Fumiko

I think Yura will be gone soon. However Min-Hwan now has money due to Yura, Su-min will likely leak the relationship between Ji-won and Ji-hyak. This allows Su-min and Min-Hwan to portray themselves and even Yura as victims ('Ji-won is the mistress of Ji-Hyak' etc.).

In Ji-won’s case (with her mother‘s story and with Su-min and Min-Hwan) despite knowing that Jihyuk is a good guy I actually would have feared for a brief while becoming the other woman. Basically while he might not have any affection for Yura that he might still give in to his family and has to marry her.

The prospect of not being good enough for Jihyuk‘s family and having to compete with Yura (who is violent) in a official wife vs. sidewife/concubine way does not sound good.

Of course she will change her mind later on and bounce back.

I love that every minute Su-min and Min-hwan + plus Min-hwan‘s mother are spending together is awful.

I assume that Yura is giving Min-hwan money and training so that he isn‘t broke anymore and can try to ruin Ji-won‘s life. I also assume that Min-hwan will soon have an affair with Yura setting Su-min over the edge.

I dislike the ex-fiancee trope so much. A 30+ woman always still insisting on some vague promise adults did when they were children and despite the guy saying that he doesn't want this is just always rather pathetic. In this case they were never even a couple in the first place. BoA should have gotten another brief role maybe at the office or one of the classmates.

Of course it's the wedding of the year after all 🥹🤣.

What I really is that even seemingly simple exchanges like the young grandprince wanting to learn baduk are turned into sorta nerve wracking scenes the tension rose pretty fast in the last episodes.

They will get their comeuppance and are totally punished with each other XD.

I suspect that one of them (likely Su-min) will leak the relationship of Ji-Won and Ji-Hyuk at the worst possible timing to the press or something for sure.

So far it's not lighthearted. The last series by the author The Crowned Clown was also rather dramatic. However it's still too early to make an estimation since the first episodes were building up a lot.

What made me laugh:
Bermuda Park (reference to Bermuda triangle).
Su-min checking whether she is wearing panties at the moment when Ji-won cornered Min-Hwan
The forged letter Su-min wrote to that couple using Ji-won's name mentioning that Min-Hwan cheated on her with a 'particularly beautiful woman'.

😅

It would have honestly been fun to be one of the employees during this episode XD.

Next week the anticipated (trashy) dream wedding of the year we have been waiting for. Let's hope that it will be particularly awful.

She is perfect for the role and gives everything. That Sumin can look/seem sweet and friendly if she wants something is kinda how she got through life so far.
She actually does needs Jiwon around somehow so that she can feel better about herself which is why she always tried to manipulate her with love bombing when it looked like that Jiwon is angry with her.
Since Jiwon seems to slip away she now is resorting to threats.

The Chinese OC characters from the Song dynasty are definitely there since Murasaki was able to read/write Chinese characters and speak Chinese exceptionally well much better than her younger brother Nobunori (that was established already that he is not good at studying unlike Murasaki and their father).

Matsushita Kouhei's character could definitely also inspire some plot line/parallel of Genji Monogatari especially since they are free to do what they want since he is an OC.
It would make sense that Genji as a novel would make a bigger progress if she is able to read more literature that otherwise wouldn't have been available to her.

I love seeing the Fujiwara clan itself and I am curious how they will depict the clan in full power when Michinaga is at charge.

I love Machida Keita as Kinto and Kuroki Haru as Michinaga‘s later legal wife so far.

I assume that the marriage of Murasaki that will take place soon will be covered quickly since in history her husband was much older than her, he didn‘t think much of her writing and preferred other women. They also only had one child, daughter Daini no Sanmi (cast not announced yet).

Websites mention Murasaki-Michinaga and Murasaki-Kinto as romance theories when Murasaki came to court.

So far Michinaga is the most interesting when he is shown interacting with his family at court very similar to how he portrayed in Nagai Michiko‘s Michinaga novel. I think the most crucial event will be when Murasaki is chosen to serve Michinaga‘s daughter Shoshi and can thus spread Genji much quicker.

Kinto is portrayed as super handsome, talented at writing at an early age good at calligraphy and interested in court ranks. In history the rise of Kinto regarding court ranks was blocked by Michinaga. This lead Kinto to become a force regarding culture as a literature critic since he was so good at writing he was allowed to judge the writings of other people. His series description from the guide book mentions that he will become interested in Genji Monogatari and that Murasaki‘s nickname Murasaki originated from him (like mentioned in Murasaki‘s diary).

On Murasaki‘s name Mahiro on the show:
In history Murasaki original name before Kinto gave her her nickname is theorized to have been 香子 Koko or Kaoriko (the name can be read multiple ways). Not sure why they didn‘t choose this name.

As for discussions for who the real life Genji was the most likely candidates are:
Minamoto no Toru who lived years before Murasaki, Michinaga and co. is often named as the real Genji.
The poet Ariwara no Narihira who also lived way before Murasaki, Michinaga and co. is often called a proto Genji since him and Genji share many similarities.
Emperor Ichijo kinda had a similar situation with Teishi and Shoshi as Genji had with Murasaki (the novel character) and Onnasan no miya. Hope this is pointed out on the show.
Fujiwara no Sanekata (not cast yet) is said to have had many affairs including Sei Shonagon some also think he might be possible as well.
Fujiwara no Korechika, the brother of Empress Teishi is also often cited as an inspiration, he will be played by Miura Shohei. Korechika was said to have had a magnetic effect on women by Sei Shonagon.

The series seems to go with Michinaga as inspiration for Genji which I don‘t see much in history since Michinaga is way too involved with politics in history and has no real similarities to Genji.

I love though that Machida Keita as Fujiwara no Kinto is dubbed ‚real Genji‘ by the Hikaru fandom since he looks really great in Heian outfits and is implied to be extremely popular with women since he receives a lot of love letters XD.

No this is just a new addition to FujiTV's Ooku series each entry is always a standalone title.

They usually choose the court of a shogun and build the series around it. This time they chose Tokugawa Ieharu one of the lesser known Tokugawa shoguns. The POV is his legal wife Tomoko.

In history Murasaki's mother died when Murasaki and her brother Nobunori were still quiet young. Michikane, Michinaga's brother is often portrayed as a villain in media about Michinaga/the Fujiwara. It was certainly to raise pity and to give Murasaki and Michinaga a common enemy.
Also the whole hiding the identity stuff also seems like from a kdrama.

Now that Fujiwara no Kinto (Machida Keita) has joined I suspect that we might also get the 'love triangle' trope. Kinto and Michinaga are often described as rivals (especially regarding court ranks) and friends at the same time.

I somehow also think that this will have a slow build up both regarding the leads as well as the palace drama.

The court scenes so far have convinced me to keep watching. Hope that when the ML takes over as King that the intrigues etc. will increase.

Sumin and Minhwan are such a wonderful trash couple that you are totally rooting for them to end up with each other and leave everyone else alone XD.

I hope that we will see that their life together is super awful in the last episode. The actors are doing an excellent job by the way.

Like the cast a lot so far. Also the costumes look amazing.