[Drama 2013/2014] ♚ Empress Ki (기황후) ♚

[Guest Ding Lin]

JP said: I'm confused why some people think Ta Hwan is the main male character/the man Seung nyang is going to fall in love with. The rule of thumb (as in, almost always the case) with kdramas is that the main male lead is the man the main female falls in love with. That almost NEVER changes. And the main male lead here is Joo Jin Mo. Why? Because objectively speaking, Joo Jin Mo is an A-list actor, long established in the korean drama and movie industry. In comparison, Ji Chang wook, while I like him, and think he is promising and talented, simply doesn't have the "clout" in the industry to be headlining or to be the main male lead of a long, big budget 50 episode sageuk like this. (He did do Warrior baek dong soo but that's because the main male character was supposed to be a teenager) Joo Jin mo would have never agreed to do this kdrama if he was playing second fiddle. Therefore, although we know from history that Seung nyang will marry Ta hwan and become his empress, it is HIGHLY probable and almost guaranteed that the man she will actually love is Wang yoo. I find the shipping wars and such amusing, but the fandom (especially fandom in abroad and not in Korea) rarely effect who gets first billing/is the main character.

[rinchan76]

louisawatson said: I saw the episode! I love how TH decided to be strong and take action! However, seriously, SN, you really could not hear what he said just because he blocked your ears with his hands? Lol i do not believe you. TN was cute and funny saying that WY was into her and because of that TH is jealous. XD i felt bad for her when she thought the shadow play was for her. D: it was easy for her to think that it was for her. How could she think he was into another girl just after the Lady Park incident? I really love the WY scenes. I could feel his emotions. I really like that he starts to feel jealous. DK was funny and pitiful ordering SN to tell him if TH looks suspicious. Either he is stupid or he just wants to talk to her, but does it wrongful way. Anyway, i am sure Lady Noh knows where is the letter, but too mad to speak or does not fully trust SN yet. After all, they just met. I love the ending scene. TH was either stupid or bold. Maybe both. I mean i know he wants SN to see the shadow show, but TN is right next to you. If she notices, then it would cause serious problem. However, i still scream with joy when TH boldly tried to hold SN's hand. But i understand why SN didn't want to. After all, it was little forward for SN and WY was there and TN was there too. I seriously love the part where WY got so jealous that he hold SN's hand, then i seriously screamed of joy when TH also hold SN's hand when he saw WY holding her hand! I think that was most climactic love triangle tension moment so far in the drama.

[bianca405]

monday night episode is the best so far in my opinion, i could see the complexity of the love between the 3 and how the 2 guys will fight for it! as a girl, i can't help but giggle, like butterfly in my stomach!

[Guest Ding Lin]

bianca405 said: monday night episode is the best so far in my opinion, i could see the complexity of the love between the 3 and how the 2 guys will fight for it! as a girl, i can't help but giggle, like butterfly in my stomach!

[qwenli]

i cant believe how some folks here can write lengthy articles abt who is the male lead and so i feel i have to say my piece:

my definition of a lead no matter male or female is that the character is central to e story n hv substantial screentime. TH fulfils this criteria.

i do not understand why there cannot be more than one male or female leads especially since this is a 50ep big budget saguek with a complex story line.

A few years ago, Lee yo won who acted in the titular role of Queen Seon deok was overshadowed by Go hyun jung's evil character Mishil and i think everyone have to acknowledge tat both Lee and Go are leads of the show.Similarly, in the same drama, Eom Tae Woon was more experienced than Kim Nam Gil but the story leaned heavily on Kim in the later eps.in the end,kim was the breakout star of the drama.

Then there is the question of whether the more established actor has to be the lead. Nothing is more evident in this year's I hear yr voice,where yoon sang hyun who is the more established actor got lesser screentime than the emerging star lee jong seok.This is of no fault of Yoon who delivered his role wonderfully, but a result of the storyline which is abt a noona n dongsaeng romance.

IHYV is a good parallel to Empress Ki,because historically TH is supposed to be younger anyway. Consider the reverse, if they hv cast a lesser known and younger actor as WY. The romantic tug of war is not going to work.I can see wat the scriptwriter is trying to do.TH n WY are supposed to be polar opposites.

In any case,I am just trying to say that a drama is essentially abt a story, n so it is impt for the story to be good, not who get more screentime n being billed as the lead.sometimes the lead gets the girl,sometimes they dont.

Also if any actor consider him or herself as being too important n famous to even share screen time,than i think the person shd not be called an acting professional but just a celebrity.

My point is there can be more than one lead in a drama n also the older more established one, may not be the only lead.

[Guest loveintheicee]

Honestly I think I'm starting to ship TH-Golta now xD Their scenes are always so funny LOL.I'm really scared for future Episodes though.I wonder what kind of person will Empress Ki will be in the drama?Episode 1 shows Seung Nyang holding that pair of matching rings thoughtfully - does it mean that she still haven't gotten over her father's death? I don't know x_x
On the side note: Does anyone know how long does darksmurfsubs upload their episode to the website? 

[kdramatist]

Watched Episode 17 with no eng subs all I can say is SN is one lucky girl with all these hot royalty. Let's see what are her choices...shall I choose the king or thee emperor? Choices..choices...either way I become a queen or an empress...but still score with either hottie.. Can't wait for eng subs and episode 18

[Guest missred123]

Guys, I mean, TH told WY straight up! He wasn't confused, he didn't have his usual baby tantrums, he was serious. He told WY I am not letting her go. I am emperor I rule here in Yuan and some parts of Goryeo and SN is going to stay by my side. And what does WY do? Don't believe him. WY feels like it won't happen. Guys, when someone tells you something believe them! TH even challenge him to a game of football, come on now, that's some serious shet. TH wanted to show him how manly he was. Not! But he was willing to compete to win SN and what does WY do? Kick the ball in his eye showing TH he is no match for him and still don't believe him. WY need to stop looking at TH as a simpleton and see him as a man wanting a woman and will do anything to keep her by his side and the more SN is at his side the more TH is able to chip away her resistance. And most of all, believe him!!!! WY need to take TH seriously and strategize against him, by not being a warrior, but as a man in love. I am glad that he had a jolt of back to back sitting and gentle eye blowing that kick his heart up a notch! Sooo, now do we see a man in love from WY!! I can't wait!!!

[Guest larabn]

no matter what ship we are on we can all drink to one thing )
we refuse A LOVE CHILD PLOT ) so if the writers do a love child plot
they can expect lots and lots of angry zombie fans waiting outside the set to send them to zombie land )

and guys about tanashiri being all crazy well the girl is in love lol I can understand cause after all she is Dangkise's sister
if his love is expressed through sniffing then it's understandable that her love is expressed through Shakespeare's
 "A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM" )
and I meant to choose this title specially for tanashiri lol =))  =))

and yay for TH finally manning up and wanting to take matters in his own hands but I hope he doesn't do it irrationally and that's why he gets caught
and I did read somewhere that SN will teach him to read

thanks for the BTS video and all the pics and videos too

very cute 3 leads, I love to see them in the BTS.....I think they are having a great time despite the cold weather and sleepless nights
I'm applying for a job to serve them tea so I can join the fun too lol ) after all someone has to make the tea they show in all these scenes
I hope all they win an award for their great efforts :x

[Iaijutsu]

.

[Guest missred123]

TH has been manning up since he decided to keep SN by his side. He minced no words with WY. He told him straight up how he felt. TH man up when it comes to keeping SN from WY, but man Down with ET.

[illay]

larabn said: ......

very cute 3 leads, I love to see them in the BTS.....I think they are having a great time despite the cold weather and sleepless nights
I'm applying for a job to serve them tea so I can join the fun too lol ) after all someone has to make the tea they show in all these scenes
I hope all they win an award for their great efforts :x

[Guest larabn]

illay said: Please don't..you might burn TH's shoulder this time....

[illay]

loveintheicee said: Honestly I think I'm starting to ship TH-Golta now xD Their scenes are always so funny LOL.I'm really scared for future Episodes though.I wonder what kind of person will Empress Ki will be in the drama?Episode 1 shows Seung Nyang holding that pair of matching rings thoughtfully - does it mean that she still haven't gotten over her father's death? I don't know x_x
On the side note: Does anyone know how long does darksmurfsubs upload their episode to the website? 

[illay]

larabn said: illay said: Please don't..you might burn TH's shoulder this time....

[Guest larabn]

illay said: larabn said: illay said: Please don't..you might burn TH's shoulder this time....

[rinchan76]

@ding lin and @jp since it has already been established that there is only a lead cast, and not necessarily a main male and lead and second male, I think it is a little unfair to say that JJM is being mistreated. To be honest WY has a fairly well developed story arc. for many past episodes JJM's character got basically half the episode time because the story was split in between the war over the silk road and what ever is going on in the palace. If the writers are trying to hide him, they are doing a very poor job. We have to realize this is a 50 episode drama and the main characters can't be in 100% of the scenes. The people who should complain are people like me, who came to watch this drama for HJW, who is Empress Ki, but most of the scenes she has been subjected to lately has been serving tea, babysitting, and most recently a game of tug of war, where she starred as a rope, lol. Mind you she is not getting much lines and you would think she would get more lines since her name is in the title.As far as I see it there is no end to JJM's shine, and also would it be such a bad thing if JJM played a supporting role. It is not as if his popularity would suffer for it, and just because he won awards does not mean he is automatically entitled to lead roles. In a movie/drama when there are multiple leads that are popular, it said that the drama/movie has a star-studded cast, which aptly describes this drama, because JCW has had his own following for a while and HJW, who has amassed multiple awards, is heading to hollywood due to her skills and popularity.The fact of the matter is this is a 50 ep drama where the relevant characters will get their time and in the description it was stated that she will experience a sad romance with these guys as she works her way up to being empress (so the love triangle was indicated before hand but not the sole focal point of the show), whoever she ends up with/loves will be dictated by who ever the writer picks not who won the most awards.   We do not know what effect the writer is going for, so let's just watch and enjoy the ride, >-

[Libera]

rinchan76 said: @ding lin and @jp since it has already been established that there is only a lead cast, and not necessarily a main male and lead and second male, I think it is a little unfair to say that JJM is being mistreated. To be honest WY has a fairly well developed story arc. for many past episodes JJM's character got basically half the episode time because the story was split in between the war over the silk road and what ever is going on in the palace. If the writers are trying to hide him, they are doing a very poor job. We have to realize this is a 50 episode drama and the main characters can't be in 100% of the scenes. The people who should complain are people like me, who came to watch this drama for HJW, who is Empress Ki, but most of the scenes she has been subjected to lately has been serving tea, babysitting, and most recently a game of tug of war, where she starred as a rope, lol. Mind you she is not getting much lines and you would think she would get more lines since her name is in the title.As far as I see it there is no end to JJM's shine, and also would it be such a bad thing if JJM played a supporting role. It is not as if his popularity would suffer for it, and just because he won awards does not mean he is automatically entitled to lead roles. In a movie/drama when there are multiple leads that are popular, it said that the drama/movie has a star-studded cast, which aptly describes this drama, because JCW has had his own following for a while and HJW, who has amassed multiple awards, is heading to hollywood due to her skills and popularity.The fact of the matter is this is a 50 ep drama where the relevant characters will get their time and in the description it was stated that she will experience a sad romance with these guys as she works her way up to being empress (so the love triangle was indicated before hand but not the sole focal point of the show), whoever she ends up with/loves will be dictated by who ever the writer picks not who won the most awards.   We do not know what effect the writer is going for, so let's just watch and enjoy the ride, >-

[Guest minnie0103]

I was thinking, does Seung Nyang know that Wang Yoo was the Crown Prince who let her and her mother escape several years ago?

I was checking the drama's first script reading photos last night when I saw a photo of young Seung Nyang and young Wang Yoo who were also present at the session with Ha Ji Won, Joo Jin Mo, and the other cast members.







If I'm right, these two only appeared in Episode 1, not even half of the episode, and we never saw them again after that. Would they bother to attend the first script reading session if they were only given a very small role each? I know their roles as the young hero and young heroine respectively are pivotal in the evolution of the story. I'm just wondering if it's possible to see them again in the forthcoming episodes as part of the flashbacks.

[Guest larabn]

between The 101 sad faces of WY in yesterday's ep

number 1 was a happy face



but braided hair guy had to get him back on track to face # 90 here