AH

Okay one more question.

The deity made Tak Dong Kyung remember seeing Myeol Mang in the funeral hall and later says to Myeol Mang "Isn't it the first time a human remembered you?". I thought the implication based on that and other instances (e.g., at the hospital after the murderer tried to stab Myeol Mang) meant that humans weren't supposed to be able to remember Myeol Mang. But Myeol Mang didn't seem surprised when Tak Dong Kyung remembered him throughout episode 1 even before they had a contract. He was only surprised when Tak Dong Kyung said she had seen him before at the funeral hall. He also wasn't surprised when Tak Seon Kyung recognized him. And as you mentioned the ladies in the hospital all remember seeing him, so maybe it's not that all humans forget Myeol Mang. Maybe it's a plot hole.

Or (this is a very loose theory and I don't really think it's canon) perhaps it was surprising that Tak Dong Kyung remembered that encounter because Myeol Mang has been reset before for not behaving the way he was "programmed" to, including sometime after Tak Dong Kyung's parents' funeral, and that should mean that no one other than the deity would be able to remember seeing him before the reset? It will be interesting to see what the rules are for resets.

Dr. / writer Jung Seung Jun can remember that he met a man on the roof who he thought fell. He did see Myeol Mang's face for at least a few moments during that encounter and thought that man was old enough to be a doctor and didn't really recognize Myeol Mang when he brought flowers for Tak Dong Kyung. In that second encounter he thought that Myeol Mang was clearly younger than Tak Seon Kyung, who is played by a 25 year old. I thought Myeol Mang appeared differently to Jung Seung Jun the second time they met, but maybe he just didn't get a close enough look at him the first time. I wonder if Jung Seung Jun asked if they had met before based on vaguely recognizing Myeol Mang's appearance or if it was more of a feeling.

I have so many questions but I'll only ask two. Why does Myeol Mang drive when he can just appear places? I get it makes sense for things like driving Tak Dong Kyung and Tak Seon Kyung home from the hospital, but for other times, especially when it's just him, I don't get it.

Also if Tak Dong Kyung is the only human who can remember / recognize / call Myeol Mang, why can Tak Seon Kyung remember Myeol Mang? He doesn't see Myeol Mang's true appearance and the appearance he sees changes a bit (he thought Myeol Mang died his hair) but he still recognizes him as his Hyung-nim. I wonder if Tak Seon Kyung had met Myeol Mang in a different context, if he maybe wouldn't recognize him again, but since he knows Myeol Mang as the man his sister is dating, that changes his ability to remember / recognize Myeol Mang because of the association with Tak Dong Kyung? Or is Myeol Mang letting Tak Seon Kyung recognize him? It seems like Myeol Mang by default appears differently to each person, and differently to people each time they see him, but he can also choose to appear as someone recognizable (e.g., Tak Dong Kyung's CEO) when he wants to.

I watched it in one sitting. The first three quarters were great. The last quarter... the drama would've been better without it IMO.

We clearly have very different interpretations of this drama. I agree that KSY must have been "awake" in the sense that she was aware enough when JBH left to know who he was and that he was gone, and she appears to be aware of / have memories of what happened while JBH's soul was in command of her body. But she seemed to be silently aware in the background the entire time JBH was present. The writers never portrayed her as communicating with JBH or taking control of her body. At most, I think her love for the King influenced JBH's feelings, but only because her feelings aligned with feelings that JBH was developing himself (and trying to resist). Based on everything I saw, I don't think JBH was ever influenced by KSY's existing feelings for anyone else. When I say that KSY "wakes up", I mean that her consciousness came to the forefront and took over her body again. Even though she seems to have been aware of what was happening, it was like she was in a coma but able to see what was happening up until JBH's soul left (tbh I find this a bit creepy and prefer to think that she was asleep, but I agree that the evidence obviously shows that she was aware). Like when JBH briefly went back to his body and couldn't move or speak.

I completely disagree with the notion that the King fell in love with KSY and not JBH. As I see it, everything in the drama suggests that he fell in love with JBH's soul and personality in KSY's body. The King starts to change his feelings about the King when JBH saves JHJ without expecting any thanks. Then he feels guilty for trying to kill JBH, and when JBH gets angry on the King's behalf, the King is touched. The King also comes to enjoy JBH's odd and amusing behaviour. He's had so few moments of fun, or joy, or laughter, and JBH is full of happy, upbeat energy. There are more examples (the banquet, offence as defence, etc.) of things that are distinctly JBH that the King fell for. The only thing that comes from KSY that might have influenced the King's feelings was the fact that she is the person who he met in the well as a child. But the writers gave us a whole scene where the King tells JHJ that he didn't fall for her because he thought she was the girl from the well. The obvious implication is that he also didn't fall for JBH/KSY because KSY saved him as a child. He was already in love with JBH by the time he realized KSY had saved him.

We can each have separate interpretations. That's fine. But it's a bit ridiculous to suggest that anyone who watches this drama and doesn't think this was primarily a romance between the King and KSY is misunderstanding the drama. There is a mountain of evidence that supports that interpretation.

If you watch it as above, you will still see JBH go back to his own time, but you will skip the parts where (major spoilers ahead) KSY wakes up and continues to be married to the King for the rest of their lives as if she is the person the King fell in love with all along. You'll skip the fact that she never explains that JBH is gone (or why her personality / way of addressing the King changes) so that the King only has a vague sense that he's lost something without understanding why.

Consider watching up to 21 minutes and 7 seconds into episode 20 (pause right at that point). Skip to 51 minutes and 18 seconds in and start watching again there. Skip 56:45 - 56:56 (or just turn the subtitles off for those seconds). Finish watching at 1:01:34. If you watch it like that, it's still not a perfect ending but you will avoid some of the details that I found most disappointing. I'll put a tiny bit more detail under a spoiler guard below.

I dropped Run On 13 episodes in after getting bored. Then came and watched this drama in three days.

In my head, I'm picturing an ending where KSY's consciousness came out from time to time after JBH started to remember her memories (similar to the Eternal Love) and the King also came to believe JBH about the fact that he was a separate person from KSY and also a man from the future, but decided to keep loving him anyway. When JBH returned to his own time, the King was aware and sad about the loss, but decided to keep working to build the dream they shared. KSY still picks up a lot of JBH's mannerisms and takes inspiration from him to be a bolder person. She also believes in the dream that JBH and the king had and works to support it. The King ends up loving her too, even if not as intensely as he loved JBH, and together they succeeded in building a constitutional monarchy that (for a short period in history) makes the lives of their people better. In modern times, JBH meets Hong Yeon's descendant, who is fabulously wealthy due to her family holding land in Seoul for generations. The drama would end with JBH meeting the king's reincarnation in modern times (similar to Splash Splash LOVE and Gu Family Book). The King's reincarnation would not have the King's memories (at least not at first) but he would feel that JBH was familiar and they would have the same compatibility / sense of being drawn to one another / sense of destiny between them. The King's reincarnation would be just as drawn to JBH's personality in modern times as he was in his past life.

I'd say if that's how you feel about it ten episodes in, there isn't anything that comes up later in terms of big shifts that would change how you're feeling. There are some good kisses and other cute moments, but they're a small part of the story. The politics and other non-romantic stuff is most of the story and I found it got pretty draggy.

I was stuck at episode 13 for weeks and then episode 15 for weeks again. Finally finished it today. It's not that the writers made terrible choices or anything, but I was bored and no longer interested in the story / characters. I'm glad I finished it to get it off my watchlist, but that's about it.

This drama had the potential to be incredible (an interesting premise / initial plot set up and two excellent lead actors who are both gorgeous and known for good skinship scenes). Unfortunately it ended up being a drama with some enjoyable scenes scattered between many, many boring and draggy scenes, and while the romance involved some nice moments and some good skinship, it could have been so much more.

A slow pace and slow-burn approach to romance can be great when well executed, but that wasn't what this drama provided. The writing was not tight or particularly satisfying (Where did the name Irene come from? Did the ML really just fall for the FL because she was a pretty kid and felt sad like he did in high school? MHW started out as a character with lots of talent and an industrious energy, but for some reason the writer chose to mostly ignore some of her most compelling traits after the first episode, etc.), the narrative used a lot of unnecessary repetition and spent far too much time on uninteresting plot points / arcs.

Not a horrible drama, just underwhelming. Definitely not a "must watch". If you choose to watch it, don't be afraid to skip through most of it and just focus on the characters that interest you.

lilan and I discussed this theory above. They two characters may have different customs, but I don't think that's the reason he did what he did. aana n's explanation makes the most sense to me, and completely fits when I go back and watch the scene.

I think your original interpretation was correct. I wasn't getting it before aana n's explanation because I didn't realize 1) that Qian Qian was trying to drink from the wrong cup and 2) that they were each trying to drink in a different style. Once she explained that part it all made sense ^^

He definitely looked a little confused by her comment about going home, but now that I better understand the scene I don't think it was the reason he ended up pouring out the poison and giving up on the plan.

Yes, I think the post that confused me thought something similar. As if her demeanour and comment about going home faster was cute enough to make him change his mind, or at least strange enough to make him suspicious.

But 36 minutes and 20 seconds in (right before they sit down to drink), Qian Qian reminds herself to pay attention to the position of the cups / which cup was poisoned and to make sure that she drank from the poisoned cup.

I agree that Qian Qian didn't know which cup was poisoned, but it still seems like Qian Qian was trying to drink from the cup she assumed was poisoned rather than just drinking from the cup she would normally drink from due to her usual customs.

I mean she's not really "from" Huayuan. The fictional character Third Princess is from Huayuan. Unless the writer's actual city is also called Huayuan and I missed it? But either way her habits definitely aren't the same as the habits of the Third Princess Character that she replaced.

I see! So the first time they go to drink, Qian Qian thinks that she needs to drink the glass that Han Shuo gave her to drink the poison and die / go home so she goes for a couple-style, wrap-around approach to drink from that cup, but Han Shuo has actually poisoned the cup he's holding and tries to reach forward and put that cup to her lips. When she goes for the wrong cup, he starts coughing for the first time so he can switch the cups positions.

But the second time, after Han Shuo switches the cups, Qian Qian tries to follow Han Shuo's original approach and puts her cup (now the poisoned cup) to his lips, so he fakes a coughing fit again and pours out the poisoned cup.

That makes so much sense and is so obvious when I go back and watch it now, thank you :)!

I was confused because I saw someone comment that it was cute that he decided not to poison her after he heard her mumbling, and that didn't make sense to me.

Oh!!

Can anyone explain to me what made him change his mind about the plan with the wine in episode 1? I'm rewatching and still can't really figure out what prompted that. Wondering if the subs missed something?

Is the "L" on Dr. Bo's apron a death note reference?