littlepoodle

I would guess that's why they changed the king's name. It feels more like an alternate universe type of thing rather than a reinterpretation of a real king. It takes some elements of a real king and creates an entirely fictional character out of them. IMO it would be a lot more offensive to make it more realistic and then recontextualize the real notorious tyrant with "he wasn't that bad really, he was just misunderstood". The more they change, the better...

I can see why some might still take offence at basing the character on a real tyrant at all, though.

I actually like it better this way around. The power imbalance is already weighted heavily on the ML's side, so I like it that her being older makes their dynamic feel more balanced. There was something especially hilarious about this young man making pitying comments about her being a spinster, sounding like some elder.

This is the first Kdrama in a long time that has me genuinely excited for new episodes. It has that certain spark that makes me already root for the romance even though the leads have had next to zero positive interactions so far, lol. I feel like the ML is already smitten with the FL but in complete denial about it. It's rare for a drama to pull off that vibe so early on.

But if I were you, I'd probably wait a while, if there are so many things you already dislike about the drama beforehand. You'd probably have to be ready and willing to be excited by it like I am, as there are many details to nitpick and get annoyed by. People staring at a solar eclipse, bringing taser to a plane, the arrow... and of course the ML being a legendary tyrant who's probably going to be whitewashed quite a bit. I think that alone will be hard for many viewers to get over.

I don't really find it similar to Mr Queen, to be honest. The source of the comedy is different - Mr Queen was about a man stuck in the body of a Queen, this one is about a modern career woman essentially reduced to the King's property. The cooking itself feels different - this has the vibe of a stressful, high-stakes cuisine championship. The romance has a completely different vibe, too, because the FL's position is so drastically different.

I also immediately thought of Li Yitong. I think Landy Li also has a similar vibe, though she's younger. I could imagine either of them as the resourceful chef.

As for the ML, to me Liu Xueyi is the epitome of "dangerous but hot", though I don't know if he's done any comedy. But he has that slightly psychotic smile that could be used to great effect here...

I don't think Nakjoon ever cheated on Haesook, but it could be Somi was his ex that he never told her about. Which would still make all of this quite messy and unpleasant.

Though to be honest any possible scenario (even being unwittingly involved in a stranger's child's death, and then hiding it from Haesook) is too messy and unpleasant for what this drama was supposed to be. Comedy and romance, yeah right.

Regarding 5, perhaps this is all leading up to their next life, where Young-ae will finally be a good mother to Haesook, and Haesook and Nakjoon will have a happy family with the Pastor as their son. But that leaves Somi out of the equation, so who knows.

I think that's partly Gangcheol's own fault though, because he keeps flexing about his powers and doesn't admit to any of his current weaknesses. Don't forget he promised her to save Yoon Gap in order to get her to accept him as her guardian spirit in exchange. He didn't even tell her what the monk said about the pearl, so she couldn't choose between him and Yoon Gap (yet) because she doesn't know about this. They're both a bit foolish.

I thought he's been trying to come up with a way to get out of the body without killing Yoon Gap, as he cares about Yeori's feelings (even if he's in denial about it). Which shows how soft-hearted he is for an Imugi.

I'm not sure if that necessarily means anything, as Ahn Nae-sang is also listed as a guest role, but Choi Won-woo returned and is clearly shaping up to be an important character in some way.

Wait, how do we know Yoon Gap was the baby? I kind of assumed he might have been, since all we know about his origin is that he's an illegitimate child (whose?), but I must have missed the part where this was confirmed.

I think he's doing remarkably well here. I have no trouble seeing him and KYK as the same character - I noticed similar mannerisms and facial expressions in both versions of Gangcheol.

Sorry, that was clearly my mistake - I assumed you were agreeing with the OP, who was admonishing people for "shipping" the main couple of this drama, so I was replying to both of you. If that wasn't the case, please just ignore my post and think of it as being a response to the OP instead.

Sometimes you just have to believe what the story is telling you, surely? Within this story Gangcheol was indeed an innocent creature in that sense, as he's only discovering the five senses of humans in the current timeline. And you're misrepresenting the full context of the quote: "It was the first time I had seen such a human. A human in perfect harmony with heaven and earth."

If you choose not to believe any of that and instead see a hidden, darker story behind the actual story, well, that's up to you. But so far, the drama hasn't been ambiguous at all. The character of Gangcheol even says out loud to himself that he sees Yeori differently (= as attractive) now that he's in a human body.

At the very least, even if you see it differently, I don't think it's fair to judge others for enjoying the story as it's told.

Oh, I get that - we all have different thresholds for discomfort, and there are a lot of popular pairings that give me the ick, too, without knowing why. And it's perfectly understandable to find it problematic that an immortal is trying to use a mortal's soul to his selfish spiritual purposes, let alone a young girl's. But I suppose I had the comment about Kim Soohyun in mind as I wrote my response; I found that comparison a bit strange.

It doesn't make me any more uncomfortable than any other human-immortal pairing.
In fact, I appreciate that they've taken some extra steps here to make the scenario less creepy:
(a) They keep repeating how it's been 13 years, which should make it very clear to all viewers that Yeori is in her mid-twenties by now.
(b) In Episode 2, Gangcheol is struck by Yeori's beauty. He's confused by the experience and says out loud that it must be because he's seeing her through human eyes now, confirming he didn't see her that way when he was a spirit.
I can understand being uncomfortable with the idea of a spirit targeting a young girl for her spiritual powers (though I personally don't care, as it's so far removed from reality). But it's pretty misleading to make it sound like something s*xually disturbing when the drama itself explicitly confirms he's starting to be attracted to her only now that he has a human body.