itwillneverbefar

There is still such a missed opportunity for a romantic pairing with the second leads and here's why. Jae Yi's fascination/obsession with Eun Jo is driven by his own self loathing. Because of this he will never be able to truly see her as a person in her own right, he will only be able to see her as another illegitimate child, a dark mirror of his own inner shame.

Eun Jo is also someone whose kindness and compassion to others is driven a lot by her own experience with suffering, and so she tends to zero in on those who are the most helpless and in pain, and lead with a sense of pity (not in a negative way). Jae Yi is someone who views self pity or others pitying him with disgust, and it triggers his feelings of shame.

He needs someone who he can't justify treating terribly because they're illegitimate like him. And he needs someone who views him as a peer or kindred spirit, and who is kind to him not just out of pity.

Who else but Hae Rim? She is a naturally open and understanding person, with a keen ability to see outside her own perspective, who just has a naturally kind soul (remember how Jae Yi called her a "saint" early in the show?). She is just as warm as Eun Jo.

Jae Yi was cold and dismissive to her, but he would never have slapped a noble woman who he was engaged/married to, he would never drag her around or insult and taunt her, because he wouldn't ever view her with the same loathing he does himself like with Eun Jo. And he wouldn't idealize her, either, for the same reason, so he could see her kindness and good heart for what it was, and see her for who she is.

I'm soooo hoping the writer shifts for the last four eps. Both her and Jae Yi are currently both stuck in an unrequited love, and they could find some sort of solace in each other over that even if they don't like each other like that at first. If they are for some reason forced to get engaged again or actually marry I could see her totally catching him off guard with her kindness and understanding, and him not being able to dismiss her as just a low class woman he doesn't need to respect, and him having to deal with someone being kind to him not out of pity but just out of general goodness. And suddenly realizing that what he felt for Eun Jo was obsession and not true admiration or love.

Characters like Jae Yi do not change overnight, it's one step forward, two back. He's been doing this all show, he'll be a little nice to Eun Jo and then insult her and pull away. He stands up to his father and calls off the engagement only to then become an inspector that does his father's bidding. Same thing this week--he warned the prince about his father, but then went and rescued him anyway. The only way Jae Yi had any safety growing up was pleasing his father and being who his father wanted him to be. It's terrifying for a person who has lived their entire life only feeling "safe" in one way to do the exact opposite. It would be so unbelievable if one day he woke up and suddenly acted the complete opposite way he's used to survive for decades of his life.

It's time for him to move on from Eun Jo tho. He will never truly reform or have solid character development if his only reason for treating people with basic decency is because he cares about Eun Jo. We saw that with the plague village--he didn't burn it down only because he didn't want eun jo to get hurt, but is that really a change of heart? Is that really compassion? Did he apologize cause he really cared or because he wanted eun jo to like him more and see him as a good guy? He is stuck right now as a character and I really hope the writer lets him have a deeper internally-focused and driven growth starting now.

The king is sooooo upsetting because you can tell he has it in him to be a great king, he is intelligent and he can play the game of politics when needed, he can be ruthless when needed, he does understand things like integrity and what really matters, but he doesn't want to make the hard decisions and sacrifices to get there. He would rather escape into pleasures and unchecked power than do the hard work required of a king. The actor is doing a really good job with the role and it makes me hate him even more because he's not just some loser psychopath who just needs to go, the man just refuses to do anything king-like.

I really loved the pathetic cycle of him kicking out the first minister just to let him back into power because the king realized that he doesn't actually want to rule, he just wants to enjoy the perks of being a king while letting others do the hard work.

Enemies to lovers doesn't have to mean one person has to start out a monster, it means the two people have completely opposite values or goals and eventually come to understand the other, which naturally leads to intimacy and love. It's lazy writing to make two people "enemies" cause one treats the other with contempt, or views the very core identity of the other as disgusting. Who wouldn't be enemies in that situation? And it's pretty empty when we're supposed to buy that they make a great pair suddenly when all that's changed is one simply starts viewing the other with basic human decency.

If you're just watching this for easy entertainment (which we all need some of, so that's valid) then I can see why they seem to have such great chemistry romantically. But I find it superficial and silly and am so frustrated with them dragging on and on what amounts to him having his first teenage crush. He's like an abused puppy/duckling who attached onto the first person to show him basic kindness, he sees her with 1/100th of the insight and depth that the ML and even 2FL sees her with, he is merely obsessed with his ideal of her as a stand in for the parents who never loved him. And she views him as a wounded animal or a child to pity and be a little extra nice to cause no one else is. It's fascinating on a platonic level (and has been from the start to me) but frankly boring and silly to me on a romantic level. I want chemistry that means something, that isn't exciting because it's toxic, I want chemistry that won't fizzle out the second the two get together and you realize the "will they won't they" was the only thing about them you actually cared about because they actually make a terrible couple.

And I want more for Jae Yi. He deserves a better storyline than pathetic lovesick puppy. it's fine if his crush on her woke him up to viewing the world and people differently, but I want him to change and grow because he realizes what really draws him to eun jo is that he wants to treat HIMSELF like she treats him, he want's to accept himself as a lowly bastard, not her. I'm so tired of second leads entire storyline revolving around being obsessed with a female lead they can never have and don't actually really want anyway.

I hope Ryeo Un can handle this role. He's been good in everything Iv'e seen him in, but never been the standout, and this role seems very challenging and like the whole drama will hinge on how well he does. Hoping for the best from him!

Dude, he is selfish too. All he cares about is her liking him, he's being manipulative and wierd by making his team lose for her, and failing the test for her, and continuing to pursue her when she has made clear she isn't interested AND when she was mature and asked him point blank if he liked her he insulted her instead. But yeah, only call out se jin.

oh my gawd, you guys are so ridiculous. Calling him Evil Han Geyol is like her pet name for him at this point. They're obviously friends, you all are soooo hard on her just because sh'es a girl. If their characters were swapped genders you all would be SWOONING so hard at the tsundere

I've legit lost trust in MDL ratings, this show has been consistently good every week, and while there's drama and conflict it's not ridiculous or drawn out.

Hun, there are things called genres. You want a slice of life or melodrama genre, but this show is an absurdist comedy. You can hate a show for being a genre you don't like, but its kinda ridiculous to say that out loud acting as if it's a legitimate criticism.

Literally every other drama airing right now has a ML who is a normal dude. I have watched a hundred dramas and I've never seen a ML who is just like this one, like zero. None. "Almost every"?? U can't be for real

I do'nt get people saying they hate Se Jin while also admitting to not even watching the scenes to see her character arc and how she develops over the series.

OMG I thought I was the only one! I find her honesty refreshing, she is actually one of the most genuine characters on the show. And I think her petty hatred of han gyul just for being #1 is hilarious. She's just a bit prickly but cutie pie han gyul is gonna break all the walls.

People who grow up only feeling hate dont' even know how to feel loved, it feels scary to them. The 2ML seems to panic whenever anyone shows him kindness and lashes out immediately.

Also, he justifies his actions by pretending he is the ultimate victim and the world is cruel, so it doesn't matter if he's cruel too, so seeing others be genuinely compassionate and selfless makes his whole worldview and identity crumble. He really is so frustrating but I understand him, he is fighting against some massive demons

I haven't been as interested this last few eps since Gil Dong "died", I feel the show kinda lost its focus without that since it was a huge part of the premise, and it's become too focused on what feels like overly manufactured relationship drama. The show isn't bad or anything but it's just lost its sparkle for me . The end to ep 9 feels out of nowhere, too. And I'm soooo tired of the pointless love triangle. I love Jae Yi and his character arc so far and I did like that Eun Jo's warmth woke him up and made him want to be better, but I want him to move on from being so focused on her and find a reason to change for himself and his own sense of integrity. It will be so dumb if he spends the rest of the series becoming a better person just for Eun Jo. Also what is the entire point of the 2FL in this story? She's just brought in randomly to artificially ramp up the main leads relationship angst, she doesn't even get a real story of her own, I guess she's not even gonna have a real loveline with 2ML either.

I'll keep watching and hope the writer has an endgame that brings it all together, I just used to get really excited for this show and I'm feeling more meh now after ep 9 esp.

Ok so Ha Seok Jin is a very good actor and seems totally wasted on some support role ineffectual king, and I get the sense in every scene that the king knows a lot more than he's letting on and is being VERY deliberate about everything he says and does, and that his hands may be tied for now to really take power away from the minister Sa Hyeong but that he is plotting something secretly. In the first episode we see the king in the past talking about how he didn't have power to save his mother, and in that same ep the queen made an offhand comment to Sa Hyeong about how no one in the palace has the power to say no to him. I think Sa Hyeong orchestrated getting Eun Jo's father's status stripped and never was his actual ally or in danger of the same fate. I think there is going to be a big twist revealed soon that shows the king is actually playing 4D chess while pretending to be a drugged up loser.

I've always gotten the sense that the king knows way more than he lets on, and that he sees how dangerous the minister is and so is careful about what he shows or does. I think he knows the concubine is playing her own game, and the scene from the past where he banished eun jo's father felt like something maybe the evil minister had orchestrated all along and the king was forced to go along with it. The scene where he tells Yeol to be careful so he can take care of his mother like the king couldn't take care of his own hints that he doesn't have as much power as it seems.

That second idea is interesting. What if he's stripped of his title for some reason, like they end up taking down the baddies but it costs him his title cause the king can't keep him around politically. That would be cool way to end it

My first thought was that he has a revenge plot in mind to take down his father somehow and that's why he didn't want to marry the 2FL. I don't know anymore tbh

Yeah the fact that her father is technically a noble before his status was stripped , the old dude died before the actual ceremony, and there was deception in the arrangement will make it easier.

Also if her father ends up helping the king in some way he will be more likely to reward him.

They will swap again when it will be least convenient for them, this is how you add tension to the story

I have hope cause the 2FL is so pure and kind and that boy has never been loved in his life, if anyone can love him its her lol

There's two ways his arc can go, either he goes deeper and deeper and becomes even more of a villian than his father, or he decides to stop trying to win his father's love and joins in with the gildong cause. Hoping the latter, I love a good redemption arc