lime_pickle

The plot sounds interesting and I like KimSeon Ho's acting but Go Ara is one of a handful of actresses whose 'range' comprises almost entirely of goggle-eyed staring and/or crying. I feel all Dorothy Parker (or was it Hedda Hopper?) when I see her name against something.

He's a good actor - I understand he has a theatre background. I definitely gravitate towards dramas with at least one good actor in them -though that didn't save Tomorrow, with You, sadly. I only vaguely remember him in Good Manager but he was excellent in 100 days my prince.

I don't think many kdrama writers write 'strong' or 'quirky' women well at all. Being a screechy, neurotic drunk who beats up people without good reason isn't strength, it's weakness. Recent exceptions: Honey Lee in One the Woman, Park Gyu Young in Dali and Cocky Prince.

In episode 1 she BEHAVES as if she wants to jump him. I can post the link to the trailer if you'd like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0aga-K69tE

Don't worry I never thought love, but lust. She behaved as if she fancied him. Never mind.

Thanks. Just thinking about what a 'normal' middle-aged woman would do if a schoolboy kindly stopped her from falling on train. I don't think it would involve clinging to him and gazing long into his eyes in that fashion, (unless she was maccing on him) but maybe it was, for the writers, the only place they could insert the 'women can't stay upright' trope.

I've seen a trailer for this where the woman 'accidentally' falls against the boy (on a moving train) and they do the usual cling to each other while gazing into each others eyes, romantically, for long minutes. Is that a different drama?

In Coffee Prince the ML falls in love with - and kisses, passionately - someone he thinks is male.

Kwak Shi Yang and Seo In Guk? What's not to like?

It's wish fulfillment fantasy. In reality a very good looking, very nice man with a 'cool' job (particularly in the creative industries) is going to have lots of - better - options.

I think he'll be antagonist, rather than a 2ML and the object of his affections (platonic or not) is the King, not the concubine.

Don't know him as a pop singer at all, and was surprised that was- he's a better actor than some actors.

He was pretty good in Homme Fatale. The was amazing in Rain or Shine.

In real life she became a maid when she was 10 but didn't become a concubine until she was nearly 30, so in episode 2 I think they're meant to be adults.

In real life she died of liver cancer when she was 33/34 but I think the novel might change the liver cancer to poisoning.

He had a wife who he married when she was 9 and he was 11 and (historically) he stays married to her - though they don't have children. The FL in this is the 1st of 4 concubines, 2 of whom he had children with. But how the drama treats this is anyone's guess.

I think JKY is good in non-romantic roles but in this, and WWW - almost exactly the same story (career-focused, much older woman) and the dynamic between the couple (he's sweet and kind, she's angry) - he seems very passive. It's like he's been directed to just stand there, looking pretty. Plus the sex scenes are very cringy; like (very) soft porn made for over-romantic teenage girls - complete with blurry filters, ala Nevertheless.

Thanks, I haven't seen Dong Yi. From a drama POV, particularly if your main audience is romance-loving/product buying young women I can see why you'd play up the OTP aspect.

Neither of them are particularly good actors. Now We Are Breaking Up is virtually the same plot as WWW (and just as cringy). An angry middle-aged woman has affair with a kind, handsome, younger man, who - incomprehensibly - pursues her. She treats him like garbage for some bullshit (childhood trauma is a favorite) reason. Just the normal misogynistic claptrap, really.

What dramas can do, legitimately, to give us a happy ending, is end immediately after the happy ending is achieved and go no further in time. That's how Mr Queen and Love in the Moonlight handled it.