sunbeam7

Their lack of chemistry has definitely caused me to be uninterested in their scenes together and their scenes individually. The "supporting" characters are much more captivating (GSJ, GYZ, GZS, SGQ) and so I am invested in THEIR stories instead.

I also just really want to see GSJ and GZS fight together because they have completely opposite personalities and them teaming up would be everything.

Its refreshing when there is no "villain" within the main cast. GYZ, GSJ, GZY, GZS are actually all on the same side. GZY is going through the ML arc of incompetent to skilled and learning how to be a leader. GSJ is smart, cold, and calculating but steadfastly loyal to the Gong Family sect. GYZ is loyal to GSJ and through him the Gong Family. GZS is GZS. Though they may all have their spats, they are not each other's true enemy. So I want to see them all work together. I want to see the collective power and skill of the four of them against their enemies. I want to see Wufeng and co. smug as they underestimate the Gong Family only to get their asses kicked. Because I think if they teamed up, truly, and fought side by side it could be spectacular.

While Zishang has been delightfully hilarious, I also eagerly await the moment she kicks some ass. She easily pushed aside Jin Fan in the corridor. She stays up late reading about weapons/designing weapons. She is the heir of the weapons guild of the Gong Family. I want to see that in action. I want her to show that she is not to be messed with and can hold her own within the powerful and skilled Gong Family.

What would be perfect is if GSJ redid the Lantern Festival using the lantern that GYZ made for him and also gifting GYZ a lantern that he specifically picked out for him. Didn't spend enough time with you the first time so let me make it up to you situation. GSJ MAKING AN EFFORT TO MAKE IT UP TO GYZ AND SPEND TIME WITH HIM. Just GSJ and GYZ and the Lantern Festival 2.0. Literally just peaceful time with just GSJ and GYZ together doing something lighthearted would be everything I want and need.

If there was ever a time for GSJ to repair the relationship with GYZ it is NOW. GSJ has neglected GYZ and made him feel like a poor replacement for GLJ recently. GYZ's loyalty and love is first and foremost to GSJ. GYZ is loyal to the Gong Family through GSJ. GYZ tried to prevent GSJ from drinking poison (though I would have started with a verbal warning first). Even when seriously injured GYZ is concerned with GSJ above his own health. I think it would mean a lot to GYZ to see GSJ worried about him, care about him, be by his side as GYZ is fighting for his life. It would also reassure GYZ that he isn't losing his brother because when he needs him the most GSJ is there. GSJ should also make obvious that GYZ is not a replacement for GLJ to him.

I want to see GYZ be GSJ's first and foremost priority from here on out especially until he has recovered. I want to see GSJ put aside his mind games with SQ and his disagreements with GZY and focus on GYZ. I want to see the human side of GSJ come out with the depth of how much GSJ cares for GYZ and how deeply he regrets injuring him. I want them to come out of this ordeal still incredibly tight brothers.

On the other hand, if GSJ becomes an emotionless piece of marble instead, I feel like something within GYZ will break. Almost as if its the last straw of ~GSJ doesn't care about me as much as I care about him~. The GYZ of the first 12 episodes will be no more. That can't happen. GYZ as a cold emotionless figure isn't GYZ.

Also, regardless of my feelings for this entire drama, where is my OST sung by PHS?! There better be one because he has the voice of an ANGEL.

Furthermore, the longer she is framed, the longer the SFL (aka the FL's best friend, sister-in-all-but-blood, right-hand-woman) is also being accused. The SFL is also much more vulnerable because she does not have the status that the FL has as a high ranking daughter of a noble nor the protection the FL has right now under the ML's wing. That should be motivation enough to not sit on her hands with regards to her family's murder case regardless of how "content" she is besides the ML. Do it for the SFL! Do it for Ga Ram!

Also, while the FL and the ML slowly fall in love, to the 3rd party the FL is still a MALE eunuch. So she will not be able to hide under the guise of Soon Dol forever because a male eunuch is not going to give the throne any heirs. If they fail to clear the FL's name (as Min Jae Yi), not only will the FL be unable to marry the ML as Min Jae Yi, they will probably have to fake her death or something in order to finally close the case. Which means there will be a SECOND alternate persona the FL will have to take on in order to get the happily ever after she desires with the ML. A second alternate persona that somehow has the status to qualify to marry the ML (he could wave that away given his lineage and power but it will remain a point of debate within the nobles nonetheless). The male eunuch Soon Dol will also have to disappear and they will probably have to do something about the second alternate persona's appearance that makes it differ from both the eunuch and Min Jae Yi. How ridiculously and unnecessary complicated.

Also, I find it hard to believe that none of the other nobles recognize Soon Dol as the FL. Her father was a very popular noble which most likely meant that he had a lot of visitors. Visitors that included the ML (to mentor at some point),and other nobles to socialize and talk politics etc etc. Fine, not the SML because he is young and captain of the police force or whatever but every single old fuddy duddy would have popped around up until the day the father was murdered (aka recent history when the FL is an adult). When they came to visit, the entire family would have been present to some capacity. And you are telling me that not one of them recognized her? Thought her facial features look familiar? Because the transformation from Min Jae Yi to Go Soon Dol is literally concealing her long hair and putting on a hat. That's it. Nothing else has changed. She is still the same height. Considering how intelligent these nobles are presented to be, I call absolute rubbish on this. Her ruse should have been exposed by now.

The ML can parade around as a scholar in peasant town outside of the palace because no one really knows what he looks like. The access to resources that the peasants have compared to the nobles is dramatically less. However, the nobles are her father's inner circle of friends. There is no way.

Also if this entire drama ends without the FL's family's murder case coming to a satisfactory ending with justice being served and the FL's name being cleared (and by extent the SML's name too), it will go down as one of the worst plot arcs in recent history. THAT WAS THE ENTIRE POINT OF THE FL'S STORY. The FL is not just there to assist the ML in HIS mystery case but solve HER own. Her AGENCY and INDEPENDENCE revolves around fighting to get justice for HER family.

Also the life she is content with is a life in which she is disguised as a male eunuch. To be content implies that she has no intention to change that situation, no intention to ever be "Min Jae Yi" (as recognized by the rest of the world) again. This includes the current subconscious knowledge that her affections lie with the ML and not the SML (which she will eventually be well aware of). The ML is of course very pleased to know that the FL has no desire to leave his side (essentially leaving every aspect of her previous life behind). At this point, I want the SML to be told EVERYTHING ASAP. They are being duplicitious otherwise. For the ML to know that the SML is still hoping that his fiance the FL is alive and still his fiance and promising to bring the FL to the SML (thus the SML thinks he has the ML's support), but instead happily carrying on a romance with that FL right under his nose (knowing that the FL has no intention to return to being the fiance of SML), means that both the ML and FL are actively misleading the SML into wishing on a prayer. Wishing on something that does not exist and will never happen. Let him know and he will most likely 1) feel hurt 2) conceal those emotions 3) bow out because the ML is the CP and his best friend 4) burn that marriage consent letter. But at least he will get closure and he can move on. He deserves to know more than anyone else. And if they are defering telling him to manipulate the ending. to avoid any fallout or consequences, that is incredibly unfair to him. The very nature of this facade results in fallout and a ripple effect, but the SML should be allowed the ability to make those choices for himself. TELL HIM. TELL HIM when there is a chance that you can still be friends in the aftermath and not when you are leaving him to absorb all of this angst and hurt.

It is honestly a little bizarre that the FL has told the ML that she is completely content with her life besides him when she is still being framed for the murders of her entire family and she has not been able to put them to rest considering she went on the run the minute they were murdered. This is not the time to sit down and go ahhh I am content. Being content implies a level of satisfaction, a level of rest, a level of job's done. Considering the entire motivation for her character is to find her family's murderer, content is the last thing she should be.

When you skim through a drama using social media because said drama is not easily available in your region and find it disappointing, when you are only seeing the HIGHLIGHTS of the drama and you are still both underwhelmed and irritated, it is a sign to walk away. Perhaps I will watch this show backwards when it has finished airing. Perhaps not.

I really hope the ML's character growth arc includes developing a level head and being grateful for someone's friendship. He is also never entitled to her time and attention EVER. He does not own her, she is her own person with her own autonomy.

I honestly don't know how to feel about the ML being jealous for the FL's attentions and possessive as it is not really his place to be jealous and possessive. He is fully aware that she is engaged/on the verge of being married to the SML. He knows that she has genuine feelings for the SML and he also knows that the SML has feelings for her too and is loyal to her through his conversations with the SML (he heard it straight from the source so these are not rumors or speculations but facts). It feels like a breach of something unspoken to knowingly go after someone and claim all of their time and attention. Futhermore, he knows that the SML is still trying to find her, is still hoping to reunite. It just doesn't sit well with me.

I know we have barely passed the quarter-mark for this drama but with 20 episodes (4 or 8 more than most dramas get nowadays) there is a lot of runtime yet to come and I am worried about how they are going to utilize that time. Just as I don't want the plot to drag unnecessarily, I also don't want the ML and FL to have tunnel vision for each other. They each had a life before they met each other so I want to see them have numerous, consistent interactions with other people and develop those dynamics throughout the show until the very end. Those dynamics are of equal importance to the romantic dynamic between the FL and the ML because they each need a support system independent of one another. I really hope the writers don't discredit these other relationships.

My current theory regarding "betrayal" is this. If there is someone currently betraying the ML, it is NOT the SML. It is someone else who he implictly trusts and doesn't question their judgement. (This is completely different from someone who is actively working against him which is most of the noblemen tbh)

The top contender is Taekang (the ML's personal guard). His profile and dress is very similar to that seen on the mystery figure leaking information out of the palace. However, this makes no sense from a character point of view. Taekang was nothing before, he was a thug living on the streets which most likely meant that he was barely surviving with no stable roof over his head, food on his table or money in his pockets. The ML saved him. He owes the ML his life. Why he would betray the ML is mindboggling and requires flashbacks to understand. There is the possibility that he is doing this out of a misguided sense of "saving" the ML or whoever he is working for (because he definitely isn't the brains of the betrayal operation) has incredible leverage over him.

Another contender is one of the head eunuchs. I can't for the life of me remember his name but his face is very familiar. That actor plays the father/villian figure in many previous dramas (often at the exact same time) and is too notable to be playing a character who is just the head eunuch who keeps his head down and doesn't contribute to the plot in some shape or form. It wouldn't surprise me if he is the brains of the betrayal operation.

If the ML continues to push away the SML, he will create a situation in which the SML will betray him. Which also means you can prevent this betrayal from happening if the ML acts correctly. It would be a really nice change of pace if the ML prevents this betrayal. Please please let this happen.

If I could wish for any logic to be imparted onto this show it would be to not create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Like those words on the ghost letter are simply words on a page until someone believes they are true and gives those words (and thus the person/people who wrote those words) way too much power and influence. They decide their own destiny, it is not out of their hands so for the love of everything can the ML employ some LOGIC and CONVERSATION before he pushes away everyone in his life, creating potential enemies?!

If there is any historical basis whatsoever it is negated by the fantasy element that the show is clearly pushing. The FL said that she didn't believe in ghosts and behind every supernatural event there is a human who has been pulling the strings. But then you see later that there is a blood ritual that is being performed through killing people and ghosts being summoned and absorbed into someone's body. So who knows anymore....

And that snake in the grass that took his own life and framed the FL for the murders of her entire family (and it seems like was actually the one who committed the crime instead) needs to be revived from the dead to face justice and pain. He is TRASH.