Platinum Fox

You and many others have thought this as well. But remember this is Niao Niao's journey of growing up. What is love and what does it look like? For me, the drama is saying your lover should be someone who supports you, cares about your dreams, allows you to be yourself, but also challenges you to grow and change. They shouldn't hide things, exclude you from their most precious secrets. Dump you the night before your wedding to seek revenge and die. Most people equate love with the physical aspect of love which Niao Niao wasn't ready for. There is much more to love than just the physical. Lou Yao provided that aspect of love for her to learn from.

Thanks for the discussion and happy drama watching.

Are you sure about that? After everything that these boys do to each other, it appears none of them went to jail even Si Eun who assaulted the main perpetrator and all he got was transferred. It also stated that BS' dad paid for SH's hospital bill, so compensation has been given. This tells me that this type of behavior is okay as long as death doesn't occur. Did BS and the other boys go too far, yes, but none of them are in jail because everyone says it is okay as long as no one dies.

If each of the boys were held responsible for what they do to each other, then things might change, but because no one makes the perpetrators take responsibility for their actions (including the boys themselves), then the cycle will continue. You have to change the mindset of the people in order for change to happen. jmo

Yes, this was quite the interesting drama for all the things you mentioned about the late king's son, queen, and the minister.

I, too, found the destruction of the Zhen bird and the use of baby bird disturbing. However, I don't think they set out intentionally to kill it. It was not a well thought out plan which is why it becomes a symbolic event. The minister uses his daughter to get what he wants and ends up dying. The late king uses the excuse of needing a new queen for a son to get what he wants, and later he dies for it. Children are used by their parents all time in these dramas to get what they want.

Actually, I have to disagree with you. Even though they are not the same genre, they are indeed in the same league. Joy of Life comes right out and says we are going to take a character and explore modern values in juxtaposition with ancient values and see what happens. LLtG does the same thing, but doesn't overtly come right out and say it. Both of our protagonists must go on a journey to discover why their parents left them with their respective grandmothers. Both their mothers are extraordinary women who are overshadowed by their male counterparts in their respective timelines. Both stories are the same and end with each main character having to enter the political world even though they don't want to. Both are social commentaries on equality for all people. LLtG goes even further and brings in equity as well.

Joy of Life makes clever use of the sci-fi genre by placing a futuristic world in a historical setting to get its point across on equality for all. LLtG uses a mirror story structure and asks viewers to reflect on issues: equality vs. equity, parenting styles, nepotism, favoritism, teenage marriage, and more. jmo

Happy drama watching.

I see your point and agree. I, like you, also found it interesting that we do not meet the mother of his daughter or know her origins.

I have to say why would he want to take his enemy's son with him? Would it make her happy, yes, but for him, the son would be a constant reminder of his enemy, and in a sense the king would still win.

However, for me, the interesting part is that you have to wonder if the queen actually loved the minister in the first place, or was it just his grand illusion? First, she seemed pretty happy with the king and her son. Also, it was her son whom she went crazy over, not the minister himself. In addition, she allowed him to die while trying to give her a hairpin with no words between them. At the end, she gave back the hairpin to his grave.

Yes, the minister was a tragic figure, and I empathized with him until he started killing innocent people.

Thanks for the discussion. Happy drama watching.

It absolutely makes sense on the villain's part. The king stole his woman because the magistrate didn't have power or courage at the time to say that the woman was his woman. The worst part is that the king didn't really love the queen, she just happen to be pretty to the king. The queen was disposable in the eyes of the king. That is what drove the magistrate crazy and do what he did.

For me, the late king got what he deserved. Now, did the others deserve it, no. jmo

You are forgetting that she is also using incense on the king to control his actions. Both the king and the concubine are puppets for the magistrate. So it doesn't really have to be about the sex. It is the suggestion brought on by the help of the incense. It is to keep him appeased and unthinking, so the magistrate can run the country.

That is why when Hong Eun Jo in the grand prince's body smells the "medicinal" herbs, she has them taken out of the room as she knows what they are used for and can do to the body.

I think the concept they were playing out is how far will a person go for the one they love, even if their personality changes. Also, is a person the same person if his/her personality changes. Every male in this drama who had a mate had to make a decision about the woman he loved. All of them had major personality changes. In the beginning they all looked like their lovers, but had different personalities than what the male knew of them.

Yes, I also agree with you, that once he had his heir, he would kill off the king and crown prince. But this would not have affected the dowager as she was not related to them at all. The queen dowager was on her own, that is why she used the female lead to get back the power she had lost in the first place.

I hope this makes sense. Thank you for the discussion and happy drama watching.

The way it could happen is through the king granting her a status that would allow her to become the GP's main wife. Also, the marriage could be annulled as she was never able to consummate the marriage.

My biggest question is that she made it to the house, but they didn't go through a ceremony. So I am trying to figure out why she is even a concubine in the first place. But the plot is intriguing.

He is not the crown prince. He is the grand prince which means he is a member of the royal family, but not in line for the throne. He tells the 2 ml to stop calling the 1st female lead the e word because even a commoner who marries a royal as a concubine is given a royal title and is granted a certain status in which she can work her way to consort, but she can never be queen. No consort can be queen, but since he is not in line for the throne, she can become the prince's consort. There are several ranks that women can achieve within the royal harem. A concubine is the lowest with queen being the highest.

You have hit the nail on the head. It is why mom didn't want her getting married as NN isn't ready for that kind of relationship. NN has a lot of "growing up" to do as she is someone who is like a little child. That is why the LY arc is so important as it shows that NN can think of someone other than herself.

I have to disagree. The mother actually helps her daughter a great deal. While everyone thinks that the mother is being too hard on NN, she is actually quite the opposite. She disciplines NN because she understands what it means to be repatriated back into the home family (she was divorced). Since mom doesn't know what kind of family NN will marry into, she must protect her child at all cost even if that means looking like the bad guy in the end. How will the husband's family discipline her, if mom doesn't? Mom teaches NN to take responsibility for her actions. Also, what many viewers overlook is that we find out that everything sounds much worse than it actually is. Is her mother a perfect mother, no but what parent is? All parents make mistakes. The mother is actually quite progressive in her punishment of NN. She even states, if NN had been a soldier she would have been punished far more with the paddle. She only used physical discipline twice. Very progressive for that time period. In the end, I think it hurt the mom more than NN. jmo

Happy drama watching.

What a fun drama! The only thing I would complain about was that they didn't wrap up the issue with his dad and mom's death as well as her dad's death. I understand that it was long time ago, but the prosecuting attorney should have done something to clear up the false charges.

Yes, following her plan would have been the simplest. However, would you want the late king to win by allowing his son to marry your daughter and be king? The one thing the villain could guarantee is the present king was worthless and the villain could control him. Also, by keeping the deposed crown prince away from his daughter it was like taking away a monarch's lover, just like how his lover was taken away by a king who didn't love her.

I have watched the entire drama, so I must have missed it or not understood it. Thanks for the clarification.

Thanks for the clarification. Yes, the ancestry is quite confusing. That's why I said my take on it was that the villain killed three people in order to make sure that the present king became king.

As to why he killed Hong Nan's lover I am not sure, but I thought it was because he was someone in line for the throne. Otherwise, I don't see a reason for the villain to kill the FL's brother unless to drive the crown princess into further despair and eventual suicide.

The ancestry seems to be all over the place. But from what I gathered it was the late king who married the villain's lover. He killed the late king because the late king said that he hadn't loved his queen and she was disposable. This made the villain furious and plan his revenge.

Happy drama watching.

I get your point. However, the villain had been in love with the previous queen long before she became queen, and they were going to be married. One day the late king was out running around the market and hurt his ankle, the villain took him to his home to have his "wife" care for him. In the process the late king took a fancy to her and made her his queen. Since that time the villain has had to watch his true love be with someone who didn't love her at all. The late king even said as much when she was accused of adultery. The villain didn't have enough power to stop the late king from taking his woman. Thus, he did everything he could to gain power including killing the late king and the other people who could inherit the throne (except the deposed crown prince as he was his woman's son) until he reached someone whom he could control, the present king and his son.

Yes, the queen dowager was an evil person for doing what she did, but in the process the villain got his woman back. So in a sense the queen dowager did him a big favor. Why kill someone who actually helped you?

Why would someone automatically think that a person who looks like his dead wife would be his dead wife? We all have doppelgangers in the world. And he does thoroughly research her background, but by the time he knows for sure that she is, he has fallen in love with her new personality and identity. Park Dal I is a stronger, more confident person, a better version of herself. He is seeing a whole new side to her which then leads him to be stronger and more confident.

I understand where you are coming from and these things do seem out of wack.

Happy drama watching.

Again, I disagree. No where in the drama does the princess threaten to kill her lover's family. What purpose would it serve? It is only in his mind that if he doesn't kill XFF, the princess would if she ever married into the family. What he doesn't realize is that the princess is all about torture and pain, not killing people. The princess wanted to marry into the family, so that she could torture XFF as the princess would be considered the main wife and XFF would be the concubine.

The extra episode was for the fans, not a part of the original drama. Fans were so upset over the ending that the producer caved and made the extra five minute episode, but it has nothing to do with the drama itself. XFF's happy ending having her husband and a child goes against everything that the drama was trying to accomplish. Heroes and heroines are not always perfect and pure. This is why the ending of the drama is perfect as is. XFF must wait to see if the gods grant what she did to PW as just or not. Poetic justice at work for going too far in her revenge.

The same thing happens in Princess Wei Young. Princess Wei Young goes way over the top with her revenge. In the end she pays the price with her husband dying an early death and her left only with a child.

Happy drama watching.

No, but it is there for a good reason.

Here is my take on the relationship between all the characters. The late king's father had three sons. Since the late king would not fall into place with the LSC, the LSC killed the late king and the other brother (Hong Nan's lover), so that the current king would have to take the thrown. The LSC manipulated the present king into signing a pact or else the LSC would say that the present king had killed his brother and taken over the thrown illegitimately. The late king's son, Yi Un is the legitimate heir to the thrown. However, he was deposed because his mother, married to the late king, was "accused" of having an affair. The LSC planned all of this for power.

The queen dowager is the late king's in-law. This is why she has no real power over the king or the LSC. She is trying to regain power through Park Dal I. Presently, the king and the crown prince are people the LSC can control because of the pact that the present king and LSC made. The queen dowager could take control again if Yi Un takes the thrown as she is his grandmother on his mother side and rightfully legitimate.

Hope this helps. I was confused as well.