My Royal Nemesis

Strong start, but weak finish

At the very beginning of this series, it had fantastic story. An extremely entertaining plot with Ji Yeon, who was absolutely wonderful in this character, being as brilliant in this role like she was in The Tale Of Lady Ok. Her equal protagonist in this, Nam Jun gives a strong performance and it seemed to be a good match up to watch. Hae Sook is also spectacular as the aging grandmother. It's one of her best!!
What also made this so watchable, was the evil antagonists spread around each episode. It also works well when there are people you have such hatred for, continually rooting against. Through all that praise, it sounds like a "10" ... but something happened 80 percent through the series. After the unbelievable shocking ending of episode 10, things started to change for me in watching it. The story began to become a bit confusing. At times, there were a lot of slow moving scenes, showing the same things that had happened, over and over again. It was still a good series to watch, but what really did me in was that final episode. To me, it was not a satisfying conclusion ... maybe the last five minutes were, but most of that final hour was not.
It was such a strong drama most of the way, so for that, I still give it high marks, I just wish it could have held that powerful story right till the end.
There was one line used late in the series that kind of sums up what these two protagonists go through ... "As you go through life, there will be torrential rains & bolts of lightning. When that happens, stand together and face the storm"

Read More

Perfect Romcom

So fun!!!
Loser in love is one of my fave tropes and they 100% commit to it. They do the rom and com part of this show well. I liked the comedy as it was based on the insane premise of the female lead time travelling.

Cha Segye and Shin Seori both matched each other's crazy. The fact that he didn't question why she was acting like someone from Joseon era and just liked her as she is showed how insane he was. Loved all of their moments and I'm glad they continued to have that banter between them even after they got together. All of Cha Segye's yearning and angsty moments were amazing, top tier kdrama male lead for sure.

I'm not mad at the plot of the soul swap, I actually think it was a good and unique version of the cliche. Them being lovers in every timeline added so much depth to their story.

The villain was just too cartoon-ish, we could have avoided him and just have Cha Segye be a hated nepo baby but even then that didn't annoy me much.

Overall 10/10, I will definitely be rewatching some of these episodes

Read More

Do NOT Watch

The first 3-4 episodes were actually quite enjoyable, especially the comedy. Unfortunately, that's where all the good parts ended. As the story progressed, it kept creating more plot holes and inconsistencies instead of building a compelling narrative.

Great Cast, but terrible writing. It felt like one of those shows that hooks viewers with strong opening episodes, only to completely lose direction afterward. Lately, I've noticed this trend in several K-dramas - great beginnings followed by a steep decline in quality. It almost feels like bait, and I regret spending my time on this one.

Time for a break from K-dramas🙄

Read More

Never sure what the show wanted to be.

This show started decent enough, then it got stuck in corporate drama plots, tried to inject relationships along the way then toyed with alternate time frames to shape a happy ending.

The main ML & FL acted fine, I think it was a huge jump the FL coming from Joseon time period to modern day and seemed to just pick everything up and adjust after a couple episodes (touch on this later).

The ML has the typical dsyfunctional rich family background, it must be a Chaebol dynamic everyone is out for themselves, vying to be the special one, get the job, money etc. Same story seen in countess K Dramas. The Cousin is problematic as his acting was comical, no one every questioned the crazy things he did and while Grandfather seemed to understand he was not as 'good' as he played nothing ever came about.

The other roles were not well expanded with the Aunties making an appearence every few episodes to complain no one liked them etc. It's like they were still teenagers. I wish they touched more on the ML mother and had additional flashbacks, how his Grandfather raised him etc.

The Cousin plot was spotty, never explained why he came to live with them, never mentioned he was married or had a wife but midway has a son and just felt weird and make you feel bad for him. He spent little to no time with his child and seems he will now live with Grandfather post ending (repeat the cycle?).

Plot Spoilers / Thoughts below:

My main issue was the whole body jump / time jump. It never really was explained, but what I take occured:

- FL was poisoned for protecting crown price (ML in dual role), instead of dying her Shaman pushed her spirit into FL in modern area (former child K drama actress) ok this was what I went with. Never really resolved what happened to the original FL when she went into the body (note Flashback at end).

- Towards end FL has triggered flashbacks of original body (Future FL) memories which seem to show her parents in debt and decide to drown themselves and daughter, daughter wakes up and it doesn't show her escape but clearly she lived and spent her life with her Grandmother as it touches on she was still in contact with the Grandma. Grandma also sensed FL was not her granddaughter but never expanded why / how.

- Flashback also showed the FL modern era switch into the Joseon FL body in a flashback, so this makes somewhat sense if you align the above plot lines - Joseon era FL was about to die from poison - Shaman sent her to future (how the Future FL was chosen is never explained and if they had a connection outside they looked the same (distant aunt??) and Future FL (child actor) was about to die from drowning - so spirits switched bodies?

- Final episodes FL (from shock) transfers BACK to her body in Joeson era and now tries to save the Crown Prince (ML) to wrap up that plot line yet it never showned anything happen to the Evil Cousin / Prince and they lived life in hiding but together.

So IMO the Modern era FL went into Joeson era instead of drowning and FL was her from that point forward?? But they never showed her survive, but as noted she cleared DID as it showed her living with Grandma? This also assumes Child actor went to some random body as it just showed her in body but not alert in Joseon era and I assume living in that era.

The other big thing that tied the whole spirit swap was the comet which they showed throughout the series and stressed it had been a long time since it last appeared, so logic would be the 'swap' could only occur during the comet in the sky. Just lot of random plot holes here, the same can be said for the legal / crime side of things - events happen but there is no resolution. The stabbing, the fake cast member, the lab plant, the apprent murders.

Anyways - beyond trying to make sense of the logic here and major plot holes, the show overall was watchable. All around entertaining, I guess average is how I'd explain it. Not great, not bad.

Read More

Entertaining but not without flaws

Finally a kdrama without childhood connection, without annoying second lead, without unnecessary misunderstanding or breakups....its been such a long time since romcom in kdrama has actually romcomed....and yeah it was entertaining till the end. But ofcourse,not without its flaws.

The main strength behind My Royal Nemesis is of course our lead couple, Shin Seori and Cha Segye. And the actor duo that portrayed those characters, Im Ji Yeon and Heo Nam Jun deserves a huge round of applause for this. They actually revived so many dead kdrama watchers from their graves lol.
People knows Im Ji Yeon from The Glory as a villain. But I absolutely adored her in the Legend of Lady Ok as the main lead,she was fantastic. So I had no doubt about her.

The one I actually had doubt was Heo Nam Jun. I've seen him doing secondary roles before in dramas like Sweet Home,When The Phone Rings. It wasn’t anything special. But my oh my,the way he changed the game the moment he stepped up as a Cha Segye ... He was extremely attractive on the screen. He wasnt a typical sweet good looking male lead. He was bad, arrogant,cocky and he was really proud of it. His softness, his smile,his gentleness was only saved for Seori till the end. And his yearning for Seori when she fell into coma was too good to watch,he was actually devastated.Heo Nam Jun deserves more and more diveres characters,he has the range.

And these two did justice to their roles. Shin Seori as someone from Joseon who quickly adapted to the modern world,since she was originally a part of it before the soul swapping happened, but still trapped in the past cause her memory was lost....was really entertaining. She has been a part of royalty, so ofcourse her personality reflects that,always commanding and questioning everything that doesn’t please her. I also loved little detailing in her dressing in modern era,not revealing anything since she is from Joseon. And Cha Segye being absolutely amazed and unfazed by her one after another crazy to crazier activities.... At some point he was'nt even worried, he just stayed beside her and let her be. Loved that dynamics. They were bickering from the beginning till the end,their chemistry isn’t something extremely sensual,it was fun,adorable, cute,crazy.

But ofcourse, its not all sunshine rainbow. It had its fair share of flaws and unanswered questions. My first question was,where is Danshim? We know it was Seori in both eras,he got loved by both Lee Hyun and Cha Segye.... But what about Danshim? That poor Joeson girl got swapped into modern era,how did she survived here? She knew no one, how could she adapt here. Her life was as miserable as Seori,I wish we could see her story too. Yeah, we saw a little bit of her with Lee Hyun in the end... But again,Hyun loved Seori,not Danshim,how can he love again a completely different person with same face? How did Danshim knew Hyun,she was never appointed as his servant..... There should be a sequel with their story.

And why was the swapping happened anyway? What was the reason? Was it only for punishment?
And why was Seori poisoned in Joseon era as a concubine? How did she become a concubine, how was that journey?

Why was grandpa so mean towards Cha Segye? He was his own grandson,why he favoured Mun Do so much?

The amount of hospital scenes were craaaazzyyyy..... Cha segye being poisoned,grandpa seori accident,halmoni being amnesiac, Segye got stabbed,Seori in coma.....half the drama was shoot in the hospital!!!!

Another thing was the ending. It was rushed. Choi Mun Do being a powerful villain was taken down in the last episide only within five minutes. He could be used way better. And the grandma plot was very touching but somehow dragging,not gonna lie. Lots of character were underused like Mu Hee.That manager-actress relationship was so half cooked. And what about that side actress having beef with Seori? What was her issue? I guess we will never know.

If it was a proper 16 episodes drama,many more factors could be explored....it just felt like it ended so early.

However, it was a good watch. God knows when will there be another kdrama where everyone would gather and discuss theories like this. This one really brought back so many memories.

Read More

This one is for the girls

Honestly, My Royal Nemesis has that K-drama X-factor. You know the one. The vibe is immaculate, the chemistry is chemistry-ing, and before you know it, you're giggling, kicking your feet, and wondering why we don't get dramas like this more often.

And let's talk about the male lead.

That man was so obviously written by a woman. Romantic, devoted, swoon-worthy, yearning at Olympic levels,oof, we haven't had a male lead like this in a long time. He is absolutely for the girls.

Now, do I have issues with Shin So-ri's characterization? Yes. Many. But Lim Ji-yeon did such a fantastic job that I found myself overlooking problems I normally wouldn't. That's the power of a good performance.

The frustrating thing about this drama is that everything surrounding the story is a 10/10. The cast, the ensemble, the chemistry, the atmosphere, the visuals, the villains , all work Then the plot has holes in it.

And goodness are there plot holes. Some genuinely baffling inconsistencies. There were moments where I found myself getting annoyed because I wanted this drama to be as good as its cast deserved.

But goodness, is it charming.

I loved how refreshing the casting felt. Everyone looked like actual people. No distracting filters or uncanny perfection. It felt authentic in a way many dramas don't anymore.

I also loved the little nods to My Lovely Sam Soon. As someone who considers My Lovely Sam Soon the gold standard of rom-coms, those references felt like little gifts.

And despite all my complaints, I had a great time.

Did everything make sense? No.

Were there plot holes? Absolutely.

Did I swoon anyway? Unfortunately, yes.

Objectively, this is probably a 5.5 or 6/10. But my heart? My heart says 7.5/10 because these actors were working overtime to sell every emotion, every yearning glance, every ridiculous plot development.

Sometimes good acting can carry a drama much further than it has any right to go.

And My Royal Nemesis is living proof of that.

Read More

Royal emptyness

It doesn't feel like the writers wanted to write a time travel tale as the time travel aspects are what they're least interested in, yet they are unable to make the parts outside of it well either with weak if any cohesive emotional connections for the characters and the people in their lives..

Seori doesn't make any sense at all, she acted like a regular person when she was a court lady, but becomes a loud over the top cartoon no matter which time period she was in. The the reveal that she swapped places with her historical counterpart when she was 12 makes everything even more nonsensical about her character. That age is too old for her not to remember she time traveled. How did she get all the fighting, medicine, skills, and that cartoon personality between the grand prince dying and she marrying up? Nothing explained. It's not explained how she finally figured out that jealous fellow extra has been harassing her boarding lodgings too.

Se Gye's awful toxic masculinity traits of being an angry jealous controlling rich guy prone to bouts of anger so much that the fake videos of him destroying things and being awful to people is not off base at all is portrayed as cute and comical, but it's just majorly off putting. Mun Do plays the devious villain very well without being over the top, he makes the main characters look bad. Not that those actors are bad at acting, but the writing for them is subpar compared to the writing for the villain guy.

They just barely mention the interesting concept of the original Dan Shin who lived in the modern time. Did people dismiss this little 12 year old actress talking like she's from the ancient times just prepping for a some drama? They don't have the two women talk or ever mean anything to each other. They had this gold mine to explore it was barely even in the background. There's no internal rules, logic, or stakes to anything regarding the time travel as well, just changing arbitrarily as the writers need to get to the next point. The show has awful costume designs for all of the modern clothes too.

Read More

IT ALMOST GAVE ME A HAEMORRHAGE

I will not call this movie trash, but I came so close to having a stroke watching it that I have to write this review while the anger is still fresh, because if I wait too long I might calm down and that would not be fair to anyone reading this.
Episodes one and two, fantastic. Three and four, perfect. Five through eight, still riding high. But somewhere around episode eight I started asking myself a question I never stopped asking for the rest of the show, shouldn't this villainous idiotic Choi Mun-do hold on to something other than pure unearned luck. From the very beginning this man has been dishing out trash and somehow never gets a piece of it back. He is always ahead, there is no real counter, and whatever counter shows up is ridiculous at best and never actually touches him.
Episodes nine and ten, his nonsense intensified. Episode eleven was basically a victory lap for him and I sat there feeling genuinely encouraged, in the worst way.

The storyline also started getting needlessly complicated, especially around the end of episode twelve when a big realization finally lands and the female lead gets her memories back. I expected episodes thirteen and fourteen to finally pull things together. Instead it got worse. It is like watching something hit rock bottom and then somehow fall below that. I kept asking myself what stupid nonsense is actually happening here.

Now let me give credit where it is due. Lim Ji Yeon as the female lead was incredible. She completely redeemed the image I had of her from The Glory. Her acting, especially having to play through different personalities in this story, was on point and convincing. But the story itself fell way below par. The back and forth was so tiring, and by the end I felt like I was punishing myself just by continuing to watch.

If the writer of this script ever picks up a pen again, that person deserves consequences. I am only half joking when I say jail time.

Bottom line: Incredible acting carrying a story that does not deserve it. Watch at your own emotional risk.

Read More

Breathless - Theory that solves Plot Holes

1st Part is my general Review
2nd Part is my theory on the Plot Holes

A egocentric “capitalist monster” meets a brave woman that fell victim to the patriarchal oppressions of Joseon Dynasty. Their interpersonal collision leaves a deep mark of both comedic and painful value. Even my mother, who usually doesn’t watch Asian Dramas, was obsessed with the flower scene of the first episode. She couldn’t stop laughing the first bit of the series. To see her this cheerful, I wouldn’t dare to say the comedic parts weren’t entertaining.

The leading cast was superb - I haven’t seen such chemistry in a long time. Heo Namjun was performing his role of a rich spoiled chaebol so well I almost forgot how toxic that lifestyle actually is.

However, I must admit that I was not sure what was going on in the last few episodes either. If they had 2 more episodes, I am sure they could have answered some of the questions that are popping up in this community thread. Although , I would say that I do like the last episode.

2nd Part:

I think Shin Seori saved both Cha Segye and Kang Danshim when she changed The Grandprince’s Fate in the last Episode. Danshim died of the poison before, so she didn’t ‘exist’ anymore. The shaman resurrected her, but actually brought back Seori first, not Danshim? And later on Danshim came back to life in Joseon, where she actually belonged.

I suspect that the evil actress, who also tried to poison Seori just a few episodes before, actually put real poison on the movie set of the first episode. So Danshim was literally fated to die (or be harmed) from poison.

What’s weird though is that Cha Segye’s Soul seems to be the same as the one of the Grandprince (because of the Dreams). But Shin Seori and Kang Danshim don’t seem to share the same exact soul. But for this plot to add up, I think they should.

For the plot holes regarding Cha Segye’s cousin, I don’t get why people say he was just a filler. I think the plot was all about him having several chances to step down from the horse of craved power and wealth, put he didn’t choose his son (a normal happy life) but he choose to go with his career. He even killed a person, if not more, on his path. But he wasn’t a serial killer in the sense that he enjoyed it or did so when he didn’t have to. He was scary similar to the real life killers that some high ranking businessmen pose in our everyday lives. Clumsy, because he was not trained in getting rid of people, and also imperfect, because he realistically struggles with emotions.

Read More

Delightfully Funny RomCom That Loses Its Way at the End

My Royal Nemesis took tired cliches and transformed them into pleasingly familiar tropes to be appreciated. Viewers were treated to all those things we've come to love about K-dramas: the music, scenery, family relationships, and romance.

The Good:
• The leads were wonderful together.
• This was definitely a case of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The reduced 14 episodes told the story without getting too caught up in peripherals, as so many longer dramas do (although, it could have cut out the FL's rival and rival's mother, the ML's two aunts, and FL's best friend at the very least). It recycled and reused freely of K-drama tropes:
• The White Truck of Doom foreshadowed the inevitable with its initial appearance.
• How would we know if our couple was falling in love without falling particles? The petals of tree blossoms showered down on our couple as expected, but that wasn't all. We were also treated to bubbles, snow, frost, and confetti. I don't doubt there were more floaties that I missed.
• I relished the music. Of course, Melomance from Business Proposal played, and I heard a song from Itaewon Class, too. I'm sure there were more that I didn't recognize, but they felt familiar.
• Product placements were loud and proud but done in an amusing manner that gently poked fun at the practice.

The Bad:
• Both main leads were on fire at the beginning of the drama. As it proceeded, they lost their drive and personalities. Some of their transformation was understandable, but the changes were too abrupt, and they nearly became unrecognizable.
• Tension and momentum were broken by Grandma's bus trip. It was so long and unnecessary. A drama that started strong began to bore me. The story came to a screeching halt just as things were getting interesting.
• The drama worked best when it stuck to comedy and teasing parody. When it tried to become a tearjerking melodrama, it lost its way.
• The set parameters of how the soul switch worked got messy at the end and didn't follow the rules of what had been established.

All in all, it was a pleasant throwback to romcoms of previous years, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It could easily have received a much higher rating if the tone at the first of the drama remained strong and true to the end. Unfortunately, it didn't, but it was still worth the watch.

Read More