DramaAjumma

Talk about another Pride and Prejudice reference right from the start.
"Look at all the beautiful women." "What beautiful women?" Another grumpy male lead in the Darcy mould to root for.
The first 15 minutes were a blast and dad had to come in and... it was okay... it was kind of funny.

Four and half episodes in... so far so good. I personally have never seen a drama focused entirely on the juvenile delinquents and the legal system before and so I'm learning a lot. I appreciate the insights and the complexity involved in the entire juvenile court system. Great performances all round.

True. But she doesn't know it yet.

There's nothing weird about that scenario. It's very plausible.

I am torn about the current state of the push and pull between the leads. While I understand where it's coming from, it's still frustrating because it still exemplifies a problem stemming from a lack of communication.

The key to understanding Zijin is something that Hu Shan Wei said about her. Zijin is liked by everyone because she treats everyone equally well. It is a rare thing and for the most part an asset. Zijin is someone who on some level believes in equal opportunity as seen in her time in the imperia kitchen. That's why she can get on with Ziping for instance who tends to be uncouth and cares about Yuehua's hands to plead on her behalf. She fundamentally believes that everyone should have the opportunity to show what they are capable of. Zijin is an equal opportunist much to the chagrin of someone like Yuehua who holds to the fact that those who are superior have the right to lord it over the lesser beings. It's an elitist way of thinking and much more in line with convention.

The reason why she is being aloof and playing "hard to get" in the romance is because she feels great sympathy for the women in the palace harem. We saw that with Consort Zhuang and I think we certainly see that with the current empress Hu Shanxiang. There are all these women who are at the beck and call of the emperor who probably have never spent a night with him or may never and may never conceive a child for him. So what happens to them if they don't? They end up buried with him when he dies before they do. In her mind, it's a terrible state of affairs. She may even see it as an injustice. She's also seen first hand how easily she was cast aside because the previous emperor changed his mind about who should be his grandson's consort.

I have no doubt that Zijin feels rather sorry for Hu Shanxiang who is the primary consort and empress but is unloved and not really respected by her husband for all kinds of reasons that we already have been privy to. She probably thinks that Hu Shanxiang since she got there first, should at the very least have first dibs on the emperor and have the chance to bear him his successor. She knows that Zhanji favours her above all the others but feels that he shouldn't show her any kind of preference where the bedroom is concerned.

Zijin, I believe, is trying to go against the usual practice where the women have to fight against each other for the emperor's favour. To her mind, it shouldn't be a competition as to who he likes the most but that they're all trying their best to for the royal family and the country. She's not trying to assert monogamy because that's really not a thing in that context but harmony. She wants the women in the harem to live together without undue conflict and catfighting. That's been the problem under various regimes when different consorts are pitted against each other or feel the need to pit themselves against each other to survive. I think she wants a level playing field for all these women, equal access to the emperor so she's been trying to maintain a certain amount of distance from Zhanji.

Of course all of this is much to Zhu Zhanji's frustration because this is the first and only woman in his harem that he actually wants to make babies with. She's been trying hard not to encourage overtures from him since the day he found out her real identity but he's not just the ruler, he's also a man. I feel for him because she is really his soul mate but she has the sensibility that he should do his duty as father of the nation, so to speak.

I want to add to some of the commentary that's been made about the female executive that Tae-moo met in New York and the fact that she doesn't have a native-like pronunciation. I don't think we should assume for one minute that everybody who lives in New York was born there. It's one of the most multicultural commercial cities in the world and all kinds of people find jobs there or are posted there by their companies from elsewhere.

There are things one can criticize about the show but I don't think this is one of them.

I understood what you said and all I was commenting on was that the number of years living in country doesn't equate to proficiency in a language. My point is that there are other factors unrelated to time spent in a particular location. Frequent use of the lingua franca is very important.
I've been teaching English for two decades now and I've seen all kinds of results depending on affective factors.

Yes dear. You may be entitled to your opinions but not your own facts. What you said was a distortion of the facts about the characters.
I wouldn't have said anything if you were just giving your opinion but you are advising potential viewers not to watch it based on wrong information. It's fine not to like a show or its characters but at least get your facts straight. That's all I'm saying.

His pronunciation is not bad actually. At least he sounds like someone who has actually lived overseas before.
There are usually a number of factors that contribute to the acquisition of near-native/native like pronunciation. Did he speak much English outside the home? And at school, was he hanging around with native speakers and using English? I've known people who've lived in Australia for years and don't speak English that well. Or at all.

I don't dislike it or find it boring per se. I just don't understand the love... is where I'm at. There are things about it that I like but there are things that make me cringe badly. The humour in large part doesn't work for me and it feels glaringly contrived. However, after all the nuttiness there are these more serious and quiet moments between the leads that keeps me watching.

Still I haven't met a contract relationship that I don't like yet. The male lead falling first and fast is always an added attraction.

Not exactly his finest hour.

I really didn't like the first 40 minutes of Episode 5. Didn't care for the petulance either.

It's hard to believe you actually watched the drama especially when you wrongly identified both male leads.

While it might go some way in explaining the schizophrenia that was the last act, it still doesn't entirely excuse the director from his role in the final product. It shouldn't be all on the writers because he is just as responsible (or more so) for the butchery that resulted.

I'm glad though that the Cnets made enough noise to cause the crew to issue mea culpas. It might just be a tv show on some level but there needs to be standards or some kind of quality control.

I wish they would stop with the "will they won't they" with the leads already. Now it's become "will they won't they consummate". They're destined to have babies anyhow.

Helping him to put on his robe is the most wifely thing she's done so far.

I honestly don't mind the food porn.

Let's hope this one ends better than Cupid's Kitchen. That was a dog's breakfast.

For me this is one of the better shows that I've seen in the first quarter of 2022. It's well-written, well-produced and the acting can't be faulted. Since watching my first K cop show about a decade ago, it is heartening to see the quality of police procedurals coming out of SK going from strength to strength in all that time. Thankfully this is one of those landmarks. I've enjoyed this one from start to finish and certainly the second half exceeds the first. I particularly appreciate the documentary-like historical exploration of two men's battle to legitimize profiling as an investigative tool to advance policing in South Korea. One man had the vision, the other had the natural knack for making the connections. Pioneers always do it tough but their persistence pays off as they steadily gain respect from their colleagues for the groundbreaking work that they do. A highlight for me is watching an unusually supportive duo of supervisors who go to bat for their subordinates despite their own misgivings. What also impressed me was the debriefing and feedback session after the arrest and prosecution of one of the featured killers. I don't remember the last time I saw this level of professionalism from one of these SK police procedurals about how effective their existing procedures were.

It is clear from the series that criminal profiling is one tool in a very large tool box. It acts as a confirmatory instrument especially in cases where there aren't any clear motives. Profiling doesn't replace more traditional aspects of policing like canvassing, using technology like surveillance cameras, drawing on current knowledge of biology and chemistry as well as interrogations. It serves as a companion to all of those which is a far more realistic application of its efficacy. The drama also notes that a knowledge of profiling was able to enhance the quality of interrogations without resorting to police brutality which marred the work of previous generations.

The journey was never an easy one for the men involved. Staring in the face of relentless evil would take its toll. But then someone has to take out the trash so that the house is liveable. So what kept them going? A strong sense of duty. Not just to the dead but also to those left behind. To give them answers that they desperately need.

In reality many if not most serial killers were caught because of their own mistakes and overreach. Profiling is just a tool in the tool box. Cops still have to do all the leg work. I think it's clear that it's especially useful when interrogating suspects and eliciting confessions rather than being the chief mechanism behind catching culprits. From what we saw here it also did away the need for police brutality and extreme draconian forms of interrogation techniques.

This is probably a far more realistic exploration of criminal profiling than let's say something like Criminal Minds.

The OP probably means Episode 27

I blame him somewhat for leading Yuehua down the slippery slope. Yes, she's responsible for her choices and she's on the arrogant side but he helped set her on that path.