i hope you all know that Knight Flower is giving us women co-conspirators, a noona romance, a woman as the Grand Merchant, another woman who has a side hustle transcribing books, a lot of women engaging in commerce just in general, nation's mom Kim Mi Kyung (in this case an oppressive mother-in-law), an upstanding male lead that secretly supports the hijinks of our female lead, lots of girls and women acting in this series (like - just so many. Sageuks don't normally have a huge female cast and this is giving quantity and variety), a focus on the downtrodden and oppressed, and Honey Lee wrestling with having the hots for a dude she just punched.

세작, 매혹된 자들 CAPTIVATING THE KING (2024): EPISODE 14

Oh booooy... you're in big trouble inspector. Trouble with the agent of love. 😆

I can't wait for them to be matched together!!!

I am still glad that I could be a part of your time, even if it was a fleeting moment. I was happy to encounter you.

The Story of Park's Marriage Contract 열녀 박씨 계약 결혼뎐 (2023-2024) — ep. 12 | tie, the second month

There was a rebellion. The rebels killed the reincarnation of Asa Sin. And the king suppressed the rebellion. Externally, you'll be announced dead. But I'll spare your life and let you go far away. What do you think? Is it too hard to decide?

ARTHDAL CHRONICLES 아스달 연대기 (2019–2023) — s2.e09 | remember my face

It's not a sageuk without a cross-dressing woman who looks nothing like a man but people just go with it anyway 👍🏼

Ryang Eum's character description on My Dearest

Translated for @achiara !

"Joseon's best singer. A strange, mysterious man with a face as pale as snow, eyes filled with sorrow, and long fingers good for playing the geomungo, archery and even gunmanship. So handsome that he seems sure to be surrounded by women... but Ryang Eum realized at the age of twelve that his heart jumps for the sweaty musk of a man, rather than the scent of a woman. As he grew up, he developed a sensual energy to shake the hearts of gay men, and even men who never knew what it means to love a man, while his song entraps the rest of the world. Everyone who hears him sing asks, "How does your music make one's heart cry like this?" to which he simply gives a chuckle and a smile, but Ryang Eum knows. The source of this pain started with Lee Jang Hyeon. The man in his heart. But Jang Hyeon only sees him as a cherished friend, unaware that Ryang Eum has other motives, and Ryang Eum has also decided never to reveal his feelings to anyone. Jang Hyeon would leave if he knew of his Ryang Eum's heartache. Ryang Eum can't let him go.

The next time you see a sunrise this pretty…

you will surely think of me, right?

UNDER THE QUEEN’S UMBRELLA (2022) | Episode 10 🌅

dailyasiandramas’ sunday throwback ★ [WEEK 5]

THE TALE OF NOKDU 조선로코 녹두전 [2019] Dir. Kim Dong Hwi

Why yes I would like twelve (12) episodes of Honey Lee beating up child traffickers and doodling the hot captain's abs in her sachaek.

세작, 매혹된 자들 CAPTIVATING THE KING (2024): EPISODE 8

Words are not enough to explain these facial expressions.

Happiness. Longing. Humiliation. Pity. Sadness. Love. If there's such a word to mix all these words, please help me out because that would be the best description for this scene.

Nam Goong Min and Ahn Eun Jin seriously nailed this drama sequence forever and etched it in my memory as a viewer.

One of the best no dialogue scenes I've seen this year!

KNIGHT FLOWER

GENRES: Historical, Action, Romance

SUMMARY: A woman widowed before she even met her husband decides to take charge of her own fate as a nighttime Joseon Robin Hood.

THIS SHOW HAS EVERYTHING: Crude memorial engravings, hidden costumes, wall-jumping, rice distribution, filial piety, palace drama, bookstore meet-cutes, hunky Garrison Captains, lunchboxes, merchants, men’s handfans, tiger scrolls, and making sure you live every day helping those you can.

HOT TAKE: I love how this was one of the most evil Left State Ministers I've seen in a while. I love how tall and goofy Lee Ki Woo can be. I love the shy romances that run throughout the main cast. I love every facial expression of Lee Ha Nee and I love Lee Jong Won in his undergarments.

My current kdrama watch is the acclaimed historical Mr Sunshine and 8 episodes in, I'm LOVING it. This show is nearly precisely my jam. Here are some of the things I've been loving so far:

The scriptwriter is a woman and IT SHOWS. It's not that the men in this drama don't get up to the usual Asian Drama Patriarchal Nonsense. And it's not that the heroine tries to challenge the usual ADPN - she's just too smart, active, and driven for it to affect her much. In ep8 her grandfather and mentor conspire to keep her from running a dangerous mission and she just eavesdrops on them and informs them that she will in fact be running the dangerous mission anyway and there's nothing they can do about it. It's not that they aren't TRYING to infantilise her - she's just too much of an adult for them to be very good at it, which is refreshing.

The main pairing is leaving me more or less unmoved but this angst-ridden antiheroic crush from the angry little gangster man she scorns as a traitor??? The game of cat and also cat they have going on? The sheer levels of unrequited yearning and the ruthless way she's using it against him? …oh duh. It's yet another version of my favourite ETL flavour: Sad Wet Pathetic Man Hounded To His Death By Righteous Lady Warrior

For years - years - I have bewailed the way in which American writers of historical fiction always find a way to shove American characters into other people's stories. Mr Sunshine somehow does this trope in a way that I utterly love because it does the trope in a way that is not American-centric. The American being inserted into the story of 1890s Joseon is a Korean-American. The story is firmly centred on the Korean experience, whether as immigrants to America or as a subject of colonisation by other great powers. It depicts the US with a nuanced appreciation of that nation's democratic ideals contrasted with a realistic and jaded view of that same nation's inability to live up to those same ideals. YES this is what I've always wanted to see!

Related, I'm really appreciating the nuanced take on Korea and Japan - I absolutely loved Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 last year but it definitely didn't have any good Japanese in it. Mr Sunshine isn't particularly happy about Japan either, but it's far more empathetic towards those Koreans who found themselves collaborating with, living in, or taking on the identity of Japan for whatever reason. And by the same token, it was honestly a bit shocking to see this story open by shining a VERY uncompromising light on the plight of slaves in Joseon Korea - the show continually insists that slaves and women in Joseon are treated as badly as the hovering colonial powers would treat the Joseon nobility, and shows how disadvantaged people might end up on either side of the struggle for independence as response to the same kind of injustice bred in Korea itself. It's a beautifully complex and nuanced take.

Also HECK it's just so incredibly pretty to look at.

I love sageuks that deal with Korea being a tiny country that may be crushed by a massive international power, usually China or Japan, at any time.

Mostly because as a Canadian, I strongly identify with that feeling. The massive international power that we share a border with can get a little terrifying at times.

An assignment for class I did. Was trying to learn some techniques from Mike Mignola’s style