The dude-in-distress trope Jung Woo has going is hilarious. On top of that, it is a first in kdramaland to be son-zoned. Let's be real despite his height and attitude, he is really just a smart kid deep inside.
Also eventhough I like the leads, the biggest draw for me here is not their love story. (I do not know how the writer will resolve their HEA since it may be complicated for the time period.) The main draw for me is really the Maeng sisters and Yejin's future wedded bliss. Since we already have the possible matches for Doori and Samsoon. I want to meet the one that will make Hana's heart beat. I also worry for YeJin since there is no way her parents will allow her to marry the man she likes. Lady Park has a political alliance prepped for her.

“Our celibate hero” already cracked me up. 😂 Thank you for the recap, @Unit - it was a joy to read!

These episodes surely were fun. I really loved how Soondeok welcomed Jungwoo into her secret hideaway for some deliberate matchmaking scheming. It was adorable how excited she was about this (the paper garland!). There were many really sweet interactions between the OTP in general (“look of love” training, lantern festival), and I’m so here for it! Can’t wait to watch their relationship unfold, because I really don’t know how the writers could pull this off… 🤔

The Maeng sisters are still a delight! There’s only a slight pang for me, because since there was yet no considerable match for Hana (and she does not exactly give off the vibes of wanting to be matched at all), it would be nice if she could just somehow stay single. Alas, I guess that’s not in the cards at all…

The political scheming is a bit much for my taste, but it all somehow plays into the whole murder mystery plot around Jungwoo’s wife. I hope this does not get too confusing or feel too “constructed” in the end. All in all, as mentioned in the recap, there’s a really nice balance of fun, swoony and serious moments in this show. I hope it stays this way!

The drama is turning darker than I first thought. There will be much political schemes and some evil villains to watch out for. Which is a bit worrying.
One thing that annoyed me is the flashbacks story telling that is getting me confused.

This drama is really good! There is a lot of humor to get entertained and a serious plot to make our brain works.

I love the 3 sisters and their strong and distinct personality. I really wish them to find their love. Sam-Soon and the inspector will be so fun to watch! I'm really excited to watch their scenes.

Ye-Jin and Boo-Gyeom were cute but with her status, it looks complicated for them.

I'm curious about Yeojoo-daek and her "death", the Princess's death, the poor Prince... There are a lot dangers for people and Soon-Deok! She needs to be careful.

I love every Soon-Deok and Jung-Woo's interactions. She will be responsible of the love side and he will be in charge of the politics. I like how they teach each other, with love matters and practical life for one and culture and politics for the second. For the love story, he's clearly already in love with her and he needs to grow up for being a suitable lover for her. I'm not sure what they can be officially to each other with their situation.

When she told him that the bachelor book wasn't up-to-date, the name she showed was Hyun Bin's one and the name above was Kim Seok-Woo, Rowoon's real name 😂

I love the direction of this show. It's really beautiful, I love the colors! The scene of the lantern with them at the end was really beautiful.

I like the simple scenes of the life in a noble house like the breakfast, the discussions, the DIY of the lantern, etc, or the scenes of the characters simply walking with people in the background.

I have thought about the many sageuks who are not so much about getting "the rightful heir" on the throne but getting "the rightful heir who is against that strict Confucian rule" on the throne, that they make it possible to criticise hierarchy, tradition and sexism ... while stopping at a point that is, or is becoming, something everybody can agree about. Like "women shouldn't be forced to marry a man and being his second wife, a plaything" and "mothers shouldn't be tortured to death or near death on account of their daughters not being married" or "women who dutifully take care of their homes should be allowed to have a career on the side".
Or "ugly" girls like the youngest Maeng sister (how is she ugly? does anyone agree in the least bit? I mean, she doesn't even look a bit plain, does she? I know SK standards are high, but IRL it is normal to be less beautiful than she is, right? But maybe it's because there are some SK beauty ideals I don't get, esp. the "small face" thing. So maybe her face isn't small enough and I just don't see it?)
But back to my main point: Going back to Joseon times allows writers to rebel without offending any contemporary audience or advertiser.

Jung-woo: *seeing people showing affection* "Ohh my chest is in p.....ain"
Me: *die 😂 *

This show is getting a whole lot more interesting than I thought.
Started it without much expectations and found the 1st 2 episodes to be quite alright. But episode 3 and 4 definitely stepped up. Especially now that the matchmaking duo have officially started "Operation Getting the Maeng Sisters Married" lol. Pretty sure it's gonna be a whole lot of fun moving forward. Other than this as well as the political intrigue we're being introduced to, there's also a mythical storyline going on... the topic of the Ssangyeonsulsa which Soondeok had brought up. From what I understand, Ssangyeonsulsa is supposed to be a legend or myth that dates back to the Goryeo days about individuals who have the special ability to recognize soulmates or the perfect partners for someone. This was narrated by Jungwoo in the very beginning of the 1st episode. So I guess, in a way Ssangyeonsulsa is kinda like a shaman/fortune teller but specifically for relationships. It was also mentioned whoever is a Ssangyeonsulsa are 'cursed(?)' to be widowed with their partners dying early on. The description does fit Soondeok which is why she is suspecting if she's one. While she does have the ability to perfectly match individuals together due to her understanding of people in general and experiences, I feel like the real Ssangyeonsulsa is Jeongwoo. It seems like he's able to recognize perfect matches rather instinctively but at the cost of chest pains LOL (poor guy). So I wonder how this relationship between them is gonna work out. Especially if there's an underlying curse of having to be a widow if you're a Ssangyeonsulsa but that is, of course, could just be a made up myth.

Like everyone, I’m loving Jung-woo’s damsel and totally-in-love antics, but also his political ones! Beware the man who can find the loophole/strange but internally consistent justification. He must have made that justification for the lecherous minister super long on purpose, knowing that he would be too lazy/incompetent to read or memorize it that way. And his smirk when he left the room! Amazing. I know his pale pink hanbok is not popular, but I kinda like it. It seems to be his palace uniform too, so I think we will see much more of it.

Soon-deok continues to be amazing, as expected. She is so easy to cheer for. And I’m really really looking forward to seeing how the two younger sisters’ romances develop. They both make me think of that line from Much Ado About Nothing, “Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably” and I think we’re going to see a couple different mini versions of the enemies-to-lovers trope from them! Hopefully someone will come along for Ha-na too, or we’ll figure out some other solution for her (without killing our ML!).

What did Woo see in the crowd, that made him exclaim that he must have mistook someone? I collected what I could see, demonstrated here, but I'd like to hear second and third opinions.
https://www.dramabeans.com/members/CecilieDK/activity/1482628/#acomment-1483149

Congratulations to this drama for almost making me forget that Soon-deok’s secret profession could get her exiled, beaten or worse. Wouldn’t put it past her MIL to orchestrate another poisoning to preserve the family’s reputation. So I am very curious what kinds of resolutions we will get at the end. It might require all of Soon-deok’s street smarts and Jung-woo’s book smarts to keep everyone we care about alive and living what passes for a “free” life in that era.

In the meantime, there are laughs and swoony moments and a rich assembly of female characters doing their best not to be suffocated by a society that cares nothing for their wishes, except when their supposed old-maid grievances can be blamed for every catastrophe that befalls the land. That’s some kind of power, isn’t it? 😬

Is there a plan to punish the evil, reward the good, and leave us with joyful tears after the last episode? I sure hope so! 🤞🏼

My favourite part throughout these two episodes has to be Jung Woo being his clever self and tricking the minister of defense and him doubling over in chest pains after Soon Deok gives him the first look smile. The body knows my boy. I really dislike the palace politics but at least we know that they are going to be a part of the drama and aren't going to be blindsided. The best part was our boy doubling over with chest pains and the ladies simply going about their business.

The Matchmaker Detective Board
For people who wants to investigate what Jung-woo saw right at the end of episode 4, I have made slowmotion, enhanced colours MP4 clips (and a gif for decoration).
https://www.dramabeans.com/members/CecilieDK/activity/1483460/
You are welcome to join the Sleuth's Guild!

@unit, thanks for the recap.
I like the marriage challenge aspect. Funny and fluffy
The death mystery or potential poison ☠️ of the prince , not so much

See fan wall or this link for the wonderful song
Matchmaker from Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59Hj7bp38f8

A shout out to and interactions with Jung-woo’s faithful servant and the donkey ! (From last recap) 🫏

Thank you @unit! Especially for that delightful side-note about how the daughters are named—more-or-less something like: One, Toonie, Trey—this last first name, of course, being a real male nickname for likes of someone, not born third, but named, perhaps, James Alexander Caldwell III.

I’m still taking this show one episode at a time, but I would like to stick my neck out to say that I think that we’ll have an addition soon to the giant trope soup that has started cooking. That is, we’re going to see prosopagnosia arise in the character of Soon-deok’s orabeoni Soon-goo. No way he doesn’t remember Trey’s face…unless he can’t remember faces at all. After all, we know he has fallen in love with her according to our handy butterflies-confused-as-indigestion-based love detector man. Face-blindness would also explain why he doesn’t recognize his younger sister, a fact she puts off solely to her excellent makeup, but is probably more due to the fact that she’s wearing weird clothes.

Indeed, I’m interested in how makeup is going to work into this plot—it’s not reasonable that one beauty spot can disguise a person, and also we clearly have our other shady man trying to hunt down the seller of that foundation that keeps cropping up and we learn this week that it Lady Yeo-ju…the alias of woman who’s been “dead” for eight years.

I fear, things are about to get dark.

Thanks for the recap!! I just got caught up with all the episode and am enjoying the drama a lot! I feel like I'm catching Soon-deok's matchmaking bug and getting all happy thinking about all the matches, especially when the ladies are all so charming. Soon-deok is matching Ye-jin with the scholar guy, but it's going to be messy now with Ye-jin in love with a farmer and scholar guy in love with our hot-tempered Doo-ri, who may end up having feelings for him back. Will someone have to threaten to become a monk again?

And I find it hilarious that our ML is the patriarchal, overly self-righteous busybody buffoon that everyone in the drama wants to avoid like dog poop on a sidewalk.

I am wary-watching this drama. Sageuks are notoriously prone to dropping gore into the story.
However, the characters are cool. The king, the OTP, the evil cohort, the 1-2-3 sisters - all of them have personalities already, and we are only 4 eps deep. Hope this continues pleasant.

Jung-woo the princess is really hilarious XD
and I'm really happy that this drama is getting better in 2nd week