L13

Gao Bingzhu and Wu Siyue’s scenes together have gotten even more intense and angsty since he joined the Intelligence Service. I want more interactions between them—and they need to have an honest conversation about their feelings! I really want them to get a happy ending.

The Yao Niang/16th Night reveal was awesome. A total shock, and the dramatic showdown with GBZ was well done. As someone else said, though, I still find An Beitan suspicious… Frankly, I also find the prince in charge of the Intelligence Service a little sus. I don’t think he’s part of the Four Seasons Divine, but I think he may be revealed to have his own goals separate from the Empress at some point.

I hate sad endings, but I love good romantic melos... and Kim Kyung-nam and Ahn Eun-jin are serving Just Between Lovers sexy sad vibes in the teaser and promos... so I'm ready to be hurt...

I'm 7 episodes in and I'm really liking this drama. Gotta say, though... the Baili Hongyi/Liu Ran and Yuehua/Gao Bingzhu dynamics definitely have romantic undertones. (Not complaining at all, just pointing it out since it's not in the tags.)

It's a very good drama, kind of like a cross between The Longest Day in Chang'an and Rise of Phoenixes or something. (The Longest Day in Chang'an is clearly a big inspiration here and that's probably my favourite historical cdrama and massively underrated on MDL.) Beautiful shots, suspenseful plot, interesting/intelligent characters and mystery.

He... does his job?

This drama has some flaws, but it's still my favorite weekend drama out of the many I've watched because it avoids so many of the usual issues with this genre. The ML's mother likes the FL and supports her, the FL is not a damsel in distress--she's not clumsy, plucky, passive or any of the other gendered stereotypes kdramas love, but instead remains a real grown-up person who is strong, fierce and kind from beginning to end--the SML, who's been the FL's best friend all her life, is just a friend to her and has his own romantic interest without getting in the way of the main couple, the drama doesn't fill the last 10-20 episodes with the main couple living with the ML's parents and the FL doing chores, in fact the FL doesn't allow anyone to belittle her, and the villains get their comeuppance in the end.

I loved the main couple's dynamic and was touched by the ML's devotion, and the secondary couple was also really sympathetic. In general, the romantic tension was top notch even if it was very melodramatic at times.

Basically, this drama is one of the best representatives of its genre and I wish there were more like it being made nowadays instead of the played-out formula of a big family with several adult children who have different love lives and don't appreciate their parents' sacrifices or whatever.

You know what... that makes a lot more sense lol. I hated his character so much I must have zoned out during the flashback scenes. Thanks for the correction!

This drama feels like a live-action manga in the best way possible (=lots of psychological drama found in mundane situations and also it’s just fun).

That said... Kamisaka, a virgin? Ha! He has way too much game for me to believe that.

Watch Remembrance of Things Past and Octogenarian and the 90s if you're looking for more realistic, psychologically deep, slice-of-life romance in cdramas. They both tackle serious subjects like mental health and grief as well.

Not sure why people say the main couple got an open ending. Their story isn't resolved with a wedding, true, but it ends on a pretty definitive note. Do-kyung finds Ji-an abroad and asks her to be in a long-distance relationship with him until she returns to Korea and she agrees! We can imagine the rest from there.

I dip in and out of this drama when I'm looking to kill a few minutes and I fast-forward through a lot of scenes (including all of Cho-hee's office drama, her in-laws, her frenemy and her family, etc.), so I may have missed this, but--who is Seul-ah's sick relative? Is it her father or a sibling? Or did she perhaps have a child at a young age that her mother is raising and that's why she's so worried on the phone? She keeps telling Kang-rim and her friend that they don't know what kind of life she's had, so I'm wondering what her dramatic backstory is.

I like that Bo-ri is finally having a substantial interaction with CH's boss this week; that romantic subplot has to start up at some point.

Wishing her and Choi Tae-joon the best as they become spouses and parents!

It's more fun than funny for me.

The premise and plot (or what we know of it so far) are *very* similar to those of Secret Royal Inspector, which aired earlier this year on KBS2, but I have to say the first episodes of SRIJ were markedly more fun for me than the first episodes of SRI. I like the main characters better, and Yi-eon and his manservant seem smarter and more competent as far as secret royal inspectoring goes than Yi-gyeom and his sidekick in SRI.

I LOVE the way they subverted the stupidest trope ever in the last episode. It was both clever and funny and also just a better, more satisfying way to end the drama. One of the strongest final episodes I can remember watching recently just for the fact they tied up all loose ends, gave all secondary characters a nice send-off, and didn't do anything annoying and unnecessary with the main couple.

Really? I already can't stand this puta. He's so condescending to MWQ; when she asks him what's going on, he's all ~don't worry your pretty little head about it~ when she's obviously a smart and capable person who can handle (and deserves to know) the truth about the situation she's entangled herself in. And he tells his subordinate if he moves into her house, he can "take care of her"? Who is he to take care of her? She can take care of herself!

He hasn't met her since they were children and yet he's already following her around, inserting himself into her life and trying to run it for her after just a handful of meetings. I hate this shit and never see it as romantic. I hope he gets a real love interest quickly so this love triangle nonsense can be laid to rest.

It's not the costume budget that bothers me but the subtly anachronistic fashion. MWQ wears this butterfly hair clip in several scenes that looks old-fashioned at a glance but is actually asymmetrical and oblong, which are modern design features. Similarly, women in the drama wear low-heeled shoes with T-straps and diagonal straps, which are very pretty and kinda resemble shoes from the right period, but they have these really pointed toes that are very modern. And the floral-pattern coat TXL wears on the ship in the first episode is just completely out of place in this period.

The haircuts, especially the women's, are also vaguely old-timey but actually not true to the period at all.

It doesn't bother me too much, but I wish they'd gone in more of a Battle of Changsha direction with the costumes and styling.

Man, my heart broke for Song Bai Yu and his mother. The way his mother killed him unwittingly because of her loyalty to Zhao Rui was ~tragic irony~ of the most tragic variety. That scene of Bai Yu's final moments in the car trunk while his mother was playing a lullaby on her phone was just Too Much. Both of them were very complex and well-drawn characters (by cdrama standards).

I only wish we'd seen Yuan Hao meeting up with Wen Wan and her child in the epilogue and being a good friend to Bai Yu's family as a way of putting Bai Yu's memory to rest.

Also... Lin Lan/Yuan Hao nation, we got a single very tiny crumb in the literal last seconds of the final episode...??? I can't believe they did us dirty like that! I choose to believe they finally started dating after they basically decided not to move away so they could keep living together and Lin Lan officially gave him his helmet. Because COME ON.

I have a feeling Won-tak and Chak-hee will get some minor romantic development in the final episodes.

The leads get a lot of screen time where they share private moments together, so there's plenty of relationship development between them, and every couple of episodes someone will suggest that they like each other or that they should get together, but so far there hasn't been any explicit romantic development. The romantic tension is just overt enough that you can't say it's all in our heads, so I hope we'll get some crumbs in the final episode(s).