Kim Yoonmi 김윤미 金潤美

The usual set up of Zhao Qian Qian 's shows are that English/Lit/Humanities student of some sort, really interested in writing stories is in love with Top tier cold-hearted, but smart Science type.

They took this trope and twisted it. So now, it's girl that has science abilities too in a medical field, so she probably will be a top-earner. Later, she discovers she's not "doing it for men" but herself, which brigs back some feminism. This spins it away from Qian Qian's usual plotting.

Similarly with Gu Man... Gu Man's typical plot involves, lowly girl chases after top guy who is good at everything. And everyone CARES A LOT about the rumors. Love OXO is like this. The first two episode play heavily with the trope, but then spin it on its head quickly and make it so that the FML, Lu Wan Wan, doesn't really want the relationship, and Ren Chu, ML, doesn't really want it either, which then induces laughs as they try to get out of it.

The drama plays with other tropes along the way and then *exposes* the problems with them, questions them, subverts them, and then manages to ask questions about it.

The acting definitely helps this along with exaggerated versions of some of the character types. Admittedly, you won't get this if you've not consumed enough Rom Coms. But if you have the skewering of rom coms is a lot of fun. They even feature some of the rom coms they reference while lovingly making fun of them.

In this way, you discover that Lu Wan Wan is competent, but super timid. And Ren Chu is maybe too confident and too narrow-minded. So together, they don't have one who feels superior to the other and they genuininely work on problems they have together for one another. Seeing two introverts on screen is refreshing to me. Most of the time they make one an extrovert.

Plus Ren Chu's shut downs on Second Female Leads are hilarious. Most of the Second leads don't survive that well in some of the funniest scenes.

So yes, the writing is good, but probably won't suit those who like their humor low brow, slap stick, obvious, done a thousand times, or haven't watched enough Chinese rom Coms to get the jokes. Writing I'd rate a 7/10. Some minor missed opportunities. Acting is around 8-9/10. Directing is well-matched and also rate about 8-9/10.

The missed opportunity, to me, is seeing better the motivations of the evil women in the show. I keep hoping they subvert the flat trope and no motivation.

Edit: They did add some motivation for one of the SFL later, but I thought it could have been slightly done better. They then took shots at the "Best friend knows love better" trope in the sweetest way possible. Every subversion comes with sweetness and a better message about love.

I disagree that this drama is fluff. It's taking a lot of shots at rom coms with love, and sure, the humor is subtle, subversive and deadpan, but it makes me laugh harder. No one is keeping track of how many dramas they've skewered during the course of this drama?

The writing is pretty good, but it's not low brow, obvious type of humor.

The acting, the directing and the writing are fairly good. But I admit you kinda need to have watched a fair amount of Chinese Rom Coms to get some of the jokes they push under your nose.

They take shots at Gu Man. They take shots at Zhao Qian Qian. they make a ton of references at Rom Coms, and then the humor is taken from taking those tropes and subverting them until you're spinning and trying their best to give it an unexpected or realistic twist to it.

Is the drama "Perfect?" No. But for every trope they tackle, they make fun of it with a lot of love.

The drama I've decided is more like Taro flavored cake. Has some substance, but did you expect the taro to be there? No. Why is the taro there? It's not a cotton candy drama with all sweetness and fluff and it does thematic development around its theme well, such that the second-hand cringe is high.

They also take direct shots at Rom Coms without feminism considered several times over, shooting dead center of what is wrong with that ideology, but disguising it through awkwardness of first love. And for its subtle hand I like this drama. I'll post examples in the spoiler reply.

I hope I don't eat my words later, but First Love (Chinese drama) 2022 is doing pretty well. No immense cut scenes, so far, and contrary to the reviews on the show, I think the writing is pretty good. I do admit you won't get the majority of the jokes if you have't watched enough Chinese Rom Coms, but if you are a junky, you'll recognize the subversions and references the drama makes. The humor runs a bit deadpan and super subtle, but if you get it, it's a laugh every episode, at least. The drama takes the most shots at Gu Man's previous works, but with a lot of love, I think. There's also shots fired at Zhao Qian Qian's Put Your Head on My Shoulder and other oddball references to Rom Coms, but it's played subtlely. So it might take the typical trope, and instead of playing through the usual trope end, it might give it a more realistic flavor. It also fires shots at dramas that don't take a feminist stance along the way, which I honestly love through the subtle subversions and poking fun at them (But again, with love). It easily passes the feminism tests by the end of the second episode, I would say, though most of them pass by the first. (Mako Mori gets a clean pass later. Sexy Lamp and Bechdel gets passed in the first episode)

The MML and FML have good chemistry, the directing has some special flourishes I like, and it's kind of refreshing to have the characters both competent/awkward in the relationship, but in different ways and also introverts? The Second and third relationships aren't boring and manage to say something new about First Love, as a theme. The Forth one is kinda required, but they background it hard because they know it is annoying. So try it if you are a rom com junkie.

It is Slice of Life, so it might seem slow. It's not a heart pounder, but it definitely delivers on feels.

Love triangle between FL, ML and SML. I wouldn't recommend watching, because it has a good start and then becomes increasingly nonsensical. It's not "turn off your brain." type, it's more like you have to deliberately shut off your brain cells while you go "Wait, what happened to XYZ subplots?"

I'm powering through Episode 24. TT Rescue me from this chasm. It would have been better if it were 8 hours long.

She makes commentary about it in the voice overs that she already liked him, but in the flashbacks, it shows he especially went to attend her competitions, but neither got a chance to chase the other, but it shows that it is mutual by about episode 8. He flirts back with her in episode 9, and then by episode 10, they both have hints the feelings are mutual.

It's actually mutual love at first sight. But you don't find that out until a little later. But yes, fast romance.

Overall, it's a "I need to burn time and I'm doing other things" sort of drama. If you squint hard, it's easy to pick up some errors. Programmers are going to be frustrated watching this drama besides the blind worship of them (lol the jargon. Someone is hacking your system and you talk about data sets? BTW, this is not part of the problem, so is not a spoiler.) But if you kinda want something to numb your brain for a time, it's not a bad drama.

Drama starts fast and then slows down to take stock for quite a few episodes.

Plot summary of the first episode (Loose one so it doesn't have major spoilers). 'cause it's not clear.

Ye Tian, a game designer and gamer, has always been a gaming competitor for Bai Wei, a professional gamer, ever since they met. After taking the gaming champion title back from Bai Wei, Ye Tian disappears. Bai Wei sets out to discover why. So she sneaks into the hospital where he is staying, and finds his body and a console. She discovers that he is trapped in a game of his own design, a world called Pangu, and wants to escape. Bai Wei becomes determined to help him to escape the game and come back to his body, but in doing so, finds love with him.

As I said, it's only based on the first episode. 'cause beyond that people scream "Spoilers, how dare you," etc.

Synopsis based on watching first episode only:
Xiao Wu is playing as the double for the Main Female Lead character on the set of Sword Saint, a Wuxia drama, but through an accident, kisses the main lead, Zhao Luchen, the main lead. Wu Di, who is playing the main lead, but can't do maritial arts, has a crush on Luchen. Wu Di and Xiao Wu fight every day on set.


Xiao Wu happens to be a writer, and when Luchen reads her novel, which turns out to only be a premise, it turns true.

Adopting a nephew--I don't think there is precedent in Korean history. There is a case of a Queen (new one) adopting the King's son. But it's likely he'll be regent unless he becomes despot.

Did you mean the crown prince is out of the picture? BTW, it's Seongnam corresponding to: 성남. Seongnam is how it's spelled in Revised Korean romanization, which is the government standard.

Seongnam would be regent, until the Grand Heir comes of age. They might kill the Grand Heir for labor law reasons though. TT I saw other shows where they clearly did it for that reason.

The top added description has a spelling mistake... "losing" not lossing. Plus there are factual errors. Wang Zheng is the name of the idol, not the King/Emperor. The Emperor hasn't been given an official name yet. There is extraneous prose as well.

So editing it...

After losing everything in her life, Yao Liang Liang's apartment fuses with the Emperor's of an ancient kingdom allowing them to travel to both worlds. There she meets a future emperor, who coincidentally looks like her favorite idol, Wang Zheng. And she looks like his former betrothed, who has gone missing. So they make a pact--he'll give her money which she needs, and she'll act as his Queen. But as they help each other gain what they want, they also fall in love.

(This should be shorter than the more detailed one I wrote below, but at least it isn't wrong, has spelling errors and extra wordy.)

1. Why consort hwang claim she is the original queen and her son is original CP?? And who is the oldest, prince uiseong or late CP?

She was the court favorite to become Queen, but the King chose the current Queen because of the power the family was gaining in the court through the QD's family, who were both denied Queen positions. The Queen is of humble origin, but also said she was smarter.

Prince Uiseong is the eldest, but since he's not born of the Queen he isn't first in the throne in Korean politics. I'm thinking the QD played a hand in making sure he was first since often those sorts of things were "arranged".

2. Do consort hwang and queen dowager is an ally??

Consort Hwang and the QD are working together since they are from the same family. If you're thinking, doesn't this make Consort Hwang the King's cousin? Yes, maternal cousin. Bilateral inheritance doesn't kick into Korea until much later.

3. Why queen dowager hate queen's son?? Just cause they are queen's son or cause they are troublemaker??

She hates the Queen and her sons because the Queen is of lowly status and not from her family. As I've said before, the QD's job from the first to the last, is to make sure her family gets positions of power at court. Again, I'd encourage you to read about Lady Hyegyeong, even if you're not going to buy her memoir. She failed to do the functions of a QD, and her family paid for her son's disappointment in her. (I still argue it wasn't her fault)

4. where did seongnam go all the time??? I can see he on mission after he know about CP, but before that (in ep 1) he already skip the class, where is he???
Seongnam was having affairs outside of the palace prior, but it looks like he's about to marry the War Minister's daughter as his Queen. After that, he was trying to find a cure for his brother, and then after that he was trying to find evidence, but was too late. But he's pushing the King with the right questions.

5. How about the CP?? was he really killed?? Then how about his son? Who tried to kill that kid??
He was really murdered. His son is grand Heir and the other side is trying to murder him too. And the cuprits look like primarily Consort Hwang and then the QD.

6. I can see how queen dowager hate queen's son but does she also hate CP???
Yes, she hates everyone that's not from her maternal line. Think of her as a grand snob. She should have been queen. She should have had her choice for her son's wife. But none of it came to pass, so she's bitter, but she needs the power to keep her power at court and in the inner court. While she constantly says she didn't get to run the inner court, she also has a stranglehold on the upper levels of the inner court. (Most of the Queen's people they've shown are lower ranking maids, etc. Not attendants.)

7. How about consort ko and consort tae?? Do they already done something evil or not??

The high ranking women, who came in through connections, don't really care about anyone except themselves and also, like the QD want their people to be in. They have no loyalty to the QD.

The concubines that were former servants... Split loyalties. They would like their sons on the throne, but some of them probably were put in the path of the King by the QD and other people.

8. Why seongnam live in outside when he still kid? And when he back to the palace??

This hasn't quite been solved yet.

The most important thing to remember is that the Queen has the hearts and minds of mostly lower ranking officials. Also, she's about to win the Minister of War, which is a huge flex of power if she managed to get it. Because he controls the entire right cabinet. (Under the Head Grand Chancellor/Prime Minister). And if you remember any history lessons at all, if you control the military, then you often can control the state. Ideally, she would need flex for the left cabinet too. (Made of scholars and Artisans).

Grand Prince Seongnam might be made regent is the Grand Heir survives. It'll be devastating if they kill the Grand Heir (maybe the actor will need to for school and child labor laws?) The thing is if the other princes get the throne, besides a grand prince, they are more likely than not to try to take the throne wholly and kill the Grand Heir.

It's quirky and funny, as are most East Asian Portal fantasy. But we've yet to see the ending yet, so it could take a dark turn around the third act before the last act.

Rewriting the premise to be more understandable (Based on the first episode of 8 minutes):
Yao Liang Liang has lost everything: Her job, her boyfriend, her best friend and all she has left is a bottle of alcohol and a picture of idol Wang Zheng on her electric fan to comfort her. But after a magical lightning strike, she finds that her apartment has fused with the royal quarters of the King of an ancient kingdom. And since the Queen is missing and she looks like the former Queen, he asks her to fill the role. Coincidentally he looks exactly like the idol she admires. She needs money, he needs a queen, so they make an exchange. But as they get tangled with each other, they fall in love.

I added the topic.

So I did some looking up, and the original creators said they aren't pulling from any specific Kings, but making up the history, but some of the events loosely follow earlier in Joseon history before the Imjin war around Queen Munjeong. (At least as of Episode 2).

She is suspected of poisoning one of the crown princes, and Deposed Queen Yun is around her time period as well, so I think they pulled a bit from that time period, but as I said, it's not exact.

So no, not exactly, but they are pulling from basic court politics. That said, some of the material is clearly pulled also from Lady Hyegyeong's Diaries, because she's the only source left after scholars burned the majority of women's writings about what court life was like and what people had to do to survive. The majority of sageuk pull from her writing, but sadly also vilify her as the most terrible person, because scholars could NOT burn her. So they needed to get their misogyny on and say, while her writings about court life are precious, she's a terrible person, even if they have no other accounts of what really happened because they basically burned them all. (She's the wife of Prince Sado, who was locked in a rice chest--but really, it's not her fault that father and son didn't get along.) (BTW, you can buy her diary in English)

So your second question... "Cross dresser prince." Trans people did of course exist in history. There are a few kings that were shown to be gay and gay people noted (which, yes, I know isn't the same as trans.) And the majority of trans people noted were in theater, or performers on the road. There's some misunderstanding in Korean culture that people are trans because they are gay, but those are totally different things--one can be one, or both because they are different axises. Also some people in mugyo often cross-dress to enhance their shamanistic powers. So... this pretty much is inserted on three fronts:
1. The piss off the supporters of the current Korean president. (Whom even conservatives hate, from reports). In short, the incel-supporting and loving president.
2. To piss off the people who think that "LGBTQIA people were imported with white people." *cough* Squid Games tried to argue this piece of crap *cough* And yes, some Koreans actually believe this, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, including historical records dating way back in history, including, but not limited to Monk Ilyon who wrote the Samguk Yusa.
3. To reference Kings that were said to be gay. (though not trans specifically). Gongmin, for example, I personally think was probably bisexual. But some people say he was gay. But in my head, I think he was bisexual and fell deeply in love with Noguk, having never fallen for a woman before. So when she died and he fell back into a deep depression, he was reported to take only male lovers thereafter, but not fall in love with any of them.
3. King Mokjong-- Most definitely gay. Like so gay, people have trouble denying it.

But also there has been issues of trans rights in Korea coming up for the military and military service and questioning some of the laws. Also, as I mentioned the current president is being a a-hole to women and trans people, so....

According to the drama (because they skipped translation some of the explanations). If the crown prince dies, his son and her sons are in a position of precariousness. This is actually true to history as well. After King Sejong died, one of his sons took over and there was a child King, but then a bunch of ministers tried to control the King until the King came of age. The King's uncle, took over the throne by killing a bunch of people because he hated the ministers, eventually killing his nephew.

The crown prince would go to the "most worthy" in the King's favor, i.e. the one that was most qualified. The thing is according to Korean history, the King's children with the Queen would be most favored. Concubines thereafter (which they alluded to within the drama). But the concubines also hoped to put their children on the throne. The politics alluded to that is also true to Korean history. So it could go to one of the other princes, and if that's the case the Queen, her sons, and her grandson are at risk of dying.

The King also said that his son is too upright. This is an allusion to the fact that things got messy, and it wasn't always the smartest and most upright that won the throne.

So, the whole poisoning plot probably was taken from Queen Munjeong, but the drama is clearly set after the Imjin war when women and LGBTQIA severely lost their rights due to the events of the war (basically women getting blamed for being sexually assaulted and using that as an excuse to take women's land, property and rights, which to be clear, is echoed throughout history in other regions as well--it's not unique to Korea--it's just with Korea it happened much later in history than other agricultural regions.)

Slight note, the spelling should be Kamsahamnida. 감사합니다 ㄱ-k/gㅏ-ah ㅁ-m ㅅ-s ㅏ-ah ㅎ-h ㅏ-ah ㅂ-p* ㄴ-n ㅣ-i (short ee sound) ㄷ-d ㅏ-ah

ㅂ before a ㄴ in last position becomes an m sound. English has more of these phoneme shifts than Korean does, though.

Most likely out of duty. Traditionally, though it didn't always work this way, Korean Kings were supposed to be on a roster. The Eunuchs would keep track of the women's cycles, then the King was supposed to rotate between various concubines evenly. Of course sometimes this didn't work, but yes. The King's duty, though was to create spares away from concubines. Because having a King from a concubine was generally frowned upon, since the Queen was carefully selected to be Cream of the crop and specially arranged. (This drama is showing some of those upsets too).

In truth though, I think the choice of this drama to have 5 princes with the Queen and 1 son each for the concubines was because often in history there were sometimes 20+ children running around, and we're missing the princesses in this drama. But practically, you can't hire 20+ actors and keep a sane budget. (For example King Sejong had something like 25+ children... but Tree with Deep Roots showed maybe 3? 2 Princes and one princess, but then didn't go into how a bunch of the princesses also helped with making hangeul.) The budget would balloon out of control and for the average viewer of 16 episodes, that's a ton of people to keep track of.