annelee2019

Oh, show... I really hate you.

But since we've made some progress in having honest conversations and getting things off our chests, let me start by saying that the whole storyline with the Qing princess is beyond lame.

So, you want me to believe she shot Jang Hyun in the back, on the left side where his heart presumably is, but it had been a surgical shot, and she knew he wouldn't die, and probably knew that he wouldn't really need a few months to recover (more on that later), and the minute he went outside, she was there to eavesdrop on his conversation with Gil Chae and stake her claim on him...

She's also a pitiful orphan with suicidal tendencies who hunts people for fun and coerces a man into her bed by threatening to kill said people. Cue emotive music, doe eyes, and "Can you save me from falling, Interpreter Lee?"

That's BEYOND lame, show, and you know it. I low-key wish Jang Hyun would accept her offer. Just, you know, to make an already absurd situation even more absurd. What kind of a redemption story are you trying to create out of thin air, show?

I may forgive you somewhat if you turn out to be based on Jang Hyun's journal he casually mentions in episode 15. Because believing that a man can successfully pretend to be fully unconscious for a period of time it takes to till the land, grow rice, and have your first harvest, requires tremendous suspension of disbelief. (If anything, he would lose all that nice muscle mass - but more on that later). Believing that a man can successfully get away with this trick... is akin to believing in Santa Claus and leprechaun's gold.

That's fairy tale material, show. First, you give me pulled out nails, slashed heels, and slave markets - and now this? The change in tone was jarring, and the outcome (Gil Chae's staying on for a few months without even writing to her family in Hanyang) unearned. You should bow to your cast, show, because they somewhat saved this with their beautiful acting - but I will never forgive you for changing your tune abruptly again in episode 16...

Which was so hopeless that you had to throw in a bare-chested Namgoong Min in the preview. (With muscle mass intact and all.) Here, guys, take this spoon of UST before we feed you another 30 minutes of politics and a big fat chunk of noble idiocy, this time served by Jang Hyun. We framed it in a way that he would finally understand why Gil Chae abandoned him (this essay on loyalty he refused to do in ep. 1 is his karmic debt - and it keeps on writing itself). We made him say harsh words, similar to those that were in Gil Chae's letter - not entirely a lie, but something that would make her flee. We even had them have a conversation on two sides of a door, to bookend their Simyang's time together. Aren't we clever? Aren't you satisfied that the girl got a taste of her own medicine?

I gave up on episode 16 at this very moment and watched it to the end, fully knowing you would try to lure me in again, show, by some sneakily happy-go-lucky preview. And you did, show, you did try to make my heart waver, but no, I won't be fooled again. I refuse to take you seriously and suffer along. It's all about whether you stick the landing now, show. You've been warned.

On a more serious note (I'm upset with this set of two episodes, but there were some redeeming things), Gil Chae is the best female character in recent Kdrama history. Best arc, best decisions, best handwriting, amazing self-restraint... needs to work on her patient-nursing skills to weed out fakers. Her confrontation with her cheating husband (who lied to Yeon Jun about sending someone to find Gil Chae and why he returned from Simyang without her) was as classy as it could be. She actually proved herself a cool person when living with the captives. Her reuniting with Jong Jong and Eun Ae warmed my heart. The rest of the plot was solid. I don't disagree with anything that looked and felt real and earned.

I applaud this well-thought-out take with all my might. I've been thinking along the similar lines lately, what constitutes a marriage. Is it a formal ceremony? Or the mutual commitment between two people, the willingness to go through life difficulties together?

It was very sad that Gil Chae had to give up on her only dream, of spending her life with a person she could share her heart with. It is even sadder that her sacrifice for the sake of her family went largely unnoticed. She did was what expected of her. And she had tried to be faithful to that decision even when in enslavement. Even when her husband abandoned her, she hadn't reached out to Jang Hyun. Even when he himself came to her, she refused his help. The saddest thing in Episode 14 for me was when she reached out to caress his face at his sickbed, had to stop her hand halfway and found a piece of cloth to wipe off his sweat instead - because helping her savior recover was a more appropriate thing to do. Unlike Jang Hyun, she can't follow her heart - and has to sacrifice it again and again, paying dearly for her previous choice.

The best thing in Episode 14 was Jang Hyun's coming to warn Gil Chae of his absence. He never did anything of the sort before - just went whenever and wherever he wanted to. He actually fulfilled all the promises he made in Episode 10 - up to receiving her punishment and (almost) dying in her arms. Instead of walking away from Gil Chae, he ran towards her. And, well, this changes everything. We'll see how it goes from there.

I agree that the thing with the mask was plain stupid. It was almost a private outing - why bother? Also, the actress does not present her character as crazy. There is no mad glint in her eyes or hidden rage anywhere under the surface. She is not even particularly cold. I don't know what they wanted her to be. I get the Qing emperor and his general. Her, I don't get at all.

Yeah, when Yeon Jun and Officer Gu are talking I feel like I want to hit both of them with a stick... pathetic and useless, but oh so busy with state affairs, having been commended by the King during the war...
Eun Ae is the best girl ever. She'll never give up on Gil Chae, even if the whole world will turn against her.

*sighs* See, show, you work so much better when you stop with this cliffhanger nonsense and just let the things unfold naturally...

Also, when Namgoong Min and Ahn Eun-jin actually share scenes, they generate so much magic that it makes me overlook your most obvious flaws. Namely, botched timelines (i. e. how much time did it take Jang Hyun to recover from that head wound? How much time do you need to learn Manchurian language at a level that you may comfortably plead your case with a Qing emperor?), lopsided logic (i. e. the best way to a man's heart is to shoot him in the back - he will definitely return your call some time in the future), surprising lack of urgency or stakes (we all know that the leads will survive the hunt - it's only episode 14).

But now that Jang Hyun and Gil Chae are in the same frame and communicating honestly for a change, I can only smile contentedly, because they blow me away. They are so good together. A true linchpin of the story. The best thing was not making Gil Chae a long-suffering noble idiot. She did not say much about their complicated situation, but her feelings were pretty clear from how she acted, how her stoic face wavered at a mere touch of his hand, how she spent the night watching over Jang Hyun... That was enough for them to cross the chasm her marriage created. And now they both know the lengths they will go for one another.

There were many other great things in episodes 13 and 14. Jang Hyun's essay about loyalty recited to the Crown Prince. Gil Chae's risking herself to speak for women of Joseon - before her enslavement, she would only do such a thing for her loved ones, Eun Ae or Jong Jong, and now she matured enough to embrace strangers. Yeon Jun's admitting that he is useless felt cathartic. And Ryang Eum's story is far from being over, now that he realized his longing is actually greed.

What didn't work for me at all was the warrior princess character. On paper, she looks okay - pretty, smart, capable, cruel, a worthy opponent to Jang Hyun's cunning. It is the execution that fell flat. I don't know why she wants Jang Hyun. Despite the two romantic dates and a lot of quality dialogue, they had no connection. He's obviously tolerating her company. Gak Hwa obviously knows he's playing the Qing in favor of Joseon. If it is about physical attraction, she should be trying to seduce him instead of blackmailing. If it is about capturing his heart, she should be doing something impressive instead of playing games. I'm not sure what her motivation is, besides boredom and spite.

And the acting doesn't help at all - though I liked Lee Chung-ah in One Dollar Lawyer very much, she simply doesn't have the gravitas to present a viable threat in this drama. When she said that she killed her husband, I was like, "Really? You don't say so." The hunt challenge as proposed by her was paint-by-the-numbers unconvincing. We could see from a mile away how it would go and end. It was also very unconvincing that she let Jang Hyun live and set Gil Chae free after seeing his sacrifice. She was not moved by that at all - or I didn't get anything like this from Lee Chung-ah's acting.

We'll see what the writer's plan for this character is in the future, of course. (Maybe not making Gak Hwa a total psychopath was a choice.) We already learned quite a bit about Officer Gu (I somehow can't be bothered to learn the proper spelling of his name). He is a half-hearted person. Unable to tell the whole truth. Unable to go the whole way. Unable to love unconditionally. Unable to give up his pride. Unable and unwilling to protect his woman - though he is a military man and certainly has the guts and the means to do so. I shook my head quite a bit at him. But he's more convincing to me that Princess Gak Hwa.

Loved the preview for episode 15 (for a change). Maybe we should stop watching somewhere around this point, before another wave of angst and suffering hits. Happy Jang Hyun is a wonderful sight :) And yes, Namgoong Min who acts not only with his eyes, but even with his neck and the tips of his fingers is an international treasure and deserves all the awards imaginable.

I agree with you that the pacing in Part 2 has been VERY disappointing so far. And I'm afraid that now that the leads finally saw each other, we may expect a lot of noble idiocy going just to keep them apart longer. The drama has teased Jangchae's reunion for the fourth episode in a row. Fourth episode in a row, we see cages, and fields, and Qing palaces. I'm very frustrated with this.

*applauds*

Give us the name, show, we need to talk some sense into this sadist.

I share your frustration with the timeline. Our girl Gil Chae is a tough cookie, but it is highly implausible that they could not have sold her to anyone in half a year, especially after the slave driver let Officer Gu go home without paying a bond for her.

In fact, I've been gritting my teeth at the total lack of urgency in her situation. Take Ryang Eum who supposedly came to tell Jang Hyun that Gil Chae is in Simyang. He greets a child, then he greets Jang Hyun, then he greets their elder master, then he says "I didn't come to see you, Jang Huyn, don't get your hopes up." And only then he tells him about her plight. That was unbelievably frustrating.

But yeah, I agree that the acting is exquisite, in every scene.

ExpressVPN. They have a free trial period, I believe

Somebody is drowning in their emotions prematurely :) We haven't seen the whole story unfold, people! Cheer up!

Wait until the show gets picked up by Netflix after its original run. It's going to be huge, and the rating will improve considerably.

Canada or US VPN works for me, I have a free subscription which allows you to watch an episode on the day it is released (they get locked afterwards). The English subtitles are available on Kocowa after about 5 hours after the live airing on MBC.

No shared drinks shown so far.
But oh well, maybe we get more flashbacks in the future :)

Oh, not at all, I'm actually glad to be able to share this, because I finally got the explanation of Jang Hyun's daydreaming about how he would gift Gil Chae the shoes. That scene seemed so bizarre out of context. Now I get it - the poor chap was rehearsing his proposal. He was actually going to propose to her, for real.

Instead, he arrived at her doorstep the moment the wedding began. It went like this - acceptance/exchange of wedding gifts on the first day, next, a feast for the family and neighbors (they ran away in the middle of that night), and finally, the paebaek wedding ceremony, with the table, the costumes, etc - we see the preparations for this when Gil Chae is talking to Wonmo and smiling before Jang Hyun leaves.

So, the wedding was a long thing. And all the conversations and events took place right in the middle of it - which is probably why Gil Chae is wearing the same clothes all the time (the paebaek robe is worn over this red-and-green hanbok). She returned home just on time to finish it.

I like Twinkling Watermelon quite a bit. It's fun, and it is on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Yeah, I agree with you, there are many mind-blowing moments like that.
But maybe Ryang Eum took a boat at some point? Or maybe they parted ways with Yeon Jun in that village, one went to Hangyang to warn the husband, and the other to Simyang to warn Jang Hyun? Oh, don't get me started, show, I hate homework!

My meaning was that Jang Hyun is a well-known person, who resides in Simyang, where she is, so finding a way to relay a message to him should be relatively easy for a smart girl like Gil Chae. Even Jong Jong found such an opportunity. Moreover, Gil Chae knows that he is capable of helping, the girl in the palace told her that he successfully smuggled four people from under the Qing royal family's noses (which, sadly, prompted Gil Chae's being kidnapped as a spare). To your point, it may be indeed because she knows he could be killed for stepping out of line that she does not want to involve him. (I also wonder if her husband warned her, at some point, that he would kill him both if she were to see Jang Hyun again.)

I think we'll see what kind of man he is in the following episodes.

That fit of jealousy was pretty disturbing, and he lost precious time to save Gil Chae while she was on the road to Simyang. But he did go to the Qing alone personally to make up for that. His reaction to the story of her being enslaved will be telling. However, we already know that this marriage will fail - only the details are still unclear.

I don't think Gil Chae would marry a bad person, money or not. She seemed to enjoy his company when they were just doing business together. It's just that he hoped she would fall in love with him eventually, despite knowing all about her previous romance, and what lengths she was ready to go to for Jang Hyun. (He was the one who brought her to the prince's camp leaving for Simyang and witnessed the conversation on the mountain with hand-grabbing and face-holding, so he knew.)

The Viki subtitles give a different translation of the King's line that implied that the Crown Prince was adopted: "Qing's emperor sent me a secret letter. He criticized me because the court officials sent their adopted sons instead of biological sons as hostages." It may be a translation mistake.

From what I've read on Twitter, there was a real interpreter named Jang Hyun in Korean's history who was also a spy and a merchant, and the character in the show is might be based on him. He was not of a royal bloodline though.

Having read up on Korean wedding traditions, I'm now convinced that the show heavily implies that Jang Hyun is Gil Chae's true husband... It's just this symbolism is subtle and may go over our heads when we are not part of this culture.

First of all, Jang Hyun brought her a wedding chest too, the one with the floral shoes. It was highlighted in the visual narration upon his arrival in Hangyang. And by wearing the remaining pair, Gil Chae accepted his gifts - and his proposal.

On the night they eloped, Gil Chae wore the traditional bride's attire - a red skirt and a light-green jacket. She called Jang Hyun "seobang-nim" when asked point-blank if they are just running away together. She asked him if he is willing to become one for her, and Jang Hyun gave a speech about being her servant (husband means master, so it's not like he refuses - just does a more elaborate way of accepting/confessing). That's an abbreviated exchange of vows.

Lastly, the kiss scene in his memories. Jang Hyun kisses Gil Chae's brow where her bridal coronet should be. Then he kisses her cheeks where her red dot makeup symbolizing her youth and virginity should be. It's definitely not random, because the next scene, when we have the wedding night between Gil Chae and Wonmo, she takes off the coronet herself, while the husband comments that he should be the one to do that. Gil Chae has that red dot makeup, but she behaves very maturely and business-like, like she knows what's up. The contrast of the two scenes is hardly random.