latteholic

After what happened in this episode, I'm now wondering how the book ended up in France in the first place.

I think he's referring to the families of the officials executed or exiled during the first purge, a few years before the current events. It was mentioned that the assassin (the one who shot the king) was the son of one of those officials. They may want revenge by assassinating him, while Prince Je San might have another plan for them… prolly arranging a coup?

Afterward, the clown/jester killed the assassin who attacked the king.

I want them to change the history in this one! The literati purge hasn’t happened yet, and I want them to leave it that way. Otherwise, it would feel really weird (at least for me) to still ship the couple.
Also, this is definitely a time loop, but maybe if Ji Yeong switches things up a little, they might actually break it. And please, drama gods, don’t give us that tired ending where they go back to the present and meet a reincarnated version... it’s been done to death!

I was going to say the same thing! This drama (esp this episode) kinda has a lot of references to Dae Jang Geum. I read somewhere that Gil Geum might be a reference to Jang Geum (anachronism aside), because they change the characters’ names but keep them very similar (their family name is the same, Seo), and because she wants to become a senior cook in the palace :D

I think dragon emblem is only reserved for the King. Phoenix is for the Queen.

their evening routine after work. Even that guard acknowledging they had a hard day at work..

Versailles called, they want their food critic back.

But jokes aside, I think she just meant haute cuisine in the sense of elaborate French style fine dining, i.e. the meticulous plating, refined ingredients, all that. She mentioned Versailles since that's where the tradition originated. Ccmiw, but wouldn’t a beautifully plated steak tartare still count as haute cuisine today, in 2025, where the FL originally time traveled from?

Loved The King and The Clown reference, although tbh the Gong Gil here looks less like Lee Jun Ki and more like his friend in the movie. I also loved the wordplay from haute cuisine to otokke, though her first joke on hors d’oeuvres was lost on me. I’m wondering how it got translated to "older dish", unless "older dish" is pronounced in Korean in a way that sounds close to the French word "oreudeubeu", but then why would that make the court lady laugh, she wouldn't know that word? Anyway I also laughed a bit too hard when they were returning to their cell and going into their evening routine of putting the chain back on and all that.

I don't think it’s about him trying to seduce her. The half-dressed thing is just a visual cue. A quick way of showing that he is indulgent and careless with formality (like the real king the drama is based on).

ok... I just brought her up cause you said you read his history and didn’t see anything about who his favorite was.

ccmiw because I could’ve missed things, but from what I gathered and how it’s often portrayed, he didn’t know that his mother had been executed during the first 10 years of his reign. He went bat-shit crazy after finding out about that and punished the ministers and officials involved in her death rather gruesomely, as you said, as well as 2 of his father’s concubines (at least on record). That was in 1504. He took in Jang Nok Su as his concubine in 1503.

He did have the first purge (before the big one in 1504), with some officials being executed, which was politically motivated (weakening one of the political factions) and he accused them for questioning King Sejo which he framed as challenging the dynasty's stability, but I don’t think he killed his father’s concubines then.

edit to add: the literati purge hasn't happened yet in the drama. They moved around the order of the land grabs and cha-yeo

Errr... where in my comment that I'm romanticizing her? It's mentioned in the annals that she's an excellent performer and musician. That's why she is Yeonsangun's favorite.

Yeah, I get what you mean, I was worried about that too, but I’m also curious to see where they take him. An alternate timeline where he doesn’t spiral into full tyranny could be really interesting. [People keep calling him a tyrant this early in the show, but I doubt many have actually watched the sageuks or films where he’s shown in that light. Here he’s been pretty soft so far, more like a bratty chaebol son in a rom-com]. The drama is already re-ordering events and making it seem like the chae-yeo and the land grabs happened earlier and for political motives, not just him being hedonistic. And honestly, historians agree he wasn’t all bad in the first decade of his reign before the purge, just temperamental and a little bit indulgent, so if this version never flips into full tyrant mode, he could be remembered as that artsy, gourmet king who loved music and food. Which I think is why they’ve changed his name and a lot of the other historical figures. But again I haven't read the webtoon or the spoiler for the ending, so I could be way off in my theory.

Historically, his favorite was Jang Nok Su/Kang Mok Ju, most likely because she was an excellent performer and musician. Yeonsangun had an eye for music and art, so I suppose in this story, Yoona (who cooks all this delicious food for him) becomes his new favorite and maybe he won't go full tyrant. Again just my theory, I haven't looked up the spoiler for the webtoon yet.

They changed the names of all the key figures. Yeonsangun’s real name is Yi Yung (Rebel Thief Who Stole The People made me remember that name forever. lol), not Yi Heon, his consort is Jang Nok Su, not Kang Mok Ju, and the Queen Dowager is Queen Insu, not Queen Inju. This was most likely done to avoid backlash for not being historically accurate, since they are planning to create an alternate history (at least that's my theory).

Rule of sageuks: getting shot isn’t the problem. Pulling out the arrow without treatment nearby is.

Yes! That "pancake wig" is the gache, worn by royals in styles like eoyeo meori (the halo-like hairstyle). There was actually a ban on gache in the 1700s (200 years after the reign shown in this drama), first under King Yeongjo and later enforced more strictly by King Jeongjo, because they were too costly and sometimes even dangerous to wear. I imagine that must have also affected how often royals used those elaborate styles, leading them to favor simpler buns with ornaments over their parted hair.

I’m not sure what other recent sageuks based on real kings or historical figures have shown, but e.g., Dae Jang Geum is set in the early 1500s (Seongjong–Jungjong’s reign), well before the ban, so it makes sense that you see queens and consorts in elaborate eoyeo meori. By contrast, Mr. Queen is set about 100 years after the ban, which explains why the simpler bun style is more common there.

You can read more about these hairstyles in The Talking Cupboard’s excellent write-up : https://thetalkingcupboard.com/2013/04/17/a-guide-to-joseon-hairstyles-and-headgears/

@xyz_yxz

Ok I’m more excited about Hwang Jin Young being behind this than anything else. Her track record with sageuks speaks for itself, but I esp love her approach to writing the female characters. They feel authentic to the time period and show their strength through real struggles.

I get what you mean about time travel feeling unrealistic, but I think here it’s more than just a gimmick. Without it, you’d lose the whole lead dynamic that makes the show so fun, like that fish out of water moment where she doesn’t even realize she’s in the past and just treats the King like some random madman, which is exactly what makes him find her intriguing.

And without her modern training, there wouldn’t be sous vide: no softening the meat, and honestly no softening the King’s heart either. [Wait, I just realized that’s actually a pretty deep symbolism for where the story might be headed]. That changes everything, because it suggests she might actually ease tensions or even prevent the court intrigue that would’ve led to a pivotal moment in Joseon history. For people who already know Yeonsangun’s story (especially Korean audiences), that "what if" twist is the hook, and for everyone else, the drama makes it clear she’s already altering events. So the time travel isn’t just for show, it’s what drives the entire story.

The closest one I can think of is warriors/musa during Goryeo period. They served state lords, etc but they were not in a distict social class like samurai since many were peasants recruited into the military force. I think the Hwarang mostly refer to elite *youth* warriors in Sila period (Three Kingdoms period before Goryeo) and they exclusively serve the King, but again not a separate social class like samurai.