K-Drama 
This review may contain spoilers
My dearest; my favorite drama of all time so far.
What I love most is the absolute devotion of the male lead to the woman he loves and I mean DEVOTION.
There is something almost old-fashioned about it: the longing, the restraint, the things left unsaid. The exchanged looks, the smallest touches of their hands, the way a seemingly insignificant gesture carries enormous meaning. It reminded me so much of the yearning in Pride and Prejudice: a romance where a look across a room can somehow say more than an entire confession.
And the yearning in this drama is painful!
At the beginning, he is trying so hard to win her while she is determined to resist him, and I loved that she doesn’t simply forget the man she loved before. Her first love continues to occupy a piece of her heart, which makes her feelings and eventual growth feel much more human. Neither character remains the person we meet in the first episodes. War, separation, loss, sacrifice, and love transform them both.
But Jang-hyun’s devotion is what completely won me over. If you want a drama where the male lead is absolutely, hopelessly devoted to his woman, this is the one. His world can be filled with other beautiful women (even women who remind him of her) and somehow that only makes his loyalty to Gil-chae more obvious. For him, there simply isn’t another woman. It is her.
I also loved that the romance exists within a much larger story. The historical setting isn’t merely decoration. We see the suffering of ordinary Joseon people, their attachment to their homeland, and questions of loyalty, duty, survival, and sacrifice. In a beautiful way, that larger theme is reflected in Jang-hyun himself: while others wrestle with loyalty to king and country, his deepest and most unwavering loyalty is ultimately to the woman he loves.
It is romantic without making love easy. It understands that devotion is not just saying “I love you”; sometimes it is waiting, protecting, sacrificing, returning, and choosing the same person again and again.
The looks. The hands. The longing. The loyalty.
PS: And that boat scene…when she suggests the rumors about him being a eunuch might be true, and he just laughs. The confidence in that laugh, followed by his response… so charming.
There is something almost old-fashioned about it: the longing, the restraint, the things left unsaid. The exchanged looks, the smallest touches of their hands, the way a seemingly insignificant gesture carries enormous meaning. It reminded me so much of the yearning in Pride and Prejudice: a romance where a look across a room can somehow say more than an entire confession.
And the yearning in this drama is painful!
At the beginning, he is trying so hard to win her while she is determined to resist him, and I loved that she doesn’t simply forget the man she loved before. Her first love continues to occupy a piece of her heart, which makes her feelings and eventual growth feel much more human. Neither character remains the person we meet in the first episodes. War, separation, loss, sacrifice, and love transform them both.
But Jang-hyun’s devotion is what completely won me over. If you want a drama where the male lead is absolutely, hopelessly devoted to his woman, this is the one. His world can be filled with other beautiful women (even women who remind him of her) and somehow that only makes his loyalty to Gil-chae more obvious. For him, there simply isn’t another woman. It is her.
I also loved that the romance exists within a much larger story. The historical setting isn’t merely decoration. We see the suffering of ordinary Joseon people, their attachment to their homeland, and questions of loyalty, duty, survival, and sacrifice. In a beautiful way, that larger theme is reflected in Jang-hyun himself: while others wrestle with loyalty to king and country, his deepest and most unwavering loyalty is ultimately to the woman he loves.
It is romantic without making love easy. It understands that devotion is not just saying “I love you”; sometimes it is waiting, protecting, sacrificing, returning, and choosing the same person again and again.
The looks. The hands. The longing. The loyalty.
PS: And that boat scene…when she suggests the rumors about him being a eunuch might be true, and he just laughs. The confidence in that laugh, followed by his response… so charming.
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