@daebakgrits Thank you for a very engaging review! I liked reading this more than watching the show 😂

I dropped it some eps ago, after going through exactly what you went, i.e., burnout. You've got it right on all the things that seem to be off about this show - 2D characters, an ML who's tired (YSH needs something more high energy?), and some ridiculous plot lines (Cliff of Not Doom, I remember reading in these pages - and yeah, that's just about where I dropped).

my favorite part was when Ro-Seo blew up merchant Shims storage with her gang behind her. it was so bad ass. she is one of my favorite drama heroins. She gets the job done, no need to wait for a man to rescue her, she rescues herself.

Thank you, @daebakgrits, for the weecap! Yes, I too believe that Young will not die - better not be or else ... Though I like him with Ro-seo, he's so strait-laced that even reporting Merchant Shim is a big problem with his connection to Ro-seo.

There is a new trend in dramaland to keep someone dead for only one episode and bring it back lol. There is no chemistry between leads, their romantic lines are just plain emotionless dialogues, unfortunately, fast fwd. it. one is too energetic other one is too boring they don't go well with each other. young's character makes me drowsy, whenever he showed up on the screen I feel an urgent need for coffee. hehe

Thanks for the recap @daebakgrits! Something had to give for this relationship to go anywhere, and it's Young accepting that the prohibition law is hypocritical and has done more harm than good... (I'm still not on board with the way this show romanticizes drinking though). Ro-seo has also opened up to him that she likes making her own money. So that was the biggest development for me this week.

The rest was kind of boring. We could see the *gasp* plot twist of Chief Royal Secretary being the Big Bad a mile away. I had to laugh at the way Merchant Shim escaped from Young and ALL of the Office of Inspector's men. They're so bad at their job.

Oh, I almost forgot! Last week we were wondering if annoying orabeoni would make it out of that tunnel alive ... and everything seems to suggest he didn't *shivers* For a light fluffy sageuk I was quite shocked to see Shim's men slashing workers in their sleep.

One character that I'd like to see more is the young Queen. She's the old minister's granddaughter, but methinks she's not on her grandfather's side.

DiebakGrits, thank you for the recap.
My wife asked me what I thought. I told her the basic alcohol brewing selling smuggling story was interesting. I did say, in typical fashion, the writer ruins the story by adding the 4 square love, court shenanigans and childhood trauma connection. I’m still going to watch, lol.

If the writer had focused on a tale of legendary female moonshiner and her run ins/relationship with a lawman ,(without all the other mess ), it would be a breath of fresh air. Perhaps the Chinese could write drama like that.

This drama lacks Steadiness also, at one point it gets too serious and suddenly there's a comedy sometimes I get shocked. Like in epi. 5 after a failed mission to rescue sang mok from the cliff, they started with the comedy..I was like what now I have to laugh! LOL

Ro Seo & her band of outlaws are so much fun and the highlight of this drama to see while her relationship with Young is so endering,adore when he is always shocked by her deeds yet he still likes her…Always giggle at his reactions when he finds out her deeds…Pyo is also endering in his own…

It has been a while since I watched an American show properly, but at times I feel like this drama could use a bit of that element those shows usually have.
For example, the love triangle. I am all for love squares and complicated lovelines which strings go all around the place, but in some American drama I have seen, they are more open for the characters to "explore" those lovelines. The characters can get together, see if it works, then break it off for whatever reason and try with someone else. Even in dramas where you know the endgame-ship, I have seen them still be attracted to others, even getting together with other people before or between being with each other. It is not just to see how the characters interact in different settings, but also for us to see either 1) why the endgame-ship is the better one, and/or 2) how the endgame-ship STILL chooses each other even if they know that their love is not special, that they get the same from others but still want to be together.

With many K-dramas, they put an emphasis on the lovestory between the FL and ML, and very few K-dramas I have seen have the FL actually, genuinely like/love or, god forbid, be in a good relationship with another man. Even more scandalous, have the FL and ML fall in love but still going for other people and falling in love with them instead. Thus, the love squares feel like filler rather than something that is relevant to the plot or character growth (and yes, this is another excuse to mention how "Seven Days Queen" is an example to how love triangles work for plot and growth and FURTHERMORE--).

At any rate, I also agree that the FL's story is much more interesting, and I would rather watch that story unfold, with the romance maybe a distant third (second would be the hot FoeYay rivalry between her and Merchant Shim, because I am weak to villains being personally interested in the heroine, I'm sorry). And I feel, had this been an American drama, they would have actually made the FL going around the law, making and selling alcohol, her past and her relationships with people around her be the focus, rather than the loveline. They would have the love triangle, but would have an easier time explore how she could love both of them at different times. Perhaps she would have preferred the prince, but when she finds out the truth, she knows that it would be impossible and would take away the little freedom she fights for, so she has to let it go (or being lied to gave her issues. There are multiple reasons to stay away from royalty). Meanwhile the weird and righteous lawman has grown, and they slowly start growing together as the laws seem to change. Or something.

Would it be a good drama? Probably not, American dramas stretched out beyond entertaining is an actual problem, I do not like the sexual focus in many of them, and they would probably put way too much emphasis on "showing it to THE MAN" than to show a (fantastical) side of government making those...

Thanks for the recap, really. I decided to pick this up a bit late, but I wanted to give it a chance despite the bad reviews it got on this site. I liked it... at first. But since episodes 7 and 8, I am drifting apart. I am bored. And the annoying thing for me is I cannot pinpoint exactly what's wrong with this. I can't say it's the plot because there are so many things happening. And the acting is fine too. But, I just don't know it just does not work. It just isn't interesting. There is something missing despite all elements being there. What a shame 😏