Does being rude and hitting people make you a heroine?
When I began watching KDramas in 2015 I had the chance to watch the earlier ones too from @ 2008, Back then, the ML's were arrogant of course...it was 'a thing'...but also on the other side, the female lead often yelled at people or shrieked when upset ...and worse still, would kick a guy in the shins and get petulantly loud with anyone that angered her. Now in fairness, I wasn't watching CDramas from that time because they weren't accessible for me, but after watching this drama, I felt like the old stereotype of a loud, commanding FL with a chip on her shoulder came back in all her glory. Which is just not my cup of tea anymore.
I get that we need strong female role models in what we read or watch today, but this Female Lead was quite hard to watch. Especially in a period drama that has a world order that included so many rules & manners. But in this Historical, the only one that does or says everything that comes to her, is our "strong" female lead. If that's what we're going for, then a woman only looks strong if she acts like men used to. She has no absolutely no situational awareness and every conversation she has is edged with an "I told you so' or underscored with a belligerent familiarity to everyone, even the royals at court. Yes indeed...NOBODY can make her act polite, caring or even interested in anyone else's opinion. As a lowly maid in the Court, she thinks nothing of grabbing the whip she's being hit with and then using it on her superior. Yay her! Some might feel good watching women hit back at power or gender superiority but all it did for me was undermine the credibility of this time period. That girl would be dead within five minutes in that time period. Yes. I know it's a comedy. and it's all played for laughs, but I've seen way better dramas making the same points with strong capable female leads using more than a loud mouth and physical shoving & slapping to make her point.
Ok I'll stop here. Apologies, but this drama was a loss for me. Strangely, the other actors were good, especially the stereotypical, catty and competitive Concubines who convinced me that they might have existed in history. The King was actually okay and seemed to care about his harem. Our ML was a bit stiff but went for the kisses, and so far, I've liked watching the second FL go through her metamorphosis from weak & shy into a more definite, self-aware & confident character. I have no clue if the FL will change, but it isn't worth hanging around for the ending
Watching it on Prime Video also didn't help my opinion of this drama. The subs were modern slang, a personal pet-peeve I have when people translate historicals. AND for this drama, Prime Video had huge gaps in translation. All in all, other than nice costumes & some good acrobatic sword fights, this was a disappointing watch.
I get that we need strong female role models in what we read or watch today, but this Female Lead was quite hard to watch. Especially in a period drama that has a world order that included so many rules & manners. But in this Historical, the only one that does or says everything that comes to her, is our "strong" female lead. If that's what we're going for, then a woman only looks strong if she acts like men used to. She has no absolutely no situational awareness and every conversation she has is edged with an "I told you so' or underscored with a belligerent familiarity to everyone, even the royals at court. Yes indeed...NOBODY can make her act polite, caring or even interested in anyone else's opinion. As a lowly maid in the Court, she thinks nothing of grabbing the whip she's being hit with and then using it on her superior. Yay her! Some might feel good watching women hit back at power or gender superiority but all it did for me was undermine the credibility of this time period. That girl would be dead within five minutes in that time period. Yes. I know it's a comedy. and it's all played for laughs, but I've seen way better dramas making the same points with strong capable female leads using more than a loud mouth and physical shoving & slapping to make her point.
Ok I'll stop here. Apologies, but this drama was a loss for me. Strangely, the other actors were good, especially the stereotypical, catty and competitive Concubines who convinced me that they might have existed in history. The King was actually okay and seemed to care about his harem. Our ML was a bit stiff but went for the kisses, and so far, I've liked watching the second FL go through her metamorphosis from weak & shy into a more definite, self-aware & confident character. I have no clue if the FL will change, but it isn't worth hanging around for the ending
Watching it on Prime Video also didn't help my opinion of this drama. The subs were modern slang, a personal pet-peeve I have when people translate historicals. AND for this drama, Prime Video had huge gaps in translation. All in all, other than nice costumes & some good acrobatic sword fights, this was a disappointing watch.
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