Kate

Even tho I did not enjoy it as much, I appreciate when a show knows what it wants to be and who the target audience is. Instead of trying to fit everything in and please everyone.

Totally agree about the opening sequence - honestly felt unnecessary and confusing taking into consideration the show as a whole. Memories of the Alhambra was fine for me for one simple reason - the whole show was told in a non-linear style, so opening a show not with the beginning of the story did fit the overall storytelling, even if it was confusing.

About flashbacks, sometimes I feel like they add so many in different shows coz they truly think the audience is too dumb to connect some dots themselves. Insulting a bit 🙃 At the same time I saw people arguing about plot lines that basically never took place, because they missed a scene or two, or did not pay attention for one moment and it was impossible for them to understand the overall progression coz of that.

Overall, great review! Was a pleasure to read.

"too much yelling and stress" < I agree. It felt like even the good things eventually led to misfortune around the middle point of the show.

Great review! Loved the 3rd paragraph, perfectly describes what we can find in the show :)

Lady Park assumed a lot based on what Lee Tae told her.

Gye Won said he never wanted the queen to die, he wanted her out of the court. Her death was not his plan, her death was the result of her trying to not protect her son, but rather protect the power the son still had. If she was named the traitor, he would stop being crown prince and probably they would both be banished.

Lee Tae's father agreed to cover it up that led to countless innocent people to die, it was his choice he could have made a different one. These specific lives are on the hands of both Gye Won and Lee Tae and his family, Lady park said it herself.

Lee Tae could have tell the truth for years, did not and is still not telling it because power > truth. He said it - he needs more power before he clears her family's name. Literally every character except from YJ picked power and protecting themselves over the truth and other people. Lee Tae is going around manipulating people for his benefit, putting Jo Won Pyo's family in danger coz he needs help, and he honestly does not care much what might happen to them if his plan fails. The same way he does not care about Jo Won Pyo's daughter now. He lied to her, made her become consort for his political gain, and now she is screwed.

I get it, I just tried to explain some past event, coz saying it's just Gye Won's fault her family died is not exactly correct

YJ’s family died because the queen killed herself and royal family and Gye Won decided to put the blame on her father instead of telling the truth.

Gye Won did not want the queen dead, he wanted her out of the court, but since that would put Lee Tae in bad position in the future and no protection as the son of the traitor, she decided to kill herself to protect him. The late king, late queen and Lee Tae are also huge part of the reason why her family died.

About why he works against LT, I'll copy what I wrote as a reply to OP:

"Up till now every ruler after the tyrant one was focused on fighting for the power and against Gye Won, and not fighting for the people. Yoo Jung was the first to pick people over her personal gain and her personal revenge - that's why he is willing to risk quite a lot to support her in power, coz he trusts she will be able to protect the country from falling into hands of tyrant and raise the new king to be wise and good."

All characters are gray here. Gye Won is also gray from start to finish (most likely). Set the show in times of the tyrant king and he will be a hero of the story. I think it adds to the depth of his character - his motivations are good, how he implements them is extremely misguided because of his paranoia and trauma caused by the king before Lee Tae's dad.

Up till now every ruler after the tyrant one was focused on fighting for the power and against Gye Won, and not fighting for the people. Yoo Jung was the first to pick people over her personal gain and her personal revenge - that's why he is willing to risk quite a lot to support her in power, coz he trusts she will be able to protect the country from falling into hands of tyrant and raise the new king to be wise and good. I find his story the most fascinating. I want to see the prequel of him scheming to remove the evil king from the throne.

He supports Yoo Jung knowing fully where it will lead him most likely to death, and probably to a great harm to his family. It just shows how his extremely path is nit limited to others, he is willing to lose everything too for the cause he sees as good - peaceful country.

Technically speaking if he is bad, so is Lee Tae and his father. Because of them covering up the queen's suicide her whole family was annihilated. Innocent people died because they tried to protect each other and the power they had as a royal family ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

glad you could relate 🤣

random thoughts as i watched episode 10

"𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘯."
"𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦."

I LOVE HER SO MUCH 😭 She is literally the best female character this year.
I fear they will ruin her. Just keep her amazing as she is now!
What an opening for episode 10 it is.

We all know Gye Won will get a tragic ending. He will get what he wanted - good ruler with a wise queen to help him stay righteous and not make dumb mistakes. But he will pay for it with his life.

Lee Tae should stop playing that Go match. Ain't he aware yet he ain't a player, but a pawn? 🤣 The way he thinks he won over Gye Won and Gye Won is the only white pawn now, when the only reason things go well for him now is the fact Gye Won works with Yoo Jung to make it happen 🙃 This is basically a comedy hahaha

Btw another reason why Lee Tae is shit - he wants everything (power, control, love) while not willing to sacrifice anything. While Gye Won is willing to even die for what he stands for.

The servant lady needs to go. I cannot, she is so stupid. oof. They had a perfect opportunity to make it seem as if she died in that attack and send her away so she will not cause any more trouble...

When Yoo Jung covered up for Gye Won, it should make Lee Tae understand how he is not part of that court politics and they treat him like a child that should not get involved hahaha

"so to protect her you have chosen to lie to me" bitch... you are in NO POSITION to question her about lying, when you kept the truth about her family's death away from her for year and even now you tell her she needs to wait before he confesses it to others 🤣

Where the heck does Queen Dowager think she can go? She has exactly 0 people on her side and now everyone wanting her out 🙃

Check the reviews, I'd say you get some different [perspective from every that rated it under 8. There are around 8 of these?

yeah it's the type of a show that relies on the viewers connection to the characters and the plot. It's not a bad thing, coz if someone relates to it, it will have a huge impact on them, not just some forgettable entertainment. But at the same time, if someone does not relate to it, the drama will be... just ok.

I get that. But I do tend to rate based on the enjoyment and since I write review for everything I watch, that's where I try to point out good and bad more objectively (well, as objective as any other person can be, so not that much).

Tho Why R U is an extreme case for me, since a lot of my enjoyment came from discussing the good and the bad with mdl community on feeds, making memes about it etc. Usually even if I enjoyed a drama a lot, but it's objectively not that great, I try to not rate it higher than 7.5.

Ratings should be whatever a person wants the rating to be, since there is no such a thing as objective rating - ratings of all users are biased by their preferences.

I would say the rating is HEAVILY biased (which I point out myself in the review), but I would say the review itself is less of an issue. I clearly point out all the awful aspect of the show and lazy production. Literally the only god thing about the drama was the main couple, and all the other aspects were bad, which I called out ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Glad I was able to put into words what other people also felt while watching, even if just a little bit :)

That's the beauty of dramas - we all enjoy different aspects and can discuss them later :)

Yeah. I get why people love it, i just didn't share the sentiment 🙃

That's the thing with character driven dramas - they might be a writing masterpiece, but if an audience member do not relate to the characters, they will not find it that charming...

I have a lot of respect for dramas that are "not for everyone" even if I end up in the part of the viewers who did not love it as much. If the writer and director has a specific vision and want to make a show that represent it, they should got for it without trying to please everyone :)

Yeah coz the show is well written, it will just not be for everyone, and I'm one of the people who, while still enjoyed it quite a bit, was not as in love as many other viewers. It's just with my personality, life experience, preferences etc., I did not relate to the show, or rather to a specific style the stories were present in😊