Sooyi

I'm starting to feel the same as you. Like I know Tami is flawed but she is a hypocrite? She accuses Song Gakyung of unethical means to achieve her goals but Tami does the same too! When Scarlett accused her of covering up the webtoon creator's assault case, Tami said that's how she does things.

In the drama yes, King Chunghye of Goryeo was a benevolent king but in real life he was an immoral ruler known for his heinous crimes toward women.

The scene when Min Jae-hee confronts Minseok's sasaeng fans kung fu style is hilarious especially if you know that the actress Ha Jae-sook actually trained in a shaolin monastery for a reality show in the past :D

Son Mi-yoo is a she-devil and a representation of toxic feminity (she's angry that Yi-do does not give a damn attention to her like the other men, so she feeds her sorry ego by getting him drunk and raping him). I was hoping that Yi-do did reveal her heinous crime to Ji-na so she can get her sorry ass fired and BLACKLISTED from the industry (and sue her if she is not going to serve jail time). Yeah I understand Yi-do collapsed when he was going to take Mi-yoo to the hospital to check if he was raped to show a narrative of Jae-hee caring for him, but I really expected the drama to portray Yi-do getting retribution for the crime and it fits him to do so because he is an individualist and does not care about the opinions of others.
And why, Jae-hee, did you reveal to Mi-yoo that Yi-do cannot tolerate his alcohol when you perfectly knew that Mi-yoo was planning to seduce him?? Non-tolerance of alcohol is really a gateway to seduction. I seriously don't like how the writer came up with this scene to demonstrate how Jae-hee comes to Yi-do's needs and carries feelings for him.

I laugh at Yi-do's antics and I feel like it's tailor-made for Shin Sung-rok who is a memorable character actor :D Seo Yi-do is interesting as a person, but I wouldn't consider him an ideal lover.

To be honest, this show does not fat shame. It has like three clear references to Jae-hee's weight but they are not teasing in my opinion. In episode 1, the sales assistant of Yi-do's boutique made a mention about pigs when she was talking about Yi-do's brand philosophy. Actually, the shop assistant said that "we don't put pearl necklaces on pigs", and it is based on a Korean proverb, "pearl (necklaces) on pigs", which means that a treasure has no use for a person who doesn't know its value. In whole, she is saying that Yi-do doesn't give his clothing to people who don't know its quality.
Instead of fat comments, the show doesn't remind us that Min Jae-hee is far from being the ideal image by showing how she doesn't love herself by acting like how she was treated at home, like making homemade tofu and eating at the balcony that she did to make her family like her better. In contrast, the show "Coffee, Do Me a Favor", the female lead constantly received fat remarks, and the actress was much slimmer than middle-aged Jae-hee!
However, I didn't like the way Jae-hee threatened suicide to Yi-do if he didn't hire her, and how people just stood there letting Jae-hee walk into the water, and making Yi-do take action. I found that it made suicide look like an easy matter, and though Yi-do is the one to "blame" for Jae-hee's troubles, isn't it natural to stop a person to walk into their impending death? Furthermore, I was offended by the manner how people took lightly of the subject of sexual assault on men. The kiss was not consented by Yi-do and he doesn't know Jae-hee that well to let it go. And it was rude and unfair when Jae-hee's husband called Yi-do the rapist after the latter called out Jae-hee on her kiss, just because he is a man and Jae-hee doesn't look like the profile of an "attacker". Men and women should be treated equally when it comes to sexual violence, whether they are victims or culprits.

I find the scene like the bromance scenes in Asian dramas, it didn't have a strong political intent. I think the writers were showing that female characters can also have affectionate scenes between each other, like their male counterparts.

Lol that scene reminded me of the scene in Goblin when Goblin and Reaper walked side by side on the road to save Euntak :D

I'm okay with romance but the romance in here is a tad too unrealistic. It's like we're watching two different dramas. So I find it refreshing when Park Mogun got angry at Tami for getting him a job at Barro without his consent.

I don't think it's a lesbian relationship but more like a sismance, similar to the way male characters act affectionate to each other.

I think he's Vanness Wu.

And I see that nowadays drama plots get more and more elaborate and creative, but the execution fails. I have to congratulate writers from the early 2000s for coming up with CRAZY ideas yet making us BELIEVE in them.

I agree with this article especially about the characterization of male leads since before we had a lot more male leads from working class or middle class origins. Additionally, I think the chemistry between the leads were more natural and they weren't necessarily led by the notion of "fate".

However, I feel like male protagonists in dramas, especially Korean ones, are much nicer to female protagonists nowadays. The guys listen to the girls' insecurities and provide advice, respect their boundaries, don't force themselves onto them (though they still do the wrist grab), and don't get stupidly manipulated by love rivals.

While the women are not as innocent and relaxed in terms of style as before, they are more self-confident in general and are established in their careers and want to succeed. They don't fall into obvious traps but I still wince when they get horribly drunk and get themselves home by the help of their love interest. I mean in real life you are extremely vulnerable to getting picked up by strangers with bad motives.

For people who have watched Moon Lovers, Queen Heonae and her sister, Queen Heonjeong, are daughters of Wang Wook, the 8th prince (Kang Ha-neul). Their husband is Gyeongjong, the son of 4th prince Wang So/King Gwangjong (Lee Junki) and his half-sister Hwangbo Yeonhwa/Queen Daemok (Kang Ha-na). Queen Heonjeong also appeared in Moon Lovers as the girl "Bok-soon" in the end when she meets Baek Ah/Wang Wook, the 13th prince (Nam Joo-hyuk), while trying to hide from her father. According to history, she and Baek Ah/Wang Wook fell in love and had a son after she became widowed. It was a huge scandal because widows were supposed to remain faithful to their late husband, so Baek Ah/Wang Wook was sent into exile as punishment, and died without knowing his son. Queen Heonjeong died in labor.
So I consider "Empress Cheonchu" an unofficial sequel to "Moon Lovers" because it talks about the children of Wang Wook, the 8th prince. I think his character is interesting because while he wasn't king, his children have become king and queens. It's the same with Baek Ah whose son reigned Goryeo as Heonjong.

Maybe because I too felt it was unnatural to have a highschooler for a female lead when most of the scriptwriter's heroines were adults all this time.

I heard that she's being in talks for the role of a physical education teacher who hates flower boys.

I mostly agree with the three heroines you mentioned. I think Jin Sunmi is an interesting female lead in her own way but the writers didn't make much use of her characterization which made her be in the background in most cases, and they mostly focused on Sun Wukong and the Bull Demon King. I don't think this is a bad thing but Sunmi is the female protagonist so she should have often taken the reins, even though she does not have martial skills or exceptional magic powers - a well-written strong heroine is someone who handles situations with her own strengths and weaknesses.
I actually liked Ae-ra because she was not a doormat heroine and she loved herself.
Ji Eun-tak is okay but I don't understand why she had to be a highschooler.

I pictured Jung Garam as Lee Hye-young after I saw him in OCN drama "Mistress" (lol he really looks and acts like his webtoon counterpart), so his casting news is a coincidence!

I find it uncomfortable when a guy does it to a girl when she's unconscious, so it's the same vice versa.

Yes I think male leads should evolve more as well. But I see that they are slowly being more and more developed and much nicer. Nowadays a "perfect" male lead to me is a man who doesn't beat around the bush when he likes a girl. He takes time to know the girl and appreciate her as a person and gain her trust and be her ears when she needs support. These are the reasons like why I like Ahn Minhyuk from "Strong Woman Do Bong-soon" and Jung Joonhyung from "Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo". But of course, these qualities are not just for guys, female leads should have them as well!