Meari21

I actually find the drama's premise intriguing. The plot revolves around a present-day author who is tasked to adapt a classic novel and make it more palatable for a modern audience. But he ends up rewriting a lot of stuff that the novel lost most of its identity and what made it special in the first place. He also uses an AI program to help him write, which is something that we suspect many screenwriters and even book authors do these days.

He made the main character perfect and overpowered, turning him into a Gary Stu that can do no wrong, great at everything, beloved by everyone, and good looking on top of that. He fails to understand the lessons the original novel means to impart to its readers and disregards the importance of character development.

Interestingly, this is something that many modern writers have been doing lately. They tend to create messianic characters that are ridiculously overpowered, inserting their own fantasies into their modern adaptations, and departing from the core message and essence of the original stories. They fail to understand what made these classics so beloved and important pieces of literature. Mingming's superficial understanding of the novel and disrespect for the source material is the reason why he was transmigrated into the novel. There are lessons he needs to learn and he will experience the same adversity that the main character goes through to achieve character growth in this coming of age story. I suspect that by the end of the drama, he will create a much more fitting adaptation of the novel and write with his own ability instead of relying on AI.

He's a writer who's supposed to adapt a classic novel and give it a more modern twist, making the main character a Gary Stu that's overpowered. But he ended up changing a lot that the AI system he was using malfunctioned and transmigrated him into the novel somehow. I suppose it's trying to teach him the true lesson of the story which is about hard work, perseverance, and character growth.

Is it low budget? I thought this was the most expensive C-drama ever made thus far. This is co-produced by Tencent/WeTV and iQIYI. It's the S+ drama of all S-tier dramas. But I do get why people may think it's low budget because it does have the same look as Mysterious Lotus Casebook. Maybe the bulk of the budget went into the fight choreography and locations?

I was waiting for this drama to air to renew my iQIYI. My boy Cheng Yi is back to doing what he does best, wuxia!

I compared this to The Eternals before. I owe that movie an apology. This is way worse. I’m only on episode 3 and it’s becoming apparent that this is not a slow burn drama like I initially thought but one that has a directionless plot.

Netflix uses the term consort and she is addressed as “mama”, which is used for queens and consorts. I researched more about the usage of consort and concubine in the Joseon royal court and they seem to use consort and concubine interchangeably, at least in terms of the English translation. The royal consorts are basically higher ranked concubines. But since they are given titles, they wield more power. The titles come with a royal
decree which is a binding contract between the woman and the ruler. So it’s basically a marriage. If they take on lovers, it’s considered adultery and treason. The lower ranked concubines are not given these titles as far as I can understand. The Queens are different, thus they wear different clothing and headdresses. So yeah, we are both right. The drama’s production team uses the term concubine because in the Korean language, they are the same.

But if you check the list of queens, consorts, and concubines during the Joseon era, the Queens and consorts are not the same. Yes, they can be called Queen or Princess consort, but the title of royal consort is also given to the higher ranking wives. As for Chang Noksu, there is a debate about her true station. Some historians say that her rank was deliberately lowered despite having a higher rank among his wives. But she did start as a concubine as she was the daughter of a slave. Because she was his favorite, he promoted her to a higher status.

Then the subtitles in the drama are incorrect because they do call her consort, a junior consort. And she is addressed as "mama", which is a title reserved for consorts and queens as it basically means "your grace/highness" if I'm not mistaken. To be honest, I'm confused because these titles are not normally used for concubines.

She is literally called Consort Kang in the drama. She is based on Chang Noksu, one of his royal consorts. The real Yeonsangun had a total of 9,000 royal consorts and concubines. Asian rulers were allowed to have as many consorts as they wanted but there was only one Queen/Empress and primary wife. They didn't only have one wife but many.

Concubines and consorts are different. Royal consorts are married to the ruler and they usually have noble background. Concubines do not have the same privilege as consorts. Consort Kang wouldn’t be this powerful in the court if she was a mere concubine.

Good thing they struck gold with Chae Min's casting. It could've easily gone the opposite way. This kid is blowing up in Korea. He was a C-list actor and now everyone wants to work with him.

You mean Consort Kang? Yes, she is. He has several other wives. Consort Kang is only a fourth rank consort but she's his favorite so she's technically the only one that matters among them. He also has countless concubines. As I've mentioned in another post, Kings and Emperors usually have a royal harem that exists solely to produce heirs. Consorts are usually married to the ruler for political reasons so most of them have powerful people backing them up or they're part of a powerful clan. Rulers usually have a Queen or Empress and primary wife. However, the true power of these wives depends on who produces a male heir. None of them have given him an heir so far and he has no queen as of yet. It's just the way it was back in the day. Men could have as many wives as they could support so it wasn't considered cheating.

Yep. Their writers have been heavily influenced by western entertainment that it no longer feels Korean-Korean, if you know what I mean. I like the silliness of the old Korean romantic comedies. I even miss their love square trope for some reason. lol We don't really get those anymore.

This has the vibe of old school K-dramas and I do enjoy it very much. Yes, it's cliched and formulaic but it's precisely that familiarity that I think people missed. For someone like me who has been watching K-dramas for more than 20 years, I've seen them evolve and improve over the years. While I appreciate variety in these dramas - I do enjoy their grittier and more grounded dramas - a lot of their rom-coms have lost their magic because they've deviated from the original formula that served them well. Once in a while, I would like to see a rom-com that reminds me of a simpler time when K-dramas were just plain escapist fun.

They probably just memorized the lines without thinking about proper enunciation, tone, and accent. I'm pretty sure none of these Korean productions hire language coaches because the actors also sound like robots mimicking human speech when they speak English. lol

I’m only talking about the drama and in the drama he has no queen as of yet.

Consort Kang is not his concubine but a royal consort. He is married to his consorts. They are ranked according to their station. Concubines are lesser wives or mistresses. Kings and emperors usually have more than one consort or wife, and they take on concubines as well. This is called a royal harem. They exist to produce heirs. But there is only one queen/empress and primary wife. He doesn’t have one yet.

He’ll be 25 this month. With age, it’s the year that matters. 1990 and 2000. To be specific, she’s 10 years and 4 months older than him, not 11. Now that’s real math. lol

True story. And yes, the math doesn't lie, 10-year gap. Is 2000 -1990 = 11 to you? Lee Chae Min was born on Sept 15, 2000. He'll be turning 25 in two weeks, Yoona is 35 now as she was born in May, 1990.

Just 10 years not 11, Yoona was born in 1990, Chae Min was born in 2000. I dated someone 10 years my junior, I was in my 30's, he was in his 20's and yet he was more mature and accomplished than me. I guess I was one of those creepy aunties then. lol

The older dramas were better imho. Yes, they were cliched and formulaic but they had simpler plots and they were more proudly Korean. Many of them were just plain escapist fun. The later dramas have been heavily influenced by western culture they might as well be Asian clones.