momo

I have no problem dropping dramas if I see that it will be really cliche or the male lead is really toxic - two of the things I hate the most. I actually don't really mind spoilers.

I have more of a problem with boring dramas - like when I'm halfway through the drama, and I realize that I don't enjoy it at all, and it's pretty much a waste of time. I could skip scenes, but I don't really like that. On the other hand, I was seriously bored in the 2-3 eps of Prison Playbook, and then it became one of my faves, so I guess you never know XD but situations like this are like 1 in 10, and I can't force myself to watch so much mediocre dramas. I can force through 4-5 eps, but that's my maximum.

I'm not really one who likes rewatching (recently tried CLOY and dropped it halfway through, even though I seriously loved it the first time), it's just pretty boring for me. But with this one, I picked it up for the second time recently and immediately got so hooked again! It's one of the best dramas ever for me, even though the characters are really annoying at times, that's just the way life works - you have sides of people you love, and others that you hate. Recommend it to everyone!

I'm seriously craving more Hospital Playlist! I really hope there won't be a time skip, cause I want to see every little bit of Winter Garden couple dating and being awkward with each other lol (though there probably will be a 1 year time skip, so that Song Hwa comes back to the hospital).

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, I can understand your point of view, even if I don't share it 100% haha. But I understand it a little more after your explanation and it makes a little more sense to me. I guess in the end it's just a shame that the writers didn't clear up any misunderstandings we might have earlier on... Especially when they were handling serious subjects, such as having a baby, it should have been handled with a lot of care. It's great that a lot of people enjoy the ending, but for me, my heart still aches a bit as my expectations haven't been met...

Haha, I am on the same train of trying to cope with the ending for the past week. I like your theory a lot, I just wish that, at the very least, after going back to present, BH realised that he remembers all of memories from his past reincarnation, and can live happily, preferrably even meeting reincarnated CJ (doesn't matter for me, if he is reincarneted as a man or woman).

But on the other hand, in this situation they could have left BH in Queen's body, and after living a long life, transferring to his male, present-day body. Because it doesn't make a difference if it's BH or SY in the body, if they are the same soul. If they were the same soul, there wouldn't be any reason not to do that...

So, just like it was said before by @Anjelle, the writers should be specific about such a major part of the narrative... I guess I will forever be little torn with this show, just because the way I perceived it while watching turned out to be so vastly different from the way that it was ended and the way we 'should have' perceived it. I read theories while trying to cope, such as yours, which is a pretty good one and I can get around with, but my heart will forever ache a bit, thinking of lost chances with this show.

I agree with you on the subject of CJ - to be fair, I was a bit uncomfortable with the way he treated HJ. The audience kinda overlooked it (I'm guilty of that too), because she did bad things as well, but CJ suddenly fell out of love with her and didn't admit it for a long time. He just forgot about her existence, even though she was pretty much left alone in the palace. I'm so glad that she got a good ending (though she kinda didn't, if we take into consideration that her position in society was pretty much screwed as King's ex-concubine).

I get where you're coming from with thinking of BH as 'stealing' SY body, however I was kinda okay with that. I personally believed throughout the whole series, that she was truly dead after falling in the lake, and I think BH believed that too... It also wasn't his choice to stay in that body, so it's kinda redeeming for him, at least in my eyes. But if we look at it from the perspective of last episode, knowing that SY was somewhere in there, hidden, it does leave a bad taste in my mouth.

That's why I wish that it was specified clearly: either SY is dead and BH is the only soul in her body (even better if he was SY-reincarnated), or that SY is alive, and BH wants to go back to his body, and leaving out those kissing scenes (not even mentioning the baby...). I had a lot of fun watching the show, and I was forgiving of the problematic aspects, but looking back I am more and more confused, because I interpreted the show in drastically different way, comparing to the writers.

I agree so much. Like, even if when they were kissing, BH was in the back, and SY is in charge, how can anybody be not affected by that? There is no way for friendship between CJ and BH in those circumstances, it would be such a messed up situation. Not even pointing out the fact that so much episodes were about BH's wondering if he's in love with CJ or not, and then missing him so much when he thought that CJ was dead. If it was SY in charge, what would be the point of these episodes, if she loved CJ all along?

I'm sorry, but they had sex and kissed, multiple times, and they had a kid together. For like 4 episodes BH was questionning himself, whether he enjoyed it or not, and both the series and the spinoff lead to believe that he did. How can you say that's just friendship? Even if he was in the back and SY was in charge, that's still a bit too messed up for friendship. I just don't know why people can't accept that it was really romantic love. It was never anything else.

Exactly. Even if SY was indeed more in charge of Queen's body after ep 7, it wasn't made clear, and I too had the impression that it was mainly BH's soul. The thing is, it was never properly explained why Queen's inner voice changed. So even if it was writer's intention for SY to be in charge, they should have made it clear, because a huge part of the audience believed that the one in charge was BH, based on Queen's behaviour.

I haven't really found any comments on that, so I'm gonna write it myself - the scene in ep 15, where they met the person that caused the accident was pretty cruel. For sure, that man did something terrible, but he suffered 13 years and devoted his life to paying FL's hospital bills, trying to make up for it. Through the entire show we were told that ML should lead his life well, leaving his guilt behind (Jennifer had that plot as well), but then we get to that man and the writers don't even want us to try to understand his situation... I get that Jennifer and FL were mad at him, but for a show that's supposed to be focused on healing, I just felt bad at that moment. Believe me, anyone can make mistakes, and if they want to make up for it and change, we can try not to villainize them even more. I know it's a difficult subject, I just wish it was handled with more delicacy.

You're totally right. Even if they wanted to send BH back to the future, this could have been executed so much better, to show us that he is indeed happy. Throughout the whole show I felt that the writers really understood the characters and relationships, and developed them really well, but the last episode proved me wrong and left me quite heartbroken. Like, they were doing the spinoff, why wouldn't they add a scene with BH in the present there if they didn't think about it earlier?
I also agree with you on BI. His father did show affection to him in the series, even if it was through a pretty cold facade. I didn't really feel that his father used him for political goals or whatnot. So why not show his father shed at least one tear, or show that he is wondering whether he sould have his son killed or not? I don't get it.

I don't know if it would make sense... I like the spinoff but some of the scenes don't fit in main series' timeline at all...

Yes, you can find it here for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exYrPMbz7Jw

I believe that Bong Hwan will meet all those people, reincarnated, in the future, as was suggested in the spinoff. I would prefer for it to be shown in the main series, but I'm not taking that sad ending of ep 20. BH and CJ deserve a happy ending together, if not in the show - for sure they got it in my heart.

I think that you could argue, if episodes 1-19 had an lgbt theme (I for sure thought that they did), but at the end it all came down to be pure queerbaiting, unfortunately.

I loved the majority of the show, but the more I think about it, the more holes I see. There was so much time for explanation, but we basically didn't get anything. Why did the souls switch in the first place? If pain was trigger for BH to get back to his body, why didn't he come back before, like when BI's guys hurt him? Why SY's soul was in the lake if now they say that she was in her body the whole time?
This became even more apparent in ep 20. Why was BH the hero in the new timeline, if that happened before he came back, changed, from Joseon? He should still be an asshole at that time. Why was mr Han there? How did Korean society change due to CJ becoming successfull?
For me, the reincarnation route was the best choice. It didn't require much explanation, and would tie a lot of loose ends. And it would lead to happy ending - even if SY couldn't be happy with CJ in her past life, she could be now, as BH/So Bong. It would also be a happy ending for CJ, as he would end up with the person he loved, not half of him.
I feel sad that the writers didn't pay attention to all these bits. There were better ways to end it, ones that could satisfy more people. I'm creating another timeline in my mind, where BH and CJ met in the present times, no matter their gender, and had a happy life together.

I don't wish to offend anyone, but I feel that some of the comments I read show a very simple understanding of love. You don't fall in love based on a 1-minute meeting with someone. At least that's my perspective. You can be attracted to somebody, sure, but love for me means a deeper relationship with somebody, which developed over time. Therefore I don't think we were truly shown (even in the spinoff), that SY loved the King or the other way around - we were merely given short encounters between them. Therefore, I'm not attached to their relationship. On the other hand, SB and CJ had 20 episodes to fall for each other, understand what they love about one another (and even what they don't like lol). I know it's a drama, but I still expect some sort of realism when it comes to emotions. So I don't consider the spinoff to be justification for SY ending with CJ (not even mentioning the fact that such scenes shouldn't be in spinoff, but in the main series, goddamit!).

Yes, I think they really did justice to Hwa Jin in the end. I loved the scenes where she enjoyed herself with her servant.

I was a bit uncomfortable with Oh My Ghostess as well. I wasn't really able to draw the line between male lead's relationship with human soul and ghostess soul. But at least the male lead was made aware of the whole situation, and believed it. And there was a proper goodbye...

I agree... I actually didn't prepare myself for this ending at all, as I thought that So Yong is not writer's focus. Of course her story was tragic, but Bong Hwan stated that she died and the King will never be able to apologize to her. I was in peace with that. I don't understand, why not go the reincarnation route, and saying that based on BH ans SY having the same soul, BH being in love with the King would bring justice and peace for SY. Let it be clear that BH is happy in Joseon, and after his death, he could go back to the present. That would be the perfect ending for me. Instead of that, they kept us in the dark for the whole show, never explaining the voice change, SY's memories coming back, and if she's even alive! I can't even talk about BH not being able to say goodbye, it just instantly brings tears to my eyes.