They took away the funny. 🥺😭😢

I thought Ep. 5 was pretty mad dramatic but fun!

The king quoting FT Island's Lovesick, while insisting the Crown Princess loved him, made me laugh out loud. The delivery was so on-point. I love how this show does modern shout-outs.

And while I don't agree with So-rang paying off the handmaidens to lie about the Crown Princess's love, it was hilarious having it described as 'business' but in Hangul/Hanja 😂. Also the "They rip you up like a squid! Will you be okay never eating squid again?!" 🤣.

Sadly Ep. 6 was too much of torture, murder and mayhem. Hopefully we get back to the funny next week. We only have 6 more episodes to go after all!

Forbidden Marriage Ep 5
Alrighty I thought I could stay neutral but nope my SLS is getting worse and worse and I think I’m definitely on team Shin-won.
Just image if he were the male lead, all those intimate moments he had with So-rang would be seen in a more romantic light than it already is! Oh boy my heart can’t handle it!

While I might’ve shipped couples that didn’t end up together this year, I didn’t have such intense SLS in long time. I’m dying here, Shin-won recused her first from the water, he teaches her how to fight, *sigh* they ride a horse together (multiples time I might add). Yes yes I know it’s bad but he deliberately commits treason to get So-rang away from the King. They hug, they pretend they are married. How is he not the male lead! He has more romantic moments with So-rang than the King does!

Aside with the awkward, heavyhanded stand-off/love triangle at the beginning, episode 5 was still quite with the english-turn-joseon terms, innuendoes, Sorang being the fun rascal that she is, and Shin-won getting swept along for the ride. Love Sorang's logic that if he told on her, she would be arrested for treason, be ripped apart to death, just like dried squid, and he would never be able to bear eating dried squid ever again, which would just mess up his life. These two need to be cast as a OTP in another drama.

Episode 6 was a drag with the drama putting Sorang in mortal danger. I just feel so bad for her. She didn't survive the slash and a fall down the Cliff of Non-doom to deal with this crap. We need more Sorang front and center! Why can't one of the guys get kidnapped and then have Sorang help track him down? I really like the scenes when the three leads get to play sleuth.

I feel really bad for Shin-won. I hope he gives up on Sorang soon and finds a new love. I'm not sure if it's the shortened length, but I don't feel like Sorang can like the king enough to stay by his side and risk getting killed even though she professes she does.

I love this drama and the characters when they become the A team solving crimes to save the innocent. I love that they actually used smoke and mirrors for the deception. I don’t love that we always have to have death and politics in these sageuk dramas. Surely there are the equivalent of Jane Austen style love amongst the nobles or Dickens style life and times of the lower classes stories that can be told. They are always in the sidelines even though something like 100 days my prince or Poong brought them out more. I just don't want the mystery/thriller element being added into a rom com/slice of life modern or historical.

I loved the first fight scene in Ep 5 with the King and Shin Won (shoutout to the music director for awesome background music during the slow-motion/flashback parts, I think I teared up for Shin Won lol). I also loved the King worrying if the princess loved him or not, So Rang and Shin Won investigating the ghost princess, and the King and Shin Won's dramatic slow motion walk at the end of ep 6.

It was painful to see Shin Won get rejected like 10 times over the span of two episodes, but I didn't like how wrist-grabby he got.

Also, the Defense Minister is clearly against the King and straight up evil so how has he not been investigated yet??

Episode 5 was so funny especially with the trip outside the palace to meet the crown princess's servants. The scene with How can you refrain yourself from eating the savory squid? plus the adorably cute orabeoni cracked me up. Park Ju-hyun is really nailing her role and I never imagined I would like So-rang's personality as much as I do know. As much as I am annoyed she isn't telling Shin-won the truth, I know that she can't be blamed for that as her life would be endangered, once her identity is revealed.
Also, it looks like the drama will give me heartbreak because I am officially on team Shin-won now

It's hard to root for the King when he still has strong feelings for the Crown Princess. The SML doesn't help at all. He has a nice relationship with So-Rang and a past too...

Episode 5 was my favourite so far. I laughed hard when So-Rang told the King that it wasn't love but loyalty and how he was brooding. But thinking that the person you loved so much only thought of you that little can be upsetting. Even though, it was a lie.

Looking forward to Fridays and Saturdays.

Thanks @unit for the holiday wishes and fun recap. Actually your recap acted to brighten up these two episodes. We all know even a silly/fun sageuk has to have a scheming minister or two and I'm glad its being kept to a minimum. My favorite scenes feature the sleuth team. Fighting SLS in a big way - so much so that I hoped the real Crown Princess was faking her death and willing to return to her heartbroken king. Oh well.

I too had a case of SLS, but after the last two episodes, not so much.
I know I’m in the minority, but I like how the threat to So-rang has caused Heon to shed his mourning robes and start acting like a king again. When he took off his king’s robe to cover her, it was pure swoon. And when he arrived on the scene with his bow and arrow! Yowza! I was sold. 💘

Still enjoying the show despite the darker turn of events in Episode 6, but I hope this doesn't spell the end of So-rang's queen-of-chaos energy and creativity. I would love to see her use those skills to bring down the scheming ministers and evil stepmother.

I'm hoping the next episodes put So Rang back front and centre, I got too many 'the menfolk are coming for their women' vibes from the end of episode 6. Also, let's hope things brighten up again.

I didn't vibe with Si Won this week.
1. One of the reasons why I don't like SL is because they are always telling the FL what to do, they always act like they have the right to make decisions for the girl and they act as if they can just do wtv they want because they have the "power of love" or something.

Well, that's exactly what Si Won did this week.
He really thought that So Ram was going to tell him "oh, cool, I'm going with you. Tbh, I secretly love you, thanks for freeing me from the king"?
He really thinks he has the right to tell her to come or go? to stay or leave? to do this or that?
He's so pushy even when he knows she likes the king.
I don't like that, at all. Everything he says it's supposed to be "for her well-being", but they're just a bunch of decisions based on his own feelings and desires. He doesn't really care about her feelings or needs. He just wants her for him. *roll eyes*

2. I know this show is anything but a real sageuk, but WOW, HOW IS THIS DUDE STILL ALIVE? everything he did the first 20min of episode 5 was treason or something similar. LOL

The fact that this dude is the only guard the king's servants can trust, is dangerous. He would let the king die with no problem LOL, he literally tried to kill him for a girl like two secs ago. And to think that they were "besties" yikes. Poor king.
I mean, the fact that Si Won had the chose to fight his bestie/king "for a girl", instead of actually talking to him, let him know his feelings, ask for a favor, beg, or any other alternative, he was like "I'm just gonna take the girl out of nowhere and when the king asks me wtf is going on I'll just go with the flow and fight him with my sword".

The funny scenes between So Ram and Si Won are cute and all, but that's it. I just see them as cute friends, they could even go for sibilings vibe.

3. The king kinda gave me Red Sleeve vibes with the whole "all court ladies are women of the king". I guess I have a trauma because of that show. LOL
I just want the king to be honest about his feelings and I want him to be soft. I don't like when he tries to be possesive or tries to solve all his problems with the freaking sword.

LOL, I guess the only character I actually liked this week was So Ram. She still rocks. I love her so much.

O/T sort of. When Shin-won and Heon were lurking in the background eavesdropping on So-rang’s interrogation of the former court ladies Kim Woo-seok (Shin Won) gave a smile that reminded me of a Kim Min-jae smile.
A number of beanies think there is a resemblance between Kim Min-jae and Yeo Jin-goo. Now I am going to add to the mix Kim Woo-seok.
We could have a three brothers drama. RL ages are KWS (28) hyung,
KMJ (26) and YJG (25).
I can’t remember experiencing SLS like this since maybe A POEM A DAY (2018) when (imo) co-ML Jang Dong-yoon (Min-ho) was relegated to SL and out of luck in the matter of love.