Eleison

That's a weekender for you. But the end is GREAT. I just skipped all the scenes with the terribly annoying mother-in-law the more I watched. 😅 I know she "progressed," but it happened too slowly, and I just couldn't stand her.

Yay, I'm glad you think so, too! Isn't it fun to put the pieces together? I love both seasons for different reasons. :)

I would like to push back on this comment.

Some people just don't enjoy watching genres like nihilistic noir thrillers or dark, mature plots, no matter how brilliantly written they are; it doesn't make people who dislike or avoid them automatically shallow or "younger girls/kids" or the "TikTok Generation" or "12 year olds cheering on their oppas" or people who "just don't get it." There are a variety of reasons people might dislike or avoid certain genres, even those deemed mature or profound (many of them far from shallow, e.g. maybe their lives are very hard and mirror the darkness they're watching; maybe the darkness or heaviness is too much darkness to stomach if they already tend towards pessimism and hopeless nihilism; maybe people deal with dark things in their work or job and need a break from it; maybe it makes others more anxious, depressed or subdued or they can't separate the weightiness from their own personal struggle and associate things unnecessarily, etc.).

And at the end of the day, it's all still entertainment, not documentaries on things like war crimes from World War II or something. It's usually not a good rule of thumb to watch entertainment to learn about reality anyway, as most entertainment just mimics reality inaccurately even if convincingly and compellingly portrayed.

I'm sure people would appreciate not being reduced to things they're not while scrolling for recommendations on whether this drama is something they'll enjoy. 😉

Haha, thanks! The users on the Cdramas pages tend to be nicer and more helpful, too. Fewer contrarians and people being rude or immature. It's been refreshing!

And yes, I agree. I made the switch for similar reasons (and was noticing people saying things like you, that Cdramas have been improving recently) but I'll try Kdramas here and there when I can if they seem to do well. It's kind of sad they've been going downhill. 😔 I blame Netflix/Amazon/Disney +. Some people seem to love their foray into Kdramas; me, not so much.

Don't mind at all, haha. Right now, Crash Landing On You and Dr. Romantic 2. :)

I recently watched the Cdrama Nirvana In Fire (just getting into Cdramas, and have been pleasantly surprised by some of them) and that was 🤯. Wow. Took me some time to get into, but once I did, I was sold. I think it's the most beautifully written drama I've ever seen, but these three Kdramas are still in my Top 3 due to how many times I have rewatched them and they still hold up as extremely enjoyable. 😋

This was lovely. A cozy, warm hug with many endearing characters (particularly the female characters, as this is a slice of life, female empowerment story). Some of the issues and characters are dealt with in a more nuanced manner than others, but the main couple is delightful and watching their growth into love is heartwarming and sweet.

It's definitely a bit on the nose with some stuff, and leans a bit on the side of caricaturing many of the male characters, which is an unfortunate pitfall of many female empowerment stories, but it's trying to make a point through exaggeration, so it didn't bother me too much since this is clearly a fictional world and overemphasizing tropes and cliches for the sake of drawing out a contrast and provoking thought.

I thought the middle was a bit slower than the beginning and end, despite all of it being a solid watch, with an absolutely gorgeous score (beautiful BGMs!). If you get to Episode 12 and want to end it because you're worried about where things are headed, rest assured: everything is resolved satisfyingly for our leads sans a love triangle.

Enjoy the gentle pace and this warm story of friendship, love and the importance of extending human dignity to everyone.

(And make sure to watch the Intro all the way through at least once; it captures the mood of this charming series).

Yes, maybe. This is definitely my favorite role from her. She was fine in Start-Up and Vagabond, but I thought she was especially good in this.

I think the leads were all pretty famous already, but I'm sure it did only good things for their careers. :) I think it was very popular (from what I've heard) when it was airing.

Yep, still in my Top 3. 🥰

Interesting. Thanks!

This reply is late, but the romance slows down a bit while the ML is married to both women because I think he didn't want to make a move on the FL until he could truly promise her she'd be his only wife. So until he divorces the princess who allies with him, he doesn't pursue the FL as actively except for a few accidental times when he kisses her when he gets tipsy from one cup of wine. 🤭 He and the princess work together as friends and business partners and nothing more, but the princess and FL become very close friends.

I thought he was the only truly decent man in the drama. 😅 How could he have been better? They supported and loved each other in thoughtful ways throughout the whole story. His family was a wreck, but my takeaway was that together they'd change the messed up system that both of them were victims of. Because he became Crown Prince, he'd eventually become Emperor and could change things for the better. The FL didn't have grand ambitions and only started to gain an interest in business and fighting for women as the show progressed which he kindly and respectfully honored and supported and grew in appreciation for. I thought they were adorable together, but that was just me.

This drama had the perfect setup for a love triangle, but it never went there, and it didn't even give the barest hint of one.

Thank you, lovely writers, for letting friendship and loyalty reign over angst and drama. 🥰

Yes, she's lovely. Keep watching.

He was eventually good in Dr. Romantic, too. :) He acted great the whole time but his character was annoying until the last 1/3 of the drama. 😅

Yes, very true! I loved all this, too! It humanized the characters in such a way, even with some of the caricatured men here and there (who also had arcs, to be fair), that was really beautiful to watch. And sometimes when I think about the caricatured men in more recent media, and see guys get ruffled by it, I also try to kindly point out that women have been caricatured in most stories for most of history, never being allowed to shine or be shown for all they are truly capable of. If you can't handle a few shows with caricature male characters in contrast to fleshed-out female characters, then I think it shows something about your perspective of self and the world that might be worth examining. 😉

Yes, he was the best the king had amongst his sons until the Sixth Lord started showing his true colors. 😅 (Ouch 😬; though I don't know why the First Lord was so overlooked; he seemed capable enough).

And yes, the girls are so adorable and wonderful!

My only minor gripe with female-centric stories like this one is they do often tend to make most of the men in the story look like clowns, and I think showing women's true abilities and capabilities, which they very much have in equal supply to men, isn't best showcased by dumbing down male characters to make women shine. They can shine next to capable men, too (something some writers seem yet to discover). The best stories will write both with dignity (by giving them weaknesses and strengths (as any normal human would have bits of both, and of course some will have more of one or the other 😉). But I think they made it work well enough (Sixth Lord is obviously wonderful) and there are enough male characters that improve to not make it feel super overt (like Fifth Lord and Third Lord-ish (though I still think he's kind of awful)), but it was fun to see them portray the main leads' adorable romance budding and the way they learn to support one another, and all Li Wei's sweet friends and her partnership with the other women in the palace. There are never this many sweet people all in one place, especially in a royal court, haha, but because it's beautifully done and so well-written, I can suspend disbelief.

I understand this drama is trying to do soft social commentary (sometimes not so soft!), and trying to make some important points about society and dynamics between men and women, so it was kind of intentional that the men were written this way to show just how ridiculous their expectations if women can be; I felt it keenly, for instance, when the Second Lord was fawning over Hao Jia and only looking at her as the bearer of his "son." How dehumanizing! Or when they talked of sending women to marry random strangers for marriage alliances to serve the "bigger picture."

Overall, though, it's just like a cozy, warm hug!

There is kind of a slower bit in the middle because they focus more on the girls' business and Hao Jia's terrible plight (I found that part kind of hard to watch, and the part with the business was a bit draggy, I'll admit (I wasn't bored, I just found a bit less engaging than the parts focused more on the leads)), but the focus moves back to the main leads and their story in the last third of the drama. They're just so cute and their interactions are written so well that I find them delightful to watch. 😅 And I think you start to see the payoff of all the characters' hard work and efforts later, too, so I'd give it a shot and try a bit more. Maybe skim through some of the middle portions until you get past the business and Hao Jia's story. It ends very satisfyingly.

I think by poor they also mean those who lack prominence or power. And by comparison, they are "poor," right?

Oh yeah, he's very icky. Definitely the worst character. The Emperor/King/Lord isn't great either. He's kind of an awful dad and while he has a good eye for talent he just thinks about his sons like pawns or tools to use "for the bigger picture." I don't like him one bit either.

The show does a good job of critiquing the way the way people can see those around them as a means to end. Even if the end seems worth it, using people in that way is never okay no matter what the ends are. (i.e. the way Yin Song only sees Hao Jia because she's carrying his "son"; they overemphasize his focus on the baby to show how demeaning his treatment of her is. He's so awful).