bokminthe

Independently of the fact that the legal ages should change, the marriage law is only a problem in those cases where marriage is "needed" because the law blocks the rights of the people in other ways, for example the fact a child born of unwed parents is illegal. So then the problem is not marriage and at the same time all problems are marriage, by forcing people to be married to access many rights that should be there in the first place, ergo, asking for the age of marriage to be lower doesn't solve the problem, it only puts a plaster on it. Doesn't tackle either the amount of non-registered marriages that happen before that age in many places in China or the forced marriages. For example, I had a friend in secondary school whose parents got her out of school and sent to China to be married against her will at the age of 16.
This drama, if anything, only shows very timidly the top of the iceberg. Of course they also tackle everything from the lenses of middle class, so most of the population won't feel represented to even give it two thoughts.
It's going to be difficult for me to see it in any other way as someone that is against marriage, in the sense that it shouldn't be compulsory in order to access certain rights or to prove that you have a partner. Marriage is a paper that gives you certain powers, nothing more. So at what age you're allowed to sign that paper wouldn't matter much if you had access to the same rights with or without it. The issue isn't for example if my parents are married or not, the issue is one of them not being able to access pension if the other passes away simply for not being married despite being together for more than 25 years. So what about civil partnerships? I think they're not a thing in China, so you're forced to be married. We can't talk about the freedom to marry without talking about the freedom to not marry.

The morality of this drama is not something out of the world either, and I say this because of the way you're saying it. Couples with a big age difference or those that happened in sketchy ages are pretty much present in all the world (and I know a few myself as well). This is too timid of an attempt to make a scratch at any level, won't change the minds of those that don't already agree with it also because unless they already know about those Easter eggs they won't see them. So you're left with a story that is not engaging, entertaining or has very likeable characters and on top the actual meaning is hidden and only tackles one single problem in a very reductionist way (aka change the ages).
I didn't think it was simply a love story either, if anything not only is an unhealthy love story but also as I mentioned in my review it's like I'm watching a video on morality and manners on how things need to be done and when, and when I said this I didn't mean only the love part of it, in fact I meant more the rest of it.
The other drama I mentioned on my review has characters in the same age and it's still equally annoying in their portrayal of morality and stages. The age gap is not the problem here. I understand it serves a purpose but it doesn't change the fact that the whole drama is very staged and "perfect" in terms of timings and settings.
At 14 they wouldn't have had a sexual relationship because he was not even interested in her, at 17 they could have, and it was actually pretty unrealistic they didn't considering by that age many do, as it was the reaction to her fake internet boyfriend. So here they didn't tackle the fact she could be both sexually active and also had a boyfriend (no, you don't need to marry to have a boyfriend I think). How is her waiting to have sex related to the age of marriage at that point? or is it just a lesson on how ideally you should wait until you're an adult to have sex? Is it morally correct to have sex at 17? that will depend on the person, but I don't want a show to tell me very on the face when they think it's correct and if the audience doesn't know this is not a story they're watching but an idea, then it will feel like indoctrination. Also they already knew each other at that point, so waiting to have a relationship serves no purpose other than letting me know how it's done. I'm not presented with life and flawed characters that might not take the best course of action, here they're top A students that do everything by the perfect book. Also she had a crush on him from the start, so she didn't think of him like a brother, more like those around her tried to make her think of him as a brother. The one that thought and repeated at nauseam that she felt like a sister was him, even when showing those moments of him having a bit of interest in her what made the whole thing very awkward to watch. Had they dropped the sister thing earlier it wouldn't have been as bad and the whole sister thing didn't add anything to the idea of the marriage law anyway, unless they were also telling me that fancying and marrying someone in your closer circle is better than some stranger from far away.
As I said previously I get the intention, but the execution is still amiss. It's like Matrix Resurrections, I get the meaning of the film and why it was done after reading about the reason why it exists and the easter eggs, but as a piece of media it doesn't make it any more entertaining or good and I'm not shocked by the original intention either. Here it's the same.
We could also start debating on the fact that by the message being so subdued you have most viewers taking it as face value, liking the type of relationship portrayed here and basically how the real message is ignored in favour of how things are shown, and how it could be argued that it ends up having the opposite effect than intended and many people will say that the marriage law is great as it is as illustrated by this drama, otherwise they would have married younger and she wouldn't have finished her studies perhaps.

I keep asking myself this. All of them are so convinced by the mother's dream that no one is questioning anything. I'm pretty sure all members of the family know the basics of his power so I don't get it. Considering the writing in the whole drama is generally good I don't want to think it's just bad writing, but I'm hoping they explain it somehow. The mother's dreams have never fully appeared in detail to us as spectators so it's not like we can analyze what she saw and deem it ambiguous or something, but I just keep thinking her interpretation might be wrong or she doesn't get the whole picture and only the "end" result of a situation, what might not be the actual ending in all cases, even if it might be in most of them.

I'm just hoping that whenever they show why Do Da Hae is the "chosen one" that it's not super predictable or anticlimactic. Or worst even, if they just don't even tackle it. We'll see...

That's very interesting! But the question would be in which way does this series criticise or makes the spectators think about that, the question you make at the end is answered in the show if we take what happens as the answer to that, it didn't ask a question and left it open, it told us when and with whom and it was presented as a very matter of fact. Also correct me if I'm wrong because it's been a while I watched this series but I don't remember her consenting to anything until much later than 14 years old. I don't deny they might have had that idea in the background but I don't feel the average person, even in China, would get the point across other than seeing that book as an Easter egg, then maybe checking it out and then thinking about it. I know things have to be done in a very second-hand roundabout way to pass the filter but I feel maybe they could have gotten a bit closer to it if that was the intention of the whole series.
Maybe it's because I watched another cdrama that was very close in terms of everything being very staged in the life of the characters, when they can or not do things. Maybe that's also criticising the process itself, but it's so mild that unless you know you wouldn't see it there at all.
It's very interesting nonetheless and does make me think about the show in a slightly different way so thank you very much for bringing it up!!! But as entertainment and as a show in itself, I generally still feel the same way about it than originally. And if their intention was for the show to be criticised and make the spectators think about how wrong it is then I guess they succeeded with me in that sense.

Thanks!

It might not be wrong to you. As I said "not surprised" since what you are saying I do already know (let's stop assuming people don't know things and explaining them unless the person in question asks, thanks) but it doesn't make it any better nor it means it shouldn't change. Also better for everyone? Almost like you're implying the weight of other people is of concern to everyone else, it's public domain or something.
Either way, my comment was not even for that independently of the fact I do not agree, it was about the fact that someone would only look pretty if they're thin. Even though it's a body suit and fake she still looks pretty with the weight on in my opinion. And beauty is subjective, like it's mostly everything else for that matter, including your opinion about obese people. The person that did the original comment should have kept their thoughts to themselves and be a decent human being especially in a professional setting.

Totally agree. It's not surprising for a korean drama but still equally embarrassing to see. I'm waiting for the moment we're told how much prettier she's when skinny.

'I don't know who she is, but she would look pretty if she lost weight.' No comments... not surprised but still embarrassing to read.

Don't worry, when the kid appears with FL's character his face is barely shown. Considering they did that in the ending it feels they should have shown or put a bit more emphasis on the fact it was the same kid...It was easily missed and it's rare I didn't haha

"Sorry to say this" then don't say it? It's not like he's going to read your comment here, and the superficiality of your thoughts about someone else's weight doesn't look good on you either.

For me it's very mid so far. It could be worse but I'm not throwing fireworks either. We'll see how it goes. It does have a bit too juvenile humour for my liking at some points and ML character's "problem" and facial expressions could get old quickly if it continuous all throughout the show in the same manner than in these two episodes.

I thought it was just because he's the same kid that appears with the FL character. We still don't know if the kid is hers or not, but it's the same one. I thought it was just a foreshadow in the sense of it not being a "coincidence" they met there. Something in those lines.

I totally agree with you. Although maybe it's not the weakest or most unrealistic plot I've watched but it's certainly bad. The premise of the show is good, but the execution was a big miss and the FL made things so much worse.
I can't believe someone like her could survive society in any capacity, even less being in a position of leadership like shown here. She was seriously frustrating to watch.
I kept asking myself why the ML would like her really.

Totally agree!
The plot was so weak in general and especially when it comes to the book and her powers. They built it up for absolutely no reason. They didn't know what to do with it in the end and just put it to the side. It was so disappointing.

You're completely right, I guess I was more thinking in the lines of her having done settings that are not modern, so I would think at least she has some experience, even if it's not exactly the same genre. Plus she had the direction and general team to work with, so overall I guess I don't fully understand how the difference in her acting can be this abysmal and this drama also had its anachronisms and dose of unrealisticness even if not as much as Rookie Historian.

You're welcome! Glad it helped and thank you for your comment! :)

Totally agree, in fact Run On is one of my favourite kdramas ever and she fit the character very well. What I find confusing is that for example I do think she did a good job in Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung, I very much liked that kdrama, but here I don't know exactly what happened but I was disappointed.

I see, I don't keep up with actors' surgeries so no idea. But considering that many actors in South Korea have had surgeries and botox and they still manage a range of emotions and expressions I wouldn't say it's that. She herself has managed better expressions and overall acting than in this one in previous works too, in my opinion.
Also, botox dissolves over time, so even if she got a not so good job once it doesn't mean her skin will be stiff forever unless it goes wrong.
I say this as someone that doesn't like plastic surgery used to conform to society expectations and parameters of beauty, but here I feel that it's more about her skills and whatever the director asks of her than whatever surgery she might have had.

Thank you! Glad you liked me review! I know there are people that don't like her in anything she does, they just don't like her as an actress. I guess I'm somewhere more in-between. I've seen her in shows I thought she did a very good job and others not so much, this one is certainly at the bottom for me in terms of her acting or the direction in which they pushed her to act, whichever it might be.

I'm kind of hoping they do mention what kind of poison was used in that lipstick, but I doubt it. It would make somewhat sense the previous king could have died of long exposure to that lipstick if it contains arsenic, considering Lady Dong would be able to cure herself of the exposure. But it makes no sense that now they're trying to kill the king using the same in a fast manner, so if we rule out arsenic then what? I'm not very versed on poisons but I don't know any that kills you fast enough that wouldn't kill Lady Dong too (because they have no cure as far as I know, like for abrin or ricin) and I don't think they would have had access to belladonna in Korea? No idea, but even if they did, belladonna for an adult needs quite a bit of it and I'm pretty sure there was no cure for it back in the time either. Moreover Lady Dong would die first, depending on how long ago she put it even before getting to the room, what would have been ideal here lol
I know I'm nitpicking here but if they're going to pull the classic poisonous lipstick trope then I'm allowed to...

The king is the best of this show. I'm hoping he lives, I don't care if anyone else dies at this point.