K-Drama Review: The Forbidden Marriage, Episode 1

— SYNOPSIS: —

There is a Marriage Ban in effect throughout the lands because the royal family is searching for a new crown princess. This has gone on for seven years, and people are kind of fed up with it. Can’t blame them.

The Female Main Character is So Rang. She hangs out with an old fortune teller, Gok Gwaeng Yi, and schemes ways to make money. The show tells you she’s clever, but not that clever, as she gets repeatedly caught and released by the authorities.

The Male Lead is the Emperor, Yi Heon. He is plagued by nightmares of his dead wife, the former Crown Princess, and refuses to remarry or even take mistresses. We are introduced to him via the Head Eunuch and the Head Maid, who are trying to drug him and get him to sleep with a maid(?) who is supposedly an expert on intercourse.

Of course, when the maid goes in, she’s shocked that he’s young and hot and very much begins to look forward to her night… which never happens because even though they drug him, the emperor is still very much in love with his wife, Ja Yeon. The woman triggers him by mentioning Ja Yeon’s name and punishes those involved. Thankfully, with the intervention of Lee Sin Won, Chief of the Royal Investigation Bureau and the Emperor’s best friend, no bloodbath happens.

A short heart-to-heart drops various exposition, including how the court and people feel about his reign and that Sin Won is looking for a woman. Sin Won is the 2nd male lead.

Meanwhile, So Rang and her fortune-teller friend move to the capital and buy and open a business related to marriage compatibility. With this, the main cast is all in the same city.

The Emperor visits the Queen Mother, who is also very interested in his sex life; the emperor says something akin to he must choose the right person or chaos will ensue. At court, the ministers are also concerned, of course, and push for marriage and children. The Minister of Defence manipulates the room and gets what he wants from everyone.

In a flashback, we learn more about Ja Yeon and Yi Heon. Ji Heon is a very playful person, while Ja Yeon is sweet but rigid. He loves her, but it’s hard to say if she loves him. On the one hand, she’s not wrong. On the other, Yi Heon clearly needs support as a human being, not an emperor. It’s a bit heartbreaking as she is trying to protect him, but at the same time, she is refusing to accept him as a human being.

Then we find out she killed herself (or not?). To make matters worse, someone has been recreating the scene at the palace for the past seven years — another reason he hasn’t taken a wife. These events only add to the mental and emotional stress that Yi Heon is under as emperor, culminating in nightmares and hallucinations that reflect his fears and sorrow.

Back in the city, So Rang is stirring up trouble fighting the marriage ban in her own way. Unlike So Rang, Gwaeng Yi and all his fabulousness actually has some kind of power. He warns her to be careful playing around. They hire Hae Yeong for their business, Aedaldang, which turns out to be very popular despite the fact it’s illegal.

The emperor and Sin Won go out to the town to find out what happens at Aedaldang. They discover the marriage fraud and all the nonsense they say about Yi Heon. Just as So Rang is bragging about not getting caught, she, of course, gets caught, as is her proven routine. I don’t know why she bothers; they know where she lives.

In standard RomCom way, So Rang jumps on top of Sin Won, who seems to recognize her. After she runs, though, Yi Heon gets involved, and they team up to track her down. They do. ’Cause So Rang is kind of bad at this.

And here we have the ML-FL-SML triangle moment where the men grab the woman’s wrists. Ah yes.

In jail, So Rang spouts all the nonsense she can, including pretending to be possessed by a matchmaking god, to get out. For better or worse So Rang strikes a chord with Ji Hyeon by mentioning the ghost of the Crown Princess. He asks for her to be sent to him.

So Rang is brought before the Emperor and, in desperation, pretends that the Crown Princess possesses her. Shockingly, she gets away with this based on her observations (Yes, daebak, he’s a flower boy… BUT), her acting, her former life as a noble lady, and a lot of luck.

After her success in front of the king, she’s taken back to prison, where she finds out Lee Sin Won’s name, and we find out that So Rang used to be the noble lady he was engaged to and is still looking for.

Yi Heon cannot escape his mental trauma, though tries. A traitor is discussed, and they aren’t even trying to hide that it’s the Minister of Defense who just straight-up admits he’s manipulating the courts and is a terrible human. To help Yi Heon’s delusions, they decide to keep So Rang by his side. He asks Sin Won to watch over her.

Yi Hyeon sees Ja Yeon in So Rang and hugs her in front of Sin Won.

— MY TAKES —

HIGHLIGHTS

YiHeon’s Dreams are interesting. I’m a sucker for that ‘stage-play’ kind of feel, especially when it’s utilized the way it is here.

The Matchmaker Possession is just a lot of fun. I’ll bet the actress had fun with that scene.

PLOT(s)

There is a lot going on here. Either that or they made poor exposition choices because this episode was about 70–80% exposition, with Yi Hyeon being the only one to get some real character scenes. There are a few other plots and subplots in here, but these are the main ones I think are worth talking about:

— The Marriage Plot: Political? So far, I deem it Mostly Pointless.

I have a hard time with this one, and the longer it goes on, I think I will struggle with it even more.

I can’t find any historical sources on whether or not this is a real thing, but it does sound like something I’ve seen before in other stories — at least for the nobility. But this show takes it too far. It makes no sense, and it hurts my head. For one thing, it’s too detrimental to the kingdom and the emperor’s reputation to be a politically sound move (We see this in the drama, and they TRY to exposition the logic away. It doesn’t work for me). For another, it would never be enforceable, at least not for the common people. I won’t go too deep into my logic around this because we’d be here all day, but it’s just not a good plot.

Worse, I’m not sure it’s needed. The only thing it really does is make people mad at the king and MAYBE interfere with So Rang’s wedding, and even those things could have found stronger reasons.

— The Emperor and the Crown Princess: Murder/Suicide

This is the real main plot as I see it, with the Crown Princess’s death being the lynchpin to everything from the marriage ban to the Emperor’s mental health. The mystery here is genuinely intriguing, as I like how they handle Yi Hyeon as a character, even if I’m not thrilled with the inevitable romance (See Characters). I’m interested to see how this one plays out as we learn more about the cause of Ja Yeon’s murder/suicide. Has Rooftop Prince vibes.

— So Rong: The Secret Noble

So Rong has some balls on her; I’ll give her that. She seems to have effortlessly made the transition from noble lady to eccentric commoner with a reputation. We don’t know yet why she is in hiding, how long she’s been in hiding, or why she seems to have totally abandoned propriety. She’s just a ball of fun. She reminds me of a discount Sujini from Legend of the First King’s Four Gods, and maybe that’s why I have such a fondness for her so soon.

— The Minister of Defense: Political. If you were trying to hide this one, you failed.

This man is a sleaze and clearly the ‘bad guy.’ I hope they subvert this at some point because it being so obvious in a show like this hurts. They’ve set the murder/suicide up as a ‘who done it’ story, so if we already know who did it, then it’s just bad storytelling.

THE CHARACTERS

So Rang is fun. I’m shocked she’s still alive. She should be thankful this is a fusion drama. Interestingly, she also seems to have very little interest in either male lead outside of remarking how good-looking they are. Even when they spend time together, she’s not treating them as potential love interests but more like siblings. As of right now, I’m not sure if it’s the script, the acting, or the chemistry. I’m not familiar with the actors in this one, so it’s hard to say. In the end, this is a K-Drama, though, so I imagine she will end up with the male lead. I hope that if that expectation follows to the end, this improves. Right now, I enjoy it.

Yi Heon, the Emperor, is a complex character. Unfortunately, I’m not sold it’s a good kind of complex. This could come from my issues with the plot more than the character. I can see where they are trying to go with him, and he’s likable when he’s not having an episode. The problem is that his episodes often lead to extreme mood swings that can turn him erratic, angry, and even violent (which, I should note, is accurate for a lot of mental illnesses). When he looks at So Rang, he sees Ja Yeon, and any affection is purely driven by this and puts So Rang in a position where she could easily be emotionally manipulated. Ultimately, it would take a lot of work to convince me this is a healthy relationship.

Sin Won already has major second-lead male syndrome. If So Rang were to have married him, they would likely have had a pretty healthy relationship. I find it interesting that the show’s plot does put these two characters in a position where, if things weren’t being manipulated behind the scenes, they could already have been happily married with kids (even if they weren’t ‘in love,’ they still would likely have been close friends). Instead, Sin Won has to face that this woman who would have been his wife might choose someone over him. This someone is the Emperor, of all people, who is not only his king but his best friend, and he knows he’s not mentally or emotionally stable. Does a friend watch another friend wander into a relationship like that in the first place? The other reason I don’t like this is that it validates the Emperor’s right to stop people from getting married because the woman he loves would have been married if it weren’t for that law. Curiously, he gets several romance conventions with So Rang.

SHOW QUALITY

— Video and Sound:

K-Dramas always have top-tier sound and video quality [for Asian dramas].

— Costumes:

The costume design in historical dramas almost always fits what the show aims for. I’m not a fashion expert, but I expect that, as a fusion fantasy, they are using mostly traditional with some modern fashion and sensibility thrown in here and there. We probably aren’t 100% historically accurate, but we aren’t at Hong Gil Dong level either. If anything, they look a little cheap.

— Stage and Setting:

The stages/settings do feel a bit empty in comparison to other historical dramas. I’m not sure if this is a prop issue or a camera issue, but often it feels like they just went to the nearest landmark and filmed there without populating the scene. Like the costumes, they look like they didn’t spend much money on sets.

— Acting:

As far as the acting… I don’t feel I know enough yet. As I said before, there was a lot of exposition in this first episode, and I don’t think it’s fair to blame the actors for that. I’m also not as familiar with these actors as I am with other dramas. As it is, I expect they are doing what they can. Yi Hyeon is an exception, as many of his scenes require more acting than line delivery. He does well with most of the scenes.

— Music:

I like the music. When I notice it, it’s fun, fusion-style music blends old and new Korean music styles. They have a cute song about catching So Rang that I find pretty catchy. The closing is a pretty standard drama ballad.

— CONCLUSION —

For now, The Forbidden Marriage is in my good graces. If nothing else, it’s decent quality, and I’m happy to route for So Rang. They will need to work hard if they want to convince me that So Rang and Yi Hyeon are a good match for each other if they go that route. If they aren’t careful, I think that could turn icky. If they do it well, it has potential.

But the marriage ban is stupid. Sorry, lol. XD

See you next time!

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Originally published on Medium, January 8th, 2023