What's better than watching one couple with good chemistry fall for each other? Five couples, of course! It's four couples for now though, coz the eldest sister's man hasn't turned up as yet. Though that despicable Defence Minister has a very hot secretary and I doubt such a handsome guy is there in the show only to stand quietly behind the pervert. Let's see if my guess is correct.

For now I'm enjoying the two younger sisters' budding romances a lot. They are spunky girls and they will make their guys prove that they deserve them. I'm particularly interested in the middle sister's relationship coz it seems almost impossible that she can get together with a boy who isn't just 4 years younger than her, but also one who is already betrothed.

This isn't a show I wait for every week, but when I'm watching it I rarely reach for the fast forward button. One thing I like about this drama is that you really can't predict what will happen next. I didn't expect SoonDeok's mother-in-law to figure out that she had been sneaking out so soon, but what was really surprising was her genuine affection for SoonDeok at her husband's grave even after finding out her secret. And for the first time in a segeuk, I love the King! 😄

@unit Thanks for the recap--I'm liking this show more now that Rowoon's character is becoming more sympathetic and less pompous.
Still not a big fan of the minister machinations--wish the show was confined more to illuminating the difficult circumstances facing women, both married and unmarried, in the Joseon era. But I realize if there weren't scheming ministers, viewers would get confused, and think they were watching a group of modern day reenactors at Gyeongbok Palace.

But I did have question: I understood Rowoon's heart palpitations and fainting to be because he was sensing the strong attraction between the brother and Hwa Rok. In other words, HE is the "god(dess) of matchmaking" with an instinctual understanding of who belongs together, with his heart pain as an indicator of his special talent. In fact he has sensed every appropriate match that way with the "Old maiden" sisters, whereas Soon-deok is matching people wrong--even missing the nature of her own sister in law's affections. I thought that that was a clever twist of the show, but maybe I misinterpreted things.

I'm really enjoying this show! Personally, I think Jung-Woo is the "Agent of Love" (or 쌍연술사 -- Ssangyeonsoolsa). All those clips of him showing the book that describes who they were and then matching that to Soon-Deok's actions are going to boomerang back on him when he realizes that those heart pains he keeps getting are his signal that he's around a couple who should be matched.

This week I was intrigued by the conversation between Soon-Deok and her scheming MIL. They discuss the fact that SD's deceased husband was ill from childhood. When I add that to the fact that the little boy she's raising is not her actual son, I'm starting to wonder if their marriage was ever consummated. Perhaps this will be how she and Jung-Woo will finagle their relationship in the end... They will do something that will allow them to demand their marriages be annulled, freeing them to be together.

Anyway... that's my theory for now!

Thank you for the recap!

Jung-woo is definitely an Agent of Love. It's sort of hilarious how he's so good at everything - including being a deity of matchmaking.

I'm in love with this set of episodes. They're such a joy to watch. I've been replaying the episodes. Impressive camerawork all around, particular around the festival, which must have taken a lot of work to make sure everyone is where they need to be for the camera. Matchmaking is harder work than I expected. You sometimes have to lug an entire drum around. I'm loving all the techniques Soon-deok imparts and her love of matchmaking is seriously infectious. Even for some of those bachelors who ticked me off by believing the rumors about the Maeng sisters - i do hope some of them find their matches. Except for #15. He seriously sucks. I even want to matchmake Mama Maeng and the bookstore owner who so gently wiped away Samsoon's tears.

I am curious about how they are going to resolve the love square of Doori, Confucian-Scholar, Yangban-Farmer, and Yejin. I do think - if we disregard feelings - the Doori+Yangban Farmer combo and Yejin+Confucian-Scholar are better matches in terms of age, maturity, disposition, and family. I do wonder why Yangban Farmer followed Doori and why Soon-deok saw the look of love in his eyes. Did he see Yejin from afar?

Someone please make Sam-soon happy so she can work on volume 3 of Madam's Private Life and her new story about the assassin. I think if her fans knew volume 3 was dependent on her love life, they would be moving heaven and earth to introduce her to all sorts of eligible bachelors.

And does Inspector-brother seriously not recognize Soon-deok? I'm starting to suspect he does since it was a weird coincidence for her to ask him to let Maeng Hana use Shinmingo and Jung-woo was like "do you know Yeojudaek?", but it's too weird how chill he is about it.

This is such an easy watch. Forme it's all about the couples getting together. I'm only interested in the palace politics in so far as it affects our couples in the making. Most of all, I adore the main leads together, they make my heart happy!

I shared my thoughts in a Reddit thread. I'm gonna share it here as well.

I’m loving this so much? I feel attached to all the characters already. Heck, I’m even attached to the donkey (named Gongju lol) and ngl I miss the donkey this week hahaha. Hope it’ll make a comeback. I’m loving the progress so far and I can’t wait to see more.

As far as I can see if it continues to get even better for the next upcoming episodes, this drama is on its way to becoming an underrated gem. It’s already quite underrated in my opinion, not much buzz internationally and domestic ratings are so-so. Some people got initially turned off either by the genre (fusion sageuk comedy), the premiere week episodes (which is the introductory episodes which some find boring) or the acting. I’m glad I didn’t feel that way and am enjoying it so much week after week.

Some were saying how similar Rowoon’s acting/character was from his previous and I wholeheartedly disagree. Shim Jung Woo and Jang Shin Yu couldn't be anymore different. I totally do not see Shin Yu in Jung Woo at all and I think its all thanks to Rowoon’s acting, really. I love how he made this character feel ‘young’ and it’s not just the makeup but how he manages to exude a ‘young and boyish’ charm for this character even though the character is supposedly a Kkondae lol. I think he’s exactly right when he described his character as being stuck in his 17 year old mind even though 8 years has passed. He physically grew but mentally he’s still a teenager and I can definitely see it through his portrayal. Rowoon is older than Cho Yihyun irl but he totally had me convinced that Jung Woo is definitely younger than Soon Deok which is impressive, if you think about it.

Loving how visually pleasing this drama is. Everything about the lighting, composition, colors are so pretty. I'm also loving how lighthearted it is, just as promised. Everything is just so cute and fluffy (for now). There are no unnecessary stress-inducing scenes (hate it when shows that are promised to be lighthearted are injected with some makjang and issues are dragged all the way to the finale). I'm also very much invested in all the lovelines lol. Oftentimes in dramas, you either love the main loveline and don't care for the side couples or you don't care for the main but is invested in the side. For this one, I'm invested in all of them. It has a nice balance and I think the scriptwriter is doing quite a nice job at it. Love that they did not use the typical 'ML unable to recognize FL because of their supposed different appearance' trope and dragged it out. Plus! It's really in character and makes a lot of sense for Jung Woo to recognize her features since he's smart and he probably has her facial features memorized by now with the amount of times he's unconsciously staring at her lol (hate it when dramas made their supposedly 'smart' characters unable to figure these very obvious things out, so kudos!). Same goes for Soon...

Obviously, Jung-woo is that special kind of half-god that recognizes love - his intuition and his body does, but not his mind!
So he coils up, gasps, and even faints in the presence of love. And shouting only really bothers him when it is caused by love, like here.

Jung-woo’s facial expressions are absolutely on point, as usual. There were so many times I paused to laugh at one and then rewind five seconds to see it play out again. Bravo Rowoon!

I’m glad they cleared up the fact that her son is not her biological child. I was getting confused about her timeline. She doesn’t seem old enough to have a 12 year old (even with the very early Joseon marriages it seemed like it might be pushing it), and we saw a flashback last week from eight years ago when she wasn’t married yet. There’s no way her in-laws would have accepted him if he was born to an unwed mother. But that info clears it up nicely, and now I just really want to know who his bio parents are!

I like Du-ri and Shi-yeol together, but I LOVE Sam-soon and Soon-gu together. That action sequence was gold, and I was laughing the entire time. I’m glad he figured out Sam-soon and Hwa-rok were the same person pretty quickly, and fixing all the things about their house was so cute. I’m not actually sure he didn’t realize her identity right away last week, he might have just been surprised and not known exactly what to do in that moment. Similarly, I’m not convinced he can’t recognize his sister, but it’s much more convenient for him to pretend she is someone else, since she’s going through all the trouble to disguise herself in the first place. There’s a lot at stake for her, no need to add to the danger by not playing along with her ruse, right?

I think Jung Woo is growing on me. I do not find him as annoying as before. Soon Deok is starting to see him as more than the Inspector she is helping for the Maeng sisters.
Eventually Jung Woo will find out who Lady Yeoju really is and can't wait that to finally happen.

Best bride YeJin. Best groom Scholar Si Yeol, DooRi and BoGyeom looks to be set on the person they like. But Lady Park and Si Yeol's mother has ambitions of making the best match. We know that love will prevail with this four despite the two matriarchs wishes.

Lt Jung Soon Gu is already developing feelings for the youngest daughter. So its only a matter of time until it becomes official.

Now for Maeng Hana, I think we need to resolve the issue of the nasty rumor first before she will show interest to anyone. I think one of the groom candidates will end up with her. Or someone else we have not met yet.

I changed my mind. Soon Gu is smart and he can tell that Hwa Rok and Sam Soon is the same person. I think he is just pretending not to know his sister. He threw that question to the group while looking at SamSoon "what are you doing here?" To which Soon Deok and Sam Soon answered and he seemed satisfied after. So I think origibally that question was meant for his sister and not Sam Soon.

Also I am surprised at Lady Park's seemingly genuine affection for Soon Deok. Now this may change once her brother gets in trouble next week and if she finds out that Soon Deok had a hand in it. I like a complex villain so it will be interesting to see what route she takes then.

This drama is, so far, SO enjoyable. The beautiful scenes, the not-taking-itself-seriously-ness, the fourth-wall-breaking character sketches... Adorable. The OTP and the side characters are all multidimensional. The "evil" MIL can calmly suggest eliminating a guy, but is fully defensive of her DIL, and the way her face lights up when JunWoo praises her grandson! The king is a cool cat, a first in the sageuks I have watched.
As others have pointed out, Jung Woo is defs an Agent Of Love - widowe(re?)d early, recognizes people in love... Lets hope our two agents of love can bossam or something and live happily ever after!
Theory - the real Yeo-ju daek is the widowed first DIL of the Left-State-Minister, the one who is supposed to have been killed to get the virtuous woman gate. She is Soon-Doek's adopted son's birth mother. Something caused her to jump/fall into the river while she was pregnant, which led to her rescue by the then un-married SD. Which is why she absolutely refused to go to the LSM's house.

I'm not gonna post my usual stream of consciousness wall of text comments today (don't want to break this site) but suffice I have a lot to say about this drama simply bc I enjoy it so. Like, I don't actively look forward to it every week, as someone else said, but I just have fun every episode. so far, this feels like the saeguk kdrama version of the "cozy" genre of books that's become popular recently.

Jang Sin--, I mean Jung-woo is so puppy coded. I like him now that he's toned down the arrogance and revealed himself just a big ol' baby who has to hide behind Soon-deok every time something spooky happens. And wow Cho Ji-hyun is killing it in this role, I can't see anyone else playing it imo. (her voice is really satisfying... is it just me?) the way Soon-deok just genuinely tries to help him through his social anxiety is charming.

Anyways, I agree with what others have said. Jung-woo keeps getting chest pain whenever he's near a destined couple, it has to mean something. Maybe he's the one with the magical matchmaker skills all along.

This drama is a lot of fun till now! Episode 5 & 6 were not as funny as the previous episodes for me. But the plots progressed nicely!
Thanks for the recap. Enjoying this one!

This is the most beautiful show airing!

We spent a whole episode in the lantern festival and I didn't mind because it was so beautiful! I loved each lantern, the walk around the pagodes, the dark alley.

Jung-Woo and Soon-Deok : I like their slow development, just a touch of their fingers and it's heart fluttering. The scene when JW closed his eyes and he reopened them he saw only her in the dark, then the lights around light again was really beautiful. I like how she doesn't judge him and just protect him from other people, from the dog, etc. The maid was pretty clever with her statment about the fact SD had feelings for the widower because she didn't care about people's opinion but only his opinion. Jung-Woo was cute by retrieving the lost lantern to make a wish too.

Soon-Goo and Sam-Soon : He better show up at the May festival instead of the candidate! I really like their scenes. He's already fallen hard by protection her from the investigation and helping her with her house. I'm pretty sure he recognized his sister too. By finding the murderer, Jung-Woo will be able to get the rest of the story 😂

Park So-Hyun is really an interesting villain. She loves her family and she cares about them. She thinks about the best for her grandson. I like the fact Jung-Woo accepted to be his tutor and not judged the kid by his grand-parents (I wonder who were his real parents). The scene at the grave was touching too. We could see how both of them were loving her son/husband.

But she's without mercy with her ennemies. The King doesn't have issue with an opposant, so it's sad they want so much the power and get rid of the Prince when they could just work together.

We need Jung-Woo to understand he's a Ssangyeonsoolsa too, his heart is love detector 😂 Because for now, they're just matchmaking themselves and not the sisters who are doing the job alone :p

@unit, thanks for the recap.
Soon-deok suddenly leans in super close to Jung-woo, and he closes his eyes and readies his lips in expectation…

He had his hopes up, that is for sure. 😂

Enjoying the show. Very colorful, with an occasional breaking of the fourth wall.

I like the characters in this show and the romances are cute, but the story just isn’t that compelling. And it also feels a little fragmented to be honest. I wish they would lighten up the political drama; it doesn’t mesh well with the light rom com.

Thanks for the weecap @unit
I fast forward through the palace politics unless the king is on screen because he is the most realistic king I have seen. I have always wondered why they bother to have a king sitting on throne if they have so little power and have to keep the ministers sweet to avoid being killed or having their offspring seen off. It seems I missed the discussion of the adopted son in one of my fast forwards of the evil mother in law and minister chats. I am way behind with my dramas and so only just catching up on the weecaps and comments. I am only half way through the comments but so far no one has mentioned how the adoption came to be, please can a kind beanie let me know the details. Thank you 🥰

The leads and the couples (would-be) are chemistry-ing. There is challenge for the OTP because of the societal restrictions placed on widows/widowers for their time. I also would prefer for the show to throw these restrictions out of the window. The FL still deeply loves her dead husband even if their life together was cut short, but she's starting to be attracted to the ML. The ML is so far gone for the FL but is not able to process it in his head that he is attracted to the FL.

I love the shots of the festival, the play of lights and shadows. Those silk swatches flying in the air when Sam-Soon was coming out.

O Bong cracks me up whenever he's mumbling to himself or rolling his eyes about his boss' actions. Jung Woo lessen your pride and ask O Bong how to woo Soon-Deok, he is married, he can give you advice.

I actually never intended to watch this, I was just looking for something to kill time in between episodes of PMR... but then, I could not stop! This drama is so good! I like the social commentary it makes on the condition of women: a law on women needed to get married before a certain age, the complexities of duties and expectations for women, women being the hidden decision-makers without ever being at the fore-front... Add to that anything on social class, and it makes you wonder if we are still in Joseon today. I felt a ping when Soon-Deok MIL told her to hold on until her kid gets married and she can become the lady of the house! as if this was such a big reward to look forward too. It was subtle, but you could feel sadness in her eyes, what great acting! Rowoon is doing so well here, and I appreciate seeing how is acting has greatly improved this year. I am excited for how the sisters' match will pan out, I am curious about the SIL, I wonder who are the biological parents of Soon-Deok's kids, I am intrigued by how they will solve the murder, I wonder what the MIL has in mind for Seon-Deok, I look forward to more moments between the leads (their chemistry is fire!). Bref, I just can't wait for the next episodes!

I am loving this show. The leads are so charming and funny. And I even saw a familiar face from Single's Inferno. Question though. When did we find out that her son is adopted? I even rewatched some of the episode. What conversation got lost in translation?

Unit..great review. Always so nice to go over a recap and see what I missed while I was laughing too hard or simply just fixating on Roowon's micro facial expressions, as well as his finely carved jawline. Great comedic actor. And your description of our two matchmakers' slow slide into romance is perfect, especially when they are in the marketplace on Matchmaking business and "Jung-woo trails after Soon-deok like a kid with his mom at the mall. Perfect. He might indeed be the the "Agent of Love" but she is his "Shield", leading him by his stuck-up nose towards their romance...