This review may contain spoilers
I DON’T KNOW HOW TO FEEL
Honestly, I didn’t plan on watching this show cause I knew the ending, I knew the kind of person Ok Jung was in real life, I knew where the story was heading. Current in my ‘sageuk’ era, I ran out of historical kdramas to watch, hence watching this show.
I would have given this show a 10/10 BUT I didn’t like that they romanticized her life. I knew dong yi since I was about 7 cause of my mom, and I watched it and I loved it a lot. Generally, I love the ‘maid rising in status’ or ‘becoming the king’s concubine or queen’ trope, so Dong yi was already a 10 for me. It portrayed what was actually written in history. What this show did was the opposite. It switched the roles of Inhyeon, Sukbin, Ok Jung. Instead of portraying her as the actual evil person, they made us see her through the ‘victim lens’. They focused on the romance and made us attached to Sukjung and Ok Jung. They made Sukbin sly and wicked. Although Inhyeon isn’t really evil, Queen Mother was dragging her into her schemes making her look bad in Ok Jung’s eyes.
The plot prioritizes a romanticized, tragic narrative over strict historical accuracy, demanding a, "villain" to create conflict against the lovers.The story focuses on humanizing Jang Ok-jung by making the rival faction, represented by Suk-bin, appear manipulative. It was forcing the ‘victim’ down our throats. Despite that, I wasn’t rooting for ok Jung and was waiting for Sukbin to make her appearance.
King Sukjong is interesting—because historically, his relationship with Ok-jung didn’t stay romantic like that forever. Politics, power shifts, and court factions played a huge role, and things got much colder and harsher later on.
The way they staged her death—being framed, dying in the king’s arms, leaving her son—it’s designed to force sympathy, even if you spent the whole drama not rooting for her. Despite that, I did cry during her death scene, it was really sad if you look at what they went through. Their love that was portrayed was really beautiful and tragic. I won’t rewatch it though. I’ve already explained how I feel about the show in general. I will be going back to watch Dong Yi to cleanse my brain.
All in all this was a really good show. I would recommend watching Dong Yi and reading about them in history before watching this show. Regardless of my ratings, apart from how they changed history, I give it a 10/10.
I would have given this show a 10/10 BUT I didn’t like that they romanticized her life. I knew dong yi since I was about 7 cause of my mom, and I watched it and I loved it a lot. Generally, I love the ‘maid rising in status’ or ‘becoming the king’s concubine or queen’ trope, so Dong yi was already a 10 for me. It portrayed what was actually written in history. What this show did was the opposite. It switched the roles of Inhyeon, Sukbin, Ok Jung. Instead of portraying her as the actual evil person, they made us see her through the ‘victim lens’. They focused on the romance and made us attached to Sukjung and Ok Jung. They made Sukbin sly and wicked. Although Inhyeon isn’t really evil, Queen Mother was dragging her into her schemes making her look bad in Ok Jung’s eyes.
The plot prioritizes a romanticized, tragic narrative over strict historical accuracy, demanding a, "villain" to create conflict against the lovers.The story focuses on humanizing Jang Ok-jung by making the rival faction, represented by Suk-bin, appear manipulative. It was forcing the ‘victim’ down our throats. Despite that, I wasn’t rooting for ok Jung and was waiting for Sukbin to make her appearance.
King Sukjong is interesting—because historically, his relationship with Ok-jung didn’t stay romantic like that forever. Politics, power shifts, and court factions played a huge role, and things got much colder and harsher later on.
The way they staged her death—being framed, dying in the king’s arms, leaving her son—it’s designed to force sympathy, even if you spent the whole drama not rooting for her. Despite that, I did cry during her death scene, it was really sad if you look at what they went through. Their love that was portrayed was really beautiful and tragic. I won’t rewatch it though. I’ve already explained how I feel about the show in general. I will be going back to watch Dong Yi to cleanse my brain.
All in all this was a really good show. I would recommend watching Dong Yi and reading about them in history before watching this show. Regardless of my ratings, apart from how they changed history, I give it a 10/10.
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