Hime

You mean 8.6? The thing is that for a kdrama this a better than average rating, not a great rating. There are several kdramas out there with a similar rating and that cannot be compared to Empress Ki.

I think the issue is that recently people have been watching it for the first time and they are judging it from a 2023 viewer perspective and forgetting this is almost 10 years old. Kids these days also have a hard time sitting through something longer, I blame Tik Tok for that, so they end up giving lower ratings to dramas that do not give them what they expect right away.

I would rather have more dramas like Empress Ki being created than a bunch of short dramas. 99% of these short dramas have nothing to offer in terms of plot or acting, they are mostly just fan service.

I did not watch them either, just the extended ending after finishing the drama.

But it was definitely noticeable there were scenes that were cut. There was one particular scene that was very obvious was cut because later on the female lead was remembering what happened and they showed a few seconds of that scene. To us viewers, that scene that she is remembering never happened. They might have as well cut the scene where she remembers what happened in the scene that was cut.

But yeah, I enjoyed the drama anyway, just can’t pretend all the editing did not lower that enjoyment.

Yeah. And there are people here complaining the pace is slow and stuff. This is 51 episodes long, so of course things will develop slower than a 16 episode drama. I think people these days just do not have patience to sit through a longer drama no matter how good it is. I have watched the whole thing twice and have no regrets.

My crush on Tal Tal was even stronger the second time I watched it. xD

This is a drama from 2013, so the filming will not be as good as a drama from 2023. And a historical drama with 51 episodes, of course the pace will be slow. If they made it too fast they might have ended up doing what other dramas do to fill the holes like recycling the same plot devices and adding a bunch of flashbacks.

Also, if I am not mistaken, you dropped it right around when things start getting interesting - the romance between them starts developing properly and there is a shift in her character. ^^'

A tip from someone who has watched the whole thing twice. Remember this is a drama from 2013 and not a modern kdrama with just 16 episodes. The story is more about Seung Nyangs journey to becoming Empress rather than her romance with either of the male leads (tho this drama is definitely not lacking in the romance department).

Wang Yoo is important to her but he is her first love, and you know what they say about first loves. So just hang in there.

For her to move on from one man to the other and go through all the hardships and finally become Empress the pace needs to be slower. The plot and characters need time to develop. The female lead is a great character, rare to see, she is smart, strong, independent, does not need a man to come to her rescue every 5 minutes like most female leads.

So, passing this masterpiece would be a shame. Just watch a few episodes when you have time and be patient. This is not a 2023 rom-com afterall, this is a historical drama from 2013, so it needs to be enjoyed slowly.

P.S. - If you hang in there long enough, you might start to ship her with Tal Tal. I know I and a bunch of other people did. He is another great character that really shines here.

I was wondering how this went from being above 9 to 8.6. But looking at the comments, I think I have a few suspects. ^^'

No matter what you say, this is one of the best sageuks out there. And I think I have the right to say this since I have been watching kdramas for over a decade and have watched thousands of dramas since 2010.

Although this has 51 episodes, I have actually re-watched it with my mother and my sister and both thought it was great. Of course it has its flaws but there is no such thing as a perfect drama. The acting is top notch and the characters are well-written and interesting, especially the female lead. Even the way it ends would have bothered me in any other drama, but here I was ok with it because the drama as a whole was great.

To judge this masterpiece with 2023 eyes is not fair. For a kdrama in 2013 to have such a smart and strong female lead was something new. Most kdramas, even to this day, have female leads that are either dumb or are always needing rescue, sometimes both.

So no matter how much the rating drops, this will always be a 9 to me. 9 is the highest rating I have ever given to a drama and probably less than 20 of the thousands of dramas I have watched have received this rating. That is how much I liked Empress Ki.

I think I would have given this a really high rating if it was not for all the scenes that were edited out, some that made later scenes make no sense, like the leads reminiscing about something we never even saw happening in the first place and all the kisses that were cut, what a shame.

The ending also felt chopped. I did not realize that was the ending until I saw the credits. I have no idea why they cut out the scene that can be found on the extended ending, it did not even have any kisses. It would have made the ending less anticlimatic.

But overall, this was a good drama with great characters as the main leads. They were both smart and the female lead was able to handle a lot of problems without the male lead having to always come to the rescue. The Emperor, oh well, he was a piece of work. I believe he did care for her, at least more than he cared for all the other human beings around, but he did not know how to love. He was cruel, obsessive and a coward. And it was all about him and what he wanted.

Yeah, that is the only reason I was kind of okay with it too...and cause it’s a drama. In real life tho, I would find it weird.

If it was only the eyes...The whole face is the same. Imagine kissing and worst, doing you know what, with someone who has your sister/brother’s face. Ew, nope.

The first episode was not amazing but was interesting, although I could already feel something was off about the writing, but the rest of the drama is a complete train wreck.

The plot is full of things that make no sense, the characters behaviour also makes little to no sense most of the time, the whole thing just feels like a bad soap opera.

At this point I am watching just for the sake of finishing it and finding out the new dumb plot device they will throw in next.

The premise was interesting but whoever handled this had no idea what to do with it so it became this mess.

Thank you. I can see you uploaded up until ep 19 recently. Let me know once you have uploaded the rest of the episodes. This drama has been gathering dust on my on-hold list since I first joined MyDramalist back in 2017. ^^'

It is a drama that does not take itself too seriously, almost like a parody, but without having the cheap plotless script and acting that can be seen in dramas that I have watched in the past and that attempted to do the same.

I could have done with less poop jokes, but at the end of the day I enjoyed the ride and that is all that matters. Isn’t that the purpose of dramas, to entertain us?

Of course it won‘t be everyone’s cup of tea. I know I myself usually do not like this sort of drama, but the story was funny without being vulgar, had a nice pace and an actual plot with a beggining, middle and ending and the acting was better than most low budget dramas.

P.S. - There are also a lot of good kisses, I know for some people that matters a lot. XD

Maybe it was just me but I had a hard time keeping my interest in this drama. Although I loved the romantic scenes and liked both leads (both the characters and the actors playing them), I felt that the plot was ... plotless?

You would expect that since the female lead is a pediatrician you would see more of her working as a doctor....you know, with kids?? but instead most of the time she was just the typical "CEO assistant/secretary" for the sake of developing their romantic relationship. The hospital was more of a scenario for their workplace romance rather than an actual hospital. And the same thing happened with the second couple with all those scenes at the coffee shop that, to be honest, I mostly skipped.

I had just finished watching Flight to You when I started this drama and the feeling I have now is that I wish I could merge these 2 dramas into one.

While I liked how Flight to You focused on their work and did not make the characters pilots and flight attendants just because these are desirable professions with nice uniforms, I wish we had more of the main couple and that they had gotten together sooner. With this drama I had all that was lacking from Flight to You in terms of romance but when it came to portraying the characters in their workplace and their routine, this one felt a lot more staged and convenient and less realistic.

So for me the higlight was the romance and the getting along well with the in-laws and some funny scenes here and there, but in terms of plot, I would not re-watch this drama.

I love cats. I currently have 5 cats and there was a point I was even taking care of 11 with all the newborn kittens that were later adopted. BUT even my love for cats was unable to keep me interested.

The plot was boring, the main leads had no chemistry and whoever wrote the plot did not do enough research on cats. Maybe I would have liked it even a little bit if I had watched it as it was airing but I tried to binge-watch it and it felt like a chore so I ended up skipping to the last episode just to get it over with.

If you only have 4-5 eps to go from all 20, I say push through it. If this was not a remake and an original plot I would have also finished it because I hate to drop a drama and not knowing how a story ends.

Have a nice day! ^^

By the cast I meant the actors, not the characters they are portraying or how successful they were in portraying them. There are some good actors here but when the plot and characters are not well-written, they can’t really do much about it.
But I agree with your observations.

Thank you. I might do just that so it is easier to find. Glad it was helpful. ^^

Yup. Bland is the perfect word to describe it. Great cast, bland plot.

I really enjoyed this one. It has some flaws, but it was overall a good drama. It helps that I have a particular interest in airplanes and have binge-watched most seasons of Mayday (aka Air Crash Investigation).

Some of the things I liked:
- They actually show them working and the pilot/flight attendant plot is not only so they can dress the main characters in nice uniforms like I have seen in most dramas that portray these professions;
- The female lead is quite an interesting character, be it for her excelling at her job or her personality as a whole;
- Most characters go through a nice character development and people who create or make issues worse eventually pay for their actions and the ones who work hard are rewarded;
- The romance is very slow-paced, mostly on the male lead’s side, but although annoying it actually made it more realistic considering his trauma and overall personality.

I probably missed a few things.

Of course it also had some flaws. It dragged here and there, which is expected from Chinese dramas, and it had some annoying sub-plots and characters...yeah, I am looking at you Captain Jiang.

Also, I feel like the last episode should have been merged with episode 38 instead of being a whole separate episode as episode 38 was a lot more interesting and would have made a better last episode. They also addressed something in the last episode that I am glad they did or it would have been a plot hole, but that I wish it was addressed sooner as doing it in such a rushed way in the last episode took away from the seriousness of it and just made the episode less enjoyable.

With all that said, I definitely recommend this drama for people who have any interest in planes, pilots, flight attendants, ... and for everyone else too I guess. My advice is to not binge-watch it and watch a few episodes everyday. I watched it as it was airing and while I had my breakfast and it made it more enjoyable.

No, she cheated on her boyfriend at the time with the ML (ex-boyfriend). She gets back with said boyfriend again later on. Not worth it if you are watching it for the romance, or any other reason really.