My Dearest / Ep. 60

I'm Jessica and this is Devaki Rambles, where a couple of friends review Korean dramas and we are out of hiatus to talk about a really big drama that dropped this year. We're going to talk about My Dearest. For this episode, I am joined by Sarai from the K Drama Cafe podcast. How are you, Sarai? Sorry. I'm a little squeaky. Hi, I'm good. Thank you for having me.

We were bonding earlier before we jumped on and we're both really nervous to talk about my dearest I We've been friendly for so long on social media and I've been following your podcast and I was like, Sarai, have you watched my dearest? And you were like, yeah. And I was like, can you come on

and talk about it with me? And you were like, yeah, let's do it. So I am so glad that this happened and you were super flexible and could work with me on this because this was not the intention when I first started watching My Dearest that it was going to be a big deep dive podcast episode on Pivot. Like that was not gonna happen. So I'm really appreciative of you and I'm so glad that your first time on Pivot is with this giant big ass show.

No, I'm so excited. Thank you for asking and same. I wasn't even planning to watch this show and I was funny story how I even like I pretty much. Long story short, not to be like a pick me, but I was in Korea, I was at a chicken shop and on the TV was playing my dearest. And so I was like, oh, I was like, oh, that's my dearest whatever, eating my chicken 10 minutes. And I'm like like watching him. Oh heck no. I gotta go back to the Airbnb and watch it. Yeah.

Wow. So you literally were in Korea, saw some of my dearest on the television in a public place, and we're like, I need to go back to my bedroom? Yep. And get going watching this drama from episode one episode. Is that good? It was episode 18. No. Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, yes. I was like, what is going on? Oh, heck no. Now I have to watch it. So then what a good story. I know. And then you asked me. I was like, OK, cool.

We'll talk about it. There's a lot to talk about, so housekeeping, if this is your first time listening, thank you so much for pressing play. Go ahead and subscribe on your favorite podcast app. We're on Apple Podcast, Spotify,

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I love you guys, and I can't wait to talk to you guys about my dearest. And of course, Sarai's hot take. Which we will remains to be seen what that is, but that's going to show up on the Patreon feed as well. OK, so without further ado, we're going to talk about my dear, both parts of My Dearest, Part One and Part 2, the show as a whole. And here is the My Drama List synopsis, a love story between a noble woman and a mysterious man

who shows up in her hometown. Set in the 1600s during the Qing invasion, Yukichi is a pretty bubbly and and a bit spoiled young lady who's called the 99 tailed fox of Nungungui. She is also a a bit of an outcast because other young ladies are jealous of her. They seem to think she's too straightforward and her behavior is inappropriate for a young

lady. While young noblemen think highly of her, Kilche knows how to get men to fall for her, but fails to capture the heart of the person she likes. EI Dong Hyun is a mysterious man who suddenly appears in the Nungun Liu social scene. Nobody really knows anything about him. Young nobles don't like him, but the elderly are wrapped around his finger.

He's been dating around a lot, but he becomes curious about a certain 99 tailed fox, and one day the said fox, quite literally crash lands into his arms. Once war is brewing, the pair finds themselves separated before they could even start to make sense of their feelings, and it spins out from there. OK, that's a little bit more Part 1 synopsis, but that's fine.

It applies to both. Part 1 aired from August to September 2023, there was a five week break, and then Part 2 aired from October to November 2023. We are recording this at the very beginning of December, so we are hot on the heels of the finale episodes. It is 21 episodes long, 10 for part one and 11 episodes for Part 2. It was directed by Kim Sung Yong. He has directed The Veil, which also stars Nam Kunmin, My Healing Love and The Flower in prison from 2016. That is it.

That is all this director has done. Yeah, I know. It's wild. No, it's wild. I think it's wild for him to have done like just big show. And this person only has three shows under their belt. It's wild. OK. It is written by Huang Jing Yong. This female screenwriter has written The Rebel from 2017 and The King's daughter Sue Beck Young from 20/13/2014. And that's it. Those are the only two shows that she's written. The Rebel was six years ago. Whoa.

Big gap between now and her last project. Wow, that. Yeah. Well, already then. OK, that was not we're. Already like I know I. Was not expecting OK already. I know, I know. The show stars Nam Kumin as Yisang Hyun, our male lead. He's done about 26 television shows, including most recently $1.00 Lawyer and the Veil Hot Stove, Lead doctor Prisoner. I remember him from Chung Dong Dong Alice and becoming a millionaire, a billionaire girl. What did you think? Did you watch him in that?

I am bad with names. Alice with Moon Gun Young. Uh huh. Yeah. That's the one that I remember him from. Yeah, yeah. Which is basically a decade ago. Yep, so. I haven't seen anything else that he's in recently. Same thing. OK, OK, so we're basically on the same page, yeah. Yep. He's a star of yesteryear who is now, has had a career resurgence in the last few years and they're in the pandemic years, Yeah. And I'm like, who's? Strange. Before I recognize them. Who's that guy?

But yeah. Who's that guy? So his Co star is Anand Jin, who plays Yukichi. She's had a very good year because she was in the good bad mother earlier in 2023, which was a very popular show. Everyone was pretty pleased with her performance in that. I have yet to watch it. I will watch it in the next couple of weeks because, yeah, So what happens is every December, I think that I can watch all of the year's dramas in like the span of a month. Same.

And because I have a couple of guest recordings that I'm doing, I am gonna freaking try my bit. I'm gonna try and come in as prepared as possible and so I'm trying to watch the whole year inside two weeks. And that's why I say I will probably have watched the good, bad Mother, the Good, bad mother in the next couple of weeks. She's also been in Goodbye Earth, the One and Only, which is Diner. I know her from hospital playlist.

She's one of the doctors, not one of the main doctors, but you know, in the hospital. OK, yeah, she looked. Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So she's in Hospital, playlist one and two, Diary of a Prosecutor, Strangers from Hell from 2019. I think her career really started in 2019 and going through the pandemic years and of course this year was like basically her coming out party. Yes, definitely. Mm hmm. So this cast is pretty extensive.

I'm only going to cover those two. There's other names that we will definitely touch on in the show, but for now, Sorai, what did you think of my dearest? Oh man, that is a scary question. No, I'm just kidding. How do I start and where do I begin? Because I. Girl, I don't know. You're like, get out with it. I do not know. So OK, it's really hard without spoiling it. Now that I now that I'm here, right now, now that I think about it, I'm just like, crap.

OK, so at first, I like I said before, I wasn't planning on watching it. However, I was kind of feeling like a Sega drama. I was kind of like Craving 1. And then when I watched it, I was like, oh, this is what I kind of was looking for. Like I was, yes, this is satisfying my craving, my historical Sega drama, too much going on craving. Yeah. So I I actually really, I watching it through. I loved it. I definitely binged it.

I do have my some qualms obviously towards the ending, but I think the big thing is that it was something that I was looking for through this year. And I think when I watched, I was like, this is what I've been looking for because this year was kind of weird with dramas. It was like dramas. I I was watching dramas that I I felt like I should like, but then realized I don't think I'm liking these dramas. And then here comes this one. I wasn't expecting much and I

was like, oh, this is big. It was a big one. So, yeah, those are my overall thoughts overall. OK, in a nutshell, OK, I'll go a little. I'll go a tiny bit into spoiler territory. Not that much though, not that much. I How do I put this? I didn't start watching until Part 2 had come out, started airing. What is it like 2 episodes a week for Part 2? And then I was like, OK, I'm going to start watching part one and just go straight into Part 2 because I didn't want to wait

for episodes. I'm not. I never want to wait for episodes. So this show is so sweeping and so immensely scaled. It's an epic about survival and love. That is the word it's. Yes, it's a gripping storyline.

I thought it was sensational. The backdrop of real historical events, the Ching invasion of the 17th century makes the stakes higher, the plot more intense, and I appreciated so many elements that make a drama worth watching, like the great acting, the amazing cinematography, the direction, the writing, my own personal investment in the characters and their growth throughout the series. So many characters saw real change, had arcs, and there is so much commentary that this show does.

Deep commentary on gender roles and double standards. Heavy-handed criticism of Confucian ideals and the demands that women be sexually pure victim blaming. In so many ways, I thought that the show was a love letter to the resilience and fortitude of women as they battle like a very internal fight with the fallacy of the patriarchy. And it's so much about sticking together for survival, about being too smart for the era, about that's. A good one. Yeah, yeah.

Because they're so smart and and yes and about being the backbone of society when the men tell them that they're so much less. And the only people who actually achieve this dominating Confucian ideal of maintaining loyalty and protecting the family are the women the men like lack throughout the show. Like almost every man except for the male lead is like has some sort of issue that you're like. That's a red flag, even if it is

very historically fitting. So I felt like the men and the patriarchy are just taken to task in the show. It holds up a giant mirror to those characters with lofty morals and dreams of serving the nation. These self-proclaimed intellectuals or scholars who get called on their bluff like the plot itself calls them out on their bluff over and over again. And it reminded me a lot of, like, keyboard warriors today.

Everyone can be brave online or, you know, when you're talking shit with like your friends and stuff with people in the society, with your teachers and family. But what these people risk it all on a real battlefield, say. That again, girl. Sorry, sorry. It's like, I can't look at you when I say these things because you're like excited and you're like talking me up. It's funny. Excuse me? My. Excuse me. I'm sorry, I get overexcited. My no. No, no, but. Like I said, commentary.

It's OK. It's OK. I feel like I'm in church. Like does that make any sense? So it's like, yes, like you're that's right, talking up the passage. So thank you. So. It's like, I mean you're facing right now, so OK. I'm almost done. I swear, no, this is general. Thoughts. I don't know how I was, like, everything you're talking about I felt like was a spoiler, but you just did it beautifully right now, so yeah. I'm not naming names, basically. That's all. I'm not doing.

Beautiful. Let me see. It's it's a very grim sometimes sarcastic look at the monarchy and the political system and these traumatic ways of holding national preservation and self-image above human life. And we can talk about the king later and his son and this whole drama. But you know it's like the show also showcases national anguish. Yes. Which is tough to do, right. I think it's tough to do.

Like there's some movies that you can see it like if you're it's around 4th of July, these right. There's like these movies that have these really deep patriotism overtones and you feel like a certain way. There's also movies that show national anguish. What's a movie? It's like Schindler's List I feel is a great movie that shows. When I say great movie, like that movie swept at the Oscars, it's like an iconic Holocaust movie. Spielberg did it the same year, Jurassic Park.

It's wild. And that movie has a lot of cultural national anguish in it. And this show does that really well. You know, Let me see. There's LGBTQ plus representation in this, which we have to talk about later with that character. But I feel like overall, the show is a masterpiece and you could write a thesis on it if you wanted to.

Not that I want to, but I think a lot of people, I don't want to say it's underrated, but when I was looking online for people who had thoughts about my dearest, there were not a lot of people because they don't watch historicals. Yeah, like there's a whole subset of people in in K Drama Land that don't watch Saguks or historicals, and that blows my mind that. Definitely, yeah. Because I'm like how? If you're looking like I'm like, talk to me, talk to. Me how can you?

As I was watching the show I was like like how can people not watch like this is what got me into K dramas like exact. I'm speechless right now. I'm speechless. But I I'm just like, how can you not? This is my own personal opinion because I I was talking to myself like how can how can you not like this right here? Like because the reason why I got into K dramas was definitely the culture, even though I didn't understand that at all because I was so young and my frontal lobe wasn't fully

developed. But but I loved like seeing something different, you know, and I loved in general, I love period pieces. So even in American films, I

love period pieces. So I think it's just amusing, I think because I love just historical period pieces and and I feel like there's something more more romantic and more like land and like how you said epic seeing all that and seeing how how love happened in that era because it's easier now and it's kind of, But back then especially in that type of culture, I always think like, how do they do it? Because literally I'm like, do they do they even have boyfriend

girlfriend. Obviously they didn't have boyfriend girlfriend and Joe Sinera. Absolutely not. Like, it's like you're engaged and that's it, you know. And a lot of the times you don't even know who your husband is or who your wife is. And so just to see for me, I'm like, Oh my gosh, now that you can definitely do like a a epic love story with that, doing something that goes against all odds, which I'm a sucker for. Yeah, they're star crossed lovers for for all intents and

purposes. I were so emotional. So yeah, yeah, they're star crossed lovers. I think 100% they are. And what I liked about the show as well is that you couldn't tell if it was going to have a happy ending or not. It was. It kept you guessing until the last minute if it was going to happen or not. It did the only thing, OK, yeah. That's rare, right? Like, you can pretty much watch a Cage drama and be like, that's going to happen, yeah.

That's true, right? This. This one you start watching and you're like this could go anywhere either. Way, Yeah. Anywhere. No one's safe. No one's safe. No one is safe. That's how I felt, like nobody's safe. They could. All die like smallpox. That could happen again and they all died like you don't know. Yeah, like all they need is a little cough, cough from somebody with tuberculosis or the smallpox and that's it. Like the? End. That's the end of that character.

They tell me they died. I'd be like, well, that that tracks, you know, like there's nothing they could do which. Well, I'll say that later, but yeah. I know there's like a lot of like, land spoiler landmines that we're trying to avoid. But let's talk about this filming schedule, because I put on an APB on Instagram and TikTok for people to send in their questions or concerns, things that they wanted us to talk about. Topics, characters, scenes, whatever.

And I got AI got a little inundated. So we're going to make our way through these as much as possible. Someone said the crazy filming schedule slash extension episode 21 extended version. They'd filmed for 11 months, but we're still shooting the night before episode 21 and it snowed. Also, Vicki has updated episode 21 deleted scenes. Some people probably never saw. The updated 21 also changed the last OST on the beach. Why? So a few things in that that we

can break down. The filming schedule was crazy. They were filming for 9 or 10 months, right? Basically the almost the whole year, the whole of 2023 they were filming this. Show I can still see that though. And I can see it because there was a lot of, like, battle scenes, a ton of extras. When you add these things together, this is time. This is Money, right? Because they're hiring all of these people to be in one shot, you know what I'm saying? In one. Little like 2 second.

Scene, right, right. So there was a lot of logistics, I'm sure that happened. Costuming that had to be done and they, I think NBC announced that they were going to be extending the drama by one episode because of its popularity, so. Crazy. Yeah, it was leading the ratings in its time slot, ranking first in drama popularity for three consecutive weeks. And then they were like, we got to keep these good vibes rolling. Let's go to 21 episodes, milk it to the end. Yeah, let's milk it.

And of course, no one was upset. I was a little scared because whenever they extend the episode for. Sure. I'm like, oh God, I hope they don't ruin it. Yeah, same same girl, same. They did that last year for the red sleeve which went to 17 episodes, and this year they did it for my Dears, which went to 21 instead of 20. They said that they also wanted to influenced by the desire to fully unfold the story and satisfy the dedicated fans who want to enjoy it for longer.

Weird way of saying that they wanted to get more money out of it, but OK on as far as filming until the last moment. On November 15th, this outlet reported that My Dears will conduct its final filming on November 16th, just a day before the broadcast of the last two episodes, which was on November 17th and 18th. Subsequently, another outlet shared that the drama is expected to. I know. I'm like, sorry my commentary.

Well, it is shocking because you don't expect them to be doing that in this day and age, filming so close to the airing date. But they did. And then this other outlet shared that they were expected to conclude final filming in the early morning of November 18th. That's the date. Like, that's the day of the last episode. When did they have time to edit? Well, that's the whole thing, right?

That was the magic of K dramas back in the day, or the trauma of Cage dramas was that they would film week to week and they would edit and write the episodes on the fly based on audience reaction. And now they largely don't do that. And you can see how much time and effort Part one and the bulk of Part 2 took to get here. And then the last two episodes, I'm sure they were editing and cutting and filming up until the last second. So that might contribute to some of our nitpicks, I'm sure.

Like we can pick some nits about this show, let me tell you. Yeah. For. Sure. Uh, huh. So this show also had a bunch of controversy, most most notably the plagiarism controversy with Gone With the Wind. So in a report cited by a news portal, screenwriter Huang Jing Young shared that My Dearest was planned for five years, and she had said prior that I wanted to write stories of ordinary people who are trapped in a tragic situation.

I didn't even dare to start writing the script, because the Qing invasion is undeniably this history of defeat. But the novel Gone With the Wind inspired me to start writing casually. So she openly said that Gone With the Wind was an inspiration for her and people were like, oh, this is plagiarism. It's the same story, blah blah blah. And I wouldn't go so far as to

say it's it's plagiarism. I would say she took the broad strokes of Gone With the Wind for sure and sort of like the bones of it and re skinned it. This is a retelling, a loose retelling. That's how it was sold to me as well when I was reading up on Gone With the Wind. It's like, right, Not Gone With the Wind. When I was reading Up on My Dearest was that it was a loose retelling of Gone With the Wind and I thought, oh, this is going to be crazy. Yeah, yeah.

When I first heard that, it was like Gone with the Wind. I was like, what? What would it look like? Like what? So I was kind of, I was a little bit concerned because I literally thought it was like an like an adaptation. Like, literally, Like, they took Gone With the Wind and they're just doing it all like, you know, in just an era. But when I watched it, I honestly didn't get those vibes. Was I looking for those vibes? Yes. Was I looking for like, OK, Who's Who or whatever? Like, yeah.

But then towards, like, as I kept watching, I kind of forgot about Gone With the Wind. I'm not going to lie. By Part 2, though, the plot was not the same as Gone with the Wind. Like, Again, broad strokes are there. The character archetypes are there for sure, but as far as like where they took the plot, no, that's not the same as Gone With THE Wind. So I can't really subscribe to the fact that she plagiarized Gone With The Wind. Like get Off, Get out of that.

Like, did you watch? Settle down. Did you watch the show? #1 #2 Have you? This is a big #2. Have you watched Gone with the Wind? I think the answer is yes. Yeah, but like like with my. No, you don't need to say. What? You watched. You watched it. OK, because what I didn't know until interacting with people on social media was that a lot of people have not seen or read Gone With the Wind AM. I that. Old and that alarmed me and it baffled me it. Doesn't know Gone.

I was like you. That's what I That's what I said. I was like you don't have any clue about the story. Clark Gable Every ROM Com and. Literally I was like this. OK, the big dresses like. I know, I know. Like we're we're on. The same piece, But yeah, we're looking at each other's shot. So Clark Gable as Rhett Butler. Vivian Lee as Scarlett O'Hara, 1939 Best Picture winner, swept the Oscars. Who doesn't know who's? Such an important Who doesn't

know Scarlett O'Hare? So anyway, it is such an important part of film history and it's wildly controversial snapshot of the pre and post American Civil War South in regards to its portrayal of slavery. So with that being said, my dearest does showcase a ton of slavery, yes, even in a tangent, tangential way, sexual slavery as well. But this is like a big question, so if you want to answer it later, that's fine.

I wonder if we can draw any conclusions from this, like, especially as a Western audience, as to how Korea feels about it enslaving its own people no matter the colour of their skin and the ching enslaving Koreans. Like perhaps the political approach taken by the Royals in the show is the biggest sin. I don't know. Like, did you have any thoughts about the portrayal of slavery in this show in My dearest? Can I say it without?

Like, should I wait for later? I'll say this though, like I think it was very I think it was insane exactly what you said. How? I'll wait for later. I'll wait for later. You'll wait for later. OK, we'll circle back to the slavery question. Here's also what I'll say in regards to Gone with the Wind. So what my dearest, does extremely well, which feels very gone with the Windish, is bring to life a world of Fair maidens and brave men, of gallantry and chivalry and civility, of master

and slave. As the opening of Gone with the Wind says, it's a world of flower picking festivals, much like the elaborate barbecue on a plantation at the beginning of Gone with the Wind. It's about it has these like my Dears has these Technicolor silk on handbooks and these scenes of just It's like a utopia for the elite, for the nobility. And it's a world that even by the end of the show never reappears. It dies.

And it's a historical study, true too, of the Qing invasion and its effects on Tolson. It's people at all levels and the future of that of Korea. And just like the beginning of Gone with the Wind says it's a civilization Gone with the wind. That is. What's magical and interesting too, about the show is that these people lose their way of life, but they still have slaves. Yep. Yeah.

Sorry, I'm. Just. Like yeah and and that's exactly what I was feeling when I as I was watching like especially towards the end like they're literally they don't even they're obviously divided you know and easily easily divided within themselves and that's exactly what the like I I I apologize if I offend anyone or if I say something incorrectly just because I'm really bad with names and I'm not I like watching historical stuff but I'm not a historical person so that's.

It's hypocritical of me. Oh yeah. Yes, thanks. Please help me. But I just it was exactly, exactly what you said like the fact that they I just, I thought it was interesting how they kind of they were they were they thought that the Ching, which they did brought them down but it was within themselves because of I guess well it's a. Spoiler They caused division. They caused division without even causing division.

They did 'cause major division, but they also did the more like the emotional and mental intelligence, division between themselves, especially with the Crown Prince and the king, and you know what I'm saying? And and then even within the people themselves. Right. It exasperated issues that were already there.

So yeah, it's it's, it's interesting to say the least, to see how it all unfolds and to see what the effects are on the regular people, on the nobility, on the women who have gone through this terrible, terrible ordeal to the slaves and the people that are still captive in the chain as well. You know, how are they, which like are how are they negotiating to get them out of this? Because these are citizens of of Tolson.

So that is crazy. And it is very close Cleaves, very close to Gone With the Wind territory, especially the juxtaposition of the beginning and the end of the show, you're like, this is a whole new world they did not get back. It almost you know. Where they were. They were in a glass castle and it was completely broken because like nobility and like, so all my terms are gone today,

apparently. But like, you know, like they're like the they're, gosh, you know, the confusion, the ideals of like, they have to be there has to be nobility. There has to be like, you know, there has to be that separation when it came to the that war and the, you know, the the invasion, all that stuff. It didn't matter who you were once. It leveled everybody. Like, especially when when someone who was a noble woman

got captured, it didn't matter. Yes, even though she was saying I'm a noble woman, I'm a noble woman. They're like and especially when she set foot in Shimyang. So like, you're in Shimyang, Justin doesn't matter anymore. Which is, to me, I was like, wow. Like, they literally were in a glass castle of like very conservative. And then this happened. And then everything starts shattering and they start shattering mentally. And yeah, obviously the key.

Yeah, so. So yeah, I I think that's also a big part of the show and a parallel with Gone With the Wind. The other controversy for my dearest was I think in earlier like May 2023, NBC had to sever ties with an external company supplying the background actors, which we've mentioned earlier. There were a ton of background actors on the show following the revelation that this actor had a sexual assault case back in 2004.

A background actor and they basically hired someone who basically was blacklisted, was supposed to be blacklisted in the in the industry and I don't know, along along with the plagiarism, which didn't seem very fair, but this one I was like oh that's a little. Yeah. So that was the other controversy for the show was that they hired a sexual assault.

And that kind of dude, that kind of frustrates me because I'm not going to I I have to be honest, like I was really, as much as I loved this show, I was very frustrated because I was applying a lot of stuff to myself in this in the way you know. You're a. What do you mean? OK, For example, just like you said, like a guy who's blacklisted. Got right, got hired. Yeah, it's just kind of a reminder of how it was back in the day.

Like I could not stop thinking of like if I were, well, obviously, like I was just so frustrated even though there's nothing I could do about it. But I was frustrated how the the men, like, the men can just do whatever they want, can sleep with whatever they want, and they're clean and they're pure, but just one, just by one like touch, like from a barbarian and they're defiled or just even like even like an encounter, you

know? And it's like, I don't, I don't like hearing when when when like you know people who are who have that in the background are are hired because it's like like how come you guys make a big deal out of the dumbest things if like if it's like a woman or if it's like something else that I don't, I don't want to get into it. Yeah, like other things. Like even like something bullying versus, like, sex assault. Right. You know, not obviously.

They're both bad. But like, how come one is being swept under the rug and then someone just gets us like, knocked down, loses their career for something that, you know, I don't know. I don't want to get into it. But yeah, I was just thinking about it a lot during this show. Like the frustration, like, how come, like, why? Why is it that if it's a man doing it, it's OK? Or it's like, oh, it's not a big deal. It's not a big deal, but it's a woman.

It's like, oh, no, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta excellent, you gotta, you know, that's just one part of it. There's other stuff, but yeah. Yeah. So I guess we should mention now trigger warning for anyone who's listening about No, it's we gotta talk about anyway. Trigger warning about sexual assault, suicide and just violence, I guess toward women and and children and elderly people. So do you want to talk about the

acting? Because I think that is a big, big reason why this show sort of works. Right. So you have Nam Kumene, who's leading the charge. He's the male lead. I think he's the one who largely made the show what it is, Like. He took my breath away. He was so skillful in presenting this character and inhabiting Chang Hyun truly, and he has these extremely expressive eyes. He sure does.

He's like a micro expression queen king and I think there was AI know, I think there was like just a genuineness to him that kept me riveted. He hit the comedic bits perfectly and he nailed all the emotional beats as well. How did you feel about this man? So somehow I fell in love. I'm just kidding. I always say that, but I feel like it was so well casted. I think throughout the entire drama I was watching, I was like this show is just like perfectly casted. This is well casted.

He took, he took this role. He just like, I don't know if it would have worked with anyone else, who knows? But I feel like he just amazed me when there was moments where like there was a lot of scenes where he didn't say anything, right. He had no lines at all and like, he didn't have to say anything. And it's so funny because there's so many scenes where they ask him questions and he's

just there. He doesn't say anything at all and they answer or they they ask another question and he's just like, I mean I can't get, I can't, you know give the facial expressions that he does, but. They'll ask him something and he's just like, he'll do his thing and then they'll ask him. They're like they're having a conversation with him and he's just there. Like he's just there. And you know what he's saying. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, I I haven't seen that in a really long time.

It was very refreshing to see him, to see the his. The way he portrayed this role was so, so refreshing to me. I was like, this is like, this is a man. This is a man. This is a man. This is not like an actor trying to be a man. This is a man. Just being a man. And exactly what you say. Like, so genuine too. I thought it was very, very genuine. Yeah. And yeah. Yeah, loved him. So good, what did you think about our kill Che, played by An and Jen? So I liked her. Female lead.

I liked her. You liked her? I have to say though, at the beginning, I had to warm up to her at the beginning, which is OK. It's. I mean, I mean, it's OK because like, it's like the first couple episodes, there's the actors are getting used to their characters, yadda yadda. Which is fine. But for me, I was like, OK, like she's cute. I like what she's doing. I I, yeah. But I liked her. I liked her. You liked her?

Yeah, on that note, she said. Anand Jin said it was really difficult to approach period genre series to portray Yugi Che. I always question myself if there was, if this was the right way. I started with getting myself used to the dialect first, so I had to study the script more than I did with previous ones. Towards the beginning of the production I focused on getting used to the genre and now I've come to be more comfortable around the set and found more room to express what I want.

It might not be perfect, but as you see from you's perspective, you will be able to follow her story. So I asked for much love. So she was basically like, forgive me, this is a a big tall order for me to speak in a different dialect. The saguks are notoriously difficult. It's a whole different style of speaking and inflections and different things, and I think she did very well considering that this is such a layered character and I want to touch on the fact that so many people

were upset with this character. OK, can I? Because I say though like they match really well and. They kept up with. Each other. Really. Well, I just want to say that I did like her. I just wanted. OK, go ahead, go. Ahead, I agree. I agree that they complemented each other very well. And one thing about this couple is that this is a big age gap between them. Ten years Nam Nam Kun Min is 45 years old in real life. Oh, wow. 45 I'm in Jen is 32 Oh. Snap. OK.

So that's thirteen years between them, 13 year age gap, that's huge age gap in real life. And I do feel like that is the age gap in the characters as well. I think she starts to show as a teenager. She ends the show maybe in her 30s. I agree. There's a one point where he does say like, I'm way much older than you and it doesn't say. Yeah, he says.

I'm basically waiting for you to grow up because you're so charming and cool and like bad ass right now, but you you have some growing to do like internally. Yep, yes, yes. You need a girl as a person before you're like ready. For me, that's when he basically told her at one point and she was like, what the hell do you mean? And as an audience, like we totally understand where he's coming from.

But it is an age gap romance. He is way older than her, same same as Gone With the Wind as well. Like Brett Butler's supposed to be a man and I think she's a teenager when she starts the the Movie or Slash book and it is a span of 12 years in Gone with the Wind. I also feel like this is a large span of time. Especially when they talk about like, yeah, years ago and I'm like, I swear I just saw two years ago on the thing I'm like, oh, OK, we're doing all righty then, I think.

I think it's the same, right? Like it's got to be at least a decade between the first episode and the last episode of the show. So something to keep in mind there. As far as people getting upset with the character, I didn't quite understand. I understand, but I also don't understand because she's so much like Scarlett O'Hara who is prideful and stubborn and vain and petulant. But she's soft hearted where it counts and tactical where it counts.

And she's resilient and defiant and self assured and courageous. And I love that fierceness about both of them, The fact that she's flawed, she's human, she does make mistakes. And who's that going to make mistakes? We all Jack. Up when Look around what's what's happening around her? Yeah, for sure.

Yeah, I really liked. I mean, I like both characters, but I liked when I first start towards the beginning, I liked seeing like how she was so honest and why people the character, why everyone's like oh she's so like out there. She's like so brazen or she's so whatever. Like she's you know I'm just like she's literally just being herself and she's honest and she's like do.

Especially when like she's she's trying to follow her friend's lead and doing like cutie stuff and like say like they're like doing. So for example, like they're trying to do something and they have to be on their knees for a long time and she's just like, Oh my God man, he's hurt like she's not. I think they were praying. She's like, and then she's OK and I'm like that is so real. Like, yeah, in reality, like as much as ladylike as I would like to be a lot of times. It's hard.

It's hard. She is like, I like the fact that she was Oprah. She was genuine about how, like, there's a lot of things like the fact that she the way when she would cry, when she when she found out so and so and so and so we're getting married and she was like, crying. Yeah, like just crying. She wasn't like. She was just like, wailing to her heart, like. Yeah, like a child. Like a child.

And then if she's doing something that's supposed to be like kind or nice, but if it's uncomfortable for her, she says it's uncomfortable for her. So, like, this is uncomfortable or this hurts, but I really enjoyed that. She was like, that just made her real. Yeah, I think she was a fully realized character and she does have a a really great arc that we can talk about in the spoiler. Section She does. You know, just like her man's. Oh, by the end of the show, she's a different. Person.

She. I have so much to say about her, but OK, yeah, yes. And then him too. But yeah. Yes. OK. So why don't we do this? Why don't we talk about our ratings for the show and then we'll just get into the spoiler section because girl, I think we've had enough of, like, dancing around the characters and what happens to them and all this stuff. OK, So what would you give this show out of Five Soldier

bottles? OK this is so hard I would like to give the show if wait no that is that makes no sense. Can I do 4 social bottle Soulju bottles and a shot of Soulju? Yeah, like a 4.94 point. Five, yeah. I'm very like recency bias right now, especially I'm kind of on that high so. Talk about it. Yes, speak on it. So there's a thing called recency bias, which I I completely agree with. It's basically you're too close to the thing.

You need to give it some time before you can the Rose colored glasses come off and the experience wears off and you can kind of see the flaws, see what it is for real in comparison to other things as well, things that are a little bit older and so I also think that it is a 4, 1/2, maybe even 5. Soldier bottles, But I was like, I don't want to be extra. I think it's a four and A5. Let's do 4 1/2 for me, 4 1/2 Soldier bottles and then you got four in a in a shot because it

is excellent. I'm not gonna deny it's excellent. I think there are The plot gets a little wobbly towards the end of the show. I think Part 2 wasn't as strong as part one, but overall it is a feat. It is to do this type of show so well and to get people on board and really sort of sell the thing, you know what I'm saying? There's other shows that I've done it really well and still the endings are a little wobbly. But at the end of the day, you're like, that was a fucking

great show. Like Mr. Sunshine, it's one of those shows. The red sleeve is another one of those shows where you're like, Oh my God, that's a masterpiece. But the ending we got, there's some things that I'm like, I can nitpick here and there about this or that, but overall it's a great experience, a great watch and I don't regret anything that happened. It made me feel things. Like I felt like everything. I felt the I I was swelled. I was swell. I was like I I felt everything.

I was like feeling things. I'm not just like watching like, you know, watching. I'm just like, right, I'm being enveloped. You can't passively watch this show. You have to, you know, Eyes, ears, hearts open when you watch my dears. For sure, Even when I was like, all right, I'm so sorry, No, keep going. Like, I get on my phone like, naturally or by an extinct, and then I look up. I'm like, what happened? I'm actually usually I don't rewind, but at this show I was rewinding.

I was like, no, hold on, let me put my phone away. I can't miss this. Yeah, I would do that too. I would like try and write a note down and then I'd be like, wait, I missed something And then I'd be like, Oh no, I can't do that. I I honestly didn't write any notes. During. My watch of the show. It was after the show had ended in like weeks later that I was like, OK, I need to sit down and like get this all out, but that's so rare for me.

I usually write things down as the show is ending while I'm watching, but I did not this time. I needed my full attention. Feel that it was hard, OK? All right, so we're going to get into the spoiler section, so if you don't care to be spoiled, keep listening. If you want to go off and watch my dears all 21 episodes, I highly recommend you do that before coming back and listening to the spoiler section. We'll see you on the other side. You want to come in? All right.

We're on the other side of spoilers. That's all right. Where do you want to start? I think let's go back to the slavery thing that you like skipped over. So talk to me about slavery and my tears. Just such AI know it's OK. I think there was a phrase like, I'm just gonna, like, copy you today, 'cause you're just saying, like, the right, correct terms and phrases. You said something about it was a they had a reflection of themselves or they had a mirror

to themselves, right? Yeah, I feel like. There's a big, big mirror to society. To society, I feel like that was like it was interesting to see in that culture, because I was like no one. There's no there's discrimination without discrimination. You know, like no one is. You're like there's nothing. Guys are the same. I don't get it. No, there's discrimination without discrimination if that makes no sense. But like that no one is safe, you know? And it's crazy. How?

How, like you said, like they were enslaved. And then within themselves they have that slavery. And I was like, and to me, I'm just like, Oh my gosh, it's just you. You see, that's just a part of everything else of how how blind, how blind, how blind, you know, they were or they can be. I'm just going to stick to the show how how blind they they were to see like literally what they're doing, what they're doing to you. You guys are doing, you've been doing or you guys are doing to

them? I think there's a difference between the slavery in Korea and the slavery in the Ching when they get captured and taken away. And I'm not sure if this is accurate. You know what I'm saying? Like, I think that the it's the same problem as Gone With the Wind where it's like this idyllic society where the slaves are not. They're treated well and like nothing's wrong here. And they're happy to be working the fields and, you know, dealing with the house and having, you know, having a

master and stuff like that. And that's not. Being friends with your. I mean, that's problematic. Friends are like, yeah, I mean, it's not like it's not possible, but exactly what you were saying.

So the fact that, you know, shit basically goes down in the chain and not necessarily in Korean society, I don't know, like the only time where I'm like, oh, this is a real negative portrayal of slavery in Korea is that back story that we get with Chung Hyun and his father and him killing the kid that was in love with his daughter and stuff like that. Like that story is like, oh, and we got that super late in the show. We got, yeah.

In that scene I was like. I mean that we could talk about a little bit, OK, I don't know if we should talk about it now or later, but like, that's a nitpick. But I do too. I do too. Regardless, I think there's. I'm not sure what we can say in conclusion about my dearest and slavery other than it seems incomplete and not necessarily portrayed to the in the best way because they were so they were so accurate with other things,

right? Like what happened and the whole invasion and the way that the Ching look. They did their homework like this isn't like a party city looking group of people that came to invade Korea like they look real, right? This looks like a real quasi Mongolian force that calms down. And then the way that their whole society looks when we're in Shimyang, it's a well formed

like portrayal of them. And of course the slavery over there is like brutal and and and terrible and then they don't necessarily do the same hard look. Yeah, but they don't do the same hard look for the Tolson like slavery, so. It was in their face, but they were like. Right. What? Happened. No, we're cool here. I don't know. We're cool here. So let's talk about the Let's talk about the character Jong Hyun and just his, the way he starts to show and the way that he ends the show.

Because I feel like he is so, so cool and so central to everything. Because at the at the beginning of the show, he has, like this inability to commit to a relationship and the story of him hanging out like sans chaperone with a young maiden and then him not proposing marriage that's taken straight from Gone with the Wind. He's a scoundrel, a man who's not bound by restrictive social norms or patriotism. He's pragmatic, not dogmatic. He's at odds with the conservative Korean society.

And by the end of the show, he's undoubtedly one of the most heroic characters in K drama, and he finds something worth fighting for. And it's her. It's his deep love for Kilje and the compulsion to keep her alive. And it's also this big sense of justice and compassion for the Korean slaves that were taken as captives to Ching. He's doing like these explosive defenses of his people and the woman he loves. He'll do anything for what's right versus doing anything for

himself. And that's how he was at the beginning of the show. But all of this with like this calculated calm and that is fun to see. And I don't know if you had anything else to say about Tang Hyung, because I thought he was such a great part of the show. He definitely was my favorite character for sure. I'm just gonna say he was definitely my favorite character. I obviously was rooting for him and I just the fact that everything you mentioned, I I

fell in love with him for that. I'm like can that be like a real man like that Like he he's just, he comes out of nowhere and everyone's talking about him like oh who's this guy? Or like oh he's definitely a fake this or like he's such a coward or he's this or like he mocks like, you know our ideas, our ideals. He mocks like, you know the

monarchy. He marks like he he's he he's like, oh, he has this like whole unmarried concept that he wants to do and he wants to do whatever he wants and stuff like that. And I don't know why I feel like that was so freeing. Like I I saw him. I'm like, he's just like so free and he doesn't care. And because of that, it was so easy for him to fight for what he wanted to fight for. From my opinion, especially when he fell in love with her and I I was like, it all started because

he was like, oh, I'm a bucket. When, you know the first time that they were going to in the little little Nunguri where they had, they were like forming this little militia to go and save the king. And he was. Like peace out this. No, I'm I'm I'm heading out to this this this sounds this is like dumb. I'm gonna leave in my terms. Obviously you said it better than I did. But he and then you know once he once he knew that it it involved her because you know because she

was in love with another man. Is it? Is it crazy? That was a home and. Like he I was just like bro, like he's like, I'm going to make sure he's safe for her sake, you know? Yeah. Like, yeah. Who does that? What kind of man is that? You know, like, what kind of man? Obviously. Like he didn't do the the regular. Like, what? You want to see what you want from an actual man? Like, OK, like, I want marriage. I want this.

I want that. He wasn't doing any of that, but he was doing like even grander things. He was doing even better things. He's like she's he saved her so many times. And from there it kind of trickled like this whole. Here's the thing, like, I I thought that it started with his love for her because he wanted to make sure she's safe, you know, and make sure she's OK And then from there he's he joined, you know, the he joined the war.

He joined, You know, he started helping out with like all these different political, you know, scenarios and stuff like that because he's really smart, very very smart, very intelligent. He knows how to, like, play people. He knows how to play. Like he knows how to play the game between, like, politics and between Ching and between Josen. And he knows how to talk with people and he knows how to like he knows, you said calculating and exactly like he knew.

He knew other people's next move. And before they make that next move, he would say like do this and that because this person's going to do this. He was very like that. But I'm like, that was so attractive to me because I'm like because here here's what I I wrote somewhere I said this male lead is proactive. I love, we love a proactive male lead. Like a proactive male lead. Like he's always proactive.

He's always doing something, whether it's for her or if it's like from there, then like he started. Obviously, like you said it, it started with her. OK, well, he's always been what's? Weird is that the protection, the protection extended beyond her. Exactly from their. It was like, Oh yes, like people that she cared about, including his, his love rival, the man that she loves, who does that. That's true love right there. Not here, I don't say.

I'm just kidding. Yeah, yes, very proactive. And I love when a male lead is proactive and and not just like he, he definitely was proactive and doing something in general actually helping out and making some kind of difference and using, you know whatever He has read over resources he has, but he was also proactive with her and I love that even though at first she was, he was like like I know that that also counts. He told you straight up like I I'm gonna.

I'm living the unmarried life. But I like you, you know, like this, you know you don't like he was straight up from the beginning. This is what I this is what I want for right now. But I really like you. I want you in my life. She's like, Oh no. And then it keeps going like he's always proactive with her. Like he never he always is straight up with her and tells her like, well, except for except for except for some. You know when he saved, when she saved her like from like 17

soldiers or 13 soldiers. But anyways, we're. Oh, yeah, right. That was, that was like a little a big life. So I I like I said Gilche goes through a big change throughout the show and she saw the most growth. Yes, to me, she her teenage immaturity, her nonchalance over the serious Ching invasion, the

way she's too. She's so shallow and feisty and outspoken, and she comes into her adulthood with a compelling inner strength that taps it. She taps into it during the war years, the invasion years, and she later runs her own business. She takes responsibility for her helpless circle of dependence. Her family and the servants slash slaves. And to me, people were also seemingly upset with Kilche because she doesn't choose him time and time again.

OK. And it seemed like I I honestly didn't hold it against her at all. That she kept was like, no, and like didn't understand her own feelings and all this stuff for so long. He was the right person at the wrong time. 100,000 percent 100,000. Percent so. And even if he was a green flag and he loved her deeply, he he could see her fire. He could see her grit, her determination as a survivor before she ever could. And that to me means that they're not. They don't. How do I put this?

They're he's a complete person. Even if he changes later and has a character arc, he's a complete person and he knows who he is. She is not. She's not there yet. Like her frontal lobe hasn't developed yet so exactly so. He always knew who she was, but she did not. And it's her brazenness that he admires deeply. I I honestly don't get why people were like, upset with her, because I was. Upset. That's crazy. I don't know.

Like it was just I I can't name names of like this person was upset with Kill Chip. Like, I feel like a lot of people were just annoyed with her, with her antics and the fact that she was so in love with Ashley. I mean Yongjun. Ashley I was kidding, Yeah. Ashley is the equivalent character in Gone With the Way. Yeah, But yeah, I I think this love story is a slow burn. It's a lot of push and pull between them.

Will they, Won't they? Yes. And that's what's appealing to me, like let that's what keeps you coming back, is that they keep having these run insurance in really stressful life or death situations. He saves her, He's continually looking after her and she's continually looking after her own people as well and getting them out of scrapes and delivering babies in the wilderness and the list goes on. So they're both on their own separate journeys, and it's like they intersect in certain

moments throughout the show. And what's frustrating is that they always have this like crazy emotional goodbye where one of them wants something out of the other one and they don't get it exactly exactly. And. It's angsty and I'm an angsty bitch, so I love like. Give me the angst. Give me the angst. Yes, I I feel like I. One thing that I appreciated is

there was so many. There's a lot of like a good chunk of the show where they were not together, but yet I still felt like the love, like I still felt the longing. And I'm like, especially coming from him. And like, even if they didn't, even if there was so many scenes without them together, I still felt like, oh, this is a love story. Like, I feel it across, like across from like I just, I yeah, he was portraying it really well on his own. Really, really well. Like really well. So yeah.

Someone wanted us to talk about Kilche's character growth and him being the greenest flag ever. I think we have touched on that. Someone wanted us to talk about the metaphors of their love, like the sound of flowers on the moon thing. OK, so talking about their love story. There were, I mean, he fell in love with her at first sight #1 and he said, I think in episode I have it here, episode seven, he says. Did I tell you when you smile, I can hear the spring flowers

bloom? Let me just, let's just end the episode right here. Because like, he can hear the fucking flowers bloom when she smiles. Are you fucking kidding me? This is romance. This is romance. OK, so this metaphor of him hearing the sound of flowers and at the end of the show, it comes back again when she's like, why don't you remind me what did you hear when you first saw me? And he says he remembers that he heard the sound of he heard flowers, which flowers make no

noise. It's like amazing. An amazing, like, juxtaposition. It's so poetic for him to say literally he's like, do you hear that? And his buddy's like, Nah man, he's like, I hear the flowers. That was such a good scene. That was such a good scene, yeah. And the fact that he heard of. Such a great scene. I believe it was his servant first when he he was in love with his sister and he's like, I

I he said the same thing, right? He said when she smiles like weird sound of flowers And so he's like, well, that's weird as a kid. That's what love is. That means to me is he learned what love is through that relationship between the slave in his household and his older sister, and that crashed and burned. But he kept that like sound of flowers. So then when it happened, it's like, oh, this is what he was talking about. This is it, He.

Loved it. Which you can see how that is a very sad visual slash like metaphor for their relationship, I think. Because flowers don't last. Good point. That's a good point. Flowers wither and bloom all the time, and the sound of flowers like that's another level of like it doesn't exist. Like the sound of flowers doesn't exist. First of all, doesn't exist. They wither so, so. Fast. It is a stunning, beautiful

line. If your man doesn't hear the flowers bloom when you smile, he's not the one. OK, break up. He is not the one. He has to hear for flowers. OK, Bloom. Yeah. Hear flowers bloom and then the moon thing. He has to hear the flowers move. So and then the moon thing, which was the other thing this person wanted us to talk about. Did you want to take over the moon thing? I have no notes on the moon. I love the moon. I literally have a wallpaper of the moon. Quit.

I'm serious. I'm so serious. Like I have a a wallpaper of the moon. You do? Oh my God. Talk to me, Moon. Girl, I think it's just so it's kind of like the whole flowers thing, like you said. Like they they bloom, they wither, and then another one comes out. It's like there's always a new moon, you know? You always have. Which means no moon. And it's just, I love the fact that he's like every time there's this moon, this

beautiful new moon. And he didn't say New Moon, but I'm always meeting you like this and I think that is so beautiful because. Yeah, yeah. They kept the meeting on like the full moon. Which is like. Which is once a month, right? Yes, literally once a month. I don't know. I just think it's such AI love. I love the idea of like, there's always something new coming, you know? There's always like a new thing coming, especially in your life when you know things go bad or whatever.

There's always hope for something else, hope for something new. And the fact that there's always like a new moon, it dies out. It goes into Half Moon, it goes into like, you know, no moon. And then it goes back into it. No, Right. Just like just like flowers. They withered and then the other one blooms. So I just think it's. I just think it's so beautiful that he's like that he was watching the the moon. Oh, we were spoilers at the end, right?

Where was he? Yeah. We're in sport, yeah, yeah, Someone said. Let's see. I'm thinking of characters. Oh, please cover the relationship between unne and kilche. It's so underrated. So what do you think about the female relationships in this show? I love them. I thought it was like, as much as I love the romance, I loved what they. I mean, obviously not not what they went through, but how they just went through it all together. And they always stuck together.

And they were like as whether one one of them was about to die or one was, you know, about to give up or one was about to, you know, you know, end it. They always reach out for each other. They always were like, Nope, which is mostly Gilche who was like, let's do it. Let's do it. Like, no, we got it. We got this. And you know, I love there's this, you know, regarding them too. There's this scene disclaimer where a barbarian, they're this

is literally right after left. They left Hungary, They're running away. They're. This is part. One, it's winter, it's cold, they separate for a little. No, Gilche goes in to look for more resources. And Anne is like, kind of like, where are you? So she goes after her and runs into a barbarian. And a barbarian pretty much not fully assaults her. But you know she encounters her about to and then here comes Gilche and you know kills him.

She kills him. She's like And the fact that she and it was like remembering what that old lady told her like if you even encounter might as well just die. And so she's like, OK, might as well die. You know like who's going to want me like this. And so guilty is like, no, that never happened. I never killed a man. Yeah. You never that this never happened.

OK. And I I think that's so powerful because trigger warning, like when it's, you know, when people that go through stuff like that and they go through healing and stuff like that, there's this moment where it's like, you know what? Where they go through the healing process. And like, I'm a new person, you know, I'm a new person. I'm not that defiled person anymore. You know, they believe that.

And so I thought it was very powerful because she was like, no, you're still pure believe that you're pure girl. You still like you still got everything that you're Matt wants like don't even like this is my own personal take. But I thought it was just very powerful between the two. And ever since then, even though Anne already kind of, you know, loved her and and, you know, kind of look after her, even though Gilche was trying to get Herman.

But you can see that there was still affection within each other. And ever since then, like, she's like, no, I got to make sure that she's OK to the point that she gets sick when when she gets, you know, taken away, which I'm like, well, damn, yeah, damn. Yeah. I think this is a very special relationship. It's one between wildly different personalities, like these two women could not be. More different. And I love that so much. Love it. I know, I I love that.

And there is definite jealousy, like from Kilche toward Inne, because Inne has the man that she wants. And the fact that Kilche is so powerful in their journey to survive and escape and find refuge during the invasion and even afterward, like when they have no money and they're starving. Like guilt. Just the one that really leads the charge and creates that business and starts to feed them through her own creative means, through her own skills and business savvy.

Unn. You feel like she is naive. She's a fool. You feel like she doesn't understand that guilt just going for her man, like loves her man. You feel like Unn is just sort of, like, useless because she faints when the baby's being born. She's not even a help there. She's like dead weight in the in the group, and even afterward, when they're trying to make ends meet after the invasion and there's peace, relative peace in

the land. Anne is not the one who's, you know, getting her hands dirty the way that Gilche is. And despite all that, like they really come to a deep understanding and not deep sisterhood between all of those women, even the the slaves slash servants. They go with them on this journey and there is a a bond and a camaraderie that they have that the men never. You don't see that with. Them really achieve in the same

way? Yeah, like their friends and their buddies and they care for each other and they would die for each other. But, like, have you ever stopped your friend from being raped? That's like, like, this is a new level of trust and compassion between each other and understanding on a deep level. And one day I feel like it's really special. Because she.

It turns out that even though she subscribes to all of these ideals that they've trained into them like these patriarchal ideals and the Confucian ideals of you need to kill yourself. If you are even remotely defiled by a barbarian, that's your duty as a as a woman, as a wife or whatever. Don't come back because it's shameful. Like you should die. You should be willing to die for your purity. And even though she subscribes to that, she is very surprised when Yongjun is like, so upfront

about it later in the show. And he's like spouting these ideals to her face and she it's very brave of her to say that's. Kind of shocked. Not going to lie, I almost got raped. Yeah, even though I didn't like he, like, touched me and like, should I kill myself? And she sort of challenges him, you know what I'm saying? Like it? It would have been so easy for her to just shut up. Right.

And not say anything and not. Tell her story and she says no. Like Kilchek killed the guy and I'm here because of her. We all are shit. Like what? What are you going to do about it? You know what I'm saying? Like, it's a fair challenge that she poses to Yonjun and it like, breaks him and we can talk about

him in a SEC. But I think that one is very compassionate and good-natured, and that's something she has in common with her equivalent character, Melanie in Gone With the Wind. And same as Melanie who in Gone With the Wind, she's the one who's pregnant and Scarlett delivers her baby under the rest. But besides that being like a switcheroo that they did in this story, I think that she's very motherly.

Yes. And I I think that the way that Gilche is so aggressive and like domineering at times and so powerful, Una is very much like a feminine archetype and they complement each other really well in their friendship. And I love how Una is like a ride or die for Gilche. Gilche is a ride or die for everybody around her, but Inne is also a writer. Die for Kilchi, and she's always advocating for her when she gets kidnapped to the Ching Dynasty.

Like she is the one that's like, you need to do something. We need to get her back. I'm going to go get her myself. Oh, she's so. Cute. And that was a big I know she's so cute and that was a big moment for her to be like she would do the same for me. Yes. Yes. How can I not try and get her back? Love. That she had a certainty like she would. Yeah, yes, she had a certainty. I like that word. Yeah, yeah, I honestly, I love

that. I honestly feel like although she was naive, I feel like and this could just be me, that when you know, when they were younger, when they were still teens, I feel like she knew that, you know, guilty was after Yunjun. I feel like she knew, but she just was like, I don't know, she was like, you know, like, yeah, she is. But like, I know who she really loves. So she just needs to like, you know, figure that out. So it's OK.

I feel like there's, I think there was a scene where she's like where she told when he told Male Lead, she told him like, I know she's kind of after Yunjun or am I making that up? No, no, no, she did say like I She doesn't realize it now, but she loves you. She. Doesn't realize it now, but she does love you because she's she's. She looked at you during the announcement that they were going to war, that there was an invasion, and she looked at you and everyone was looking at the

person they most cared about. And she was, like, concerned and looked at you. So I know that deep down she loves you. She you're the person she's worried about, even if she doesn't realize it. So she one is very astute. Yeah. Because since day one, she was like, Oh yeah, Gilche loves Tony. No, out of my mind, yeah, yeah. Someone said it was interesting seeing what the female characters went through, and it made me think about purity

culture as a whole. So I guess we need to talk a little bit about just that and how they I almost want to just bring up Yong Joon and his bullshit because he that's Ashley like that character. Because he done lost his fucking mind in the last few episodes. He lost his fucking mind in the last few episodes. No, for real. I'm like because like, bra, bra. What do you mean?

What do you mean? You're preaching, You're preaching to the women about how they need to commit suicide, and you don't even want to go on an envoy to the Ching because you know it's a suicide mission, and it's. Like this is that's. Exactly what you're a coward you know about. Exactly what you just said, yes. OK, he's a coward. Since the beginning and and and Hyun Jiang Hyun, he calls him out for it and I love that scene so much when he's like you're. Yes, I love that scene as well

because. He's like, you're a coward because you do like her, but you feel like you can't handle her, so you just leave on and so and you're a coward. And I'm like, I love that scene, but yeah, he's a coward. Yeah, that was a really frustrating aspect of the show Was not only that the guys were just kind of at odds with each other and Yongjun was a a little bitch like for the whole of the show, but like the purity, the fact that the women are so

strong throughout everything. And it was very heart wrenching to see so many like women. Not not just our main like 4 ladies, but like there were other women who were choosing to commit suicide throughout the show just to get away from the shame of being raped by a barbarian or being sexually assaulted or put in sexual slavery. Because that reality is very real and I don't. I don't, I will never presume to know what the right answer is.

Like if I'm in that situation, would I jump off a Cliff or would I choose to live? I think the show is trying to say that you should strive to live, that it's not a shame to experience that, and that it's it's not the end of the world. You can heal through this even if society is dead fucking set against you. So yeah. That is the message that I think the show is trying to. To say I agree, I I I definitely. Because even even when Crown Prince who took him there, was

it was it he, John Young? Was it him who took him to the marketplace in Shimyang? Who? I can't remember. Someone took him there. I can't remember who took him there, but he went because he needed. Did he need farmers at? Is it farm? No. What did he need? Like? I don't remember. I'm sorry. Everything's jumbling, but he need. It's OK. It's a long show. But he, they took him to the marketplace where he saw the the captives there and how they're being treated and how.

And there's this scene where they're auctioning off some of the captives and one of them is a female and she's like she's a virgin and everybody in the car is like show, I wanna see more, I wanna see more. And so they don't show it on screen, but it's implied that they show her private parts of her body and he literally just he books it to like a corner and started like throwing up and he says like why would she bring shame on her country like that? Yeah, he starts trying her.

Bro, I just get so triggered when that happens. I'm like. It's so triggering it, really. Is not. But yeah, like, yeah, that scene was like, bro, no, like. Wrong approach, wrong thing to say. Absolutely wrong approach. Like you saw everything that's going on with your people and that's what you're gonna say. You're gonna say and. As if she had a choice. As if exactly as if she had a choice. As if they have a choice. The other choice that he's talking about is death.

He's just like, oh why is she choosing to go for this? Because the other option is she could just be dead. Dead. I'm like, OK, you know, And I think it was what's that one girl's name, which I'm just gonna say right now, I don't really like her. She's the Princess of. The Crown Princess. That's the crown. Princess, not his wife. All girl the Ching Princess. Girl, that home. Girl, OK. That bitch girl, OK? Girl. Yeah. So I didn't like her. I didn't like her.

I'm just going to say that right now. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't like her. When she was like what? You know, looking at, she's like how like the fact that you people, you chosen people, you know, went through all the humiliation, that you look so pathetic, still still trying to strive to live after being enslaved after going through all this. And then then I'm just like girl like you sound so dumb right now. I know you. I know you sound dumb. You're. Saying.

Sit down, girl. Sit, sit down, sit down. And you're saying this to the guy that you Segun sorry, supposedly. Like So it's like she's like not impressed. You don't know who you're talking. To right now, OK, this is a whole of it. Like, that is character and her mentality is like a whole other side. I know. They're conversation, but. Yeah. OK. Great. Great.

Yes, girl, that's that's not OK. But on that note, on that note, like on this topic, someone said that they wanted us to talk about the line he gives her in episode 17. I love Gilche and lists all of the qualities of her. So I have the line here. Two people actually wanted us to talk about this, that line when he listed all the parts that he liked about her. So this is episode 17, he says. Do you not you? Do you still not understand how I feel? For me, you are enough.

Poor Gilche. Wealthy Gilche. Cheeky Gilche. Gentle Gilche. Gilche, who does not love me? Kilche who does. All I need is Kilche. All I need is you. And she at this point had already sort of implied that something happened to her while she was a captive. And she says, like, this is huge for her to after the divorce, after everything, after he's finally here back with her, like this is the love of her life. And she's about to tell her how, tell him something that she got divorced over.

So she says very bravely, what about Kilche, who was defiled? And I don't think I was breathing at this point. Like I was holding my breath, like I knew he wasn't going to say something shit, but I was still like, Oh yeah, what is he going to say? He says the perfect thing. He says I'd embrace her and hugs her and says you must have suffered so much. But even if you push me away, I'll be by your side from now on tonight can I hold you?

And they finally kiss and she kisses him back and and I'm like, I needed to pause the show at that point I was. Like. I. Need a minute? Yeah, he. Could not have had a more perfect reaction. Yeah. To her confessing that she had gone through a whole era of sexual assault in her life, yeah. And I think what hit me the most, not the most, but really just was like, he didn't make it about himself at all. I just like he didn't make it about himself. Like I feel like.

Which is? He didn't say, like, well, I feel like shut up. No, Like, you know, or like a man. Like, what is this need for me? Like, it's not about you right now. It's not about you right now. You know he didn't. Bring it back. To himself. He didn't make it about himself or how he feels or anything. He focused on how you must have, you must have suffered, you know. I love that, Love that.

I love the complex emotions playing on his face that he's he already knew what she was going to say, OK? I have no doubt that he already suspected that this happened. He's smart and she had already like started broached the conversation with this in mind and he read the tea leaves on it OK way long ago and he still was there. Like when she finally confessed he was heartbroken. Yeah. And went to comfort her like this is huge I. Know. The juxtaposed that to Young. Tune So Girl.

I could not. I was like, ain't the one. If I had cabbage, if I had Rotten Tomatoes, I would have thrown it at the screen when good name was talking to Yunjun about almost getting raped. The quasi rape. Which is still fucking traumatic. Traumatic as fuck, OK? And he's like, shocked. What? How? How does this mean for me? This is like crippling my world. What I say? How could you? How could you lie to me like he was saying every fucking wrong thing. Yeah. Me. How can you?

Yeah. Made it by himself. Made it about him. Anyway, so this, that was a big part of like the way that they got together, Kilche and Changyun, that was a big turning point for them and their relationship. And after that they have sex too. Like, we we go into the bedroom with them and I'm like, Oh my God, this is amazing. It wasn't gratuitous though. They didn't show anything. Like just in case you're listening to this and you haven't watched the show. Like it wasn't like suddenly NC

17 in here. Beautiful scene. It was a beautiful. Scene. It was beautiful. It was very intimate and it was on her terms because earlier in the show he had saved her, he had rescued her out of slavery and then she was kind of living with him because he was still injured from that like arrow in the back. That's a whole nother fucking

thing. But he's so fine and he was like pretending to be injured for a while so that she would stay and take care of him and so cute cure his little Boo boos and stuff and he comes on to her real strong. Like do you remember he was like changing his, like dressing on the on his and they showed his body and I was like, OK, Nam Kunman is like walking. Ripped Loki I'm not going to lie, he is jacked. I feel ashamed, but I was very

shocked that he was like that. Jacked that was not expecting like disrespectfully, disrespectfully, like hot. Damn. So he's there, you Sir. But yeah. I underestimate the truth. That ass. No. OK, so sorry, sorry. Oh God. I need to. I need to calm down. So you're fanning yourself. So there's that scene where he is half naked. He puts on like a his hat, his shirt or something and then walks over to her and he kisses her on her forehead and like cradles her face.

And I'm like, this is so amazing and intimate, but she's not really reciprocating at that point. It I didn't tell that. She's very hurt and nervous and she's technically still married at this point, so she is has a lot of stuff going on. But the second time around when he says that he loves all parts of her, right, he is completely in love with her. He loves her good side and he loves her bad side. He loves everything. Like everything that she's been through, it's OK.

And at that, it's at that point where she trusts him enough with her story, with her experience, with her pain that she lets him in and they finally have sex and everyone's happy for them. But it was a process to get there because back in Chang back when she was taking care of him and she was technically free and could I think she could have had sex with him whatever back then because even if she was still married her husband abandoned

her. If I was her I would have been like let's go but beside the point where he at where he room at time to come down. Is it is it this to right I will go wherever. OK. I have someone said. Someone said every time he confessed to her no matter what happened to her that was that. I think that same scene and everyone was fucking reeling over episode 17 and that perfect confession from him which he had confessed to her little by little throughout the show.

But it like this is the one that really shook people up. I think talking about her sexual assault experiences, someone said how let's we had to talk about how they didn't show unnecessary rapes but suggested it. And I also think this is really important because there's some films and shows that are super out of pocket with rape scenes and the show did not at all like, besides the fact that it's airing on NBC, not Netflix or Amazon Prime or whatever.

The fuck They did not. They chose a very tasteful way of presenting really horrific violence toward women. And I appreciate that. Yeah. I didn't think they need to go that far. Yeah. And they they just suggested and and the fact that she says it without us having seen it, like we can all up assume that this happened to her. But you know, her voicing it is more impactful than us seeing it. Yeah, because it must be so hard to say it out loud and then. Oh my God.

Said say it out loud too. You know the man she's in love with? Too Woo she. I think it's even more evident when he reaches for her. By the way, can I just say I love that scene, I love that scene when he when he finds out that she's there and she's being auctioned off. Oh, fuck off. Fuck off. I love that scene. It had me. Balling it had me like I was like, like I I was speechless. I was breathless, like my heart was like not in like I. Fuck out of here like that scene

was written and acted. He did so good and I was kind of nervous on how that scene was going to play out because it was like like that's so difficult. It could go either way. It could be like kind of like unclimited or like anti climactic. Yeah, yeah, it could be anti climactic, but it. Wasn't be like, oh, you extra. He was like, he was like, he's perfect, perfect.

I know from the I know when he spots her through the crowd and she's like like she's you could see that she's just praying that he doesn't see her because she's so prideful and so ashamed of her situation. And I would be too. Like if I if the love of my life, if I saw the love of my life in that situation, I would be like, you know, one of two minds, one of be like, get me the fuck out of here or #2, I'd be like, please, I don't want you to see me like this. Exactly. And that's how she.

Felt it, was she. And he just like cuts through the crowd. He's mowing down people aggressively, trying to get to her. And then he comes up just devastated and screaming. Why? Yeah, so good. And I'm like a pause. I need to calm down. I had to pause and I was like, crying. I'm like, I'm like that. Is that was how the episode ended? Yes, that is right. That was like, what was that like 13 or 4 episode 14 or something? I think so.

One of those. Around there I. That was my heart was bounding and I was crying and yeah, he did amazing. She did really well. She did so good too. It them together in that scene was just like oh holy holy smokes but when he reaches for her her shoulder she like does this. And she. Oh, I was and I was like that is the evidence right there. And I think he he also like he though he was he put two and two together that moment as well And I'm like. Yes. Thank, yeah. I don't.

I don't know. I don't even know what. That's, that's that has to be one of my favorite scenes, one of my favorite scenes for sure. It is pitch perfect the way they did that scene. But OK, let me see. Someone said they wanted us to talk, to talk about Mr. Goo, Ryangam, Yongjun and how these men have been trash all along. And I was like cool. Say like, yeah, no. Trash. Mr. Goo is her husband. Because there's like a lot of Mr. Goo's and I figured it was

the husband. Mr. Goo is the husband. Then you have Ashley, Yongjun and Ryangam which is one of the besties, one of his the the gay best friend. Let's talk about Ryangam first, because he is the the represent the LGBTQ plus representation in this show and I thought that for the for the largest part of the show I was so annoyed. With him. Absolutely could not stand. Him. Yeah, same. Could he's so. I mean, he's so obviously loved. Zhang Hyun, respected and admired him, would die for him.

But he was openly jealous of Kilche and multiple times sabotaged their relationship. Say that again please, Yes. He's a saboteur. OK, Yes, so I could. He was like the best the the gay best friend from hell to me and I couldn't. I could not get behind him and have sympathy for him until much, much later in Part 2 when they showed more of his back story and more of how he came into the fold and Chung Hyun's life.

And how he was basically a child sex slave in the household of some nobleman there who was literally torturing him if he perceives some sort of sexual advance from somebody else that he accepted as a child. Literally a child. And he had this whole journey in Ark himself, and I felt that the show maybe didn't do his character. Justice at all. I agree, because I'm not going to lie, he wasn't really some scenes.

He was. But a lot of the times he wasn't really doing it for me. And I think I don't know if it's the character or the actor, because I know. I know because he's not like, he's not like a bad actor or anything. It's just like he wasn't likable to me the way that he was portraying. Again, character writing or the way he was portraying it wasn't likable, you know, in my opinion, because a lot of time he was just like, OK, you know? And I'm like.

I guess he wasn't giving. He just wasn't giving. Personally, again, it's just how I how I saw it and it. Don't want to sit and this is a safe space. That's how I don't worry. That's how I was like.

It's not making it better that I'm not liking this character because it could be a likable character, but that way the way he's portraying the characters making it not likable for me until later on when he kind of. And maybe that's the point, because later on he kind of figures out OK, when you love Someone Like, You got to like it's not about you.

Yes. He starts to kind of subscribe to Jang Hyung's level of love, where it's not necessarily about me being with them, it's about them being happy. Exactly. And that's when I was like, OK, we're OK, right. That's about when I was like, OK, I cannot. And then they were giving them me that back story of him and I was like, OK, I can kind of see him a little better. It's a little more in focus for me. But again, for large parts of the show, he was just like, so irritating.

He and. Was he? Treated or talked to Gilche, I don't think that was fair. Oh, oh. Out of pocket. Just so unacceptable. Yeah. And that that's what made me more frustrated towards him because I'm like a brick. Like Brick? Yeah, I think. And I I love that line when I can't remember what it was, but I think that he Rangam went and told Jong Hyun that she was a curse. In which one she was enslaved in In by the chain And that she was there, in that town that he was in.

Right. And he was like, why the fuck didn't you tell me sooner, basically. And he was like, well, I didn't want you to be with her. Basically the audacity. Like, I'm. I know at the audacity, but I'm paraphrasing and Dang Hyun responds with That's because you don't know what she means to me. I love. That. You don't know what she means to me. And that's when I think Jiang Jiang sort of change.

It starts to change his mentality around being with Jiang Hyun and the fact that he's never going to going to love him the same way that Jiang loves him, right. Jiang is not looking for a same sex relationship like period. And he's like, oh, but I do understand, like how you feel. But he doesn't because he's not on the same level, right? It's obsession and it's possession. Territorial. Yes, exactly.

So Ryangam, I think they did him dirty, like with the writing and even though he was extremely complex, I I just don't feel like they did him well, especially him being the plot device of the whole show. He ended up being he. So there's two people wanted us to talk about this. One person said they want us to talk about Youngam. Why is his hair white when no one else seemed to age? And then another person said I want to talk about, oh wait,

where is it? Anyway, people wanted us to talk about Youngam. So here's. Because he was the the like, the framing device of the whole show. Evidently he was the mysterious prisoner, the storyteller, through which we're getting this rich story in a flashback form. What the hell happened? Like this is my theory that that wasn't the initial concept, no when they first shot that scene in episode one. Definitely so. I really was kind of dying laughing at that. But I'm like, hold on.

Like, let me get. Let me get. Serious. I wonder. I truly. Because I'm like. I truly wonder if they, the writer, had written a happy ending initially. I don't think she did. I don't think so. I think that was meant to be Dang hyun. I thought. I thought that was maybe I'm like. It was a whole mystery, like people were trying to guess who it was In the sanitary, in the sanatorium I. Swear when they were like, Oh yeah, we're looking for Jong Hyun. I swear they said something like

that. And so they're like, oh, there, that's Jong Hyun and then when? No. I know they mentioned Jong Hyun. It was pretty. They do. They're like, can you tell us about him? And he like, perks up. OK, maybe I. And then they say, oh, we know you're not crazy. OK, then I'm wrong, OK? And then he sort of initiates this whole flashback story, the

entirety of the show. He is essentially the narrator, even though we don't hear him speak and like they make it seem like it's it was Rihanna the whole time. I don't think that. I honestly don't think that was in the first draft, I. Don't think so. It literally makes no sense. Like in the final episode, Ryangam is like, I'm going to pretend to be you and Jiang Kyun is like, no, you're not. Reverse Uno card steals his idea and like runs off to face off against all of these.

What are they like Royal? They're sent from the palace like to try and catch him or whatever. And no, what the hell happens to Ryangam in that? How does scenario? Because he's just unconscious? How does he? Get imprisoned. He was no one thought to look for him like investigate where he was, break him out of the sanatorium. How did he get captured? We don't see that happens off screen. How did they connect him to Jang

Hyun? Like does he have an ID card on him that says my name is Ryangam and I'm involved with Jang Hyun who's a a traitor of the state. Like what? How did they connect him to Jong Hyun? They just found this dude in the forest. From my memory, and again, it was a good minute since I

watched the first episode. Like, it just made it seem like that he was waiting because didn't they say like, Oh yeah, he's going to come get me or he's waiting for him to get you or he's waiting for him to. Something, yeah. I'm waiting for him to either, he said. I'm waiting for him to come get me or he's been waiting for years for this to get him or someone to get him. It's something. Oh, this is a tragic story then. Because he's there. He's old.

Apparently he's not that old. Apparently, he's not that old. That was like, OK. I'm like, oh, it's tragic. It's like he's old and like, you know, I don't know, they put this wig, they put this. Wig on beyond. I mean, it's like Gray and shit and he turns around in the final episode like bitch and it's literally the same actor playing Rangam Young playing him now with like a full on Gray ass wig. What the hell is that? Yeah, they refused to age. Him. I don't know. And and OK.

How much time has passed? Exactly? Like what was the point of the investigation? And that an official going to investigate and talk to the young I'm in the sanatorium. Like I'm this whole red herring thing, like the framing device of the whole show. Shit, shit shit, 100,000. Percent at the Yeah, no for real. OK, so justice for Diango, because that was fucking weird. And then someone said, oh, we have to talk about Mr. Goo, her ex-husband, real fast.

So piece of shit, motherfucker. So let's talk about him. Piece of shit, motherfucker. So I feel like Sam Jackson, this part of the show, OK, this man, he took credit for saving her in the woods against that like 17 on one fight later, he tried to fix it. He was like, no, no, no, it wasn't me. I just killed the last guy. And she was like, yeah, right, too little, too late.

And he, he sort of liked her because she was audacious and had a great survival instinct and she would do anything to live. And he liked he liked her because of that. But to me it was like he wanted a bad bitch but didn't want a bad bitch at home. Yes. You know what I'm saying? And that was so like he wanted to tame a bad bitch. Exactly. And that's a trash person.

My finger, she told him. She she told him like people like me and and the guys like me for how I am because the end they think that once I'm married I'll change think that they can take me once I once I once I get married. And he and she told him like no like you're you like the idea of me but I'm not going to change when I'm I'm going to be the same girl. I'm not going to change in my paraphrase. So, so yeah, that was very it was telegraphed that he wasn't going to take her back after she

had been taken. He done. He done. He wasted so much time. He wasted so much time and he wasted so much time being all paranoid like. Oh yeah, I was. Like, no, not even believe. Like he believed that she was gone, but she was like, but he said, you know, oh, you know, she ran off again. Like you're not going to trust your wife. You're going to trust your wife? He's demanding loyalty from a woman who they're saying got napped. I'm like officer.

He's like, she's she. She has a history of running away from your marriage, not from her livelihood and all of her family. And this little kid, this random little kid, they're going to hire this random little kid to be like, Oh yeah, like officer. He was, So what a freaking problem. So Mr. Goo, again, just a trash person. I could not stand him. Yeah. I couldn't stand him before and I couldn't stand him after he made these just terrible decisions. Moment that I had that.

And then he not, he knocks up some. Girl, I was going to say that too. The fact that she oh. Girl like he goes, we're just like speech. So he goes, they pressure him into going to get her. Yeah. And he's like, oh shit, OK, so he takes some money, ransom money, and go on the way to Chang. He like, meets some dudes who were like, Oh yeah, I'm trying to ransom my son, I think back from Chang, 'cause he was taken

unjustly. And they steal his ransom money, like the funds that he brought to get her out. And they're like, you don't he? Fucking kisses. Even after he catches them stealing, he catches him thieving and he's like, yeah, you can have my money so you can get your son out because. They're like my son is my and yeah. Yeah, and they told her while she was in that, like slavery camp. The marketplace, right? Oh yeah. No one ever comes to pick up the women. Yeah. No one's ever going to come.

For well. What they said was no one comes for a wife, They'll come for a daughter, not a wife. Yeah, but they'll never come for a wife. Yeah. Which is like, fuck the patriarchy. Say that again, girl key. Chain on the ground, we were always. Skipping a turf. Sorry, me and my Taylor Swift obsession. So, Lord, I got. So I was like upended with this character because I was so mad at him and he made this the worst decision after worst

decision. When she comes back, he's like, Oh yeah, I'll get rid of this bitch real quick if you tell me that you were not. Yeah, the oh, I'm like you. She's outside. Like, this is paper. Thin walls. She can hear you. The walls are made of paper. Yeah. So literally, literally, like, oh, that's just AI can fix that. What do you mean fix it? Lady outside that you just were saying bye to, like if she's your wife. What, you mean that's your baby? Like what?

My gosh, how are? You going to be like JK my real wife's back? What a menace. Seriously, what a menace. I'll take you back if you're not what? I liked about their breakup was that not only were we just waiting for it and it finally happened, but she says I'm not divorced. She just takes ownership of it and takes some agency over it and says I'm not divorcing you because I was defiled in the in when I was taken. I'm divorcing you because I fell. I fell in love with John Hyun.

That's right. That's right, girl. Because he was over there and he saved me and he was like, like he was like shocked. What do you? I'm speechless. I'm sorry he had me so speechless. And not in a. Good way. My God, he had me like gagged, bro. Like I was like, OK, so let's jump off him. And what was the last one that people wanted me to talk about? Oh, Yanjun. Well, we took him to task already, I think. OK, let's not. Let's not belabor the point. So Howard, that's done, someone said.

Talk about the fact that Zhang Hyun was like a third lead in his own drama for part of the show. So this is a big nitpick of mine too. Was that Part 2 felt a little repetitive and irritating because the writer kept breaking up and separating our couple like for seemingly no reason, especially after she comes back from being kidnapped. From being enslaved, there's really no reason. Like the episodes, yes.

Mm hmm. So, And they also took a lot of the narrative away from Kilche and focus more on Chang Hyun and his whereabouts and what he's up to. So that was still very interesting and compelling, but it made the story uneven because in the first part it was a lot of Kilche and a lot of Chang Hyun, and it was they were flipping back and forth between them at a much better pace. And in Part 2 it felt really uneven. So I see where that person is coming from.

Where they said it was like he was his own, he had his own, like part of the drama. 3rd lead like a third lead. I don't know. The fact that he was like a third lead. So like not the first lead, but a third lead. Well, I don't know what that means. 3rd lead in his own drama for part of the show. 3rd lead in his own drama for part of the show. So like not the lead? Interesting. Oh, is it because like of this big like love triangle square? I I. Well, it's not even like a love

triangle at this point. It's like so many players, right? Oh. Yeah. So love the I love rhombus so. I I don't know. Just joking. I don't. OK, maybe. I feel like. I don't know. I didn't feel that way. I don't feel that he was like. OK. I always felt like he was the first lead. Yeah, I don't think he was the 3rd lead. OK, so another person's let's talk about the ending of part one where she chooses her family instead of being selfish and running away with him.

OK, this is where a lot of people were pissed at. Guilty because she didn't elope with him and I. The problem with that is that she it happens late. Like the problem is later because she felt such loyalty toward her family, like all this love and devotion toward her family, her father, her siblings, the women that she went through the invasion years with and stuff. So all of that, it was like, no wonder that she didn't elope with him, because what was that life gonna be like?

Yeah, I feel like my like my own. This is another like where I kind of put my own self into this because I was like, I totally understand because she had, you know, her loyalty. Well, yeah, same thing. Like, you know, she, she felt like she had that burden to carry to take care of her father, you know, and to take care of her siblings because, you know, they don't, first of all, her father can't, you know, can't take care of himself.

He has a little brother and that needs someone to raise. And the sister is not there yet to like really take care of the household. So yeah. I see where she's coming from too, with the relationship with him, because he's constantly leaving he. He's known to not. He is constantly in and out of her life and not a consistent part of it, right? Like, absolutely. He helps her in times of need. Absolutely. He's trying to keep her alive.

But I feel like she picks the the security like the secure choice. Yeah. And I think in that society, love is a luxury. True. And at that point she didn't have that luxury. She, you know what I'm saying? Like she couldn't afford it. Exactly. And. Yeah. So I I see where she was coming from. I see that she would had so much love for him and wanted to be with Tang Hyun, but he's a he's a bet. Yeah, that's like she's betting her life on him.

We are introduced to him and how the whole non goody town knows him that he doesn't stay and he knows it too. He doesn't stay in one town for that long. He decides because of her to be like, I'm going to, I'm going to prove her wrong, I'm going to establish my life here and then goody no. So he was kind of already known for, like, not really being stable. Not really. Putting down roots and being this perpetual bachelor and you can't pin him down. Not that he. Wouldn't know.

She didn't really know him exactly. She didn't really know him. So I get it. And the problem comes later for me. It's when she, like, after the fact, after she moves out on her own post divorce with Jong Jong. Yes, she had like, her father just came in and tried to kill her. And that was like a whole traumatic experience. I don't think I would ever fully recover after that. And she's like, why don't you and they take care of my family for me and I'll come back for them.

So right. She never does. She never. Comes back for. Her mentally ill father for the younger sister, she leaves the brother behind. And the promise of taking care of them, of the helpless little brother, the bratty little sister, even going so far as to vow to give her sister like this fine wedding, All of these promises fell by the wayside, and she refused to elope with Jonghin because of her fiance, basically holding her family hostage.

But like, what happened to that? Like the family after the family after she moves out? That's a thing it's in. We never see the family again. Yeah. Like her father, the brother the What happened to them? Who's taking care of them? That's the thing where, yeah, where it's like, OK, I get you, but. I get you in the in the middle like of the show. I get you in between part one and Part 2, but at the end of

the show. And then she spends all this time looking for Chung Hyun because he's missing. And then they finally reveal that there was no body, so like he could be alive somewhere. She goes in search of him. Like who the fuck cares about the family at that point? But like, I think that's a huge part of her. I mean, I mean, unless she was like, you know what I should have this is, yeah. You know, so that was my issue with not the ending of part one, but the ending of the whole

show. They didn't quite resolve that the way that I think they should have. Unless they're just implying like she. Someone said they liked the 1st 10 episodes and so they said like the 1st 10 episodes then was implausible and too repetitive. Bad writing. Acting was great. I sort of agree with that in a very in a very minor way, which I already I think I already. Said agree it was repetitive, but yeah, agreed minor. Let's talk about. So we already talked about

Iyangam being a plot device. Like a shameless plot device. We already talked about Gilche and her I know, and the loyalty to her family. Oh my God. Let's talk about the amnesia trope that they had not once, twice, but twice in the show. OK, once. Once. OK. Because I I don't even like I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm kind of, you know, cheesy and corny. Like I do like a good amnesia trope. But they did it twice. I'm like, was it? Necessary. Yeah. No, no, it wasn't necessary.

I think the first one I was kind of going with it, and then the second one I was like fuck out of here. But now that I'm removed from the show a little bit, I think they should have cut out the first one. And then this one, right? Left the last one. That would have been more impactful because I feel like the first one was like, really? I mean, I mean, it was kind of cute. It was just like it was felt like filler, like she was taking care of him.

He couldn't remember her, and he was like they. Probably got some like some notes from. They had some cute moments together. She was kissing him on the cheek and hugging up on him and he was like, what the fuck are you doing, lady? Who are you? And she was like, we're allowed to do this, like that sort of stuff. It was cute, I know, But that I could have done without it though. For sure. It's the amnesia thing. Like, bro, it's 2023. Even me who likes it, I was like and I do.

I was shocked. I honestly wasn't expecting it. But then I'm like, oh, OK, like we're gonna do this right now. And then the second time around, we're gonna do this again. OK, cool. I feel like they. I feel like they got the writer got notes. Like we need more them two together. What do you got? What do you got?

I can give him amnesia and then they're like, we got to have a reason for him to, like, disappear at the end of the show to match, like the fact that Jangam isn't been in prison, and because otherwise Jangam Jangam would have definitely busted the Yangam. Oh yeah. Out of out of the sanatorium. Had he known he was? There. Yes, exactly. And how did he end up there? So. OK, that's another. That's the that's what I said. I was like, why? Why is he even in there, OK and

not in a regular prison? Why was it? Why was he left alive? Did he feign insanity? Like I have all these questions? It doesn't matter anyway. Amnesia. Twice. I feel like that was a misstep. The ending reminded me of the crowned clown. Have you seen that show? I haven't. OK, you got to see it. It's amazing. Oh shit. I might spoil it for you. OK. It's out of my God, the end. OK. The ending of Crown Clown is basically everyone thinks that

he died. The male lead dies but in fact he was injured and then comes back years later after being in a coma and like some random good-natured man like taking care of of like of his feeble unconscious body for years, which is not how like comas work, but OK. OK. It was like the worst, the worst. Like, little like hiccup in the in the ending on the way to a happy ending. And that's kind of what happened here, right? Like, he goes missing for all of these years and he was injured.

And it turns out that he was retracing his steps in their relationship without him realizing exactly who he's recalling and sets up this life together based on one of the last conversations that they had. Which, again, this makes no sense. That's not really appealing. Very plausible as far as memory loss goes, but OK. That ring has to be a powerful ring or something. It has, it's it it it has powers. Oh, guilty, said she did curse it cause twice. Yeah, true, true, he.

Dropped it twice and all of a sudden he has his back, right? Didn't he drop it again at the beach? I swear he dropped it again. Yeah, he did drop it. Yes, he did. So here's what I like. Here's what I liked about the ending is that, well, I guess we have to go back to Kilche's dream because she had a recurring dream. I personally have vivid dreams.

So if I had, if we had this recurring dream of running to catch up to the red string of fate, only to never catch a glimpse of my beloved on the beach during golden hour, I'd be fucking concerned. But she was like I keep having this dream, the same dream every time. I can never catch up. Look at. Him the same dream. Weird. So I was like very concerned for her, But then at the end of the show, with Kilte and Jong Hyun on the beach, her finding him, it's just like her dream, which was.

Literally. When? Like a port end of what was going to happen? Jump through hoops. She wanders the land in search of her love and finds him on the beach, and at first it's about her realizing or recognizing him, but in the end it's a reversal with it being about him recognizing her that. Is so true. Which I liked that bit that like full circle nature of it and like it being a call back to the dream and stuff, That's fine. But. That's fine, but it, I don't know.

It's just not 100. I guess. And does she ever? Yeah. Does she ever figure out that it's him? What do you mean? Yeah, she does. She realizes it's him. Yeah, in her dream. Cuz I feel like she was, Or she was just denying it. What was that after? No, no, no. She. Yeah, She realized it was him the whole time. Like he was the one. He was the one. He is the one, OK, Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah. So the only other person that we haven't talked about is the Ching Princess Kakwa. I mean, hi.

Yes. So here's my problem with her. It is just, I'm gonna go real fast because we've been here a while. So this is just another foul woman who's had everything she's ever wanted getting murderous because she can't have a man. It's tired. It's tired. It's been done to death.

Seriously. The chatter online was that, yeah, so the chatter online was that NBC, which is the network that aired the show, insisted that this happened, that she like be a recurring character in Part 2 because they think it's an epic reunion of actors. Because both her and Nam Kunmin were in Awaken and $1.00 lawyer together. To which I say they're not Kate and Leo, OK? They're not Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. So like, settle down, NBC. If that was true, like, who

cares? Like, who the fuck cares? Yeah, I thought that her character was doing too much like it seemed like she was. She was a device. Cat playing with a toy. She was a device, but she was also like kind of a a cat playing with a toy. I expected her to get bored and move on to some other. Thing, I mean, she looked. By the time that and I was like, not her going all the way to Korea just to drag him back.

Girl, here's the thing, the whole that character, every time she was on screen, I felt so uncomfortable. What a smug bitch. Girl. Like I could not. I was so uncomfortable and uneasy. And I'm like, oh, can we move along these scenes? And there was so like, awkward. And I know that they're trying to do like some kind of tension between them. But I'm like, it's not about me. Like, it's just like she's looking at him with these dead eyes. And like, he's just like.

Like there's nothing. No, humanity. There her like he wants to kill her. So like, just have him kill her. No, I'm just kidding. Just it was just like, I didn't enjoy the scenes that they had together. So I feel like like there was no point with her. Literally just a device. Yeah, something else that was annoying in the last few episodes. The reveal. That was it. Girl.

This wasn't the final few episodes that they touch on, this recurring nightmare slash repressed memory, and we get the full story, and even though it's really like a chunky story, like really kind of interesting and impressive, it they had this intense moment too with the father and him, This reunion scene where he's like, I'm going to take away everything you loved, I took away something that was precious with you from you and blah blah blah, it's it's too late.

Like too. Little too late. We're too much too late. By this time, I'm like, I don't it was. Give it to me like it was too much, too late. And I like the I liked it. Like by itself. It's good because it had like it was touching on the hypocrisy and like the deconstruction of his father's problematic ideals and like his murderous politics. But all this happened too late, which makes it seem half baked.

No, Yeah. By the time that it came to fruition, I was like, no, one can't at this point. We're just going to just move this alone and make sure that our main characters get together. And you know, maybe if they trickled it in a little bit so that we can anticipate it, at least for me at least I can anticipate it. Because even his, from my memory, his, his flashbacks, I just remember that he's outside in the pouring rain and he's looking at this gate and it's

like someone's getting beat. And I he's yelling out for his father. And the whole time I thought it was his father getting beat because no, I'm like, where did I go wrong? Like, what did I miss? Because then later on it was the dad beating the guy. I'm like, what? I'm I'm not like, what did I miss that? I didn't get that. I didn't get that because, you know, he, we played around with the whole, oh, he's not a real noble guy or a noble man, you

know, And it turns out. He bought his title and he was noble. So I'm like. Yes, it was like, I don't know it was just too much like a lot of back story thrown at us in a very little amount. It's not. It's just an exposition dump because and it was important, like I think it was important because he you needed to know all this, to know why he feels that's this way about society, why he's such a trend, what's the what's the word that he's like going against trends.

He's such a rebel. That's it. He is such a rebel and feels this way about women in society and women's place in society and how he's so like real and and ahead of his time liberal. He's so liberal with his thoughts about like women and and purity culture and stuff like that. It's because of the situation that happened in his past where his sister committed suicide because the father would not accept this relationship between her and the servant because this.

And then there was this whole thing of like the servant was the last family of some. I'm like. Like other noble family that the dad, like, unjustly took down. And so he was working in the household and the father didn't trust that he, like, truly loved her, that this was just a ploy for him to get revenge for his. I was like, what the fuck this is too. Much I would. I would listen. It's OK if he's not a noble man. It's OK, noble man. That's true. It's OK. We're going to be OK.

If if the servant was not a no good and even if you know John Hyun wasn't one, it would have been fine too. But you're right though, that back story was important to see why he's like that. You know where it came from and stuff like that. But. Why he's so compassionate toward her? And compassionate towards towards that you know, but we got it like at. The Unbelievable. That's the end. 02 more things, Two more nitpicks that I have.

I don't know if you have these same picky nits, but I don't think Anne should have taken background. Doing say that again. They should have stayed broken. Up. They should have stayed broken. Up she goes to visit. She goes back to the house. The house is of mess and he's like, can I come with you Back to Nungun. Shameless. Call him the audacious. The audacious. The Audacious. No, I can't.

Like. The shamelessness on him because he killed, he basically kills Jiang Hen and saves him at the same time like this backward ass way he like saves him, but he's been nothing but ruthless to her after she bared her soul to him. And Endei was such a precious soul. She didn't deserve that at all. He did not deserve her at. All. Yongjun did not deserve her, so I don't think she should have taken him back. And number last thing I have here is Big Hyung Nim.

Did he did he have to die? Actually, I don't think he did. They. Big Hyung Nim played by one of the best actors to Trey MU. Oh my God, Trey MU Song. I love that actor. He's been in so many things and I don't think he had to die. Like I thought they were going to give him a little arc for him to get over his own misogyny and unfair prejudice and get with that Lady who ended up tragically losing her baby. I was. Waiting I was waiting for. That never happened.

He died. I'm like don't give, don't tease me like that, Don't tease me with. Don't tease me. Because I'm like, you're giving little hints here and there between them too. And I'm like, oh, nothing, He died. I'm like, OK, Yep, that was unnecessary. Yeah, He didn't have to die for sure. I don't think so. Yeah, I will always remember them kissing in the fields. That is such an iconic scene. In part one, I. Love that scene.

Iconic scene, lots of sweeping shots, color and movement in the cinematography and I will always remember some of that OST as well. Good stuff. Yeah, my basic notes are well casted and well OST like the OST. I love that. Well, OST. The OST just fits so perfect. I was like, oh, this is so good. Perfect for this, the, you know, psychic. And just for the whole, Yeah, I loved it. Epic. I have come to the end of my notes.

They were extensive. I'm so sorry, but I had to get it all out now so that I can close the book on the my dearest era for myself. OK. Do you have anything else you want to add to Rush? See, my last notes are I said, I said that. I said that I have to do an honorable mention. OK, so we don't really touch much on the king. He was trash. Oh my God, the. King. He was definitely trash. What a. Farce.

But however I did actually, I think I really like Crown Prince. Like, I really liked his character, even though he wasn't a. Interesting. He wasn't a perfect character, but I liked his development and where he came from. And then at one point he was like he he was able to see. I feel like he would have been a good king. He was able to develop. Into a good king. And with the help of, you know, John Han too. And I feel like it was a shame that he died.

It was a shame that he died. It was a shame that he died. Were you surprised when he died? I was so shocked. I was shocked like he was. So he was looking really sickly and tasty throughout the like progressively throughout the show and he ends up finally back home in Korea or toss on. And when he says like, oh, I have to wait for the Crown Princess to for her to come back with her like porridge or something like that, milk tea or something she was going to bring him. And then that's it.

He fucking like breathes his last right there, like open eyes, just the soul leaves the body. And I was like, what? I was shocked. That's it though. That's it. That's it. Because. That's all he said. I was very annoyed because him his interaction between him and Jong Hyun, I loved. I loved it so much because they challenge each other well, Jong Hyun challenged him so much and. Yes. As much as like you know. Questioned his authority? Invalid. Ways definitely.

And at some point he starts to get it and he starts to like be open, open minded. And it's just such a shame because he could have been a good king. And I feel like they I was just expecting and their relationship between John Kian and the Crown Prince to develop which I was happy when he when John Kian said to the king like I was not just the interpreter, I was a very cherished his. Cherished. Interpreter So I feel like justice to Crown Prince, even though, like he wasn't, you

know, the best. He was a little, he was a little nasty earlier. But I feel like it's it was a good got like you know 2 male. Well they're not friends but how they're you know he John, he had just impacted him. He just impacted him. There was like a mutual respect there by the end. Because they kept looking for John Young. What do I do now, bro? Yeah, you know, And he's done. Yeah, he was a playmaker.

And so I just yeah. Also shout out to the Crown Princess who died really brutally, like she was poisoned for days. It was bad. It was bad. She got framed by the by the concubine that she was leaving trinkets around the palace that were cursing her elders and the the the king. That was a little frustrating to. It was dumb as shit, all right? It was dumb. That's it. Yeah. Anyway, great show, great show, great show. I got a great time. Great show.

Yeah, highly recommend. If you've come this far. I am so sorry, but we might have spoiled the whole show for you. It was a happy ending. Finally, I think everyone was. It's not that I'm upset that it was a happy ending, I'm just upset the the little baby journey that we took at the end there was like a little necessary. Annoying but. Yeah. Whatever. That's it though.

We've come to the end of it. Sarai, I want to thank you so much for coming on this show and for spending all of this time and coming prepared and just being so enthusiastic about my dearest with me. Because I was like, look, I was like looking for someone to share this experience with who would just, like, get it and be super on board with doing this last minute episode that I was like, you know what, I think we, I think I need to talk about this.

So thank you so much. Where can we find you online? Instagram for sure. You'll find me there at K Drama Cafe under score Podcast and that's pretty much it. I have a TikTok K Drama Cafe under score Podcast. I barely post anything there, but for sure Instagram. And then my podcast is you can find K Drama Cafe Podcast. Yeah, Spotify. K Drama Cafe. So we had sold You and Cafecito today. What is it? Combo. But you know, combo so. Yeah, gumbo shots. So that's it. We'll see you next time.

I'm Jessica and this has been the Tabaki Rabbits podcast. The. The.