The First Night with the Duke: Episodes 5-6
by DaebakGrits
Now that our transmigrated protagonist has decided to become the leading lady of her favorite novel, she finds herself competing head-to-head with the story’s cheating villain — and its former heroine — in a fiercely competitive battle for the prince’s hand in marriage.
EPISODES 5-6
When we last saw Seon-chaek, she was still recovering from her suspiciously timed illness, but despite her weakened state, she mustered up the energy to run back to town before it was too late for her to sign up for the royal marriage selection. Thanks to the extremely tight deadline, it was an actual race against the clock — er, sundial — and without a modern timepiece on hand to accurately relay the time, Seon-chaek relied heavily on minor, insignificant details from the novel, such as a merchant’s delivery schedule, to help her gauge how much time was remaining before gates would close and prevent her from throwing her metaphorical hat into the marriage ring. Instead of a hat, though, it was her shoe — which she kicked through the gates at the last possible second — that bought her enough minutes to submit her name and officially enter the competition.
After her success, Seon-chaek returns to an empty plague house and is momentarily concerned by Yi Beon’s absence, but she needn’t worry about the ominously large puddle of blood on the ground because he was off hunting a wild boar for dinner. Turns out, Yi Beon is not just an angsty prince with a pretty face, he’s a provider who’s gonna make sure his woman eats, and he’s relieved to see that she showed up in time for dinner. If she hadn’t, well, he would have assumed she’d taken the opportunity to run off (again).
Seon-chaek explains her absence by showing Yi Beon the flyer advertising his marriage selection, and while he’s incensed that the queen mother initiated a formal search for his bride-to-be, he’s more focused on Seon-chaek’s sudden change of heart and decision to enter the selection process. After all, prior to this moment, he was fairly certain, based on her words and behaviors, that she disliked him — which is a mighty big red flag, if you think about it, given how fiercely he pursued her — but Seon-chaek admits that she never hated him. She was simply afraid of repeating the past.
Without revealing that she’s from another world where he’s a fictional character in a web novel, she explains the circumstances that eventually led her to becoming a recluse, but Yi Beon — logical man that he is — doesn’t understand why she places the blame for that situation on herself. It’s not her fault that her friend’s man fell for her “without [her] consent,” and even more baffling is why she feels her past has anything to do with their relationship in the present. It’s at this point that Seon-chaek explains to Yi Beon — again, without mentioning he’s a fictional novel character — that he’s predestined to be with someone else, and she interfered with his destiny. Yi Beon, however, doesn’t believe much in this destiny she speaks of, not when he has feelings for her. If he’s the supposed “male lead,” as she called him, then shouldn’t his choice to love her indicate that he’s picked her as his female lead? The man makes a point, and Seon-chaek sees no reason to argue when the leading man himself just gave her the green light to live out her romantic fantasy.
However, while Yi Beon is confident that he picked the perfect leading lady for himself, he’s wary of Seon-chaek’s decision to be a part of the selection process. The queen mother is obviously up to something, which means the competition will be fierce, but Seon-chaek is determined to become his wife through the official channels — even if it will be difficult. “Easy isn’t fun,” though, not according to Seon-chaek, and she faces the trials with an assuredness of a newly minted leading lady decked out in protective plot armor.
Given all the hype for the selection process — not to mention Yi Beon’s worries that something bad might happen to Seon-chaek — I had high expectations for the trials put forth by the queen mother, but I personally found the competition to be rather meh. Predictably, Hwa-seon cheated her way through the first round of physical tests in a way that was comically obvious to anyone with two eyes, but I was disappointed that Seon-chaek’s past life knowledge and abilities didn’t have a larger role in her ability to pass the tests. Instead, she passed the shot put round through a questionable knowledge of physics that somehow compensated for her lack of skill and physical strength (Weak Hero this is not), and she won the archery competition thanks to the trickster spirit’s interference. In round one, the only sign that Seon-chaek’s past life gave her any sort of advantage was when her former job as a waitress helped her balance a serving tray.
It’s such a staple of the isekai genre for the transmigrated protagonist’s skills and knowledge from their past life to make them uniquely overpowered in their new universe, so when the first found of tests turned out to be of the track-and-field variety, I half expected Seon-chaek to have been an athlete in her past life. In my opinion, this would have been an excellent opportunity to reveal more about her backstory — besides the fact that she had a crappy best friend and an extreme fondness for alcohol — and demonstrate how she is worthy of being the new leading lady.
Round two of the competition, however, is slightly more in line with my expectations. The queen mother gives the remaining group of women 10 Nyang and instructs them to increase its worth in two days. This time around, despite the queen mother’s obvious bias, Seon-chaek comes in first place thanks to random knowledge she gleaned from one of her college professors. Apparently, when natural enemies catfish and loaches are introduced to the same rice paddy, they naturally reproduce more and get stronger, so she bought and resold catfish and loaches to paddy fields with poor harvests in order to turn a profit. While her net gains are impressive, it was her ability to find a profitable solution to the current drought that earned her the highest score among the three finalists — the other two being Hwa-seon and Eun-ae, of course.
If I was in Seon-chaek’s shoes, I’d be a bit wary about having the novel’s former leading lady as my competition, but Seon-chaek is not threatened or fearful that the story might somehow revert to the original plot. Perhaps this is because, at the start of the competition, she received Eun-ae’s assurances that she only signed up for the marriage selection because her father insisted — a fact that Seon-chaek has to later relay to Soo-gyeom, who is downright distraught to learn that his love interest is competing to marry his best friend.
Despite Seon-chaek also advising the lovelorn Soo-gyeom to play it cool and not rush into confessing to Eun-ae and flustering her, he does exactly that — except he needn’t verbally confess for her to figure out his feelings. No, apparently having a young bachelor showing up on her doorstep in the middle of the night is enough to clue Eun-ae to the nature of Soo-gyeom’s visit, and she scolds him for his behavior. He should know better than to have a clandestine meeting with a woman competing in the prince’s marriage selection.
Eun-ae choses this moment to cash in the wish Soo-gyeom owed her after she drank for him at the Seonmun Club meeting, and, while gently grabbing his sleeve, she asks him to stay away from her for “a little while.” I can’t be the only one who finds her behavior suspicious, right? Part of me thinks she likes him back — despite there being no evidence to support this theory — because it would align with the idea that all of the novel’s characters have the freewill to deviate from the original plot and find their own desired happiness, like Yi Beon. Buuuuuut the more cynical part of me still thinks she has her own nefarious agenda.
And speaking of nefarious agendas, Hwa-seon decides to use round three of the marriage selection as the stage to publicly discredit Seon-chaek and eliminate her from the competition. What starts off as a simple Q&A over tea intended to measure the ladies’ virtue turns into quite the spectacle when Hwa-seon accuses Seon-chaek of having an illicit relationship with a Westerner. What Hwa-seon doesn’t know, though, is that Yi Beon has been tracing Mark and the poison he gave Seon-chaek back to Hwa-seon and her family. He went so far as to feign interest in Hwa-seon in order to gain access to her family’s stash of foreign goods and find the evidence he needed to connect the dots. (LOL at Yi Beon burning the clothes that Hwa-seon touched. Pfft! So dramatic.)
So, of course, once Yi Beon can prove that the Do family had dealings with Mark and had some of his poison in their possession, he shows up at the maximally dramatic moment to put a stop to the sham marriage selection. Tossing a bloodied and beaten Mark on the floor, Yi Beon exposes Hwa-seon and the queen mother for their misdeeds and gives the queen mother an ultimatum: end the marriage selection or I reveal what you’ve done. Knowing what’s best for her, the queen mother pretends to faint, and the marriage selection process is stopped.
Once they’re alone, Seon-chaek expresses her disbelief that Mark was dangerous, and Yi Beon responds like the stereotypical protective male lead that he is and declares that he will never let her go anywhere without him. Seon-chaek scoffs at his promise because he’s been avoiding her and locking arms with Hwa-seon while he was chasing down Mark, and charmed by her jealousy, Yi Beon responds by kissing her pouting mouth in front of the sunset. It’s cute and romantic, but they’re interrupted when Yi Beon is summoned by the king.
So, despite Yi Beon’s vow to never leave her unattended, he does, in fact, leave her by herself, and even though he promises to return quickly to her, she’s still waiting where he left her after the sun sets. And because she is alone, someone uses her solitude and the cover of darkness to push her into a pond. As Seon-chaek sinks deeper into the water, she wonders if dying in the novel’s world will return her to the real world, where it appears she’s still alive and passed out on her floor. But, lest we forget, Seon-chaek is now the leading lady, and the leading lady is always rescued by her leading man. On cue, Yi Beon dives into the pond, embraces her, and gives her underwater mouth-to-mouth kisses her.
Welp, we’re half-way through this drama, and I think my opinion has officially fallen to “cute but mostly meh.” I went into this drama expecting what I’ve seen in other similar isekai stories: a protagonist who expertly uses her real world skills and knowledge of the source material to manipulate the fictional world she transmigrated into. And, I can’t get over the letdown. In my opinion, the drama is not effectively conveying the fact that this world is supposed to be a fictional Joseon from a novel, and now that Seon-cahek has become Yi Beon’s love interest and the original plot is a thing of the past, there’s not much differentiating her from a time traveler falling in love with a historical prince. Yes, she knows details about other characters because she’s read their backstories, but how is that any different than her reading a history book and traveling back in time?
What this drama lacks most is self-awareness. This is supposed to be the world of a romance novel, and while there have certainly been a lot of classic tropes depicted in the plot, they aren’t being called out or — aside from the falling cherry blossoms that were part of Seon-chake’s plot to reunite the novel’s original leads — being manipulated to Seon-chaek’s advantage. Not to mention, the fact that Seon-chaek hasn’t pointed them out when she, as the new leading lady, has unexpectedly on the receiving end of them is a massive character oversight for someone who’s supposed to be an avid romance reader. Where’s the cheeky commentary? Why isn’t Seon-chaek snickering at Yi Beon’s occasionally tropey dialogue whenever he tries to coax her into having their “second night,” and why isn’t she questioning why she finds red flag behaviors in a fictional man acceptable when she’d never put up with them in the real world? Seon-chaek slept with the male lead, and and you mean to tell me there’s not at least one quip about the size of his manhood and how it compares to the novel’s ridiculously unrealistic description? If you ask me, the drama’s writers should have spent time browsing #booktok before writing this script.
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Tags: Ji Hye-won, Kwon Han-sol, Seo Beom-joon, Seohyun, Taecyeon, The First Night with the Duke
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1 Jezz
June 28, 2025 at 8:07 PM
- I love Taecyeon being shirtless at the final photo for this week's Dramabeans weecap of this show.
-But now, I am looking forward for the hunt for who wrote the webnovel/novel book? Is it Korean or a foreigner? I think let's shall see and wait.
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2 bomibeans
June 28, 2025 at 9:19 PM
My heart be stilllll cause I just love this summer gem too much! These were the best two episodes so far and if it continues in this vein, it might be one of the best kdrama for me of the year!
- I hollered when Seon-Chaek stepped on that tip at the entryway to her palace bride selection and broke it. To me it was such a symbol of this whole affair - deflated, even emasculated, a mere front to defraud and elect Hwa-seon.
- That poignant moment when drunken Seon-Chaek says that of course she loves the Duke in the middle of the their first night. Not a ONS indeed, and provides gravitas to the idea that our hero was not just moved by a mere act but by her sincerity also. (Though I wish she was never drunk but I’m suspending my modern-day sensibilities for a moment.)
- The actress who plays Eun-ae must have done some acting vodoo magic because how without saying many weird things or committing evil acts, she gives off so many bad weird vibes? Nice job.
- The creativity of all the ways to cheat on the bride selection process was superb and so humorous! I laughed non-stop through all of it. Our heroine continues to use her wits to her advantage. And we all know that waitressing skills ALWAYS come handy later in life!
- Our Duke actually investigated the things and talks things through with our heroine and steadfastly sticks to his choices. And says that he doesn’t care whether she’s innocent or not, and whatever she thinks she’s lacking is what makes him fall for her. Hard to believe such a male specimen existed in 19th century Joseon? Sure. Does it make us all swoon? Me, absolutely.
- The mystery deepens. What’s all that with West Indies (cross that) type of symbols stamped everywhere on treasures from the Western World and Westerners’ body parts? Makes me ponder. Also, hard to believe a nasty-smelling poison could not have been detected in a soup but compared to our bewilderment about the “plague” in the last episodes, it’s practically nothing.
- I’m curious how they are going to resolve Hwa-seon storyline. She’s not a main villain anymore. What is her connection to the western world?
- Trickster magic boys and inquisitive shamans? Can there be a connection to the author of the web novel?
- The tone between humorous and mysterious and magic is very balanced. No tonal / genre whiplash, thank you very much. It’s even tighter and more coherent than the previous episodes.
- Even thought there’s a clear sexual attraction and genuine understanding between the two, I truly hope for more quiet and inquisitive discussions by the fire. I feel like these two fell too deep too fast, and I wish they developed more as a couple. It appears in preview they are setting a stage for a long-lost ex-fiancée, and even though I find deepening-love-by-jealousy a lazy writing, I welcome this development. They need more to talk about and bond, experience more “love hardship” before the inevitable time-jump fate befell them.
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TwoCentsWorth
June 29, 2025 at 6:43 PM
I liked the humor in the bride selection too. Recap is probably right that more could have been done with it. Still, it was fun.
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StellaGibson
June 29, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Re: tone, I got a bit of whiplash with the torture scene. It felt too in-your-face dark compared to the rest of the show. I hope they don't do any more scenes like that.
I also agree with Eun-ae, I like that she feels unnerving even though she's not really doing anything obviously villain-y. In her scene with Soo-gyeom, to me her vibe felt like she was in a different, more serious show, but somehow I liked it.
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bomibeans
June 30, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Comment was deleted
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3 geminirat
June 29, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Thank you for the recap, @daebakgrits! I find this drama funny, just don't think too much of the plot. I didn't think Seon-chaek was athletic but as she was helped in the archery contest, huh, even strong winds couldn't deter her from hitting the bulls' eye!
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4 LaurenSophie
June 29, 2025 at 6:53 AM
I agree, @DaebakGrits, that this show is just one missed opportunity after another. The script and story are very perfunctory, and it's starting to become harder to ignore all the places where there's a perfect set-up for some humor or a line of dialogue that would touch on our FL's modern origins in a fun or touching way and that set-up then goes completely untapped. To mention just a few:
--When the Prince was talking about how he'd never let Seon-chaek out of his sight again, there was a perfect opportunity for her to gently and with humor (or more emphatically, as either would have worked) school him in the difference between love and control. That conversation could have been all kinds of hilarious and substantive while still keeping in the spirit of the show.
--For those who watch "The Office," there's a scene in one of the later seasons where the Dunder Mifflin group has to play volleyball against another branch. Suddenly we see that Pam, who has never before seemed particularly athletic, killing it. She then reveals that she just played a little volleyball in middle school . . . and high school . . . and college. I was absolutely expecting the same type of reveal about Seon-chaek when we got to the archery contest. Her drawing on some random physics knowledge was ok, but not nearly as relevant or fun as her revealing she actually participated and competed in the sport.
--I absolutely did not understand Seon-chaek screaming and carrying on when the Prince suggested they might spend a second night together. What was that all about? I know she was drunk the first time, but wasn't the whole thing there about how she's a modern woman not as hung up on sex having to be tied to everlasting love and marriage? So now that she has deeper feelings for the Prince I can see why she might want to enjoy just dating before sleeping with him again, but her sudden shock and semi-disgust at the prospect of not waiting made absolutely no sense. If that was about her just feeling gross because she'd been sick for a few days, they needed to make that clearer. Otherwise, it just read like she was disgusted or insulted, and neither made sense.
A couple of other WTF moments for me this week:
--If it's supposed to be a big twist for Eun-ae to end up being the real villain, perhaps the music chosen for her scene with Soo-gyeom in the garden should have been less obviously creepy.
--As a modern woman, I find it unlikely Seon-Chaek doesn't know how to swim. So why was she in danger of drowning when she fell into water at the end of ep. 6? And I know it's kindof a kdrama staple, but if someone is drowning, how about you pull them to the surface before you make out with them?
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kdramakat
June 29, 2025 at 8:31 AM
Ha! Yes, that underwater make out session was a total WTF moment. Wasn't she unconscious a second ago?
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hacja
June 29, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Totally agree with the missed opportunities for humor and parody. But I don't know that this started out brilliantly to begin with, so I can't say I was deeply disappointed.
Still I also agree with you that the one thing that I thought was kind of "fresh" and unusual about the drama is that Seon-Chaek wasn't that ashamed about the first night, so it did irritate me that the drama suddenly fell into the typical kdrama morality--that violence, even graphic bloody violence, is redemptive, associated with justice and family values (the duke torturing the westerner) and sex is something sinful and shocking, that a decent woman--even one who suddenly finds herself in a fantasy romance novel, wouldn't desire.
Of course, at least in this one, the Duke is eager to experience it again, as opposed to the vast majority of dramas where even leading men in love have enormous trepidations about, and in fact often regret the act, after it occurs. (I'm not watching this, but in Unwritten Seoul, didn't the leading man immediately lose his hearing or something the second he slept with one of the twins? Its an appropriate kdrama punishment for doing such a thing! Though it would have been kind of amusing to me if he had gone blind.).... (Sorry, this is an inappropriate sex joke for what I know is a moving and healing drama.)
Anyway, the one place I disagree with you was at the end--I thought the falling into a lily pond and then sinking endlessly through the depths, as if it was the Mariana Trench, with the prince then swimming after her was a pretty funny sendup of that trope, ESPECIALLY when it ended with them kissing while still in the water. I think that scene, and maybe the bad guy westerner having a black cowboy on even though he was presumably English) were the two silly things in these episodes that were actually amusing.
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AmnesiaYawns
June 29, 2025 at 10:29 AM
When they are discussing their second night she is still in the same clothes she wore when she was violently ill and ran into town and back. He just returned from the hunt and had carried a wild boar over his shoulders.
In short: They both stank to high heaven, so I kind of get her reaction.
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LaurenSophie
June 29, 2025 at 10:40 AM
I thought about that, too, but the writing didn't really make it clear that she was responding to hygiene issues. To me, she just seemed skittish and grossed out about how forward he was supposedly being.
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AmnesiaYawns
June 30, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Yes, I know … let me wallow in Delulu-Land because I can't take another heroine who can only have sex when heavily drunk (which in itself is the trope I really, truly hate the most) …
TwoCentsWorth
June 29, 2025 at 6:36 PM
I was pretty taken aback by the gory torture. No tyrants for me!
Re the other show, the loss happens when he tries to put a ring on it... Romance is dead, I tell ya. (Not really.)
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Isa is always time travelling
June 30, 2025 at 3:06 AM
It would have been great if the pond trope were a funny parody of this kind of scenes, but it didn't seem so. It seemed the typical pond of deep waters + kiss, taking itself seriously. Not a parody at all.
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bomibeans
June 30, 2025 at 2:41 PM
The only show that EVER made fun of a deep-water pond was that Ju Ji-hoon's rom-com. But it was such a terrible show! -- it goes to show, that that parody was the only thing I remember from it. And maybe also terrible FL outfits.
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Isa is always time travelling
July 1, 2025 at 7:14 AM
And the C-drama A dream within a Dream. I have only watched four episodes and there are lots of parodies and of course the deep-water river + kiss is one of them.
5 A
June 29, 2025 at 7:22 AM
I sideeyed the whole drama the moment I realized the first night with the Duke was actually "My first night with the Duke I was drunk" but I figured well, maybe that was the original plot and the she was more concerned with robbing the spotlight than probably not consenting to it all so I was like *shrug*
Now idk what to think... She suddenly wants the prince when she previously said no, he is a walking red flag yet she is unbothered by it... one thing is watching a character do this or that and another think is actually having him as a love interest. idk if she still thinks she is dreaming and that she would eventually wake up in the room so she is doing all she wants... They indeed often miss to exploit her being a fan of the novel like they did in the first 2 episodes...
For example, when male lead says "I wont let you alone again" and then does, and says he would be right back, It means trouble to the leading lady!like, why is she not on top of her game?
They also seem adamant of not letting us know more about her (we now know she was a waitress at least) so Idk if I'll continue the recap or end it out of curiosity on how many other ways they would miss exploiting some tropes and using them to her advantage.
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6 hacja
June 29, 2025 at 11:14 AM
As I mentioned above, I didn’t have high expectations of this based on the first two episodes, so I wasn’t phased by some of the silliness. I laughed at @daebakgrits line “Turns out, Yi Beon is not just an angsty prince with a pretty face, he’s a provider who’s gonna make sure his woman eats” because I think that’s the appropriate attitude toward this drama. In fact, as the cook in our house, I think I’m going to say this to my wife the next time I prepare her dinner.
And, really, for all I know, some of this might be operating at a higher humor level than I’m registering. For example, was the loach/catfish scene a kind of spoofing, off the wall takeoff on Splish Splash Love, which itself was based on the joke that the FL educated the king with her high school science knowledge? Just the idea of a college class professor lecturing about the competition between loaches and catfish is in itself a bit of a parody of the teaching of evolutionary biology.
Also, in an aside, as an athletics fan, I appreciated the FL’s figuring out that the “spin” technique in throwing the shot would result in a farther throw than the traditional “glide” technique. It took professional throwers 5 decades to figure that out!
Anyway more seriously, I do take daebakgrits’s point, that there is a tradition of these fantasy “waking up in another world” stories, and even a silly one like this should be more revealing—either about the character who finds herself in the world, or about the world itself, or, as I originally thought this was going to do, as a meta commentary on historical romance as a genre. I still think that last theme will be what will prevail in this one, since there was so much talk about being the lead, and since the original lead is probably going to assert herself in subsequent episodes.
But, in the meantime, I am enjoying the tongue in cheek acting of Taecyeon and Seohyun, which I think is the best thing so far about this drama, so I am happy to keep watching with my low expectations!
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7 Minnie🫘👩🏻🚀Pioneer and Teacher 👩🏻🏫🌱🏹
June 29, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Thank you for a lovely lovely update @daebakgrits!
I'm half way through the 5th. Just wanted to put it out there (will come back after watching the rest) that my biggest struggle so far has been the lack of skill transfer from modern to medieval. And the question - who is she? As of now, she is sum total of a scandal comprising of a douchebag boyfriend of disloyal girlfriend and alcohol.
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8 TwoCentsWorth
June 29, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Fair, fair. I'm still on board with the mindless fluff, but it certainly lost a bit of steam. A bit more self-aware cheekiness might have helped. Y'all should be script doctors.
With the much remarked fish pond, I asked myself, what if a dip in its untold depths reverses the situation? Yi Beon then finds himself in the modern world with Seon-chaek? What a turn-up that would be!
Of course, the scriptwriter is just about managing one story world, two... I should not be script doctor.
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hacja
June 29, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Your idea would revolutionize the "sinking into the depths" trope! If only kdrama writers--or at least this one-- were so imaginative!
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bomibeans
June 29, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Yes I definitely see daebakgrist’s point in regard to missed opportunities. Logically, I recognize that this series is not in the same league as Mr Queen, for example.
But I early on recognized that it was the right type of summer fluff I’d enjoy reveling in. It isn’t made badly; the characters don’t act stupidly — they have reasons and motivations; the humor really lands with me; it’s inventive without trying too hard, and I enjoy watching the cute face of Seohyun and broad shoulders of Ok Taec-yeon, among many other things.
It’s one of those rare dramas where my brain doesn’t go too much into what-ifs and just enjoys the moments on screen.
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StellaGibson
June 29, 2025 at 9:53 PM
"It’s one of those rare dramas where my brain doesn’t go too much into what-ifs and just enjoys the moments on screen."
This is exactly how I feel about this show. 😊
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9 Isa is always time travelling
June 30, 2025 at 2:36 AM
This drama was funnier at the beginning when the FL didn't want to have any kind of relationship with the Prince and just enjoy her new life there as a secondary character.
Now it doesn't have many incentives to keep watching. I guess I don't like the main couple enough. I'll keep watching it for Taec (not the character) and the bean, but maybe when the drama has finished airing.
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sonai
June 30, 2025 at 6:03 AM
… For what it’s worth, I did laugh so much about the comically big top hat 🎩 Mark (?) was wearing in the prince’s wild imagination scene (in which Sun-chaek is supposedly eloping to live abroad). 😂 There are some questionable styling choices in this drama which I don’t think are intentional! 😆
But unfortunately I agree with the general sentiment that this show has lost most of its initially fun sparkle… 🤔😐
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10 StellaGibson
June 30, 2025 at 7:08 AM
Halfway through and I'm still having a lot of fun watching this show. It helps that I watch it with practically no expectation and desire to analyze any of it. It's my perfect one hour escape from the #%$*& of the real world right now. I hope though that it doesn't turn too serious in the second half. I hope keeps being silly and bright and serving chemistry until the end.
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11 Gikata
June 30, 2025 at 12:44 PM
This show is certainly not groundbreaking by any means - and I seriously doubt it tries to be - but it's also surprisingly NOT annoying? I mean, leads quick romance development aside
that's 12 eps of a drama for ya, they are very cute together. I like that there is clear "we are one team working towards same goal" vibe about the couple and that Beon pretending to ghost SC to lure schemers out didn't last long or caused much angst between OTP. And do we REALLY blame the girl for falling into his arms right away? Man not only looks like a snack, but also is very practical, loyal and caring without being too simple or inhumanly perfect. Lack of naivety that villains could abuse is something I always appreciate. Plus, am I supposed to feel sorry for what Beon did to Mark and HS?Btw, that honey trap sequence was amazing - well played, my dude, well played! When HS thought he can take off more and kept thirsting even at gun point lolAfter what they did to SC, fully intended to make her die of poison and starvation in plague village? Yeah, nope, not even an ounce of sympathy for them. How do kids say it these days... FAFO? Hope Queen Dowager's fake migraine turns real and last for a while too.Who makes me a bit confused is trickster spirit - he obviously means to play Cupid for our lovebirds, but it almost seems like he's not needed much? Or is he just a newbie at it and needs to try harder? His indignation that they rarely notice his efforts is hilarious. Will he be more useful later, perhaps?
EA is sus and SG becomes too whiny for my tastes. Applaud his bravery in trying to confess while he still can, but it was indeed a bad timing, his ladylove could've get into HUGE trouble over it, use your upper brain more here, dude! And why snapping at Beon when he already told you bride selection was orchestrated against his wishes and behind his back? I wouldn't mind if these two just marry asap and disappear from the plot.
Bonus points for nice kissing/love scene (female initiative! in faux-sageuk no less!) and inspiring message of even seemingly random knowledge being useful at times. Financial stability speech sounded a little too on the nose *period FL-centric business cdramas horror flashbacks* but having an extra wallet up your sleeve never hurts, right?
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bomibeans
June 30, 2025 at 3:35 PM
"snack"
Indeed!
One of the things I dislike in my dramas is pointless characters. Last episodes if was the Westerner (though we kind of predicted he'll play a bigger evil role), and I feel like the trickster boy is one of those now. He's using wind to his advantage (deliver the bride selection letter and helps the arrow hit the bull's-eye)...but why? Hopefully, they'll have satisfying resolution to his character.
Beon's "honey trap."
HA! I see it now. This is probably why he avoided her; he (and us) would feel disgusted making pretty eyes at BOTH SC and HS. Nice choice the writer made there.
I'm really invested into the Western treasures&tattoos mystery. I cannot even think what that might be. Hopefully they won't just make it too simplistic or too heavy like Evil Imperialistic Company Does Evil Things. I sense it has some connection to that clan that Beon is hunting on behalf of King's request.
(And yes, the more wallets the better. That FL swimming in the bars of gold in my recent-start watch Dream Within a Dream concurs.)
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Gikata
June 30, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Yes, they should've just end it at him delivering notice of selection to FL and maybe also helping her get to palace in time, and that's it. Beon freeing him from his mountain shrine confinement was not THAT big of a favor. Oh well, he looks like a teen... maybe he IS by spirits standard, so he simply wants to spy on adults and their entertaining romance drama?
Since HS is arguably most evil character we've been introduced to so far, it's entirely possible her whole fam are all evil too. Being involved in rebellious (?) conspiracy is not too far-fetched. Plus her aunt is Queen Dowager, and it's ALWAYS Queens relatives behind all worst things in sageuks!
I think Beon simply concluded he cannot be cold to SC face to face - and he'd have to in order to fool HS - so he opted to avoid her entirely. Him burning the clothes HS got him - in her trademark loud colors he'd never ever wear himself - was a great touch. Man probably scrubbed the elbow she touched raw later in bath too.
DREAM's FL is clearly a stronger materialistic soldier than she makes herself to be - poor ML has been trying to woo her with lavish royal gifts every now and then, and she's still not moved one bit! If she'd just hinted, he'd get her A POOL of gold bars...
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bomibeans
June 30, 2025 at 4:34 PM
"poor ML has been trying to woo her with lavish royal gifts every now and then, and she's still not moved one bit" I'm getting to that, yay!
Although that melodramatic (and hilarious) fate of the FL in her script reading made my blood boil with fury. I wouldn't even touch the ML with a pole, let alone accept even a pool of gold bars. Speaking of that silly script in episode 1 - I'm also glad I started watching Chinese costume dramas circa 2024 and it appears like they no longer write such silly rage-inducing stuff... hopefully. But I'm very, very, very choosy when it comes to selecting c-dramas for viewing.
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Gikata
June 30, 2025 at 4:54 PM
I'm not even sure THAT script was real, tbh - major story bits are the same so far, but everything else just does not add up. Rejected first draft? Or maybe it's being rewritten on the go? Or FL just focused on her - lovesick, sheltered naive noblewoman - role and scenes while missing out on grand political intrigue context? For all we know, it may not have even been primary romance, but ML's revenge story.
Oh, they still do write that stuff, I'm afraid! In spades! In web-novels. Which then get turned into much more tame - but hardly any less nonsensical - dramas, i.e. THE DOUBLE. Very likely that drama also referenced those at times, but I don't know much of cdramas of yore, maybe it was norm back then on TV too...
12 Jessica
July 7, 2025 at 7:49 AM
If you guys want a good isekai drama and don't mind that its not korean, there's a good chinese one called Love Game in eastern fantasy. It has the self-awareness that this one is missing. It's a game vs a novel.
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