It’s a “fusion sageuk” and I loved it. [Major Spoilers]

As I understand the term, “fusion” sageuk is not based on actual history (which was cruel, bloody and terrifying for just about everyone) so the writers can incorporate more humor and more true romance (as opposed to arranged marriages). It’s my 1st time watching any sageuk beyond the first 2 episodes for the following reasons [spoilers!]
1. The main reason I continued to watch beyond Ep. 3 was the Character of Shi-yeol. I have never seen the actor Kang Hoon before, but I am now watching many of his prior dramas: Little Women, etc. He carried the show forward.
2. For the first 10 episodes, there was a continuing mystery as to which of the scholars was the real lost prince, which one was the “Watchman” and if there were any other assorted “royals” who might have a claim to the throne. The Watchman “reveal” was one of the best written, directed and choreographed scenes I have ever watched – and re-watched. Truly Epic (and bloody).
3. Much of the drama was full of many side characters with conspiracies, betrayals, spies/counter-spies but at about the 12 episode mark, the puzzle pieces began to align and the viewer understood who was friend or foe and (except for one minor character in Ep 18 – a truly wasted 4 minutes) there were no major surprises. In other words, the writers carefully wove the various storylines together and there were no “WTF” moments where a character totally forgot about a prior conversation or new facts were suddenly inserted to move the story forward.
4. Happy Ending for the entire Ilwahon family: Dan-oh, Kang San, Yu-ha, Shi-yeol, Naju, Yook Ho and Hong-joo
5. I hate star-crossed lover stories usually, but the slow-burn romance between Shi-yeol and Hong-joo was beautifully written and because of their backstory/history, it was easy to see how their connection grew and evolved. In my view, they outshone the supposed Main Couple whose primary claim to romance was a childhood connection. Anyway, very happy ending for both couples, so good job writers.
6. The sword fights (and there were many) were well choreographed – outstanding stunt work. The production team did not spare expense in filming the final outdoor scenes both within and outside the palace.
7. All of the bad guys died ?

A few negatives:

As w/most k-dramas, the ending (last ½ hour of Ep. 18) was rushed as everyone’s story was wrapped up with a neat bow in a two-year time skip. However, the reconciliation between Shi-yeol and Hong-joo was a series of small scenes – I was frankly surprised at the writers/directors because they shared short “sketch” scenes which may have been in the novel, but as I said – rushed. Not even a kiss or hug when they reunited. ☹☹

Lots of blood spilled but the most graphic scenes involved the bad guys, so easier to handle.

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Charming, but the "all men are misogynist jerks" became a bit tiresome.

It's unusual that I have an entire day to spend watching a k-drama, but circumstances allowed today when it was released. The story is the standard enemies to lovers with "fake date" contract somewhere in the middle.

ML and FL were entertaining, charming and enjoyable, and nothing cringey about supporting cast. I liked the
ML character (Nam Kang Ho) far more than the FL character (Yeo Mi Ran), and I think it's because he was the one that developed/evolved - she was pretty stuck in her original persona.

My one big negative - except for the ML and SML, most of the adult men were drunks or cheaters or silly or unprofessional or. . . .choose a stereotypical Korean male jerk and there were several of them in this movie. It was VERY tiresome. And, of course, most of the women were strong-willed, bold, fearless. The female lawyer was THE brilliant strategist (male lawyers not allowed to be smart - just jerks).

Netflix made the right decision to release all at once - if this was offered merely on a weekly basis, I would probably have stopped along Ep. 4 and not bothered to watch the series until all episodes were released. Unlike my current favorite "Crash Course in Romance" - I eagerly await next episodes.

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"The Real Has Come" s/b called “The Roller Coaster is Here” [UPDATE at Episode 50]

As of Episode 34, the viewer is at precisely 2/3 of the way through a 50 episode drama and for some inexplicable reason, the writers chose to make a major detour in the story-line and the question now is: was the detour planned all along OR, have they chosen to re-write (ignore) the history and canon presented thus far. I don’t know the answer – so this review is for Episodes 1-32 of the drama – and will be updated from time to time. Mild spoilers.

Synopsis: The series depicts the story of an unmarried pregnant woman (Oh Yeon Do/YD) and an unmarried man (Gong Tae Kyung/TK) who enter into a false contract which “leads them to romance, pregnancy, childbirth, and childrearing”. But this move proves to be tricky because TK’s first love (Jang Se Jin/SJ) and YD’s now ex-boyfriend and father of her child, (Kim Joon Ha/JH), want to have a say in all this. “Will Cupid be able to sort out this tangled mess of romance?”

Episodes 1-10 were well-written and filmed well in advance to allow for large crowd scenes, outdoor locations and good introduction of all main characters and their family dynamics. There are three main families: Kang/Oh, Gong and Jang, all with the requisite parents, siblings, uncles, matriarch grandmother, etc. and features several couples in various stages of courtship or marriage. Kim Joon Has is the one main character with no family and viewers were told early on (in promotional video) that his family history would be a secret until the end of the drama.

Episodes 11-20 involved the growing connection between the Main Couple (TK/YD) as they negotiate their way through the early months of the contract marriage. They lied and deceived their families about their relationship, claiming that TK was the biological father of Baby “Real” and also lied about registering their marriage. Most episodes were standard k-drama fare: (1) TK/YD trying to maintain their two big secrets and (2) multiple arguments and fights both within and among the main families. There were also several ongoing stories of the other couples and their struggles with unwanted pregnancy and infertility. Episode 20 ended with TK’s declaration that he “liked” (cared for) YD.

Thus began what I call Chapter 3 (Episodes 21-30) - the developing “romance” between the Main Couple as they grew closer emotionally even though still planning to separate a few months before YD’s due date. Also in the mix was the attempted interference of the Second Main Couple (not romantic) as they attempt to split the Main Couple apart by revealing that TK was not the biological father. The other family arguments continued to a lesser extent as the families grudgingly accepted the presumed “married” couple and their presumed “biological” grandchild.

Which brings us to the “4th” chapter - I once predicted that during Episodes 31-40, the Main Couple would “slay all dragons” – that is, commit as a real couple, resolve all issues with their families and fight the 2nd Main Couple. This might still occur by Episode 40ish, but the plot took a 180 degree detour in Episodes 31/32 and as fast as you can say AB-RA-CA-DA-BRA, certain characters completely changed personalities. Previously kind/caring characters became monsters and monsters became caring.

My review thus far: characters that were interesting with interesting stories have been placed on the back-burner. Almost every scene/dialogue now revolves around TK, YD and Baby Real (birth name: Oh Haneul) who was born after YD lied to TK and disappeared for a year. This was the major detour mentioned above and many viewers think the show has gone off the rails at this point. So, that’s the status of the show – major whiplash with characters and story arcs. It’s a circular roller coaster with repetitive angst and trauma and it has lost its charm for me. I will continue watching when I have the time, but I no longer try to find the time to watch. Meanwhile – Episode 36 had its highest ratings in Korea so maybe the writers know what they are doing. Because, in the end, this drama is written by Koreans for a Korean audience and they get the final say on whether it is a success or not.

Review will be updated whenever I feel like it. At this point, I wonder if we will ever find out Kim Joon Ha’s family history before he is hit with a White Truck of Doom.

UPDATE 9/10/23 - after Episode 50:

At the end of what I call “Book # 4” (Episodes 41/42), we wonder to what alternate universe did the characters travel. Nothing happened in these episodes except Main Couple were apart and Main Couple reunited. No other story progressed, and no other characters evolved or changed.

By the end of the drama, the viewer realizes that there was one purpose for these episodes – stalling for time so that the writer(s) could completely re-write the end of the drama. When the drama began filming, the head writer said that 50% of the scripts were finalized. And it showed – the first 25-30 episodes were well done, the various families were intermixed in a variety of scenes and events, including accidental encounters that had meaning in later episodes. After that, it was clear that actors and directors were scrambling because of the rewrites. No more complex, meaningful scenes with a variety of characters. Entire stories were summarily dropped, never to be mentioned again. Location shoots were minimal – frequently taking place with a couple of characters in a coffee shop or driving in a car, walking into a building so that – the interior could be filmed at the studio. Episode 50 filming was completed 3-4 days before it aired.

In the end, almost all of the cast members appeared to be “phoning it in” because there was nothing new or unique in the dialogue or the stories. The exception? Kang Boo Ja (Grandmother) and Jung Eui Jae (Kim Joon Ha) each had scenes which required dialogue and emotion which were seen for the first time. For everyone else, there was nothing new.

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RomCom? I call it “Romantic Friendship” with heavy dose of comedy. I loved it.

As the MDL synopsis states: “The series follows the romantic journey of Yeon Bo Ra, a celebrated love coach and successful author of romance novels, and Lee Soo Hyuk, a charming man who grapples with matters of the heart.”

And it is quite the journey. Bo-ra is popular and a self-proclaimed attention seeker – she craves attention and that people admire/like her. Soo Hyuk is a very reserved man who expresses himself by actions, not words . Both are essentially dumped by their significant others at the same time. Although Soo-Hyuk is stunned (and he blames Bo-ra’s books/radio show for what happened to him), it is Bo-ra that publicly crashes and burns – and Soo Hyuk is there to witness it all and – since he has a caring heart – help her even though he still dislikes her.

It’s a bit of enemies to friendship to love – as Soo Hyuk eventually states “after a few serendipitous moments, we came to work together.” Destiny? I don’t know – I’m not the “destiny” type so choose to belief that it's the right person/right time story.

Over several episodes (beginning around Episode 6), their romantic friendship begins and grows. I call it “romantic friendship” because the viewer could see – in both small moments and Mega Big Moments – that they were falling in love with each other as they continued to grapple with the fall-out of their separate break-ups. In other words, they were good for each other. While learning about the other person, they also learned about themselves. Although they evolved, their basic personalities did not change and that’s probably the number one reason I loved this drama – the writers kept them consistent to the very end.

For those viewers whose definition of “romance” is lots of skinship, flowery words, The woman falling on top of the man, passionate declarations of love and marriage proposals, this may not be your cup of tea. Especially if you’re the type that screams at the TV – “just tell her you love her, you introverted jerk”

There are three other couples/quasi-couples in the drama and they provided back-ground support (i.e. “sounding board”) to the main couple and experienced their own little dramas [translation: filler]. Two were actually cringey – and I won’t spoil further because I never cared about any of them as “a couple”, but I almost removed a two⭐'s from my rating because of them. If the writer wanted us to understand their purpose (other than filler and sounding boards), I don’t know what it was.

Nevertheless, it’s getting a 10⭐ from me because eagerly looked forward to each episode (setting the alarm early morning PDT), I thoroughly enjoyed the Main Couple’s overall story, character “development” and journey, terrific acting by both Yoo In Na and Yoon Hyun Min, and a script that ran the gamut from cringe (did they just show that on tv?) to deep affection. I will probably binge watch again in a couple of weeks.

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An enjoyable watch with a unique premise for a rom-com.

I was all set to give this a 10 rating because(a) the characters were charming, the road to romance was unique and I really looked forward to watching each episode; (b) a happy ending was easy to predict; and (c) the main couple made it all the way through the show as a team w/out a break-up or noble idiocy.
Until the end of Ep. 15 where [SPOILER} Sang Eun (FL) apparently left and abandoned Ji-ho (ML). Ep. 16 tried to explain why she did it but it was incomprehensible (he was “too good” for her). So, a fairly well plotted romance with back-story intrigue and mystery fell flat in the last episode with a phony “break-up” that was strung out far too long. Ep. 16 was a mish-mash of disparate scenes and the final scenes were cute but the charm was missing.
Finally, can’t leave without saying that this is my first time watching Go Kyung Pyo but it won’t be the last – his portrayal of Ji-ho WAS charming throughout to the very last minute.

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