He's the main (often sole) reason many people even finished it, as far as reviews everywhere are concerned. He acted like 60% of the show with his eyes and voice alone, it was AMAZING.

I mean, I'm fine with whatever his weight is, but I'm already missing the fluffy cheeks, they were so cute... Pls return someday! Baggy style is all rage in SK lately. Which worked just fine in Happiness because it fit the character (and couldn't really hide the muscles EVERYWHERE no matter how hard stylist tried lol) and it was a dead freezing winter in Soundtrack, but Dr Slump takes place in spring-summer, so no excuses here.

PHS is definitely the reason that i kept returning to this drama every Monday. He has not looked this good in a while. I will not complain if he were to do more sageuks. However, because he was so deliciously strong and silent and the chemistry between the leads was lit that I find the treatment of the romantic angle very blah in the last episode. I mean c'mon have some respect for your main audience. The series wasted so much time in other plot points throughout the 20 episodes. I feel a little cheated with this treatment of our OTP.

Yep certainly the only reason I stuck with it.

I'd only previously seen him in Hwarang, but have now launched upon his other work...

@gikata: In the initial episodes he did look puffy - bt would that not go well with someone who was fluctuating between abject terror and relentless fortitude to fight it and having complete system breakdown because of it. He could not get treatment for something as serious as snake poison (in contrast got accupunctured for his pining lol). His looks improved in increments as he became happier, regaining his true nature. Jay Yi's companionship was priceless - no other show has stamped this kind of need for any lead pair that I have seen. What these two have is rare, and personally living through a relatonship like this, I know how beautiful their upcoming years would truly be. They will loose their looks, but never the need to sit together or even brainstorm when needed.

I wish they had shown some level of letter exchanges between the two as well, where he would still be wanting to know her pov on some things. These two needed one ful episode. Maybe, just maybe they could release something akin to what Mr Queen did as an extra episode. We should maybe petition for it.

Ha, everyone in royal family was quite well fed (until that one episode of dieting to appease gods), to put it mildly - those rosy, fluffy cheeks all kids shared lol)))

Mr Queen had special episodes due 2 things: insane popularity (ratings-wise) and production team knowing that crap storm is coming once that atrocity of Ep20 is released. It was basically a pricey damage control measure. OBY was neither a domestic hit nor had a scandalous ending so I wouldn't hold my breath for any bonus content.

Mental practice of sharing that bed with her eventually - that was probably one of his first priorities once she alighted the royal palanquin. Josean kings were afforded a lot of liberties with their women before marriage, so would not be surprised if he would not be waiting too long before whisking her there.

@minniegupta1, just like his dad, who seemingly took some HUGE liberties with future Queen Viper back in the day? That flashback of her announcing to Jo she's pregnant - she wasn't wearing Queen's hanbok there, so... Or like his grandpa who knocked up a maid? Prim and proper royal family, everyone)))

Idk about that, honestly. Guess I'm leaning more towards him just rushing the wedding. Not really because he still finds the idea repulsive - that fortress clearly fell, as evidenced by certain waist grabbing kiss - but more for the sake of formalities. And making things as romantic and grand as possible. That's, ofc, if Jaeyi doesn't accidentally (or not so much) go too far in her joy of finally having the man of her dreams at her full disposal... Esp upon finding out he cannot sleep without her anymore)))

And overworked his poor servants to near death yet again in process... Some things just never change))) 1 day gap between proposal and wedding sounds awesome - if he didn't think about it beforehand, he totally should now. His own inhumanly impressive patience aside, poor girl waited more than enough already, I'd say!

The waist grabbing saga was going on for a while with gradual progress - first he caught her near the pond (with one hand and let go fast), then during the night walk (now with both hands, tighter hold, again let go fast) and finally during the kiss (maybe his sincere efforts there gave her wobbly knees, so he HAD to do it, who knows). Still, even with this he's way behind. She's gotten a good look - and handsy feel - of him on many occasions, no wonder the girl was SALIVATING that night in the library... Boy needs to even the score. And tell he DOES find her pretty after all. That one lie deserved the return of her trademark kick, but since she's probably not planning to end the dynasty anytime soon - or rob herself of many good opportunities - I think we can settle with a revenge bite here. As a cat prince... sorry, cat king he can't be that averse to a little biting)))

To put them in HIS bedroom, I hope?)))

Idk; I would think he'd leave some on purpose. They were full-grown adults when they met, and she was ready to have babies for the Han clan.
What's the use of having a dusty library and a secret room with no action?

I bet he was there to watch it in person.

Nah, Hwan became much more mellow thanks to Jaeyi's influence. His Ep1 self totally would've tho. Instead I think he sent the remnants of Jo clan there to takes notes. Hell, if I was him, I'd send his entire court! And then force them all to write essays explaining what they learned from it. I wonder if ex-Queen stayed for the show btw...

The point of contention arises for the viewer from the fact that drama treated this as a major affair previously, so it is inconsistent for it to overlook it now.

However, as much as we ourselves are capable of justifying it after the fact, the real issue here is actually that the drama uses historical authenticity, and accuracy of any kind, as only a plot device: it is not interested in staying dedicated to said authenticity or accuracy for any other reason.
Therefore it doesn't care if this remains a plot hole, whether or not it explains it or could explain it, or if it stays consistent; The Crown Princess existed only to die in a similar manner, to forward the final conflict.
Consequently, it is superfluous imo, to advocate the decision making here for a drama like this; it doesn't deserve it.

😂😂😂
Hey now, Kwak Dong Yeon could pull it off.

(And. Preferably... I would take Yeo Jin Goo as identical twins in a DIFFERENT Sageuk... *ahem*)

Aww, I thought the lad showed a little spark in his tussle with Jae-yi when he rescued her. His skills may even catch up to his height someday. But then they let him throw away the swooniest line in the drama - asking Jae-yi, “did you really think he would let you die like that?” instead of letting PHS set the woods on fire with his gaze while saying it. A misjudgement, like many other things in this show.

It should be a rule that if a drama has twins, at least one of them must be played by Jin-goo.

If KDY had played the identical twins in this it would have been awesome, he's such a scene stealer. Especially if the evil twin had the Byung-yeon messy hair and could fly over rooftops and perch in the rafters of buildings. He did have the black robes but there the similarity ended.

@sicarius: Where have you been? i’m glad you’re back.
But equally importantly, has Kwak Dongyeon acted as twins before? Or you ‘could pull it off’ means he hasn’t as yet in this context.

@elinor Man I wanted so much more out of their love-hate friendship too tbh.
I mean... he showed... the occasional spark... in certain directions, and ofc, it wasn't helped by everyone but the Prince and Jae Yi's lines deteriorating over time, but girl, his delivery is so bad, come on! Yes, maybe he will get better with time, cos he's tall and cute, but rn he does NOT have the gravitas to pull off that role, writing aside.

You're in luck in some way at least: Jingoo has already played twins at least 3 times in a kdrama 😂 Here's to many more.

@kaddicted KDY elevates anything he's in, and if KDY played twins in anything it would be awesome, it's one of my life long kdrama dreams. But he's much too good for this script. He'd eat it up and leave nothing for anyone else. lol

@dncingemma Lent!
And no he hasn't! I just want him to! So the latter.

LOL! I was watching some of the very old stuff with PHS roughly the same age as this kid, but boy, he was already on his way to become an incredible actor. Even in that very young age the range he showed, so unlike this gangly, good looking non actor they chose for such an important role.

She was definiteky in for a long drawn revenge. It could not be too quick, because any fall out would immediately point fingers at them, and her very young son could be in peril. She was also afraid of Cackling Jo, and the harm he could do to her, so she had to play the game very quietly, which she did and almost succeeded.

Additionally, it's possible Tae Sun never knew about the library until he discovered it on accident that day when Jay Yi and Hwan were together. Otherwise he might have tried to hamper Hwan's progress. I guess he also had to be super careful not to get Tae Gang into trouble. They probably got more and more careless and desperate once the whole peach thing happened and they realized their game was up (the Queen herslef admitted that).

@minniegupta1, that's one thing that annoys me so much - if Queen didn't have a desperate change of heart last minute, will everything go well for our good guys? It kind of undermined all their efforts up to that point, as if their eventual victory was handed to them by villains themselves.

Hard to believe Tae San didn't know about hidden room after posing as CP's bodyguard for years - or that he was never discovered before Jaeyi came into picture, for that matter. Like one day he had to have a slip! It's a total BS here, writer-nim!

@minniegupta1

Her uncle couldn't hurt her without suffering too.

The issue is not really the time she used but the fact she didn't go against the persons who killed her people. It's the opposite because of her the royal family had 2 ennemies : the uncle and her.

@gikata: I think they were already going in to support Hwan's army, the King already knew grand prince was not his son. The map simply helped the army get there ahead of cackling Jo who had to find his way there. The proof sealed Jo's wrong doing. I was OK with that part. My only complain is the ambiguity of the letter, and of course, such a short epilouge - what should have been the entire last episode was squished into last 5 minutes of it.

@minniegupta1, yeah, King knew, but would he really do much about her if she didn't poison herself first? He probably would've go lenient on her, like house arrest for starters and that's it, which would've allow her to still stir more trouble if she wanted to. Like killing King, proclaiming her son the successor (since Hwan was officially deposed atm), herself Queen Regent and trying to make it all work with the support of Jo clan and their loyalist party. Now THAT would be a fun ride.

Those eyelashes would get me every time.

He explained his devotion to her with "you were my only source of comfort". So very close to Hwan's reason for falling for Jaeyi btw. I cringed hard at the parallel, honestly. King is/was a receiver, only interested in people he can get something from, not those who needed him first. Couldn't be any further from his generous, self-sacrificing bio kids.

@gikata: So true. In fact, at the end, he agreed to everything that Hwan said only because he learned that Hwan was the only son he was left with. A large part of why he possibly stepped down completely.

I admit, I felt a lot of evil glee when he read all the evidence. Serves him right for neglecting all his duties - both royal and family ones.

Getting heavily sick from heartbreak apparently runs in the family here. Another not so pleasant epiphany...

As long as Hwan does not inherit any of the coldness that the King had (he almost did it, being as cranky as he was in the beginning - he asked Jay to strip!! jeez, can't get over that, and then spent rest of their time together being frustratingly uptight and stuffy, shielding his eyes from her in case she caught something fishy) and inherited the love factor in the right way, I am more than fine. It only strengthens the inseparable bond he has with Jay Yi.

That was the farthest his guts go, I'm afraid))) Imagine her reminding him of that incident someday! Maybe even at their wedding night. Yeah, she MUST do it there, just for evulz. He's gonna approach the event with his brains deep fried anyway, what's a bit more of panic and mortification...

I'm still mad we never got a word about their mom which all 3 apparently inherited all their best traits from. The chronic disrespect kdramas, esp sageuks, have for male leads' mothers...

@gikata: It would have been such a wonderful nod to her had Hwan given somettent hing of his mother to pass on to Jay Yi.

I do feel the writer is very incompetent. While the dialouges were fabuous, the narrative went wrong in so many places. I had the same issue with Romance is a bonus book - the way the daughter was sidelined like some kind of an appendage in such a crucial relationship where a guy is coming in to be father of a teenage child. It's amazing how the writer got some things so right and others completely wrong.

I also think that when the king confirmed with the princess that the queen had given her the map and complaint letter to protect the CP, it may have tempered some of the anger he had felt. I guess it is hard to forget a decade of love even if it was only one sided. Even if the little prince isn’t his son he had loved him as his own and if he executed the queen than the prince would have be orphaned and thrown out of the palace without any family.

I think the queen’s survival instincts are too strong to commit suicide and leave her son. Although she took the fish egg poison she didn’t really know how the madness would manifest and presumably she didn’t think too far ahead that she might not remember her son.

Oh, I know. You're right. I just thought it was a bit funny and a bit concerning.

On a serious note, though, it bothered me that the prince felt so responsible when he was a victim, too. He was actually forced to justify his actions to the wayward twin, who tried to kill his sister, shot him with an arrow, and was unintentionally helping their mutual enemy by plotting to replace him with the perfect puppet. And for what? He was a kid when they were framed and massacred, too. His older brother was crown prince, and he was actually implicated in his death later on, tormented by a curse and false accusations, all because the stupid queen didn't realize her so-called uncle was actually using her innocent son to kill off someone who probably would have been the just emperor she sought. The entire time, she was empowering her enemy and wiping out the people who would have stood up to him. What happened in Byeokcheon was terrible, but the queen, the monk, and the survivors who created a new crop of innocent victims deserved to know the consequences of their actions. I wish the prince had explained to them how their misguided schemes perpetuated the cycle of tragedy he was trying to avoid by being merciful.

The show tries to make the queen's madness pitiful, but the truly pitiful one is her son. He's essentially left to care for her and make sense of her choices when she's no longer really there to explain any of it to him.

@ursulax, writer took it too far trying to make Queen and her folks the sympathetic antagonists in contrast to caricature cackling villain that was Jo. Which resulted first in CP taking all sorts of blame for his father's mistakes and then him applying the same twisted logic to FL to make her forgive people who made her orphan and wanted criminal.

Thing is, she walked streets freely by pretending to be someone else. If the indeed walked them freely as herself, she's be arrested and executed to the crowd's cheering all the way back in Ep1. Some other kdrama FL one day may have decide it's worth to take the risk and try live all her life cross-dressing, but that was clearly not the case here. Jaeyi was never ready to give up her female identity fully. And well, with every choice always comes a price. She could have sacrificed her chances with Hwan for life as a single lady or easier marriage with someone else, but she didn't. She chose hardships of a royal marriage with her, forgive me for a cheesy term, soulmate. I mean, girl was willing to get beheaded for him! Living the rest of her life as his wife would probably be at least a little less bad than that... hopefully)))

Yes writer did bite off too much, what a shame. Narrowing down all the extravagant plot threads and making the dilemmas realistic would have gone a long way towards fixing this, instead of having Jae-yi do/announce things then end up without them being an option at all. There's plenty of problems in life without throwing in extra-stupid ones that go nowhere.

But leaving aside the choices these two were actually able to make, what about the impositions they couldn't do anything about? The great and glaring one being the CPrincess (and presumably the Queen if she jumps straight from the street into that role) must have two living parents? A huge problem for weeks and suddenly abandoned like it had never existed. It's this sort of carelessness that gets me riled, more than the characters tying themselves in knots trying to look credible. So many branches on the plot tree meeting dead ends a lot of it was sheer nonsense. "Don't start what you can't finish", my mother always used to say to me. I must have taken notice after all!

@kaddicted, I assume that as a ruling King Hwan either got rid of two living parents rule altogether or used his royal authority to, erm, softly bully his court into making an exception. Which isn't that far-fetched, honestly - Joseon's real history had way more wild cases of unfitting women rising to the prime consort position. Jaeyi is of right background and education, plus Hwan probably made sure her many contributions and good traits were made public loud and clear. As we've seen since Ep1, boy knows how to play the crowd when he needs to))) Still doesn't excuse the writer for making us guess all that instead of throwing a line or two of explanation in the actual script. Your mom was spot on here. Overcomplicating things is a common problem in kdramas tho, I kind of got used to it. At least we weren't left with 100% open ending of Hwan on the throne and Jaeyi teaching kids, both looking wistfully at the sun in the window while sad music plays!

@gikata: Correct. As a King he was free to do a lot more than he could as a Crown Prince. Plus the court at this point must have been completely shaken after Cackling Jo and his brother are torn to pieces while his cronies are severley punished, and the entire colluding crowd dismissed. I can imagine how terrified and awed peple around Hwan must be. Knowing how brutally he and his family were wronged, a lot of 'looking the other way' would happen. Plus Jay Yi would come in with the backing of the very powerful family even if she is not really related to them - the Hans. She pretty much steps in where the poor deceased Crown princess left off, even more so, given how deeply Sung On feels about her, which bodes really well for Jay Yi as the future Queen. She also has the support of other families and clans now (Chief State Minister, other ministers, the inner royal court etc).

This also nods to multiple instances when Josean was ruled by puppet rulers followed by Crown Princes who went onto become exceptional, independent, ground breaking rulers (much around the time this takes place). Truth is stranger than fiction, so there might have been so much more that happened that never was written into history. As I mentioned somewhere, some of the stories of the royalties around the world would give any modern story a run for its money, many of them seeped in deep love or fight for a love partner.

Cont: As I mentioned somewhere, some of the stories of the royalties around the world would give any modern story a run for its money, many of them seeped in deep love or fight for a love partner. This is not too different in terms of trajectory.

It's evident Hwan used the time away from jay Yi well, because it wasn't him who was bringing Jay Yi, it was his court (how do you think the the royal physician even dared to broach the subject of lovesickness - it must THE story of the palace at this point where even the royal chopsticks know about Hwan and his pining for a certain lady who they only saw dressed as an Eunuch), - the most powerful ministers were part of the funny petition as well. So at this point, it's evident the way was more than paved for Jay Yi (else Sung On too would not have mentioned, that family would see nothing less but complete honor for Jay Yi, her family and she literally saved the kingdom, as well as the Han family itself).

The final getting of Jay Yi by Hwan back to the palace in the palanquin with his royal crest stamped on it was just a mere formality in light of this.

@minniegupta1, it's such a loss, honestly, that we won't get to see more of such royal court clownery like in Ep20))) I'd happily trade all stupid jealousy rants we were overfed with for another scene where everyone and their eunuchs lovingly gang up on Hwan, this time demanding he'd sire some princes asap and offering all kinds of free advice on the matter)))

where feisty feminist heroine gets a happy ending with a guy from trashy fantasy novels sold on streets)))....

LOL!! That's hilarious.

The writer did bite a lot more than she could chew, but I am not sure the editing and the directing team was also not sleeping through it all either. Don't they see a final cut and see the king size holes themselves? They were lucky that the actors were so exceptionally good.

@minniegupta1, editing and directing was choppy since the get-go tho, we cannot say we weren't warned)))

Thrice - he says it at night during shovelling when she comes so heartbroken to him ( I didn't particularly like how he glossed over her pain but well, the way he said Jay Yi who was at fault....).

Twice? How? I know Dr Slump but hopefully somethimg else as well?

PHS and So nee make a fabulous pair. Their easy chemistry is pretty evident (I am guessing they have become good friends, the way they were bickering in one of their interviews was quite hilarious - I have never seen him rib any of his heroines the way he was ribbing her, almost similar to how he was as Hwan. He had nothing good to say about her (which again is a first), but his tone was super indulgent which made it all sound so sweet.

@minniegupta1 I think when Hwan tells JY he understand her when she talks about being upset about the killers of her family that he is empathizing with her. I didn’t get the feeling that he was glossing over her pain. They seem to have a connection where words aren’t always necessary. Then he more or less proceeds to say that even though he was wronged he is actively choosing not to seek revenge in order to end the vicious cycle. While that might not be emotionally satisfying as some serious ass kicking might be, it is the intellectual higher ground that we would wish our leaders would take. Also it doesn’t mean that he isn’t also emotionally struggling too like her. Also perhaps the decade long exile from their homeland/prejudice/suffering of the Byeokcheon people was enough… not that it justifies their actions especially for those not directly involved in the killings but it just needs to stop.

I think if TS had not sacrificed himself for Hwan who had earlier saved him during a sword fight that Hwan would have been forced to carry out the penalty for the murder of the currier and attempted murder of the princess. Since they were racing to the end the writer had no time to further delve into it.

@minniegupta1, ah, I wasn't paying enough attention then, the whole shoveling thing going for so long made me doze off a bit)))

Yes, twice))) He's also gonna do a reprise cameo in SWDBS spin-off that airs this summer. PBY returns as original's FL too. I'm surprised this news wasn't covered here because it freaking broke the internet after announcement lol.

I think it's his very first time being paired up with an actress of the same age. Which is a big thing in korean culture in terms of friendship due to no need for any formality. Plus their tempers match well. Too bad drama didn't utilize the chemistry properly.

@koalatown: I see your point. He definietly struggled with her emotinally, given how powerfully drawn he always is to her, and yet at the same time he has to pick his battles and set the priorities. In terms of character consistency (one thing I truly appreciated in the series) the whole graph made sense. I am just a little miffed that the writers/directors gave us one of the most heart burning romance and didn't give themselves time to finish strong on them.

Despite that I did love the last episode, the shoveling scene will stay with me for a long time for it's symbolism, a rarity now a days. For a show that did so much of 'telling' all the time (beating poor peonies and the fish eggs to death in time wasting scenes by random characters only to come up with solutions totally unrelated to those frustrating monolouges and scenes) to come up with 'showing' something this powerful has to be applauded. You are right about how these two don't need words, they are so tighly bonded. I also loved how they gave space to Sung On. Jay Yi shovelled with him instead of Hwan, an extension of trust and friendship by both Hwan and Jay yi to Sung On, no words spoken. So while Jay Yi only allowed Hwan in her own physical space (sitting around the fire), she instinctively nodded to the distance Hwan needed to keep otherwise. All of these come through very well in the second watch.

@gikata: Oh yes! I completely forgot about the cameo they are playing.

Yes it did break the internet, popped up in the Instagram feeds every second reel.

I laughed all the way through your summary. I feel your frustration, but I think I probably am more forgiving. I mulled over the peach part and decided the twin enlightened the squad at some point that giving peach to Crown Prince was Jo's doing and it wasn't them.
It's frustrtaing when writers do not answer their own questions. They spent three episodes asking the question, telling us it didn't make sense and finally it didn't. It probably was to warn the Crown Prince never to approach anyone about the letter again, they also might have assumed he sent the letter already and sent it again as a 'just in case'......I think the letter was meant to defame the Prince, spread the news about ghost letter through Shim Young once the family was dead. Maybe he got to read it before Tae Sun delivered it? We will never know because the writers never found out lol! Or the editors cut it becasue they could not fit anything any more? (Hey how about cutting off some of those completely useless Minister idiot market scenes or the characters talking to themselves about the same thing for three episodes and then eventually coming up with nothing?).
The court lady's disloyalty also didn't make much sense to me. Initially she must have been angry at the Prince, but she saw how compassionate he was.....but maybe she kept being angry because she saw how un-previous-crown-prince like Hwan was because of his interest in a certain eunuch? (the moonlight walk scene comes to mind, by this time they already knew she was Min Jay Yi, courtesy Tae Sun eavesdropping on the epic 'Make me your head eunuch" scene, and the court lady looking at them with displeasure).

I think the greatest challenge the writer/director team faced was to handle Hwan's reaction to Jay Yi in front of Sung Ho (hence the absolute lack of emotion to Jay Yi after she was freed?). That I think jarred everyone. The lovesick scene was hilarious and made up for some of the lack of reaction, and Hyung Sik's OST (I loved it) at the end with his 'we don't need words' was captivating.

I had the same lack of satisfaction in 'Romance is a bonus book' - something did not fit well at the end even in that series. So my guess is this writer is not a strong finisher (though the director could have introduced some more fire at the end for Hwan and Jay yi). Some epilougue scenes of Jay Yi back to palace and her finding unconventional ways around the palace would have been such a fitting end to this story - it could be her her turning up to help Hwan with his royal robe (imagine the giggles of the court ladies and indulgence of the head Eunuch), or her utilizing the little palace to do her own sleuthing while piling up on wine served by none other than the King himself...or Tae Gang getting warned about losing his procreation abilities by Jay Yi because he overstepped some boundary again and she would not hold back, Queen or not....

They look so good in my head.

Edit to the above: *Sending the the letter to Jay Yi's family* is what the writers repeated over at least three episodes, and as feared never answered them.

@minniegupta1, I'm not THAT frustrated, but I thought I better to let it all off my chest before I start viewing the show as worse than it was. I want to remember it fondly.

Yeah, mystery aside - I never expected much from writer who's never done the genre before - romance was a little too unimpressive in the end, and not only by lack of skinship or post-getting-together scenes. I mean, there are sageuks where leads NEVER kiss at all, and some of them I actually found decent despite that. Couldn't we have love triangle fully resolved few episodes earlier in order for OTP to at least TALK about their feelings somewhat freely in private? I didn't expect Hwan to glomp or kiss Jaeyi during their reunion when Sung On and many other people were presented, but to not have him expressing his worry in any form other than sitting next to her near campfire was a bit... Certainly not right after him telling her point blank how irreparably crushed he's gonna be if she dies. He could've just do it the sneaky way and ask Tae Gang is everything went smoothly.

Threatening Hwan to stay mum about curse with murder... That's one way to do it. And we're supposed to relate to Queen and her "she's been forced to do that!" sob story after that? You wish, drama)))

Court Lady had TINY excuse of not serving Hwan personally while he was still a sweet carefree Grand Prince, so I can stretch my imagination enough to believe she bought his following jerk CP persona and convinced herself that someone this moody and secretive can totally off his brother for the throne. Her displeasure with his relationship with Jaeyi also probably counts - who knows what other rumors about the two she heard or imagined...

Right, the return of daily dressing (and undressing we've never saw) routine would be epic. I'm also wondering what other compensations for the time wasted Jaeyi is gonna demand from him now that they are about to get married and he's already forsaken some proprieties in order to show and prove his love...

Ah, the grass fields, I'll always remember you fondly...

@gikata that's where all the passion was hiding - the thrown away gats, abandoned robes and formality, the wild hair flying, the caution thrown to the winds ... if you can find Hwan there you can keep him.

@kaddicted, sounds tempting, maybe even too much)))

With all the genuineness and sincerity in the world - this is probably one of the best things to come out of this drama 😂 I wished I'd felt half the emotions I felt reading this (and the satisfaction I got at the end there 🤡) when I was actually watching the show itself. Thank you for a great laugh, the astute observations, the sharp & witty commentary and for airing the frustrations that I too felt watching this drama!

@lapislazulii, thank you))) I was worried many times that my comments are too long, elaborate and often emotional, but I just couldn't help it!

I think it makes sense the Queen an ex-courtesan/dancer would use a theatrical/dramatic way to dethrone the next CP with the "ghost letter" to not only start the retribution of the Song and get rid of a barrier to the throne. Even though she didn't kill the first CP, she did see it as one less barrier and it would likely be too suspicious if the 2nd in line also suddenly died too so she needed a different tactic.

I agree that the letter sent to the Min family remains one unsatisfying question. If the Eastern palace lady stole a letter he had accidentally left and gave it to the queen, the queen must have sent it as is which is why there was the instruction to burn it (given how paranoid Hwan was). What exactly she thought it would do is still a bit mysterious because it seems the act of sending it was more important than the letter itself. Otherwise either palace ladies probably could have smuggled it into the wedding gift. The act of TS dressing as TG to be able to get close to the courier and kill him with the viper arrow seemed like some kind of necessary signal to the prince about who was behind his ghost letter (maybe like how serial killers always leave a call sign because of their pride at their plan/brilliance). Maybe the fact that he hadn’t shared it with anyone and had not taken any action for 3 years made them want to take action for him by sending it for him with a dramatic flair. Afterall the 3 killings hadn’t been solved and no one seems to put anything together so maybe it was time to do something more obvious. Of course, it was a convenient plot device to allow JY to see the twin for the twin reveal so maybe the author just wasn’t clever enough to tie it all together. Had the writer not included the part about burning the letter then it could have been thought as a planted evidence to give credence to the rumor about the cursing.

Theory: 1 year death anniversary of Song, the B leaders gather at that auspicious grave site to plant the tombstone that also had the date of the son’s birth. 9 years later soon after the flooding the anniversary comes, and the monk goes and find that tombstone gone and finds out that during the flooding it had been swept int the Min family’s ancestor burial site so now they realize that JY's dad may figure it out. They need to get rid of the Mins so the monk decides to use Shim Young a member of his temple who was known to be the Min’s adopted son to kill the family with arsenic. He hypnotizes and gives Shim Young the bracelet to give to JY as a token of their friendship and instructs him how to kill the family and frame JY for it so they won’t be looking for a killer and bring him the tombstone evidence. Even if she had died with the family the excuse that she killed them and herself to avoid the marriage would still hold. The timing with the letter was likely coincidence (both monk and queen with a plan but not necessarily coordinated since 2 different purposes)...

con't.

Surprisingly JY survives since she didn’t eat and Shim Young was unable to find the evidence, so the monk just re-hypotized him to write the confession letter and kill himself to get rid of that loose thread.

+1, also think Queen initially believed Hwan killed his hyung - she knew it wasn't her doing, so he was the next best guess, logically speaking. Might be the part of her delusional hatred for the boy. Doesn't change the fact she'd likely do it herself if Jo didn't strike first.

You don't want Hyungsik to play a pure baddie? Why? It's literally the hottest thing any talented actor can do))) Doubly impressive in terms of potential with that innocent, angelic face of his. Imagine all the conflicting feels he'd give us)))

Ah! Because I would hate him to lose :-(

He showed a few glimses of how he could play nasty in this show itself, and it was quite sobering. The opening pent up agression never showed up again, which I wish it did. He threw her around in the worst possible manner, throwing all of his 6ft weight on that tiny little being without remorse. It had to be his repressed inner gentleness that prevented him from taking the knife and slitting her for kicking Tae Gang. And of course, how astounded he was by her audacity......

Valid argument. Then again, villain protagonists and anti-heroes are all rage nowadays, so maybe compromise is possible...

Yeah, the way he did pounce on her in the show, but only once and for all the wrong reasons... What a disappointment. That's one of the things I believe finale terribly lacked - Hwan being VERY angry for more than 3 seconds. So many infuriating things happened, the potential was there, come on, show! We wanted the royal fury! With burned grounds, violence and roars! Since when it's something hard to deliver in sageuk?

He roared for like two seconds when he sliced Cackling Jo's blade - I also wish he had changed into his fighter outfit when he decided to shovel......the hat wasn't doing him any favors in the fight scenes, hiding most of his exquisite expressions.

That was not enough of roaring! Or Jo slicing, for that matter - a wound or two wouldn't kill him too early for the eventual execution... And gat really needed to go. Battle outfit was impossible tho - Hwan hadn't time to change at all, and even if he did, as a temporarily deposed prince he was only allowed to wear those colorless hanboks of remorse, I believe.

Makes sense. Still in reality, he still was the Crown Prince, and maybe even the outfit of a soldier would have worked wonders. The gat was a terrible idea, both during the fights, as well as the kissing scene. Why did the crew think we would ever want to see those fabulous faces and exquisite expressions through a net?

They could have netted the Royal guard kiddo, we needed a few screenguards from his non expressive eyes.

Gats are not that bad in kissing scenes usually, but once combined with huge height difference, stiff pose and rather uninspired camera angles... Being a first-timer didn't help either, poor boy, he still has a lot to learn))) Sonee trying to help him by holding beads was super cute, should've incorporate that in final cut.

Idk why they even did that for battle scene tho. He was hatless when he shoveled, why making him put it on back right then and there?

Agree, she seemed surprised by formal proposal. Quite naive of her, considering he was always such an all or nothing guy. But then again, she wasn't privy to his long and torturous internal struggle like we were. Still, Hwan was AWFULLY obvious. If she was a bit more experienced and confident in her advances, she'd devour him fully long time ago, or at least give boy a heart attack trying...

He wasn't ready back then lol, it took him what, 1.5 year to go from "this is the most outrageous idea EVER!" to "I cannot resist anymore, so let's try"? Such a snail in terms of pacing, this guy)))

I think it was more about her being realist. She didn't qualify to be his wife in her eyes, the royal court was too strict, so she never even gave herself the opportunity to dream about it. All she wanted was him in some form to be in her life, which she was totally confident he would be no matter how long it took for him to come to her. The liberties that Josean kings had possibly gave her the courage to understand he would come to her eventually. That's why she always waited for him at the quiet of the night because she was sure he would come to her away from the prying eyes. I think they did this beautifully. Too bad not many people would see how symbolic every gesture is (kudos to screenplay and direction here).

I think we all can agree that having a couple consisting of TWO high moral realists isn't exactly the best receipt for a romance drama... Someone's got to do the crazy and impulsive part for ANY progress to happen!

Really can't imagine Hwan keeping her as his "side woman in town he occasionally visits at night in secret". That was never an option for him, even if she'd likely agree. Boy did become more lax with his morals thanks to her bad influence lol, but not to such extent for sure)))

@gikata: LOL! Hwan definitely was not having any part in the 'side woman' business.

Hwan is nothing if not meticulous. His strength is thinking out of the box. To get Jayi back by his side (and into that little library room), he would have kept no stone unturned.

My theory is, in this one year, while giving Sung On enough time to move on, he probably declared the virtuousness of Lady Min Jay Yi in court by recounting how she put herself in peril to save him not only from corrupt ministers but also from Queen's evil mechanisms, how her family saved the royal family, and how she would need to have her full honors restored. Heck, the ministers probably even mused had she been a man she would have been offered a post and many valuable offerings like land and slaves, so restoring her honor was the least they could do.

Then he probably called on the scholars to make sure they would not have any issues if he chose a Queen of his own choice. The smart Jo scholar would even read the air in the room and correctly advise him that as a king, he could write royal edicts about how he would choose his own Queen. (Josean kings randomly flouted rules when it came to their women anyway).

He might have even approached the Han family to gain support on doing away with the ridiculous two parent rule (considering Han family itself almost perished because of that rule, they would be more than happy to go around it) and get unanimous support on it.

The inner court was buzzing with frenzy with his lovesickness already (oh that was totally hilarious, a brilliant scene by all counts).

Meanwhile, Jay Yi had no way of knowing all this after she left the palace (possible occasional visits from Royal Guard, and some security guards posted around her house in secret were her only possible connection to the palace during this time), so her thinking how she could just be someone Hwan would perhaps rely on from time to time while he went about securing his future with a qualified candidate and became a breeding horse, would not be far fetched. She only saw how awfully binding Palace was, she never got a chance to see how Hwan might have changed it. That's why his gentle nudge at her to trust him when he held out his hand had so much meaning.

Howeverm Jay Yi should have known that this was Hwan, he would never settle for less.

You've put it so beautifully I'm sad I can't give more than 1 like for this))) "Silently communicating" describes Hwan perfectly.

@koalatown @gikata +2

That's so beautifful put. I agree - silently communicating - words truly are not needed between these two. The way he gives her that very very slight nudge to take his hand (I almost missed that because I was busy reading the subtitles for the beautiful OST), and then that blooming of his face - so subtle, a mixture of relief, indulgence and pride - ah, stuff dreams are made of. You are so right - he communicated so much with just that nod.

That was after all one the reasons JY fell in love with Hwan: “When a woman is cornered by a tall wall, he finds her a new way around.” So he definitely will make sure, and have prepared, a way to make her happy in the palace and with him, to not curtail too much of her freedom.

Hwan definitely held back at the reunion out of respect for Sung-ho. Just as I think he did in episode 13 when Jae-yi hugs him in relief that he didn't die. You can see him lightly raising his arm but not hugging her. As he does so, he looks Sung-on in the eye. Some have interpreted it as physical weakness due to his wound that he does not raise his arm further, but for me it is deliberate restraint.

@nefret: Interestingly, the hug scene is shown differently in the actual scene, vs from Sung Ho's angle in the flashback.

First time around they show a far angle shot of Hwan's reaction, where we only see Jay Yi hugging him desparately, while it looked like Hwan completely held back. But during Sung Ho's flashback, Hwan does hug Jay Yi back - with his head, his expession of relief and love bare for all to see for that brief moment until he schools himself and looks Sung On straight into his eye. That might explain why Sung On probably was always perplexed, not able to put his finger onto what he saw, until he knew who Jay Yi was for the puzzles to fall into place. Sung On caught on that brief moment of unguarded Hwan (possibly also when he comes around from his unconcious state, when he only looks at Jay Yi for several moments assuring her it was not her fault, before tearing his eyes away). Plus he already caught onto the posesiveness Hwan felt for Jay Yi during the scene when he carried her. That is the moment that makes him realize Hwan loves her as much as she loves him, which is why he is able to say it straight onto Hwan's face later.

There was a lot of emphasis on how Hwan values both of them, which explains Hwan is so reticent for a long time, until he is sure Sung On is OK.

Hwan's expressions that night when he calls her Jay Yia for the first time need to be frozen. His probably the only competely unguarded moments in the entire series, captured so beautifully.

This series has a terrific rewatch value once people see for what it truly is - celebration of friendship all around, fortitude, and a soul satisfying love based on friendship, need and respect.

@minniegupta1
While I 've been waiting for the last two episodes, I actually rewatched all the other episodes, more or less skipping everything not directly related to Hwan and Jae-yi. Perhaps the criticisms of this series are less noticeable to me, as I was able to focus completely on the wonderful love story and friendships.