irmar

You call them inconsistencies. I call them not making cardboard characters who are all good or all evil. It's the thing I like the most in this show, the fact that most main characters are multi-dimensional (except for the two main leads and the cartoonish evil Left State Councillor, whose acting was really trashy in episode 17)

Because it would be good for her career.

Okay, I am convinced. I'll watch it.

They would hardly be tagged as "rom-com" if that were the case. Usually they are categorized as "melodramas". Be as it may, I, for one, am very glad that it's not one of those. It was on my watch list, and now I am reassured that I won't have to go through heartache!

This is only true of Viki subs when they are not edited yet. Most editors do condense until they are no more than 2 lines.
But all this is in the past. Now there are no Ko-En subbers, all the translations are made by paid professionals, who make subtitles the "Netflix way" and we editors can only try to fix them a bit. If we have a Korean to do translation edit before us, we are fortunate, because this person will be able to point out inaccuracies (there are a lot, don't think these people are always perfect) and then we have to take care of style and of preserving local flavour which they do not. Not to mentiion appropriateness of language
I am editing an on-air historical drama right now and I have to change dozens of "okay" said by the princes , queen and councillors in every episode, or insults like "punk" or expressions like "hit on her". The young prince tells his brother to go "grab a drink" and so on and so forth.

East Sea is not correct either, because it only caters to Korea (and other countries on the left of Japan on the map) and doesn't make any sense for the Japanese, since it's Western sea for them. A third name should be found, something completely unrelated. Like "The rising sun sea" or "the turtle sea" or "the archipelago sea" (just anything crazy that comes out of my head, not seriously suggesting those, LOL!) I thought of "Korea-Japan sea" but then they would fight for whose name to put first.

This is an extremely sensitive issue for Koreans. It's the sea between Korea and Japan, and they've been fighting for years about how to name it, since Korea (rightly, in my opinion) thinks that it's not reasonable to give it the name Sea of Japan. On the other hand, Eastern Sea is Korean-centric, because Japan is directly to the East of Japan, so the name makes sense for them (and of course for all the other countries to the west of Japan). Whereas it wouldn't make sense for the Japanese, since for them it's Western Sea.
Do I have a solution? No, LOL. But I do see their point.

I couldn't care less. If it's a rom-com, it won't have a sad ending where everyone separates and or dies in a car crash, right?

Who cares? A rom-com that ends in marriage, what a surprise!!! (not)

But then they wouldn't have left any scope for him to redeem himself at the end, no excuse at all. Now he has an excuse, that he is deeply offended because his nearest and dearest don't consider him suitable enough for the role. Which he isn't anyway, as he's still an immature teenager. Yes, if the king regains his health, then both princes will have enough years to mature, but it's also a case of his character, he has shown to be too impulsive. His elder brother seems much wiser and more capable as a future ruler.

He's a well-meaning but immature teenager who was put in a shitty situation. In my opinion, he held his ground for a really long time, but now, as you say, he reached his breaking point. He's sort of pitiful.

I agree that they should have told him why they are against him becoming crown prince.
However, he knows that Myeong Yun doesn't like him. That's the crazy part. He knows and still wants to marry her, because supposedly this will help him protect everyone (how?)

Indeed, that was weak writing. Even when his grandfather's life was at stake, while he was being tortured, still he chose not to tell the grand prince the real reason of his behaviour.

Most are not actually defending the drug use, but say he should be treated in a serious way, helped overcome his addiction and not push him too much less he commit suicide like so many other S.Korean celebrities.

From what you say, it seems to me that the management probably instructed them to distance themselves as much as possible from the black sheep to try and salvage their own career, ensuring that the public doesn't turn its back to them. Therefore they made it super-clear that they are not okay with what he did and they are different.

So should he, in your opinion, throw his mother and brother under the bus?
And you say that the FL "whines" about her father? Excuse me??? She just found out something terrible about her father, and that was bad enough, but then she found out something 100 times more terrible. Whatever crying she does is more than justified.
Also, she has been trying to impose her own will, even against the two brothers who wanted her out of the way to protect her.

You are too harsh with the queen (when you are so benevolent towards the grandfather who wants to kill an innocent girl!). The food taster threatened to accuse the queen's son of trying to poison the king. That's when her mother's heart made her go crazy for a moment.
What I love about this drama (which has many faults) is how multi-faceted all characters are. There's no one who is 100% an innocent dove, except the two main leads. Others can be impulsive, can get swayed, can have many sides, just as real-life people. One does not see this often in dramas, especially historical or fusion-historical ones.

Yes, these people married young and princes became kings very young (and had a very short life expectancy, with all the poisoning going on in royal courts). This young prince used to live away from the palace having a good time. He never had all those responsibilities piled upon his shoulders, those extremely difficult dilemmas: his father's life hanging on a string, his mother's safety also in peril, his brother stripped of power, his grandfather trying to manipulate him, the doctor blackmailing him, the woman he loves preferring another. Too much stuff for anyone, let alone a youngster. I think he's quite pitiful, and he's doing the best he can, considering!
And, remember when he told her that, although his feelings haven't changed, he doesn't want to force her to marry him but he will do so only when he can win her heart? And even now, he is not talking about marrying her, just about protecting her.

We still cananot be sure if we don't watch the whole scene. They like to trick viewers. Remember how a certain female character was supposed to be dead and she ended up being alive and well? Many wrong impressions are given for the sake of a cliffhanger.
And also, a character may be swayed for a bit and then come back to his previous stance. I would wait and see.

Didn't you read the article title? It's not her profile page or anything. It is a news article about a drama that interested me, with a male lead whose work I liked in the past, therefore I potentially would like to watch. I wanted to see whether it's final that she will be the female lead or not. Because if she is, I won't watch it. Simple. But I guess some people cannot think that far.