itwillneverbefar

I love getting second lead syndrome when it doesn't overtake the first lead. It's much better than when the second lead is super lame or a jerk but still somehow comes between the two leads.

I cackled. I fell in love with her hard in that moment.

But she is beautiful. She is smarter and better at business than her brother. She is rich. She does have a thick skin and has proven she can thrive despite being criticized constantly. Everything she says about herself is true and she has all the receipts. So what makes her arrogant rather than jsut confident? I think you should be asking yourself instead why you are uncomfortable with a female lead who knows her worth and doesn't make herself small or fake humility to make others comfortable (opposite of the FL of lovely runner).

Honestly, so many drama watchers LOVE this kind of character when it's a ML. She so much more real than the mousy, doormat, "nice" FLs we see so often. I love her and am rooting for her.

Yeah I actually would have liked better if they started the drama with them in high school if they were going to show so many scenes from that time period. Like half an episode for the first ep. Then when they end up meeting again it would have felt more meaningful.

YES. I think he said no at first to even meeting because he enjoyed playing hard to get and wanted to see how far she'd go to see him, his line about only marrying for love was more of an invitation than a rejection, and while he seems to make final decisions only from his very strategic and calculating side and only said yes once he could more logically justify it, he is 100% hoping they end up actually falling in love.

I also really loved that whole hotel sequence and how we got to see that while HJ may be extra and put on a big show at times, when the situation is actually serious she is quite capable, thoughtful, and generous. I really love the character and am ready to follow her to the end.

I think its important to give it a rating from how it's feeling up to this point because people may use that to decide whether they want to start watching it. I like it when shows that are currently airing have a rating so it can help me choose which one is worth starting or watching live.

I think she tried to marry him at first or something, like I feel like he knows she has a thing for him, and he did that to toy with her, because he's more calculating than he lets on.

Ok I'm not the only one?!? I like how twisted it is tbh. In the end he will not be swayed by her but it would make her so much more pathetic. Idk I just feel like it'll add more interesting tension.

I got weird sexual tension between them in that scene and honestly I'm here for it.

I don't get it. He's playing the character well. It's a character who is extremely guarded and is used to putting up a cool, collected and controlled facade at all times. How else is he supposed to play him?

None of those actors are in this show tho. It's fine if BWS isn't hitting for you, but using the comment section of a drama not to talk about the drama itself but instead to list out actors who you like better is kinda weird and petty and is beyond just having a different preference. It doesn't contribute to the convo in any meaningful way.

I was iffy after the first ep, but the second was so much fun, I find Hui Ju really engaging and refreshing, I loved their chemistry, and I am intrigued by the reveal of the King wanting to step down before he died in the fire and seeing how that plays out.

I'm starting to understand the prince a lot better after this ep. I don't have any particular attachment to BWS but he is 100% building a layered character that will be revealed to us more and more and I really saw in this episode how much is going on for him behind his very carefully curated facade. He is much more strategic than he appeared at first, and his decision to agree to marry her seems quite multi-layered. I think he is genuinely intrigued by Hui Ju from their HS days and sympathizes with her plight, feels uneasy making her take the fall for the scandal, but also saw how capable she was at handling him being sick (despite all her silliness in pursuing him when it came down to a serious matter she was generous, quick-thinking, and discreet), and he sees her as someone who could genuinely battle with the Queen Mother AND who would be the last person the QM would want him to marry and therefore be an unwavering ally against her, which I think is the ultimate reason he decided to say yes.

This makes their engagement so interesting. They both are attracted to each other, both admire each other (grudgingly on Hui Ju's part), but also both have their own self-serving agenda for the engagement that has nothing to do with liking the other which is their biggest motivating factor right now.

The biggest difference is the Prince is invested in general in having a love match for a marriage while she isn't, which will make him more comfortable in actually acting like a couple and growing genuinely closer. She will play along to a point but is gonna resist admitting she has feelings for him for as long as she possibly can. But then when she does finally admit it he is gonna be sooooo gone. That's gonna be fun to watch play out.

And I am so ready to see Hui Ju come in and shake up the entire court, and put the Queen Mother in her place.

So yeah. Seated.

If the wife knows and doesn't care then why not

Man I was already tearing up just at the trailer, this is gonna be a good one.

This plot is WILD and I'm here for it.

There are a hundred super handsome C drama actors (and many that are more handsome than him, tbh) so it has to be something more than that.

So I agree mostly, there was so much said but not enough shown, esp about BWS. But the whole point of IU's character is that she IS very insecure and has this huge facade that she tries to play off, but she's kind of a walking hypocrite. The convo with her brother said it all. When he called her out for owning a luxury brand so she could pretend to be high class you saw how her arrogant facade crumbled for a second. That is part of her character arc. I assume she's going to get a big wake up call about what it really means to be a royal and have a title.

I'm praying that the palace politics plot of the unsolved fire murder of the king or whatever has a lot more depth, because right now it does seem super cliche.

First episodes can be tough, so I am also hoping that it finds its footing in the next episodes. I always give a drama until episode 4. If it hasn't really pulled me in by then it's never going to

I enjoyed IU's character, she seems fun and interesting and they at least did a good job of showing why she acts the way she does and why she wants to prove herself. I genuinely love when FLs take on the arrogant slightly man-child persona of the normal chaebol ML, it's a fun reversal.

I'm concerned about the writing overall tho. There was SO much tell and not show, esp about the prince. Like... everyone says he's so popular and loved and powerful, it's mentioned he's the regent and has royal duties he's doing all the time, but we never actually see him interacting with anyone, or advising the king, or some public appearance, or something similar. Other than a throwaway line about royalty doing nothing, we also don't really get to see what he really wants in life or why he's so unhappy. Cause honestly he seems to seek out solitude and seems pretty content with it at present. I think that's why some people are saying BWS is boring or not acting well, I think he's trying to convey a facade with underlaying emotion that the script hasn't given him enough support for, so we can't really connect with his deeper desires or inner life.

Also I really hate that they have this whole king murder/fire plotline. Mixing romcom with murder mystery rarely turns out well. The show is gonna get messy in the second half. Esp because it's obvious who the villian is when you cast Jo Jae Yun.

Also would it absolutely kill a k drama writer to have two adults meet as adults, like why must they have secretly had a crush on each other in HS? It makes the show feel disjointed to suddenly flash back to HS randomly. And why did he refuse to even meet her 5 times if he supposedly crushed on her in HS? They're just not giving us enough insight into the characters or what they're feeling, so it's falling a bit flat for me as of now. Hopefully that improves.

Yeah BWS hasn't really had much to work with, so far he's doing fine but mostly he's just been stoic. IU is making a character that would normally drive me crazy be fun and charming, so I give her points for that. I'll keep watching at least to see how it develops