I’m with you in that I like how it could go in a bunch of different directions, and I’m not sure which they’re going to choose. Shin Hye-Sun crushing it as always. I think at some point I’m going to go back through the show and screencap her expressions. Looking forward to this show week after week.

Shin hye sun killed it again this week with the comedy as there were so many laugh out loud moments, didn’t know shin hye sun had the moves haha.

The directing definitely works in favour of the comic timing with the added bgm to bring in extra laughs. I also can’t overlook Kim Jung Hyun this week. The synergy between him and shin hye sun last and in this weeks episode when they go back and forth with the serious banter was sizzling. I especially loved the under water acting, which I assume is difficult, but he nailed it with the expressions. I really look forward to their newly established’no touch’ relationship but things seem to look dire on present day bong Hwan so here’s to hoping he doesn’t return anytime soon, just to keep the hijinks going much longer.

This show is such a hoot! Thanks for the fun weecap @missvictrix!

Court Lady Choi relieves stress by shouting in the woods and looking at that special instrument from Qing *wink wink*

I'm warming up to Cheol-jeong now that he's not hostile to the queen. He said he doesn't see her as a woman, but that swoony music when he's watching her dance in the rain says something else. And of course it shifts to Blackpink from the queen's perspective lol.

Na In-woo fighting!!! Looking forward to Byeong-in and Cheol-jeong clashing and getting jealous of each other over the queen. He is cunning and ambitious all for the sake of So-yong since he had been refusing government positions but now angled for an appointment so he can be closer to her in the palace and protect her. Ah, swoon.

Choi Jin-hyuk in Joseon sounds all kind of awesome! Am all eager for him and Cheoljong to team up, but seems they have a long way to go. (The No Touching "discussion" cracked me up so bad!) Which is sad because somehow, these two are pretty much alike, they are placed in a dire situation not of their choice, so what could be better than working together to find a safe way out?

Felt really bad for Cheoljong, seems like everybody sees him as a tool to further their own agenda. I get that his hyung wants him to focus on revenge, but he is pretty much insisting Cheoljong to alienate himself from his wife and be lonely on his own. Not to mention he also has his eyes on Jo Hwa-jin, who is looking less and less angelic with whatever secret she is keeping. Her "I only did it for the King" is starting to grate real bad.

So far still can't be sure whether So-yong lifelong dream is to be the queen, or to be the love of Cheoljong's life. If she has indeed been groomed to be the queen, she should be conversant in palace politics and not naive about any love between the king & queen. Have been wondering who gave her the intel on the meeting on the lake and whatever secret that cause her existentialism crisis. Did she have her own spy network? Or maybe she also went around as Lee Saeng-mang ><

That glimpse of Bong-hwan in a coma brings back the memory of Life on Mars T_T

What if Bong Hwan and So Yong are the same soul? We haven’t seen So Yong acting in chef’s body yet, so for now I’m going to hold onto this theory.

What if Bong Hwan is the reincarnation of So Yong? In the future he fell into a pool and in the past she jumped into a lake. That created a unique moment of connection between two timelines. Bong Hwan’s head was bleeding while So Yong didn’t seem to be injured, so many the soul slipped into a less damage body in order to live on. I’d personally love the idea of them being the same soul as it’d be something a little new and exciting rather than old two souls swapping.

This drama just makes me laugh out loud so much! I'm therefore far more forgiving of the slightly-too-long-political-machination bits: the show has done well in not making it all too complex to follow, but there are still moments where I'm thinking, "Speed it along, please" (usually when Hwa-jin is on screen - such a shame). Bong-hwan imagining what So-yong would be up to in his body back in the 21st century was hysterical - Choi Jin-hyuk brings so much fun to this!

I’m secretly hoping for Choi Jin-hyuk to show up in Joseon somehow

As a bodyguard!? Don't expect him as a zombie, but I'd take that too.

I told that Choi Jin-hyuk's on-screen appearance will return at the final episode, but unfortunately, he returned to onscreen again(!) from episode 6 onwards. I hope I'll keeping my eye on Choi Jin-hyuk's comic on-and-off-and-on screen again until the final episode (alongside with offscreen voices to Queen Cheorin) and again as his comedic chef role and whatever his onscreen role aside from as a chef. Even his deepfaked, computerized face of CJH too as Queen Cheorin... sounds great VFX face.

Anyway, during the fifth episode, I loved the Queen Cheorin's twerk dance (if Ddu-Du Ddu-Du replaced from the funny traditional Korean music) and I knew that 130 years that twerk didn't exist until the invention during the 1990s I think.

Actually BH did tell the King about the body swap - in their first meeting iirc. But the King just thought he was crazy/ trying to create trouble lol.
Another great set of episodes. Some of the highlights for me -
- BH throwing it back to Blackpink
- Choi Sanggun screaming in the woods
- The "no touching" confusion
- "Today is our first day" - anybody else feel like the King was just trolling BH after a point lol
- Byeong-in vs. the King. Swoony cousin is swoony

I think this is the first time I literally has NO idea where a sageuk is going (except for Moonlight Drawn by Clouds but that's a story for another time *cough*). With sageuk it's more often than not, at the 3rd or 4th episode we're getting the big picture (given a hint of the real history) but with this one I literally have no idea how they're gonna wrap up in the historical front AND the fictional front.

And honestly, I don't know if it's the character or if it's Seol In ah but I just.... can't with Hwajin hsgsgskjdhd it's like she has no idea what's she's doing or why.

SHIN HYESUN IS SOOOO AMAZING HERE!!!

That I Am The Best cracked me up so badly. It was hilarious. I am loving how Bong Hwan uses his presence of mind to navigate situations. The way he deals with the Grand Empress Dowager is something that deserves credit. Also the cousin is super swoony

Can anybody help with the Lee Saeng-mang reference? I keep thinking there is an inside joke or parody there somewhere the way they keep emphasizing this name and I am just missing it since I dont speak Korean. Or maybe I am just reading too much from it?

I can't wait to see the behind-the-scenes of this show..especially the one where everyone was crying over the queen's (fake) collapsed body 😂😂 I was laughing my ass off when everyone, including So-yong's father were just bawling off their eyes while Byung-in was very solemnly tearing up 😂😂 I felt so bad for him! 😂 It must've been so hard to keep a calm composure while everyone around were being comedic af😂😂
Also, can we all agree that Byung-in hands down won that staring competition?? ~swoon~

When I say I hollered when he fake fainted, I had to pause the video I was laughing so hard. Shin Hye Sun bloody nailed it. She is so freaking good. I also laughed when she was dancing in the rain.

Now as much as I love Bong Hwan, I think we need to meet the Queen soon. This is apparently supposed to be a romance, so if the King falls in love, he would be falling in love with Bong Hwan.

That being said he recognized that if the Queen might be living her best life in his body and he didn't like that, but he doesn't seem to recognize that means he too can't live his best life in her body. It works both ways buddy.

Regardless, I am still enjoying the hell out of this drama, fish out of water indeed. I also think Kim Jung Hyun is doing a fabulous job, he is slightly overshadowed by Shin Hye Sun, not because he is doing badly but because she is honestly perfection.

To me, the serious scenes are way more interesting, I love scheming in sageuks what can I say. I think KJH is underused, criminally so. Hopefully we will get to see him frequently not just here and there sprinkled in the episodes. When him and SHS are together, sparks are flying. The underwater scene was aesthetic! Too bad the arguing between BH and CJ after the big save was undercut with a joke. It was so intense until they cut the funny music in.

Can we have a serious talk about the fact the The King is not even interested in having a physical relationship with his mistress. He literally had to be reminded, by her, what she was there for.

And that was a epic fail on her part because she thinks this is magically going to change things and he continue being a dimwit and only listen to her.

I am at such a loss as to why so may dudes are all over her like white rice on a paper plate in a snowstorm. She is so damn bland, hasn't been shown to be very smart and has nothing else going for her, not even loyalty to a childhood friend who literally but their life on the line for her. She literally just waited it out. That's it. At least Bong hwan admitted that he is only interested in her because she hates him.

Oh, and I totally believe that death is coming after Bong hwan's coma. He ain't going back to present day Seoul. He dead.

Seriously I can't love this drama more. Hope the ratings will go higher and higher (20%?)and it will be nominated for Baeksang best drama next year.
Choi Jin-hyuk again, Yay!
He is supposed to be just a special appearance but it seems like way more than that, which is absolutely great. His voice and the way he talks... 😍
This is not a web drama so I don't think it would go for BL.
Probably the king will accept that fact that a guy from the future is in queen's body eventually.
Shin Hye-sun rocks but I really think Kim Jung-hyun is doing a fantastic job too.

I love Bong-hwan's interactions with Court Lady Choi and Hong Yeon. The way he cares for Hong Yeon is so cute - giving her the tip about buying real estate in Gangnam.

This show really knows how to do comedy and uses the element of surprise to really enhance it.

I wasn't going to watch this but my love for Shin Hye-Sun prevailed... and now I'm all caught up.

It actually isn't as gross as I expected? Honestly, I thought it would be more problematic. But aside from Bong-Hwan's bouts of gay panic and whole thing where the King kept insisting that they slept together (like yikes... love the implication that the male lead is a rapist), I've been enjoying the comedy for the most part.

Shin Hye-Sun is such a gem in this though. I'm so glad she has gotten the chance to showcase her comedic talents. And the way she's able to embody Bong-Hwan's mannerisms is so brilliant. Even when Bong-Hwan is successfully pretending to be So-Yong (like using the proper language, with the proper etiquette), his cockiness is a dead giveaway that this is Bong-Hwan-as-So-Yong.

The underwater scene and by the lake are so so good and their chemistry makes me wanting for more. I dont mind if we get a few more eps of SY rejecting CJ tbh. and the way CJ bgm is all soft romantic and SY twerking to DDD? hilarious. The only complaint I have was tvn asia change DDD to some other music. That kill it a bit for me.. why tvn asia....???

Can I say that Byeongin is, for someone who gets into politic for SY is good at his new job? The political maneuvering with the other clan? He is bold and knows how to use his status. and I predict that King bro might becomes a problem in the future.

This show keeps being so much fun!!!
Only drama I watched that makes me laugh out loud in a scene where everyone is crying!! XD

Shin Hye-sun is just so great!*
I love the King's scenes with her the most! In other scenes I can't really warm up to him as much, or feel the chemistry between him and Hwa-jin..for this week, another favourite scene of him was when they were deciding about appointing Byung-in to his new position and he sort of called out the ministers for basically working behind his back; I loved him there.

Also, I'm so glad the "lake filling/jumping in the lake" plot line is finally done..probably just because I knew that wouldn't work so easily, it was starting to get a bit repetitive..and it led to a great scene, with the underwater part and the following confrontation being a highlight of this week's eps imo, I'm happy about that!!

Can't wait for the next episodes!!! 😍

*SHS is amazing as the Queen, as Bong-hwan in the Queen's body, and as Bong-hwan in the Queen's body pretending to be a proper Queen! Nailing all 3 characters!! xD

I’m loving this drama. CJH has an awesome voice and SHS is amazing. Their combo is the best!

The one thing I was worried about was that no one seems to care about Kim So-Young, especially JBH. He’s a tad uncaring of the consequences of his action on KSY. The scene where everyone was crying after the fake faint and JBH was trying to find the right timing to “wake up” was hilarious and sad. I felt bad for KSY’s dad, court lady Choi, HY and the swoons cousin. They really cared for KSY. I wish KSY had been allowed to leave the palace and marry KBI and live happily. She seems to have been a naive but well meaning person. I also wish that the show will focus a bit more of JBH’s concerns on the impact of his actions on KSY’s life. CJ and EB are boring together. it’s as if CJ thinks he should be in love with EB and acts the way he thinks a concerned person would around her. CJ comes alive only when he’s around JBH/KSY. Their interactions are electric.
At this point I want KSY and JBH to be happy, especially KSY. A crazy idea would be if KSY and JBH end up together. JBH learns about KSY by living as her and falls in love with her and takes her to the 21st century. 🤣🤣 I saw more chemistry in the small amount of time they were both together on screen when she kissed him in the water in episode 1 than all of EB and CJ scenes combined.

My family and I continue to enjoy this show and I too like that it could go in different directions.

I have heard that the Andong Kims were a nasty bunch but this show portrays them as not even caring much for each other. I wonder if this is true or just another example of artistic license? Please note that when the Grand Queen Dowager is threatening to kill our Queen Cheorin that is a threat from one Andong Kim to another.

This question has caused me to order a book on Korean History from our Library. Of course, if anyone has a suggestion for a good Korean History (In English) I would be grateful.

Shin Hye Sun deserves all the awards for her acting in this drama!
This is definitely one of the best shows on tv these days!
I love the idea of a buddy cop possibility!
and omg I need to see Choi Jin Hyuk in a sageuk again. He is absolutely adorable and handsome in the traditional clothes!

I’m getting a bit impatient learning exactly what the relationship was between the Queen and the Consort before. I see the road we’re led down by the show, but I’m tired of waiting for confirmed truth in various matters.

They did an excellent job matching the King’s riding to check to see if the Queen tried to drown herself again sequence. The lighting is perfect so that he’d be arriving shortly after when we earlier saw her sneaking off to jump in when the sun has risen further.

The scene between the Queen and the Queen Dowager and immediately after was quite entertaining. It also was an excellent way to portray the outright paranoia everyone in the palace can have.

The apology letter bit between the King and the Queen's cousin was hilarious. “You might have to stay up all night...and your fingers will hurt.”

When I saw Court Lady Choi sneaking off to the bamboo forest, at first I thought she was actively looking for a shaman to help the Queen recover her memories. Then I started fretting that she’s a mole. When she started shouting to release her stress—my heart! Poor Court Lady Choi! (The actress has a solid voice for the singing bits.)

The first part of Bong-hwan's remark that Superman becomes just a pervert that has his underwear on the outside if he comes in contact with kryptonite absolutely cracked me up. That's one way to put it. XD

The end of epi. 6 is like OMG!WTF!0_0 I WANT EPISODE 7 RIGHT NOW!