I love how even though Sam-soon was rejected, she decided that she would just mourn for the day and then forge ahead and look elsewhere instead of moping. I was half-expecting for her to try to change his mind, but she just accepted it. The moment when she was psyching herself to move on - "I plan to fall in love with #23. NO, actually I've already fallen for him" - was hilarious.

I admire Lady Park as the antagonist. It is a rare one in dramaland that’s given such complexity and shades, one that’s a MIL to boot. And I wonder if her learning of her son’s real cause of death will push her out of the villainous camp and use her mighty intellect for good (and perhaps figure out some solution to free up her daughter-in-law?)

LURVE that comic beat of him learning swimming by the book! 🤣 I actually had flashes of Trinity downloading helicopter piloting skills ala Matrix in my head when I watched that. He has such resolve and panache at the same time!

P.S. I thought they used Ro-woon's towering build to great comic effect in this show. His character has this delicious mix of bumbling and blustery

The swimming scene was so funny. They had to find a loooong table for him to do that :p

And we missed the opportunity to see him wrestling, thing he learnt in books too.

Yes - another sly dig and subversion of our set-up audience expectations. Cos SD is not the Agent of Love, tis Jung Woo! All the current matches are made based on her excellent deduction skills (her words, not mine!) but it's not destiny!

SO, depending on what the worldview of this story universe is -- (a) a good match on paper will do as fine OR
(b) heck, the heart wants what it wants and carpe diem!
Then you either get a pragmatic outcome, or the love of your lifetime

I definitely looked him up last week but he’s pretty new, so not much else on his resume. I’m excited to see him in more things too! He’s so good as almost-but-not-quite-smiling!

There is a thing with discret inspector in sageuk. Yun Jong-Seok was good in Our Blooming Youth too.

I am patiently waiting for him to finally admit his feelings for our lovely Sam Soon!

I hope the nice king would be able to do something. Cross my fingers!!

Soon-deok's reaction to Ye-jin's feelings for Yangban Farmer (indicating that Ye-jin is deadset on her expected path and her mind and heart not being open to any alternative) also indicates that a marriage partner is still ultimately someone you choose to live out the rest of your life with. So I think Soon-deok will choose to remarry even if there isn't any sort of destiny between her and Jung-woo.

Mama Maeng’s matter-of-fact side note to Jungwoo had me clutch my chest (Jungwoo style). It was such a punch in the gut that she wouldn’t have any of his feelings for Soondeok compromise the task at hand (matching her daughters), and that he should just snap out of it. I didn’t want to hear it! Just let me float a bit longer on my cloud of bliss looking at their blooming feelings! lol/cry/lol (Please send help.)
Didn’t she at least feel that the match would be a good one? Availability aside… Sigh. I see no solution/silver lining at the horizon yet. 😐

But I fully agree on the hilarity of Jungwoo’s reactions. It was just such a feast how pouty/despaired he was. And his servant delivering all the matching punch lines - they are a great comedic duo!

Plus: like how they give Rowoon more colorful hanboks and that blush pink offense is a thing of the past 😆 It really goes well with Yeojudeak’s full on colorful wardrobe.

"It is also interesting to notice that the Maeng Mom was a former matchmaker and commented that Jung Woo and Soon Deok are not meant to be and Soon Deok's late husband was indeed her destined match."

-- Again, I thought the writer was really sly to lead us viewers down a false alley with that one. My hopeful heart tanked (for a second!) when I heard that (cos well, they just revealed she was this hidden maestro) BUT then I realized her gift in recognizing destined matches was solely predicated on her sight (she could literally see red threads of destiny tying into marriage knots) BUT the moment she turned blind - all bets are off and tis open season! (woo-hoo!)

SO - my guess here -- her admonishment to Jung Woo about them not being able to get together -- I put it down to (a) dogmatic confidence that her last professional match was the endgame; (b) a comment more about the propriety of widows remaining chaste than anything to do with her Agent of Love prophetic gift.

I love Rowoon in this drama. The character is playing to all his strengths and I’m so here for it. Watching Rowoon be lovesick is such a joy to me (and its made even better because he is lovesick for a character who actually deserves it)!

I agree with everything you wrote here @emsel. Especially how Rowoon is just stealing this show with how he is being totally adorable I had to watch him running away in tears more than once and the next moment completely serious.
The whole cast is well done - but I'm intrigued by the MIL and how nuanced she is.
I look forward to this show every week.

What's interesting is that Maeng Mom can't see anymore. Since she can't see SoonDeok and JungWoo together, she can't figure out if they are each other's destined match.

When she saw SoonDeok and her future husband as a destined match, it could be coz SoonDeok was his destiny. He married her and died. That 'destined match' ended with his death.

I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling sad for the 2 who won't marry the 1st and 3rd sister.

Even though I was offended that #12 and #23 (LOL, the Old Bachelors just get referred to by numbers by our matchmakers) rejected the Old Maidens initially because of rumors, I do like them and wish they would get matched by the end. Especially #12. He had the hardest prep, is the oldest of our 3 Old Bachelors, and has sent an express letter to his family in his faraway hometown to announce the wedding. I don't want to see him get jilted on the wedding day. Especially after that lie Jung-woo told about how if he misses this opportunity, he won't be able to marry for another 7 years.

second that!
I just wrote in a comment somewhere below that swing scene made me sputter my tea. It was LOL funny.

I was one of those who felt the drama was, well, not too lengthy but rather felt so because of its slow and steady pace. But in these episodes picked it up nicely. And now MM has jumped to the top of my watch pile with all the fun and the feels.

If only we could get the correct pairing of the episodes because 7 and 8 really spoke to each other. I’m sure 9 and 10 would have as well. It’s a well written show.

But in The Matchmakers you can stop the video at any moment and just admiring the cinematography. I love that.

4) I also love how very smart the first Sister is. The writer has slyly made us under-estimate both Ha-na and Jung-Woo (they would make a great match on paper, except neither has the flutters for each other). Both are actually very astute in reading subtext and the motives of others. In the case of JW, way more than people would give him credit for.

After the CP has reported the misdemeanor of the Defense Minister to the king and got him dismissed, you realise in retrospect that Ha-na very likely knew who she was talking to when the CP came under her care as a lost boy. By setting up a veiled insinuation of the incompetence of the current king, she has provoked the prince to act and indirectly borrowed his hand to kill her greatest nemesis -- the Minister of Defense.

5) Double murders: Now that we actually have to solve TWO instead of ONE -- I hope it doesn't distract from the matchmaking and actually serves to corral and converge everything into one furious river!

P.S. also, I just love how everyone is trying to "matchmake" our estranged matchmakers now! It's so cute and heartwarming

@joanna: I love all of your comments here. Your writing is so adroit and thought-provoking. Also, thank you for introducing me to this comic archetype , “ Senex Iratus”.

I’m confused about Soon-deok as a matchmaker. She told Mama Maeng that she uses reason to make matches, and I think there is some truth to that, but she’s also told people in the first few episodes that she just has to look at peoples’ faces with lots of affection and she’s able to tell, which sounds much closer to seeing red threads appear around them. I can’t decide if she was speaking figuratively then or downplaying her process now. Regardless I do think that Jung-woo’s power is more on the level of a matchmaking god(dess), but I wasn’t sure what to make of Soon-deok’s just yet.

Temptation of Wife! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 That had me in stitches.
Thursday Throwbacks indeed LOL

I was shocked to find out that Soon-gu has legit not known who Soon-deok was this whole time! I 100% gave him credit for being subtle and pretending to ignore his sister in the room for weeks when all this time he is just unobservant?! Eesh.

I’m also wondering about the little boy, and how Soon Deok’s husband was able to marry if his older brother was single. Was the older brother cheating on his wife with the disguised female judge? Or, she probably had died already.

That’s an excellent point about how it’s like a stage play in that we get to see so many others’ reactions. I love that about this show.

I wondered about that as well. In the story it wasn't specified whether or not he was married, just that they couldn't be together. And the rumor is that his wife was ritually murder by MIL Park.

Its not a plot hole - yet - just not fully fleshed out. That's what I got.

Also, Soon Doek's son is actually her nephew (born to her BIL and the murdered wife).

I am not really sure of this story line either but I think SD's BIL went to Pyongyang on a task, where he fell in love with enemy's daughter and then they committed suicide because they couldn't be together (this is the story that our investigation team believes is true). The fact is he was also already married and had a child, which child is now SD's child

Exactly - I think the old version of Romeo and Juliet is just that, a story. The people in the Jo household seem to be too fond of Soon Deok's adopted son for him to be not related by blood (given that society), I feel he is the first son's son. Also for the virtuous woman gate to be got by "murdering her first DIL", there must have been a DIL.

YES - I especially love this one hilarious music cue that comes on right before any matchmaking operation. It conjures up all these imagery of a cowboy swagger before a duel, or rolling up your cuffs for serious elbow grease, or girding your loins for a Ssireum match to impress your lady love 🤣

I like the fact they chose only instrumental music.

1) Yes, return us our episodes in the right pairing pls! Especially for a story whose theme is patently about "match-making" LOL. It's not ok to just make-do, like #23 to Lady Sam soon 🤣🤣

The episodes each week are curated as companion pieces, like the Mandarin ducks mascots SD places on the map in the matchmaking den/war room.

Right down to which two profiles they choose to highlight for piece-to-camera intros each ep.

Speaking of which, did anyone notice that detail in Si-Yeol's PTC? He buys a lady hairpin at a stall, then asks for a second identical one *pregnant pause* (the writer is so darn good)

2) and yes, I second how thoughtfully layered the writing / characters are. It bears re-watching, if only to catch details I missed earlier.

Case in point: after Ep 9's reveal about Lord Min's corruption at Pyongyang and a possible collusion with Lord Jo - the pilot makes so much sense now with delayed decoding.

When Jung Woo was announced as the youngest ever scholar to top the State exams and assigned to Pyongyang by the king (again, no accident here) Jung Woo loudly asserted he would stamp out the corruption. The camera shifted briefly to Lord Jo glancing up. By all accounts, a casual throwaway moment. Next story beat -- his clan (led by the arm-twisting of Lord Jo) decided to pimp him out to be the Princess consort instead. NOW we know why.

No wonder the monk was so handsome! This drama is really delivering on the handsome guys.

OMG! same here!

I was like, wait - that monk looks a bit too good looking to be a mere cameo with a one liner. I bet this is a Chekhov's Gun planted early to pay off later. So when they went: oh the writer is a monk at Sun Hwa Temple I was like, bingo!

p.s. love the writing 💖💖

I agree, she'd be one of the heroes of this story if it weren't for that whole "conspiring to murder the young Crown Prince" problem. I wonder if we'll see some twist that reveals she's not really a baddie on that score, either, and she's secretly trying to protect him, too - but her family's downfall does seem necessary to free SD to remarry.

Good point about her approach towards her DIL. Didn't strike me that was her reasoning behind the new assignment to SD.

Also, love your username. I know the meaning of it because it's my mother tongue 😊

That’s very interesting, I only saw Mme Park thinking well, if she’s got time to run around selling novels, let’s stop that by filling her time with family duties. But this does give SD a reason to be away from home and not be questioned by the wannabe-detective maid 🤔

Totally second that. MIL's very sensitive and considerate towards her DIL. I also think she decided to expedite the process of her DIL stepping up to take the reins of their household when she received the latest incriminating evidence of the pulp romance novel.

She mentioned in an earlier ep that it would be a lot less stifling then cos she would no longer be housebound.

MIL also protected SD's face and dignity when she discreetly returned the pulp novel to DIL by fibbing that it was dropped somewhere near the annex where she resides (and not rummaged from her very room!)

she evaded a direct confrontation over this infraction of decorum because she gratefully recalled the emotional memory of her DIL reading novels to her late son and clocked it as sentimental reminiscence of the past.

Re: the child - he mentioned that he is 12 years old. And the older son went as the governor to Pyongyang 8 years before (instead of Jungwoo). So he could not be the son of the affair, if any.
I also would like the King and Mama Park come up with some master plan to set our OTP free. Fingers crossed!

Thanks for your thoughtful post - one of the lines inadvertently gave me a brainwave! (I am now starting to think this writer is really brilliant) Some thoughts are still nebulous but I will just throw 'em out there and see what sticks:

1) we are already past the mid-point of the narrative. Given how meticulous and detailed this writer has been thus far, I think most key clues / breadcrumbs leading us to the answers we need for the rest of the episodes are likely already hidden in the previous episodes.

2) Recap: 8 years ago, Jung Woo got pimped out as the Princess Consort under the machination of Lord Jo for probably 2-fold reasons:
(i) JW would definitely investigate and expose the corruption - a prospect he wanted to avoid;
(ii) The vacancy allowed Lord Jo to move his first-born son to fill the post instead, which he thought must be the safest bet.

What he did not count on was his very own son would be the one to ferret out all the corruption/collusion between Lord Jo & Lord Min - together with the crossdressing daughter of Lord Min.

3) Narrative leitmotifs & foreshadowing
now let's look at all the breadcrumbs our dear writer-nim has left us: --

(a) we have another parallel lover pairing of crossdressing female--male investigating official ( Lieutenant Jung X Sam Soon) to Min/Jo

(b) we also have another narrative precedent for double lovers' (attempted) suicide -- stopped by SD in the windmill barn. How did they resolve that one?

(c) cue: enter monkhood.
SD shrewdly got the star-crossed nobleman to shave his hair and pretended to enter monkhood in despair, the hysterical parents relented and decide to marry him off to whoever would take him now (which allowed him to marry his true love who came from a lower social class)

(d) the above solution (c) I suspect would be used as a variant to solve the conundrum earlier raised by other Beanies -- the only way the aristocratic Ye-jin can legit end up marrying Bo-geum is for her family to be punished and disgraced.

Not necessarily. One can actually engineer a situation to "degrade" your own social ranking/eligibility to pair up with the love you really desire.

(e) now back to double-lovers suicide of Jo/Min kids -- the 3 likeliest possibilities are: --

(I) their crazy fathers actually decided to silence their kids for uncovering the plot of treason when they tried to whistle-blow (Lady Jo kept in the dark)

(II) the kids pretended suicide - faked their deaths - assumed new/false identities to escape or bide their time (again, foreshadowed by the precedent of the OG Lady Yeoju on the run)

(III) The shocker would be one or both of them are actually hidden in plain sight (as one of the characters in this large ensemble cast! 🤣🤣) we are primed as viewers to accept this possibility now cos we are told how SD and Sam Soon can use makeup disguise mole and cross dressing to fool the whole world (except their one true love)

But...