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Tee hee hee! I know the pugilist world can have very angsty people too but I find ADOS more interesting simply because the characters are so damn human. Past hurts and chips-on-shoulders and attachment issues and all that are so relatable. I am really looking forward to seeing how GQF and Pan'er solve their issues. As much as I love a typical romantic HEA between the main leads, I would be happy with an ending where Pan'er and GQF have a healthy ,mature conversation and take the space to heal, Pan'er becomes the businesswoman that she always wanted to be, SYZ understands she has issues and works on sorting them out. To be honest, SSN is probably the one person I would love to see in a relationship as I feel she is the most emotionally healthiest of the 3. I feel like she acknowledges her past and her hurt and is very accepting of both, unlike Pan'er and SYZ. She is also very emotionally receptive to everyone around her and quick to communicate and seems to have good clarity of thought. I'd like to think it's because she has a child and therefore, in part, is aware of how to understand another perspective..if that makes sense :)

Ah! That makes sense. They did show him clutching his tummy when he was on the way to meet Pan'er in the spoiler for ep 30 I think

This doesn't seem plausible as they could have just offed the body of the sister if that was the case especially cos they have someone already taking the flak for it (the guy who is currently in jail). Also, the timelines don't match as I think the rape happened years before Soo Jae got pregnant. She was working for the public prosecutor at the time (the current principal) but she got pregnant when she was already in the law firm.

I am mighty curious as to GQF looks sick in the later episodes....

I think the only time they showed a body was when Gon Chan found her in the junkyard. When he was actually arrested the body was missing but the clothes were there. Also, his step-mother screams that her daughter is still missing when he gets out of prison.

Random but, I see a lot of red around the piercing in Pan'er's ears!!!! Is that a period specific make-up thing or maybe the actress having a reaction to the metal of the earring? :))))))))))) It distracts me to the point that I have stop and zoom and Google "Song dynasty earrings/ear piercing make-up and what not and I thought I'd just put it out here and save myself the trouble lol.

This is such a fun drama! Kim Se Jeong is brilliant! What comic timing!!!! I don't know if it's just me but she resembles Rowoon a lot and I keep getting reminded of him especially when she does that naughty smile of hers hahahaha

oh wow! thank you for this! such a considerate thing to do here :)

Infact, he thought it would be easier to be with her cos he was now king. Whereas for her, the gap just got wider.

I wonder if the 3 years which we as the viewers were not privy to might have made her change how she behaves with him. Seems like he was quite ruthless in weeding out his opposition and that might have scared her in some way? She was still coming to terms with the idea of him being King and one does not simply give the king an outright answer. He never saw her any differently so it was easier for him to behave like how he always did.

I haven’t agonized over the characters in a drama in a long long time! And, I am LOVING it 😍

I wish they gave us more insight into Deok Kim’s thoughts and why she is the way she is. They said her father was a royal soldier and that she would have been killed if it was known. She also lost her brother (but found him later on). But what was driving her to be who she is? Apart from “I don’t want to be a concubine.” I get that she thinks she would lose herself but is that only because she wanted San for herself? Or was there something else? She keeps mum everytime San waxes poetic about his feelings for her and even then, it felt like San was putting the blame of his misery on her shoulder. And then, she turns around and tells him to punish her like he would any other court lady and that she didn’t want o lose herself - all in one breath. It felt to me that she did not know how to accept his love at one point and wanted him to feel miserable for daring to have these feelings for her.

Woah!!!!!!!!!!! Junho literally has one of the sexiest mouths there is and the way he talks is what makes it even hotter! 😭 But to each their own ❤️

I think this was good. Doek Ro lived with the knowledge that he couldn’t be close to San and influence him like he did. He eventually ended his life himself- this way San lives with a free conscience. He was devastated he had to kill his brother.

Well, if he gave up, she would finally get what she wanted all along right? To remain a court lady with her friends. Or, did she realise that being in somebody else’s palace was not like being in his palace(he always treated her well) and figured being his concubine was better?

I really did not get the feeling that she loved him. She treated him as her king and nothing more - he kept asking her if she ever saw him as a man and tbh, I think she was being truthful when she said that she never had. It was clear she didn’t trust him and was swayed easily by whatever scheme the grandmother or Doek Ro pulled her into.

I am not getting the “family” vibe from her that San wants 😔 Family is about safety and trust and I don’t see it in their relationship. Stupid San for holding a candle for her all these years just cos she wiped his tears and told him she would save him! That was just her doing her duty and he should have seen that sooner. 😭

Yes! Exactly how I feel about her. Yi San is direct in his intentions and always makes himself clear - even though he does come across as obsessed and spoilt (which is really just his fear talking as he is afraid of losing the one person he might get to call his in the whole palace). But Doek Kim with her constant hot n cold and push n pull gives me whiplash! One minute she tells him she doesn’t want him and the next, she crosses the line and asks him how he is feeling etc when she KNOWS that she is the only one who does that to him and why he says he loves her. Grrrr!!!!!!

I mean, at the end of ep15, I had NO CLUE why she agreed to be with him! Did she feel sorry for him cos he lost Doek Ro? Did she want to escape Hwabin? Did she take pity on him? Or, did she finally understand that Yi San was about to give up and she couldn’t deal with that cos now, she would lose favor with him??? WHAT?!?!?! 😵‍💫

I got the feeling (from the drama alone as I haven't read up much on the history etc) that what she feels for him is more of loyalty than passion - and that maybe she is confusing the two. She is constantly telling him that she wants to help and protect him and it always felt like she wanted to be known as his most favorite subject more than anything else because she seems him becoming a great king. Maybe that is why she is afraid of losing herself? Staying on as his court lady gives her the kind of freedom to be with him she wouldn't ever have as his concubine.

In that way, I find her a lot similar to Deok Ro - only difference being their ambitions are being played out differently. It is shown in a way in ep 1 when the kid Deok Ro tells San that he would be with him even when its dangerous while Deok Kim runs by behind them. She seems to have completely shut down once he became king and is doing everything to protect herself - building boundaries that weren't there when he was the CP, the constant push-pull, etc. The fact that she took it very personally when she told him to assassinate anyone who commits treason against him. It feels like she is completely pulling away now that she sees how persistent San has become about making her 'his'. I suppose she is frightened that he would force her now that he has the absolute authority to do so.

Both your scenarios seem plausible - I don't see San as being able to respect her choice and leaving her alone. He is too obsessed at this point to give up especially now that he is hurt by her rejection (conveyed through his mother that too!). Maybe that was her intention all along? Make him too angry and hurt to focus on the actual rejection?

Or yes, she gives in "for the good of the country" - give San what he wants so that he can finally focus on being the great king she knows he can be. Sigh.

I know 😞 I hope they don’t get together in ep 16 only for her to die at the end of it and ep 17 being a “Looking back at my love for Deok Kim - A Memoir” thing by Yi San with their kids. 😭😭😭😭

Did they not menrion a Crown Princess in ep 1? And that he didn’t have a child which is why the grandmothe wanted him to take a concubine? Or did I misunderstand that bit?