MadelineMaureen

So like super big spoilers ahead for the last episode.
In the last episode FL tries to give the the throne to her younger brother. Her older cousin with the help of her Grandfather storm the palace killing the younger brother in the process. ML's father dies protecting the King & her people. The older cousin is mortally wounded but holding on(later to die off screen). FL calls an end to the the fighting and agrees to step down from the throne. One last meeting with Gramps. She pours him a cup of tea while one of his men bring in "medicine" for FL to take her own life. FL has cup of tea so does Gramps...surprise b*tch, tea was poisoned with the same thing Gramps used to kill her father. FL somehow survives(ML got to her right as the poison was taking effect) the poisoning and is brought before the new king, her younger cousin Hyun, who along with the court's blessing, release her and let her take back her original identity.
FL & ML are living outside of the capital happily married. Lady Kim, Eunuch Hong, and Kim Ga On(bodyguard) stay on to serve the new king. A hinted at romance between ML's "little sister" and Ga On who is still staying with the ML's "brother & sister" at the clinic in the capital. The former queen is now a commoner, but at peace with everything that happened. The other SFL we don't really see what happened with her in the very end.

Oh i dont think I elaborated on why 22 is still a questionable age for me. At 22 no matter how much experience youve had your brain isnt fully developed yet(Im sure that most know this but incase someone doesnt, the more ya know). You're personality isnt even fully form. It's not so much experience but time & hormonal shifts. That kind of thing. For healthy relationships with age gaps the elder needs to be aware of those changes at that age & let them happen. I know I'm watching a drama in make believe land, but I know some younger audience members might not recognize the difference between what works in fiction & what would happen in reality.
So while I have totally been on board for fictional romances involving questionable levels of red flags I like to have deeper discussions in the comments. Also separating the difference between good writing vs good chemistry. Cause, have you noticed in some shows the writing is horrible but the actors have such good chemistry that you pretty much say ef it? But when the writing is amazing & the chemistry is bad it's harder to forgive?
(Also shot out to everyone writing think pieces in the comments cause that is truly the life's blood of visual media & art. The discussions & sharing of opinions & personal perspectives helps develop critical thinking. & honestly it's just fun to deep dive into what you've been consuming.)

So for me we still don't know her feelings about him yet. The only time we've gotten a flashback from HER perspective is when she saw the principal and those memories are of her being cursed at and abused. So, and truly this could just be my asexuality talking, I haven't picked up on her wanting his attention, missing him, or even thinking about him in a positive/romantic way. The only thing that I think she's been missing is her love of/connection to math that she lost after what happened 4 years prior.
Until we get more insights into her own thinking it's still very vague imo. But again I'm ACE so I see myself in her a little(or am projecting that onto her character because of how vague everything is). Like not really noticing when someone likes them. Not really thinking about romantic feelings when friendship or academics are the main tether. The more I process this show after reading multiple takes on it the more I'm realizing how starved I am for ACE/Grey ACE perspective dramas.

I can't fully agree but I can't fully disagree with your take after thinking about it.
So on Yoon Soo's side of things she just wants to nurture a talented student and truly doesn't understand why that would be weird. She probably doesn't even think much about his feelings for her until she is given the photo as a gift, and only then do I think it actually dawned on her that their relationship as teacher-student was getting a bit dodgy. Why I have an issue with her naivety on how their relationship is being perceived; is because her own teacher was fired and investigated after being "close" to students. So why she wouldn't be more cautious is just weird to me.
If there were feelings on her side at that time, one could argue that she met him on a train not knowing his age. She could tell they had similar interests based off his photographs & his hat.
With Seung Yoo I don't think he really sees her so much as a teacher but as a peer that he can learn from. So add on to the fact that she gets him interested in Math again, and helps him with his past trauma....there is just a lot going on that should have been unpacked by a therapist. Why he wasn't seeing one after his roommate and only friend killed themselves is beyond me.
I don't really think that it's their fault she got fired. But the didn't do anything to HELP themselves either. A lot of students have crushes on their teacher and go on to live normal healthy lives without even a whiff of scandal. I personally don't think 22 is mature enough to be dating someone that much older. Mainly because not fully cooked yet. & given the fact that he is ALSO getting extremely close with his own student just goes to show that lessons haven't been learned.
For all we know, as of episode 10, she still doesn't see him in a romantic way.
When I'm just watching the show I'm not noticing the age difference much because the actor reads his age to me which is 26. But any time it's brought to my attention that he's only 22ish i'm like hmm....

Dude! I couldnt even finish that one cause I was rolling eyes so hard at the families over reaction.
God, praying that this one doesnt go down that rabbit hole. If it does i will come back to this thread to give u a heads up.

I think there is something there, but it's very early stages after he is an adult. She's trying to put distance between them to protect him from her plans for the school & those involved with the corruption. So right now, even if she knows she likes him she isnt allowing herself to. Admiration & care are as far as we've gotten on her end. It most likely wont be definitive until ep10 or ep12. Which is when dramas with similar plots/themes pace their romance.

As of episode 9 they are not in any kind of romantic relationship with one another. The romance, or crush atm, IS a driving force of the drama, but it's not the central theme imo. Definitely a multi genre show like a more adult 'School' or 'Penthouse' but without all the dying and coming back to life.

Also it helps that although she admires his talent in Mathematics she never crosses the line knowingly while he's her student. What I mean is that there is some naiveté happening on her part. Which is almost being mirrored by Seung Yoo as a teacher to Si An as well. Throw in the fact that she was also a student of a wrongfully accused math teacher I'm starting to feel like they maybe need to work on their approach to outing the unfairness of the school.
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice shame, on me. Fool me thrice; shame on both of us.
Though, with Seung Yoo it almost feels like he wants people too get the wrong idea at times. Or he could just be blinded by the fact that his best access to Yoon Soo is through Si An at this time so he actually might not be aware he's coming off overly friendly.

I'm actually enjoying this one a lot because it's balancing the different themes well. School, family, romance, corruption etc. I will say I'm not a fan of the longer drawn out moments with the principal and her PP (piano and plants)....I'm like okay cool cool cool she's unhinged we got that already lets check in with someone else now please.

The way that Seung Yoo shows he cares for someone whether it's platonic, brotherly, or romantic is getting a little blurry in the middle here. I'm sure he's aware how he's acting with Ye Rin, it feels very targeted and manipulative even. But with his student Si An there are times where I'm like..."My dude, have you learned NOTHING from the past! Why you so close? Why are you setting this girl up as the next target of the school? You maybe want to give the poor girl a heads up?"
He's still the most sincere and protective towards his former teacher. But with everyone else he feels very much like a viper waiting to strike. Definitely keeping me on the edge of my seat with how everything is going to play out.
Slow revenge stories are my jim jam. Will they be able to pull it off after setting all these intricate traps? Will they be found out before it's too late? Will these damn kids ever learn from past mistakes?
Also totally waiting for the bomb that is the ex fiancé to go off.

Yeah even though I pay for viki when they are slow I will go and watch it on dc first and then circle back later on for the higher quality picture on viki.

I'm going to blame that on the director and post production. Because she was told to act a certain way and they were going to add effects in post...instead of making it a downpour with wind it looked like a light rain tbh.
Should have directed her to collapse to the ground and hold on for dear life instead of whatever the heck that was.

Now that the child cast are grown I really want to see an edit or them actually come together to play their adult versions. Cause all of them are still acting.

Its so much more common in jdramas that im going to say it's an esthetic choice. Unless the girl is drunk or just a more "knowledgeable" woman i.e. much older than the ML or more sex positive, 9 times out of 10 you're going to have 98% of the kiss/intimate scenes have a "reluctance" on the FL's part. At least that's how it reads from my western perspective.

I've been watching a few jdramas lately and this has been a problem for me. The FL cringing into herself while the taller ML hunches over and dips under to get to her mouth that is down cast. I'm like....wait...aren't they dating....ummm did I miss something....why is she still so unresponsive...WHY IS HE NOT NOTICING HOW UNRESPONSIVE SHE IS? There is a difference between tension and actually being physically tense. They are going for the former but achieving the latter.

I'm interested in the chemistry between Lee Dong Wook and Kim So Yeon, but I really didn't think this show needed more story tbh. Kind of takes away the impact if they just add on imo.

Why is it in some shows the FL looks like she's being SAed by the person she's supposed to be in love with/attracted to? It just sometimes looks like the guy isn't paying attention, and the girl isn't really into it. Not just this drama but it seems to be common theme. I get it in some Chinese dramas because of censorship/morality laws but when it's in a Japanese drama i'm like 'is this fetish or something?' the girl not being really into it?

umm...i guess? it was meh. i think it's a happy ending to the person who wrote it. soooo....yes?

I'm sorry but this is definitely wish fulfillment for the writer. And I question the age of said writer. Nothing happens in this. they have a singular date...they don't communicate. He plays dress up with her and waits....i'm just honestly confused. Like if this was an Asexual/demi relationship I'd get it more...as an ace person...but like I don't think that was the intent so I just saw a very shy and uncomfortable girl & a doormat of a guy waiting for his "treat". Like he can't even be in the room with her when she works? at her house? like what? She LITERALLY FORGETS HIS EXISTANCE WHILE WORKING ON A MANGA ABOUT HIM. say what what? oh hunny....you got some issues. Also the lack of reciprocated outward affection is confusing. She is always pushing away, turning away, cringing into herself, or She's answering the phone or falling asleep on him.

I feel there were characters in this drama that were supposed to be more fleshed out but got pushed to the side. We never found out why Ha Ram's people followed him/had their own reasons for revenge. There was just parts of it that felt very half hearted from the writing side of things. I don't know if their stories got cut in the editing process, but there was a serious lack of character motivation for the majority of the characters. It was pretty & cute, but very underdeveloped with storytelling.
It...just felt very shallow...and surface level with everything. Like they wanted to have all the plots(revenge, secret identity, fated love, divine powers, love triangle etc etc.) and ended up with tbh a bit of a mess because they didn't really fully develop them. It's kind of like if 'Moon Embracing the Sun' & 'Iljimae' got put in a blinder or like they tried to do one of those long Chinese epic deity dramas but realized halfway through they have half the runtime.

I wanted more communication from the FL & ML, cause like idk about you but if the person I loved tried to kill me on multiple occasions I would need a minute to process that. Or just more effort on their part to work through the trauma of hurting the one you love/being hurt by the one you love. Because honestly, at times it felt very toxic and abusive. Take out the supernatural elements and that's a classic abusive relationship. SOoooo um yeah, I would have liked that aspect to have more weight to it. The whole 'I can't touch you without awakening a literal inner demon' thing isn't exactly the best set-up for a romantic drama without more tension on the part of the leads. Where was the longing? I saw glimpses, but by the midway point it was jst very casual(?).

Hwacha isn't Ha Ram's ancestor, & Ma Wang isn't from Ha Ram's family. Ha Ram was in a weakened state during the rain ceremony & was technically speaking "killed" in the process. Because Ha Ram had divine powers from his father's side he was the perfect vessel for Ma Wang to burrow into. Ha Ram would have died had Ma Wang not inhabited his body when he did. I believe the water pulling him out was his ancestor.
Ha Ram's is descended from a water god. aka the guy in the cell, the man who told him to break the ring.
Hwacha is a like a goblin whose source of power comes from paintings. Because the painting of the King had both Ma Wang & Sam Shin's energy in it when Hawcha absorbed the painting he became a deity. Ma Wang(death) and Sam Shin(life) are two sides of the same coin. Yin and Yang, to have balance you need both. But when Ma Wang inhabits a human vessel that balance is thrown off because he reaps destruction unchecked.
Ma Wang's power is in his eyes. He can corrupt/control/curse someone with just eye contact. Which is why Sam Shin "takes" them and gives them to Chun Ki. They loose there power when not connected to Ma Wang's spirit.
As an add on Chun Ki was born with sight, but was cursed by Ma Wang when he cursed the Hong family to never paint again. Her father lost his mind(he also made eye contact with Ma Wang) and she lost her sight. Thus rendering the Hong family to not be able to paint. Which is why she gets her sight back. The curse was broken. I believe that had her father lived he would have regained his mind as well.