lime_pickle

It was actually Choi Suk-bin (played in this version of the story by Han Seung-yeon) who was the wife who came from super-humble beginnings, had no allies etc. I think they've swapped their backgrounds to make Jang Ok Jung (who had family and the backing of the poerful Namins) seem more 'romantic'.

Ooh - I'm watching this now and have just realised that they've given Choi Suk-bin's real, humble beginnings (she really did come from the 'slave' class) to Jang Ok Jung instead.

She didn't really come from a low class (upper middle in reality) and she had lots of extant family and political allies - the drama has created a lot of myths in that respect.

Agree, they might be a favourite for a few years (or even less - days?) but eventually someone younger and prettier will come along. As it did in this case. The titular character here was the third 'wife' of Sukjong and even without the power politics she was supplanted fairly early on by a pretty maid.

Agree. I hate the kdrama trope where 'strong' in women translates as 'reckless, screechy and (unnecessarily) violent'. It's bullshit.

There were 5 other Grand Princes born after Anpyeong, though. It could be one of those?

Thank you, that was my first thought, too. But the names didn't match up. I was hoping it wasn't because its too sad.

I know this is heavily fictionalised but Kwak Shi Yang is playing the guy that eventually becomes King Sejo (and deposes his nephew, etc), so a real person. So which of his brothers is Gong Myung playing? I can't see a Grand Prince Yangmyeong (Yi Yul) in the historical record but know that the spellings get changed a lot.

The young teacher was in love with the wife, not the husband

A theory about the young teacher who used to live with/board with the now-divorced couple

This is great; deeply sad but a good attempt to use the historical facts, that we know (she was married to him at 13), with a more modern ideal; a king that had many wives/concubines. I really like that they didn't try to make him more 'romantic' than he was in reality.

"I didn't ask anything."

mood indigo comes first in a purely linear/chronological sense, but I think you can watch them in either order.

Agree 100% with your analysis. I too am bored with the screechy/drunk/'flawed' (i.e. utterly obnoxious) heroine who has 2, 3 or 4 flawless men mysteriously sniffing after her . . . it's wish fulfilment for all us flawed women but deeply unhealthy at the same time. But I'm really enjoying this. I hesitated at first. I'd last seen the FL in some vehicle where she was literally a scatty alkie who killed people 'accidentally' but in this she's really nailing it. She's managing to make an unlikeable, neurotic, full on snob curiously sympathetic.

Does anyone know the song/artist played in episode 5 at the beginning of the painting competition? It includes the line "hey ya jihwaja, all is well'.

This is super-dull. I feel that they're trying to make a point about contract/outsourced workers but the plot is so slow and clunky and the acting so pedestrian that it never quite lands.

The FL pretty much ruined Doctor John for me - she seemed to have three 'emotions' only; crying, mooning/staring, and looking so blank-faced it looked like her soul had left her body . . . I hope she's better in this.

Yes, I did watch to the end, hence the "at least in part" modifier.

Another creepy, stalking female lead. Oh, well. I'm up to episode 6 and she hasn't stopped blubbing, repeatedly, yet.

I expected to like this but can't get past episode 5. The heroine is too old to be doing the magic pixie girl thing, the ML is excessively shouty, as is his 'manager', the core story still doesn't seem to have taken off and I hate, hate, hate the romanticization of stalking and/or clingy, excessive 'fan' behaviour. Ugh.