lime_pickle

The novel puts a slightly different spin on on her cause of death but has her dying nonetheless - as she did, when only 34, in reality.

I haven't seen Yi San, sorry. How does that end?

I'm afraid I don't know Korean but probably wouldn't consider a Youtube video, particularly of a drama, a historical source. Lots of things become 'known facts' without ever having a non-fictional source. In my own culture, for example, our view of Richard III is based on Shakespeare and other non-contemporary fabulists, not on the records of the time.

I was disappointed in Red Sky but am still liking The Kings Affection.

I must admit I haven't seen the historical source you refer to - the one where he only had feelings for Consort Uibin Seong. I only know that he had three other concubines and one of them - Consort Su - gave birth to King Sunjo.

I've noticed that historical C dramas - some of them, anyway - portray the multiple wives/concubines and their bickering (or worse) whereas Korean dramas like to do the One True Love thing, however unlikely

The novel ends in a historically factual way, albeit with a different interpretation of some aspects.

As others have said: it was normal/expected in that day for rich/noble men to have multiple consorts. In Yi San's case he had one full on wife, who he married when she was 9 and he was 11, who he stayed married to (she even outlived him). Plus he had 4 concubines:

Royal Noble Consort Ui (the FL in this drama)
Royal Noble Consort Su of the Bannam Park clan
Royal Noble Consort Won of the Pungsan Hong clan
Royal Noble Consort Hwa of the Namwon Yun clan

The first two had kids with him (though they didn't all survive) but I can't see that he had any with his 3rd and 4th concubines and definitely not with his wife.

Women in Korea have struggled to stay upright for many years . . . centuries, in fact.

A lot of them didn't have children at all (might have been male infertility as much as female) . And a lot of them had miscarriages or lost children very young. The King in 'Mr Queen' sired 10 children, I think, with his wife and concubines and none of them made it past 2 years. On the other hand Wang So (Scarlet Heart) had a whole bunch of children which survived . . . . with his half sister and aunt.

Queen Hyoui and Yi San were married when she was 9 and he was 11, so already an item by the time of the first episode. But although she stayed his wife (and outlived him, too) they didn't have any kids so maybe they didn't spend much time together.

Coming to Netflix on 2 December.

Yes, they were open and honest about their mutual attraction - and, importantly, equals in that - from the start.

I loved, loved, loved the character of Kim Da Li - smart, resourceful, strong (without being screechy or violent), honest and quirky. Definite one of my favourite FLs in any kdrama. And Jin Moo Hak was adorable, of course.

Is this basically an advert?

Jang Ki Yong seems to be carving out a niche for himself as a "lovely man who becomes the object of an angry older woman's lust".

No, her mother-in-law beating her is disgusting. But it's portrayed as that. The drama tells us that it's disgusting. But the drama - and you, sadly - are diminishing her assault on him as 'excusable'. It isn't. And it's a regular trope in Korean dramas - portraying female on male violence as cutesy or funny.

Thanks, I'm sure she is a nice person overall. But I see the female on male sort of domestic violence (and smacking someone on the face is unacceptable however 'out of order' they are) minimalised or played for laughs quite often in even good dramas and it makes my flesh creep each time.

Yes, in December.

That's a really good drama - now on Netflix. Yeo Jin Goo was brilliant, playing 2 characters.