latteholic

She is the main character in the historical drama Dae Jang Geum (Jewel in the Palace). In the drama, she begins as a palace maid with a sharp sense of taste and smell, working her way up from the royal kitchen. Historically, she's known as the first woman to serve as the King’s royal physician.

Yes, loving all the references so far on the historical drama and movies, iykyk. Tbh, the Gong Gil here looks more like Lee Jun Ki's friend in the movie, the tightrope walker. I watched it on Prime a long time ago, but cant find it there anymore. You'll prolly have to go sailing for this one.

Also shipping him with our girl Gil Geum, which I'm more and more convinced is a reference to Jang Geum (credit to whoever mentioning that first). Her family name is Seo, she has a strong sense of smell, and she wants to be a senior cook.

NP! Btw, I just rewatched that scene, and the assassin wasn’t the son but was most likely sent by the brother of the executed minister/scholar. I was misremembering, mixing up the word "brother" with "son".

NP! Btw, I just rewatched that scene, and the assassin wasn’t the son but was most likely sent by the brother of the executed minister/scholar. I was misremembering, mixing up the word "brother" with "son".

Yep, that’s my happy ending version too (just not sure how they’ll wrap up the past timeline, but I’m definitely curious to see where it’s going). Also, I think becoming a food critic or food vlogger would have suited him well if that happy ending ever happened...

Yeah, sorry folks jumped on you for asking a fair question. The show is about half food scenes (mostly cooking, some eating). Easy to skip the eating scenes (you'll know when they;re coming) if it’s not your thing as they don’t really push the main plot forward. So if you just want the story, you can skip without missing much. But since a lot of the romance builds through those mealtime interactions, you’d lose some of that if you skip. Really depends on whether you’re more here for the romance or just the overarching plot.

Oh, actually this discussion made me think of a comment someone made about Consort Kang drugging the king to cause his erratic behavior. At first I thought she only had sedatives to calm him down, since I thought he did have PTSD. But now I’m leaning towards that theory. I wonder if she did it under Prince Je San’s orders. If they made the king turn tyrannical, still doing the things recorded in history (because it's recorded as it happened), then Prince Je San would have the perfect excuse to stage a coup by claiming that the king wasn’t stable enough to rule. So he still did what history says he did, but only because he was under the influence of drugs(?)

Yeap, the grand prince is definitely scheming something. He pointed out that the assassin’s family was making moves way too fast after finding out the assassin got killed by the jester/Gong Gil.

But I’m not so sure about the whole “history written by enemies” angle. The annals of the Joseon dynasty are basically one of the most detailed historical records ever. They wrote down everything, the king’s words, decisions, ceremonies, his daily audiences, etc, and the king himself wasn’t even allowed to read or change them. Sure, how you interpret his motives can be biased, but the records themselves are pretty solid. If the drama tries to twist that too much, I feel like the Korean public won’t take it well. i.e. when the chef in Mr Queen cracked a joke comparing the annals to a rumor tabloid, people were upset back then.

I wonder if that page is supposed to act as a key to bring Ji Yeong back to the future, just like the first page brought her to the past. Once the king finishes that last page and Ji Yeong reads it, she would be taken back to her timeline.

But for an extra happy ending, maybe Yi Heon could also time-slip with her to the future (assuming he doesn’t go full tyrant after learning the truth about his mother's death). Then the royal historian could simply claim that he died in exile, as history records. Although, I'm still not sure how they would "redeem" this alternate version of him if he still carried out the purge… Would be interesting to see...

So… remember the last page of the mangurok, the torn one? Something something hwaseban?

I don’t think Gong Gil was the one who fired the arrow. Gong Gil was the one who killed the assassin who attacked the king. The assassin was the son of one of the ministers/scholars who were executed in the first purge ordered by the King.

- Chef Maeng trained in a fishing village in Japan, so he used sashimi techniques for the dumpling skin.
- Chef Eom trained in Sichuan and he made stuffed tofu.
- Ji Young going all French with her flambe.

I love how you could actually see each chef’s training background in their dishes during the competition:

I was responding to your first comment: "And why is ML walking around for 2 eps with an arrow in his shoulder?" -- Because it has to be removed safely by a doctor.

Anyway to your second comment, by the time they found him, he wasn’t in a life-threatening state. He could’ve called a doctor to the governor's house that night, but according to the rule, only royal physicians were authorized to treat the King, and since he was staying in the house of someone he saw as an enemy, he wouldn’t want to show vulnerability. With his condition stable, it made more sense to wait until he returned to the palace, which is the next day, for proper treatment. The point is, the arrowhead plot-point was finally addressed and it was addressed properly.

Because it’s the arrowhead that actually stops the bleeding, not the vaseline. The vaseline is just a protective barrier to keep bacteria out and prevent infection. Obviously, I wouldn’t recommend it for an arrow wound IRL, but for minor cuts vaseline does the job.

Yes! I was thinking the same thing, but I do think he actually has PTSD, while the pouch has the sedatives.

Me too! He’s definitely cunning, but I kind of like that he’s backing Ji Yeon for now and starting to expose Kang Mok Ju to the King. He’s basically the captain of the ship!

I thought saying she’s from the future actually works in her case, the King just assumes she’s not right in the head and excuses her "odd" speech and behavior since she’s such an excellent cook. And if the tyrant King is fine with it, no one else is going to object.

Honestly I don’t even bother with ratings here anymore. Many of the shows I enjoy sit at 7 just because they don’t have romance or pretty leads. People watch 1–2 eps, decide it’s "not their thing," and still slap a low score, which skews everything. I'd rather check the comments to see what people actually liked or disliked when starting something, or I just watch it myself.

Exactly! This has got to be the most far-fetched bit of the whole drama for me (time travel and magic book aside). lol. He has ruled for a decade! Forget all that petitions about removing the gwinyeo or Consort Kang, at this point I would expect the ministers to be on their knees every morning, chanting: “CHOOONAAA… even the dragon needs his phoenix!!!”