Golden Spirit: Joseon Marriage Prohibition (2022)

This drama just entered my comfort drama list, with its pretty casts, simple plot and a rather slow pace.
TFM aired along with AOS, and I have to say it was a great choice as the two dramas compliment each other wonderfully. If AOS is intense and nerve wracking, TFM feels like a calming and soothing balm, and by itself is a leisure watch you can enjoy in a binge or one at a time.

The plot is pretty much focused and centered at one important thing: the forbidden marriage. It expands from there, and the characters built themselves around it. Their backstories are simple and the drama arcs are not so complicated.
And what's funny to me is that the next episode teaser is pretty much a whole episode summarized with bullet points! This is the perfect drama for anxious people (me) ♡

Sometimes I feel like the main casts kind of holding back (?) like the acting could be toned up a bit, but overall it's still good and enjoyable. The tension is burning, the romance and easy companionship between the leads are very sweet. The drama is good enough to keep you on your seat, but will not make you agitated and stressed out for days.

Also Kim Minju!! is so pretty!!

Overall, I would recommend this if you are looking for a simple historical romance with a slash of drama

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SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK MEETS SCOOBY DOO IN JOSEON ERA !!

What a wonderful & unexpected little gem of a show! I started watching this purely out of curiosity thanks to many positive comments left by netizens on various forums about The Forbidden Marriage (TFM) and I was most definitely not disappointed. After a very long time I came across a K-Drama that was this captivating and entertaining. The story is about a King who is in grief for 7 years since the death of his first wife under mysterious circumstances. The female lead is a small-time crook who due to reasons ends up lying to the King that she can communicate with the spirit of the deceased queen, hence starting her journey to not only heal the king but also unraveling the conspiracies within the palace against him. The following are my reasons why everyone should definitely watch this show (no spoilers):

1. WELL WRITTEN STORY: These days many K-drama and C-drama lovers have complained that many shows start promisingly but lose their potential midway or a story that should’ve had lesser episodes gets dragged on unnecessarily. All these problems do not plague TFM. Twelve episodes perfectly finish the main and sub plots without rushed ending or leaving us bored. I give full credit to the script writers for succeeding to do so. Also, the story was not at all predictable even though there was nothing wildly unique about it. Not many shows succeed to do so. TMF was a refreshing story in every aspect, from start to end.

2. GREAT BLEND OF GENRES: So many genres were infused in TMF: romance, comedy, suspense, mystery etc. But the makers were able to blend them well to narrate the story. It could’ve easily been a melodramatic romantic story about the ML trying to overcome his past with the help of FL (like Silver Linings Playbook) or become a Joseon era based royal mystery solving expedition with the sprinkle of comedy (like Scooby Doo), but they blended these aspects to produce an entertaining well-rounded show. Korean shows are usually exceptional when it comes to this style of storytelling. Also, the comedy in this show was executed to the point without being corny or silly. It fit seamlessly with the main plot rather than being funny for the heck of it, the comedy served a purpose.

3. UNIQUE OST: Thank God that they avoided ballads!! I have nothing against ballads, but Korean dramas tend to overuse this genre of music especially in Sageuk shows. But TMF has a very interesting blend of traditional sounds with modern music. The upbeat music infused with traditional Korean sounds made the watching experience refreshing and entertaining. It definitely added more substance to the story.

4. MODERN LEADS IN HISTORICAL TIMES: Both the lead characters in the show were fleshed out ingeniously. The ML is a king with average fighting abilities, is adequately smart, righteous and has TONS of feelings for a man in the Joseon era. At the time when men were expected to be strong with no ounce of weakness or soft emotional traits, our lead is the poster boy of soft masculinity. This kind of masculinity is usually depicted in modern K-dramas and not in Sageuks. So, seeing a man who can cry, be emotional, open to learning, empathetic to women, has his ego in check & can handle a prank or two in Joseon era was wonderful to watch. On the other hand, at the time when women had little to no rights, freedom or agency, our FL is seen exercising all of this and much more. She is probably the boldest character out of all and had the capacity to outsmart even the brightest minds of the time due to her ability to adapt and survive even in the harshest circumstances. I absolutely adored both the leads.

5. UNPREDICTABLE CASTING: If someone would’ve told me a year back that Kim Young Dae is being casted as a king for a Sageuk I would’ve been skeptical. Young Dae has grown on me as an actor over the years and I have seen him evolve since Its okay to be sensitive. He always had my attention, but I felt he has not reached his true potential and needed more experience. But I am highly impressed with his performance in TMF. He was absolutely enchanting and enigmatic as the king with great comic sense and romantic flare. He commanded the show with his stellar performance, and I am so glad that he was given a chance to shine. Hope he continues to get good scripts. Park Ju Hyun as the FL was a very surprising casting choice. This character is unlike anything she has done in the past. But I am glad that they casted her as she brought an earnest, soft yet vivacious & joyful performance that was required for the character. I look forward to her future projects. The second ML, Noh Tae Nam was an absolute jerk and loath worthy man in Military Prosecutor Doberman. Seeing him in TMF as a poised & gentle Joseon officer was wonderfully shocking. He is what people call a natural raw acting talent. I cannot wait for him to be casted as a main lead. The supporting cast was brilliant, and they held their ground very well. They uplifted the story as much the main cast.

TMF is a must watch for drama lovers…I cannot recommend it enough. If you seek a fun time binge watching an entertaining joy ride of a short drama, then TMF is for you.

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Kooky lighthearted Romance Comedy

This show maintains its theme all the way through - it starts as a lighthearted ridiculously kooky comedy in the Josen period and maintains that feel till the end. It never takes itself seriously but does use comedic timing and funny characters to make social commentary on serious subjects like suicide, LBGT rights, maternity and paternity leave as well as interesting conversations about what is the role of marriage in the fiction of society.

It does a great job balancing moments of character development and growth without losing the fun silly nature of the drama which makes each scene enjoyable to watch. I particularly enjoyed the character of the female lead who is forward, perceptive and bold. She’s a breath of fresh air in a line up of FL leads that shy away from intimacy and communication. In contrast, this FL could stand perhaps not to communicate so often. Still her dynamic with both the ML and SML is very fun to watch.

The interactions of the ML and the SML also enhanced the show. They have an incredibly pure friendship that shone through and was wonderful to watch. All in all, this was a very enjoyable 12 episode drama and I would definitely recommend this show.

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How Did I Even Finish This?

The fatal flaw of this drama was that it did not know whether it wanted to be a brainless historical rom com or a serious sageuk. It started off strong with a wild premise (a girl pretending to channel the dead Crown Princess’s spirit?), a chaotic FL, and a rather dumb conflict in the grand scheme of historical dramas (the prohibition of marriage/love in general). It promoted itself as a crazy, senseless, comedic drama that didn’t take itself seriously, and I was satisfied with just turning off my brain and laughing.

Then by second quarter of the drama, they seemed to have some kind of teenage identity crisis where they realized all other great historicals have political intrigue and tragedy and therefore, this drama needed it too. Unfortunately, the writers are absolutely horrid at writing political schemes, and they gave us the most laughable political plot and villains. Even more unfortunately, the acting of the villains were horrible. And suddenly the FL, who is much much better at making comedic faces and sly jokes, has to pull sad expressions and say deep things about sacrificing for love while I, the watcher, roll my eyes. And then most unfortunately, the writers couldn’t even commit to this new melodramatic mood, and had to transition back to their rom com feel at the end and tie up their “serious” plot with the dumbest solutions.

As for the leads themselves, they were pretty average. I liked the FL a lot more in the beginning before she became all sighs, distant gazes, and sad phrases. The ML was statically boring the entire time. The acting itself wasn’t good or bad, but I think both actors are not the best at acting serious or emotional. There were bare hints of chemistry in the very beginning of the drama, and none by the end—the enjoyable chaos of the leads’ relationship spun into a cringey, unnatural, senseless mess.

Would not recommend to anyone :)

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From great to a hot mess.

The premise isn’t groundbreaking, but it seemed cute so I thought I would enjoy the ride.

I was wrong.

What a mess. I really wanted to like it and the first 1/2 was fairly strong . Unfortunately, the middle introduced random characters, subplots that were never developed, and terrible editing.

The real shame is the ML and FL gave great performances when the script allowed. But the writers failed them horribly around episode 6 and the story never recovered.

I don’t normally trash a plot like this, but I’m a little offended for the leads.

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Cinderella meets The Red Sleeve

This is the story of the (at start) highly annoying girl who cheated death and decided that swindling people was the right way to survive. And the Swindeld King who kept getting swindled to terror by a lot of people around him...

The poor terrorised king is in desperate need of being swindled back to health and shows us his upper body to try to convince us that he indeed is a health male... But dude physical and mental health are not really the same thing.

Anyway these two meet, got confused and fell in love... There are a bunch of obstacles along the way and the female lead seems to need more lives than a cat, and well the drama would have ended very fast if she did not get those lives.

There are a bunch of lovely characters, the second male lead is a sweetheart true SLS material. The female lead goes though annoying, to bad ass to kind to weak and annoying again... and is one of dramalands most inconsistent female leads. The male lead on the other hand has character development as straight as an arrow...

There are a lot of men that hate women in this, and a show of how a marriage-ban can be used to retain power, money and make way for a bunch of more or less evil black markets (with women). So there are some political elements but not as much politics and intrigues as there are in other historical dramas, Here the focus is more on comedy (with inconsistent quality) and romance.

The plot starts off decent, gets boring and then gets kind of decent again there of the 7,5 score saying it is an ok watch it has a lot of good stuff in it but just not enough good for me to want to recommend it.

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Funny and entertaining with a bit of a drag towards the end

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed watching The Forbidden Marriage a lot. It had a strong start and I'm glad I watched it. But somewhere in the middle it lost a bit of it's steam and funny moments and felt like it was moving far too slowly for my liking.

The comedy is amazing at the beginning and I loved it a lot and I can't say that for many shows. It has a lot of references to other dramas and present world situations which is where the joke lies since this is a HISTORICAL setting. Later on, the jokes were very subdued though they still managed to make me smile.

The romance is good. The story is predictable so you are just in for a fun ride. Yes, there is a love triangle and I did actually like the second lead a lot so I was partially rooting for him too. Both male leads and nice. The main male lead did a wonderful job with his role playing a man who is broken to one is who more capable of being a leader. Kudos to him. The female lead is fiesty and charming as heck. It's lovely to see her in a completely different role than where I first saw her in Mouse. I love when actors take different kinds of roles. That's when they stand out the most for me. So the only thing I didn't like is that she was more subdued towards the latter half of the show. Guess you can call it "growing up".

There have some actions scenes but it's limited. There are plenty of dramatic scenes and mystery which I enjoyed.

The big finish was great. Just what we deserved but I just wished for a few more scenes of romance. A happy ending nonetheless. If, at times, I didn't find it too slow for my liking, I would have given it a 10. Either way, it's between an 8.5 - 9 for me which is still great.

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RomCom turned Melodrama bait and switch.

I started this drama hoping for a quick but cute romcom but it quickly turned into mediocre historical melodrama. I wouldn't even mind if the melodramatic plot was over the top and fun but instead, it took itself too seriously and dragged on, and by the last episode I was super bored. I think "The Forbidden Marriage" is a trope fest that doesn't always work. Sometimes it was funny and cute and sometimes it was cringy and forced. It wasn't silly enough to keep me entertained like "Rooftop Prince", and the lead couple wasn't compelling enough for me to root for like "The Red Sleeve". It seems like they borrowed things that worked in other dramas that just didn't work for me here, and just added the occasional immature sexual innuendo for giggles. I would have preferred if they chose to stick with comedy but instead, it's a weird messy melodramatic love triangle mystery.

This drama depends a lot on Kim Young Dae's charm to make this love story work but bad writing and stale chemistry made me disappointed with the main couple. Park Ju Hyun was initially funny, and I liked her mischievous spunk, but I just didn't love her as a romantic lead. I can't even totally blame the writing, because there are lots of dramas where the stubborn tyrannical male lead has his heart changed by the unconventional female lead, which I love. In this case, besides the initial teasing that was fun to watch, I felt no spark between the leads. Instead, it was the promise of a love triangle that kept me watching, and Kim Woo Seok as Lee Shin Won is the only character whose feelings felt genuine. I can't even quite call it 2nd lead syndrome because I liked him more than both leads. The lovelorn hero storyline was what kept me watching when the show started to drag and if they got rid of his character I would have dropped this drama for sure. I won't spoil things too much, but things get so predictable after a while it's hard to spoil.

The supporting cast is a mixed bag. Some characters didn't get enough screen time, like the flamboyant psychic played by Choi Deok Moon, and the erotic/romantic writer (which was a cute plot of its own), while the villainous characters got too much screen time, especially in the final episodes. It would be different if they truly took time to establish backstories like So Rang's family dynamic or Lee Heon's first marriage if they were going to go on such a detailed thriller detour. They also did a poor job of establishing the love between the two leads in my opinion. I knew in detail why Shin Won was in love with the female lead but why did So Rang love the king? Just attraction? He was an irrational jerk most of the time. Why did the king really fall for So Rang? Because she catered to him? Because she was "different"? And why did his relationship with the first queen seem so one-sided and even creepy? I can even believe that going through trials is what ultimately brought them together but their confessions and love declarations just felt so cringy. You would think with all the flirtation and sexual references that there would be more chemistry but I could not take them seriously enough to feel anything but awkwardness.

Would I watch this again? No. I was on the fence about dropping it but kept hoping that some of the comedic sparks from the beginning of the drama would come back. Once the drama deviated to melodrama it never quite found consistent humor again. I don't regret watching it, but I wouldn't ask this drama out on a second date.

Overall, I cannot really recommend this drama unless you love anything and everything Kim Young Dae does. If his cuteness is your reason, you will have plenty of it to tide you over. I'll also add a trigger warning for haters of love triangles and unrequited love. If you are hoping for a funny romcom about repressed people starving for love during a 7-year ban on marriage, like I was, be warned that melodrama is on the horizon and it will soon take over completely and turn into a cliché battle over who should be the next Queen. The 12th episode is the most dragged out of all. Instead of closure, it felt like they just kept adding things to fill up the time. Yes, every character gets some kind of closure or a hint at closure, and some of the final moments are cute, but it was too late for me to care. "The Forbidden Marriage" seems like a drama that wasn't a strong enough silly comedy so they kept throwing in sageuk tropes which backfired. Maybe I had too many expectations, wasn't in the right mood, or was too team Shin Won to enjoy this drama as much as others. Consider this a friendly reminder that not every highly-rated drama is for everyone.

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Adds to Wholesome Dramas List

most wholesome ending ever! they went full on hea haha.

I shall forever rewatch the joseon era tiktok proposals 😂

the drama actually did a good job combining comedy and serious topics. knew when to take itself seriously and when not to. fully embraced the meta-ness too. also a whole bunch of wholesome characters to make it worth the watch. special mention to those gorgeous robes and costumes.

great music, beautiful locations. wholesome saguek that throws in modern words in there too haha. "solos" & "business" 😂 love all the main leads. really like the sml my boy shin won.happy to see him move on and get his own happy ending after giving me SLS sheesh!

oh and "I So-Rangae" you. 😂

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Include to your must watch list of Korean historical drama

I finished watching this drama after two consecutive days and truly loved it. I was surprised that it has a modernized touch and the dialogues were not conventional for such a historical drama. Kim Young Dae and Park Ju Hyun were perfect for the roles, the chemistry was something and they looked good together. You will be mesmerized by their facial features every time the camera was up close to their faces. Also, you can't discount the supporting cast because of their hilarious antics. They were so endearing and you will love each of them. This drama was so warmth, fluttering on a different level, and comical at best. I am rooting for Park Ju Hyun's acting, she should have been given more lead roles. I watched her in Zombie Detective and Mouse and her acting there said it all.

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Light & Heavy at the Same Time

This drama had been on my plan to watch list for a while, but I had been putting it off because I was worried the comedy would be too in your face or forced, which usually makes it unfunny for me. However, and even though I was watching/started quite a few dramas already, I decided to add one more to the list on a whim. This was because the ones I really wanted to watch had entered their multiple day breaks and the other ones I do have episodes available to watch aren’t keeping my interest.

During the first episode, or at least the first 30 minutes or so of it, I thought I would end up dropping this because the beginning of the episode wasn’t appealing to me and the comedy did feel a bit forced. But this soon changed as I kept watching.

For me, the comedy handled the comedy aspects of it well. Even when the comedy was too far out there, it had the right amount of angst, mystery, action, and seriousness to balance it out. This for me worked well because they didn’t overdo it on either the comedy or the tragedy. Another issue I encountered was a bad case of second lead syndrome. Don’t get me wrong, the king was endearing in his own right, but I felt the second male lead was better as she would have never have to guess what was in his heart. However, in the last episodes, I am glad he didn’t do what I was yelling at him to do and get what I wanted because the female character introduced then was perfect for oorie second male lead. She was as gentle, honest, protective, and fierce, in her own way, just as he was in his. I would have honestly loved to watch a few more scenes with them interacting, but I am glad they didn’t give him a miserable ending, of dying, becoming a villain, or eternally longing for someone who didn’t love him back, as they sometimes do in other dramas.

This drama was light and fluffy, while also being angsty in the right amount and at the right time. I enjoyed watching a grand queen dowager who, albeit trusted the wrong individuals, was not a raging evil plotting monster. I also enjoyed watching that the king’s main court lady and eunuch were loyal and never betrayed him. And most of all I loved that everyone received their just desserts at the end. The OST was nice and for me this is worth rewatching.

Was it a masterpiece? No.

Was it what I needed at the moment? Definitely, yes.

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