Chibi

Yeah, there were 2 hollywood actresses I know of, who got caught. But even if your kid 'gets in' to Harvard, would end up dropping out because of the pressure, and become an Instagram Model or something. Definitely not going to contribute anything to the field... more like a vanity-status and an ego-boost for parents.
I guess I was in denial how rampant this kind of corruption is :/

Also, is this an 'elite' academy? Why is everything so campy?
Even the whole 'seeing math in everything' is very OTT xD

Okay, so this school is pushing pedigreed kids with lesser talent, over actual geniuses. Wow, what's next, rich parents will bribe Uni Admissions Committee for SNU, then 5 years later bribe financially weaker students to write journal papers for them, and hope one day their lesser-than-talented kid magically wins a Fields Medal? Lmao~~
How long can you keep up a charade that your kid is a fake? :/
Real Life doesn't work like that. -_-

I think RJL used to be a ping-pong player, and that's such a cool thing about him! ^^
He's also a father to a baby boy, who I'm sure is as adorable as him! :)
He says he's somebody who has functioned at a huge range of body-weights during his career. He describes his sports-men days as when he would hit the gym quite often and as a result have lots of muscle and eat a lot. And his skinniest body-weight has been during filming One & Only! :)

I think he reminds me of k-actor Kim Min Seok quite a lot! :D

Ah Thank you Melissa, for clarifying things! I knew vaguely of the background, and designating one woman as 'evil' and the other as 'good' has always been at the whims and fancies of male historians. It was grossly incorrect of me to make such a generalized, sweeping comment.

However, I still cannot believe the whole 'sha bai tian' concept of any ruler, man or woman, who rose to power would be as pure as a white, lotus. It's just laughable and something that takes me completely out of the believability of the show. And it's a common problem with Big-Female-Lead dramas, more obviously so than a standard historic drama with a male-ruler. That said, show-makers always have the creative license to decide how to interpret the moral compass of any historic character, but then again, at least try to not make it absurd. I do not see any 'sha-bai-tian' ruler who's a man.... -_- It's not a problem with history, but rather with the show-makers.

Also, the 'evil/ good' dichotomy in chinese court dramas has very little to do with actual history and reinterpreting it. Rather, the bifurcation is done for censorship, and nothing can convince me otherwise.

Ps. my rant on Ruyi was not on concubine Ling or the step empress, but rather the interpretation of Empress Fucha, which as per the history I know of, was not very accurate. That said, who knows what went inside the hearts of an 18th century Qing dynasty, Harem-woman?? :')

As a history enthusiast, I have stopped wiki-ing the lead characters of historical shows. I know if I go down that rabbit-hole, I would stop appreciating what's been told on screen! xD That would be the only 'most-important' tip to watch a historical drama! :P
Hehehe, I really enjoyed 'TalkingWithYou' too <3

Would have been spared so much bitter angst, had CP really been a man. -_-

Oh, it definitely also has to do with censorship. They WANT the evil-doers to have their comeuppance in the end. The ending can never be ambiguous about 'and justice was served'. This is why the 'good'/'evil' dichotomy is SO imp in c-dramas. Even grey characters would be justified with extreme mental gymnastics, so as to justify a happy ending, if they get one. It gets boring and predictable after a while, for sure!
And like you said, an 'evil' person doesn't deserve to be happy, so time to hallow them, reinterpret history (as non-sensical as it may be), because how did the evil FL end up with the hero? The blasphemy! xD

Sorry, this turned into rant! T_T

Kudos on writing your first MDL article! :D
TKA has been such a pleasant surprise to me, I had NO idea I would love it as much! PEB continues to be glorious in this role, and the child actress was nothing short of a revelation! In fact, Rowoon's 'overgrown puppy' energy is adorable to watch too, and so is the reverse-harem setup full of other pretty men! ^^ The cross-dressing has me tickled pink, as I get my weekly dose of BL and GL from just this one show! xD

I'm also quite at awe at the writing of some of the characters, and just how enlightened they seem to be around the subject of love, gender and sexuality. It was time they did away with playing 'gay panic' for laughs, and Ji-woon is a welcome step towards representation, in the world of cis-het k-dramas! :)
I'm someone who doesn't enjoy serious saeguks, so TKA seems like a k-drama upgrade to cheaply produced Chinese costume web-dramas with bad scripts! Also, special shout-out to the cinematography, color-grading and framing... there is definitely a reason why Netflix picked TKA instead of tvn's Joyi or MBS's Red sleeve, and it shows! :")
Sorry for hijacking your comment section with my spazz -.-'' I wish more people would give this show a try! :D

Yeah, somehow 'historic license' is something writers use with a heavy hand, and character growth/ evolution is often compromised as a result, because nothing makes sense. Lol.

Anyway, my biggest gripe is with productions that tend to consecrate historically documented evil figures.
>>What's up with Wu Zetian being a saint-like woman in 'Empress of China'? She was evil, and not as a result of palace schemes, lol!
>>Ha Ji Won's character in Empress Ki, again, documented evil. Completely whitewashed by story-tellers.
>>'Yanxi Palace' is a closer depiction of which queen/ concubine was evil, and which was good. 'Ruyi' had to make the evil one their protagonist, so the good ones became bad, in the story. Hilarious.

And these aren't even cases where historically, a character's intentions are interpreted in complete contrast due to both parties being on completely different sides of history. We aren't talking about freedom fighters labelled as 'terrorists' by white imperialists. Most of these characters do not have an opposing interpretation! xD xD

I have pretty much accepted ML's, no mater how angelic or evil they are, will try to force themselves upon the woman of their affection at some point of a costume drama. It leaves a bad taste seeing it being depicted so blatantly and casually, however, like you said, context is very important. These are times and cultures, where arranged marriages were common, you would go into them blind (i.e. no prior interaction with the man you're getting hitched to). All these marriages had to be consummated the very night of the ceremony, so unless you magically fall in love with someone over a stressful event (wedding ceremony) in a span of a couple of hours, 99% women were raped on their marital beds. Sounds extremely grim, but sadly true.
This is precisely why a historic depiction of 'rape' doesn't faze me as much, as seeing this crime being depicted in 21st century, being covered, on let's say, a news channel.

Eh, I have a lot of quirky 'rules' to abide by when it comes to watching historical pieces (& keeping my sanity). Especially regarding the accuracy of the research around world-building. But, that's just me!

I think one of my biggest turn-offs would be when a historically documented 'evil' figure is portrayed 'good'. Or vice versa. Takes a LOT of suspending my belief to digest that, more than accepting women getting married and producing children in early teens...
A classic example would be Empress Ki. Or even Yanxi Palace vs Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace.

Fun fact: He says his arms are his favorite body part, he's really proud of them! <3

Ugh NO! LSY is not one of the leads. Again. WTH! T_T

Kwool! So the original has an age difference of 17 between the characters, and an age difference of 12 among the actors. Jaehyun is 24, so either a co-star who is 41 or 36. And heavens manifest somebody of Lee Byung Hun's fame. Oof, imagine Gong Yoo who's 41! T_T

Lol, I hope they keep getting pushed back to 2022, cuz I really don't want to screw up my sleeping schedule! xD
Edit: just saw your pfp, sorry for the Oath of Love <3 T_T

Hey Wisher is on for Nov 3rd :D
Dunnno about others, they keep announcing premiers, and bailing out last minute T_T

November is STACKED!!!!
I have 2 prev airing k-dramas on my list, and this month, will check out 5 of the dramas you mentioned, but probably really continue with 4. Also, cooler months is amazing for crime/mystery, so I'm hoping C-ent doesn't drop anything other than Wisher (I have about 7 c-dramas I am keeping my eyes out for).
Man, year end is going to be brutal. Goodbye sleep. xD xD

Sounds like 'You Drive Me Crazy'... :D

Yeah, HYD is old af, so I don't expect anything better. What's worrisome is that problematic old-school dynamics keep being written over & over again, even in 2021. There is plenty of non-con going on in manga these days too, and what's worse, is they get LAs.
Why can't triggering stuff like assault, non-con, and other... hmm, kinks if you may call it, be restricted to stuff like fanfictions, Ao3 and loftr? I'm sure authors would get audience there too. Does it need to be a part of the mainstream?....
Thanks for the MDL links <3