through. It's perfectly cliche and hits the right feels. I was looking for a watchable sizzling romance and I got one and sometimes that's all it takes to be entertained and glued to the screen.
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Silly but Slow Isekai
I only meant to watch a couple episodes, but the audacious main character and how she got herself in and out of situations kept me watching for more. The pacing unfortunately grinded down to pretty unbearably slow towards around the ep 9 when a new character was introduced.The writing and the performance of the character Yi Gyu is so bad. He could have been more interesting have actually known the person that Seon Chaek before her current incarnation. He's just so cartoonishly over the top greasy with no nuance and it doesn't help his whole plot is the boring political business. The women are all good, especially the twist villain arc of the former female lead Eun Ae, her determination to succeed turning dark. Hwa Seon the bully got pretty funny after she was stuck in a more humbling situation without being humbled at all, just huffing at the injustice that's now directed at her.
I really like that the original Seon Chaek actually gets to live on in the real world as she wants instead of her existence being over ridden. I love that so much that the original soul gets recognition in the story having seen so many where it doesn't. I like that the main couple aren't squeamish around sex, because it's so annoying to see two grown adults act stupid in kdramas when it comes to consensual intimacy. I would have liked if the main lead was shown to have improved his manners towards other people. He was completely awful to Eun Ae, a complete stranger at the beginning when he had no reason to be. It would be nice to see him have some change to people other than the woman he's in love with.
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A sweet watch, judge for yourself
I swear, reading the reviews you'd think this was one terrible drama and I almost didn't watch. One review said it's not so bad watch episode one and if you like it continue. Best advice given. I did that but kept waiting for the show to go off the rails. In my opinion it was a sweet story, not perfect, but a good watch. I enjoyed the FL not being shy and inhibited. I enjoyed the ML falling for her first and openly pursuing her. Such a nice change of pace to see couples actually fall for each other early on in the series and then have each other's backs. Nothing too serious here, just relax and enjoy.Was this review helpful to you?
Started As A funny Cute Story But Later Turned Irritating
The story started nicely. It was funny. The FL was so fun to watch, but as the episodes went by, the story turned boring and irritating for me. The ML & FL had nice chemistry, and it could have been a great drama if the writer had kept the vibe of the initial episodes. Sadly, the writer lost the opportunity by turning it into a melodramatic drama (At least for me it was melodramatic). I did not exactly like the FL's character later on. The story had good potential, but rather went into ashtrey due to poor writing and execution. Overall, I did not like the drama.Was this review helpful to you?
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Cringy and convoluted adaptation
Expectations were already high since this is my favorite manhwa. Not only did this drama drop the ball; they took a knife, stabbed it repeatedly, pushed it through a shredder, lit a fire and took a dump on it.The plot went completely sideways when they decided the drama needed the cliches of a typical historical drama; tyrant king forcing the cold duke to obey his senseless orders and turning the actual FL into the antagonist. That was most disappointing since I loved the friendship between the transmitigated FL and original FL, which is already a rare trope.
It's supposed to be a warm love story. The romance of the spunky, a little crazy Ripley who always charges head first and thinks entirely with her heart and the reserved Duke Zeronis who can't help hopelessly falling completely and utterly in love with her. Instead we got a cringy and helpless FL, face-cards only ML, and annoying side characters who add nothing to the story.
Don't even call it an adaptation of The First Night with the Duke, it does not even deserve that respect.
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It felt like two separate writers each wrote half of the drama
This one started out really fun, and I hoped that I would be in for some light comedy, which is so hard for Koreans to do, apparently. Suspending disbelief had to be suspended early on, and opportunities were missed. When the FL goes into the comic, there were SO many opportunities for laughs, except that she adapted to Joseon life without any apparent problems. It was cute though.I have to admit that I don't find Ok Taec Yeon very attractive (maybe it's the ears), but I have to give him props for being very charismatic. He's intense, but not emotionless, if that makes any sense. I enjoyed watching him.
I felt that the 2ML and the villain looked too much alike, and the 2nd and 3rd FL looked too much alike, so I spent a lot of time trying to figure out who was who.
About halfway through the show, the tone changed 180 degrees. It became dark, serious, tons of flashbacks, lots of fighting.
I felt that the ending was pretty anticlimactic.
I thought the chemistry between the leads was cute. Some good kisses. It was a nice change to have the ML be the virgin and the FL to be forward. I just wish it didn't always have to be because she was drunk.
I think if you go into this with very little expectation, you might enjoy it.
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breaking news: woman teaches local man empathy
I started FNWTD knowing it was based on a visual novel. I had read a few chapters years prior when it was still being published but never ended up finishing it despite the interesting premise. So, when I heard about the (controversial?) adaptation i was intrigued - Hell, i would even say i was roped in after discovering it had all my favourite tropes.Sageuk? Check. Person travelling into their favourite novel? Yuh-uh. Morally grey male lead who yearns and pines and loves only the female lead and hates everyone else? [through gritted teeth] so happy for her.
Alas, even with its abundance of sure fire tropes that should have made me froth at the mouth for the drama, it soared high with expectations and made a splat on the ground when it failed to deliver.
PREMISE:
Our female lead (whose real life name i completely forget because she doesn’t exist outside of providing the male lead a character arc) discovers her favourite webtoon is ending abruptly much to her dismay. As any rational fan would do, she writes a strongly worded scathing comment cursing out the author, who remarks that if she thinks she can do better then to have at it.
And at it she has.
She awakes into the body of Cha Seon-chaek, an unimportant background character in her favourite novel. But SC does not care that everything and everyone she knows is suddenly gone and she has stolen the life of a young lady - she plans to live life to the fullest and make the most of it. So, she grabs the popcorn and prepares to sit herself front and centre to see the epic love story of her two favourite characters play out in real time.
Unfortunately for her, it doesn’t seem like she can handle her alcohol well and even more misfortune befalls when - ruh roh - she gets too drunk and stumbles onto the first meeting scene of the two LIs in the story. But wait, where’s the FL? And why is Lee Beon there? And why is he looking at her with such soft eyes and, hold up, why can’t she remember anything from the night before and DID SHE JUST HAVE A ONE NIGHT STAND WITH THE ML?
Well, it couldn’t get any worse, right?
Spoken too soon, it seems LB cares about one thing and one thing only: her. And he isn’t letting her wriggle herself out of his grip too easily. After all, she has to be made responsible for taking his virginity.
Ah, all the makings of a perfect, goofy, shenanigans-filled rom-com.
Right?
WRONG.
The drama quickly loses its footing on already wobbly ground.
The biggest problem lies with the female lead in the fact she serves no greater purpose than as a tool for LB to grow and achieve a character arc. Throughout the story, SC does not grow nor evolve as a person; she might as well have been as nameless and unimportant as the original SC with how she exists merely to act as an influence on LB rather than achieving her own character growth and becoming a fully fleshed out character. Her entire world revolves around LB; any decision she makes is to further push LB’s own story and she is a constant damsel in distress whose misfortune, once again, works to aid LB becoming a more empathetic person.
From the moment they first kiss, it’s like SC has readily sealed herself into a fate inescapable: she must live purely for her LI and she dare not exist as an entity outside of him. Perhaps it might have been poetically tragic had the writers had an ounce of insight or introspection, but it comes off as they always intended: SC is not her own person and never has been and never will be. She will pour love onto the ML, give him the children he desires and then die as a dutiful wife all the while never taking fate into her own hands.
That isn’t to say there’s anything wrong with wanting love, per say. But from the glimpses (of which there are so few) of her previous life, our female lead suffered the dreaded gossip mill and was ostracised in her university social circle because it was believed she tried to steal another person’s boyfriend. She desires love, she craves being wanted and is terrified of rejection - but all these secret fears are handled so poorly because the show fails to delve further into the pool of it all beyond a dipped toe. Any decision SC makes is centred with her LI in mind. She has no autonomy, she has no effect on the world around her. But inaction is no greater than action, and so we are left with a female character who lacks any sort of power or control and must suffer so that her lover can grow as a person. And worse yet, SC is more than ready and willing to abandon any sense of being to fit into the role of LB’s wife and lover, because so long as she has love, she doesn’t need anything or anyone else.
It’s a shame, really. It’s hard to like a character when there’s nothing about them to sink your teeth into, especially considering she is the focal point of the show. SC can be boiled down into three traits alone and it does not wash down easily; she survives because she acts as a vessel for the love interest, she gains his affection because she was at the wrong place at the right time. She is easily replaceable because she is already the replacement for the original female lead.
And as for her boy toy, he does have more depth and is far more interesting to watch. He changes personalities quicker than one might change their bedsheets (which i hope is often for some). He is a spectre that haunts the streets, a warning for children from their parents not to act naughty, and he has never known kindness or affection save from his one and only bestie. He, like SC, wants to be loved - albeit at a level far more desperate than her. Which is why it is no surprise he decides he will dedicate his life and heart to the first woman who tells him she understands him and isn’t scurrying away at the mere sight of him. Lee Beom loves Seon-chaek because she loves him. There is no depth to be found here even if you bring a shovel to dig for it. Seon-chaek shows him the first scrap of decency any human has and, as a result, he makes the decision to dig his claws into her and will not let go even if it kills him, or her. And try she does to shake him off her, to no avail.
This show really is the poster child for “persistency is key and time wears down anyone”.
I have to say, the decision made to make Eun-ae a villain in her own story might have been interesting had it not been so poorly handled. So, what, she’s been evil all along but just never decided to act on it except for when her one and only friend unwittingly takes her place unbeknownst to her? She didn’t know Lee Beom, she had no love nor feelings for him, and yet because SC has received what was written to be hers, now she despises SC to the point of wanting to murder her and crashes out for no apparent logical reason? And what reasons there are, they’re flimsy things that break instantly when you try to get a closer look at them.
As for all the other characters, they served their purpose as being there to prop up our main leads but beyond that, they made no impressionable impact.
A lot of the story was shallow and, unfortunately, if you are looking for a show to really be sucked into, this is not for you. However, if you wish to pass away a few hours of your time and watch something easy and lighthearted, this is for you. It certainly isn’t the worst drama in the world, but just don’t expect to be completely blown out of the water with it.
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