The thread is open.
Please join @WE, @FeiFei, @Stacy, @monmor, and @GB for the rewatch.
Kdrama: Queen In Hyun’s Man/Queen & I (2012). It’s a time jumping show where the guy from 300 years in the past jumps back and forth to the future, and of course, falls in love.
This is another well written, interesting tale by Song Jae Jung, in 16 episodes of 45 minutes each.
Start Date: Saturday 26 August 2023 (and the next 15 Saturdays after that!)
Time in some parts of the world (at least until Daylight Savings kicks in again)
6:30am PST
9:30am EST/Caracas
2.30pm in London
3.30pm in Paris
4.30pm in Athens
9.30pm in Singapore/Malaysia/Hong Kong/Perth
Enjoy the show!
Here I am, one day early after checking out Grace no Rireki. I guess I’ll be busier again!
Much thanks @pkml3!
See you soon @WE and @FF, and all who would like to hop on over!
Just set the alarm now. For tomorrow. 😉
Hope my Internet returns soon, it is a pleasure to read all of you!!! 😸
All the best with your Internet @FGB!!
Kalimera Everyone! I do hope you are okay…
@GB Unnie, I have to attend something during that time, so I won’t be able to be online today…
I do hope to catch up with you all and be able to attend next week.
Hi @Cleo, how lovely to have you join us! Of course, come when you can and comment even on other days. I’m always lurking around here, so you may not be alone!
Hi all. I will be joining again. All summer visits to relatives are over and I will be around for awhile. See you all in a few minutes.
Yay! Hi @SD, good to see you back with us. I trust you had a good Summer Vacation!
I’m here with 4 minutes to go!!! I may just slip out to get something. Will be back in time.
Hi everyone!
Hello, everyone! We will start soon.
Hi @WE! We will start NOW!!!
So i am ready. Remember how much I even liked the opening sequence And music
Hi @FF! Split screens … so many things to see at once!!
Click on go.
First, awesome credits with drawings.
Is the show starting with the ending?
Hi @Monmor, yeah not bad for a 10 years ago show…. a simple way to go backwards in time. Stress from the very beginning.
We never knew at first how he jumps into the future just like that except that the spears should have hit him.
General view Seoul, effects back in time.
Then split screens.
I told you, the directing is very original. ^^
Now, look, two clock like 24 series.
@FF, yeah something like that… this is after they know each other and planned to meet. Amazing that they could synchronise their times just right.
The split screen confuses me but on re-watch I get what the director is trying to say, things happening at the same time or something like that.
@WE, Now we get the voiceover to tell us the history of that time. The usual style of SJJ with show and tell at the same time.
Remember TKEM, the prince on a horse?
In the same famous place. Gwanghwamun square.
I too am blown away by the beginning. I had completely forgotten it started this way.
I’m guessing that at roughly the same time, Bong Do and Hee Jin are moving quickly to meet at their arranged time.
@WE, Yes except the horse was white and more majestic?
Before the re-watch the few things that I remember from this drama is Yoo In Na and the male lead on a horse at Gwanghwamun.
But the is not bad for a drama made 11 years ago. I like the slow motion and normal speed and slow motion again for the fights. A little like the matrix.
Hi @SD, yes, hectic, too much to see and take in at once, stressful start!
Historical voice-over yeah. But I already know the events, because DOng-Yi and Jang Ok Jung kdramas, ahah.
New good directing with brutal and shaky cam during the fight.
I just find that crazy better than so many dramas from today about the art. It’s just maybe the image quality isn’t so clear.
@FF, then you remember more than I do!!
Assassin reports failure of the mission.
Now a fight with acceleration/deceleration effects. The director love to put rarely seen tricks in kdramas.
Just a point: sometimes shaky camera isn’t so good for fight. Just remember Jason Bourne 2, it was a mess.
@WE, Personally I prefer non-shaky cameras.
The faithfull man of queen In-Huyn, in the past, and what will be funny… in present day but as actress. ahah. Great idea.
We jump to the very important Gisaeng House. If not for this gisaeng we would have no story!
The state counselor in this show terrified me in his role in the princess man
@GB, I’m ok with “not too shaky”. But I don’t like with it’s too smooth. John Wick is just perfect. ^^
Let’s say for kdramas, it was Sisyphus the myth fights.
Does the male lead not think that he will endanger the giseang’s life with the document?
@Monmor, I usually find the actor of the State Counselor to be in a non-serious role. He’s serious here and not a comic figure.
Where they meet in front of the Palace is same as the square In the eternal monarch?
@WE, Now that they are on horseback it sometimes is shaky and sometimes not. I guess it goes with the action.
Ah, I missed the moment before he goes to see the ginsaeng!!
Then she’s nice to give him a talisman, but he looks like a scholar or scientific man, not trusting magic. ^^
@MM, yes, that’s right. Same square!
@GB, I’m not directing expert, but I recognize lots of little tricks everywhere, like “cam on shoulder” and quick zoom, very used in the series BattlestarGalatica.
@FF, Yeah, he should have thought of her safety but I guess the risk was something he had to take.
When I said TKEM writer just tried to imitate SJJ without the means. ^^ .. Oopsss.. I slipped.
@WE,
I really liked Battlestar Galactica. I’ve forgotten it already!
@GB, I didn’t realize that he can time travel due to the talisman given by the giseang until I watched episode 2.
Another hectic fight scene. This is the best, he vanished under the books.
Fight in the library. Ultrafast shots to increase nervosity.
Here comes cute Yoo In Na. Split screens again.
@FF, At least with this show we are not left guessing what it was that made the time jumps possible. W2Worlds left us guessing for a long while.
Oh dear our FL, Hee Jin is such a mess. What is she wearing!
I just realized she broke the string on her instrument on purpose
Here we have a story structure comparable to W.
First the guy in trouble in his world.
Then, light and funny focus on the FL. 🙂
See the draft?
@FF, I like her phone ring tone LOL.
Here’s her poor friend-manager, Jo. I don’t know whether to find her irritating or to commiserate with her over an actress like Hee Jin.
@feifei, I just fell in love with the actress because this drama. 🙂
With her so cute little voice. lol.
@MM, yes, the gisaeng wanted to speak with Bong Do. Obviously she likes him a lot. She even gave him a talisman.
I didn’t remember that, but her friend is a kind of opposite of FL. She’s quite rude without manners, and zero Aigyeo.
The action happens so quickly in these first sequences its hard to find an opportunity to comment. Nice to read about how it is directed , @W!
Hello everybody!!!, I am late but still in the race 😉
So his life does depend on this charm. Fore shadowing
@WE, you did not find Inna’s aegyo annoying? LOL. I thought she was not too bad. LOL the horrible ex-boyfriend. Can’t stand him. Such a jerk!!!
Sexy time, In Ha in white body. OOOooo OOOooo.
Hi there @FGB!!! Glad your Internet seems to be up.
We’re more or less 20 minutes into the episode.
@GB, hahaha the ring tone is in the traditional korean song “Pansori” style.
@WE, me too love Yoo In Na because of this drama. She is irresistible here.
@GB, Na nanaaa. Exactly the opposite. I love that. 😀
@FF @WE, Inna is pretty but the colour is off. Washed out her natural tones.
GB, I have to inform you of a hard reality. I think men love women making aegyo. AHAHAHAHAH!!!
The ex-boyfriend is so terrible, why would he draw the blinds knowing that she is changing?
LOL @WE, so aegyo does work on guys!!! I can’t do it. Cringe cringe!
@WE, I live and learn LOL. Oh dear!
@feifei, I’m sure will find out the ex-boyfriend is addicted to this cute women. It can’t be otherwise. And he will regret hard the break-up. AHAH.
But I don’t remember the story about that, so just speculations as if I was watching for the first time.
@FF, that’s Dong Jin for you. He’s full of nonsense and a playboy, out to compromise his ex-gf.
I really like how books and libraries feature in this show. The scene where he protects himself from the sword with a book. Again more fore shadowing
I am a little slow with my comments. Since this is the first time I’m watching This way. I think I am behind everyone else. I am enjoying this way of watching
@WE, Yeah, well, Dong Jin sort of regretted but it was more his pride and wanting to break her resolve and not because her really cared about her.
@GB I have a scene about agyro in W2 episode 4. Certainly, you’ll laugh (at least a bit) about that. 😉
@MM, Just watch any way you prefer. If it’s your first time, you’ll need to pay more attention to the show and less to our comments. 🙂
@Monmor, ahh yeah, it needs some training.
But Alas, as I’m quite focused on comments, I miss a lot of the drama. 🙁
@Monmor why do you say that protecting himself from the sword with a book is fore shadowing?
@WE, I’ll try to remember to laugh at your written aegyo. LOL.
LOL She hung up on the ex-bf although he is offering her the main role. Oops there goes her phone!!
So hectic!
@WE, hahahaha…. we will keep distracting you with our comments.
Talking into the drain is so funny. oh jumps back to the palace.
@FF, I think the foreshadowing is that a library will feature again in the future and he gets help from the history books telling him about the events in his own time.
The silly incident. Loose the phone.
Speaking to a sewer. Notice people around looking at her. ^^
@feifei, how crazy it is for people aroung:
A girl talking to a sewer, saying “thanks director”, “I’m queen In Hyun”.
Straigth go for the psychiatric asylum. 🙂
@WE, actually this first episode seems to establish Hee Jin as a messy, disorganised, careless clutz LOL. But still lovable.
Such different life stresses!
@GB is that what will happen later in the drama. I can’t remember anything hehe and I didn’t realise that this drama is so hectic until this re-watch.
Hmmmm… Joseon Ninjas. More a show than anything. It would be easier to infiltrate palace and poison the queen.
Close up on ML eyes. Powerful!!
Atenuated sound. They guy watch, feel the strangness.
@FF, actually I didn’t find it so hectic until we have to comment at the same time.
LOL poor Bong Do is looking around the set and who should come but Hee Jin who’s Queen In Hyeon LOL when he’d just left the real Queen behind in the 17th century. And the great contrast between the real queen who is so formal and Hee Jin who is casual. Good joke.
Gosh, it’s so good.
Meeting, and first thing she say is “I’m queen In Hyun”.
@FGB, spoken like a true efficient person LOL.
Wow, 45 minutes ++ almost an hour went by so fast! We still have time to go back to rewatch parts we missed.
I’m rewatching the scene I missed: the audition.
@GB yeah Bong Do must have felt so lost, a stranger woman in strange clothes claiming to be Queen InHyun offering strange food doughnut to him, lights shining on him, so many people around palace which is supposed to be a secured place. But I must say he remained calm.
@WEnchanteur, my guess is that reading your posts I will get a good answer, but so many split screens are distracting. Still can’t guess why use them. Except if it is for conveying Chaos.
Something else I noticed for the first time. I have rewatched this show two or three times already. I noticed that the.
Ex-boyfriend In the audition is referring back to her. Having given him the finger earlier.
@FGB, I can’t say. I like it. I’m not sure it’s related to the story because this director used that also a lot in other kdramas, like “three musketeers”. I presume it’s just his style.
I had forgotten just how comedic the scene with the phone in the grate is. I think the first time I watched that scene I was tense because she might not get the part, but on the rewatch it is just hilarious. And such a nice juxtaposition between the comedy and immediately the tension in the library where you ‘know’ the ML is going to get skewered.
Yes @MM, rewatches give us a chance to see what we missed before. He was returning the finger to her at the audition. LOL.
Split screen are quite effective during phone conversations. 😉
@WE who decides on the use of split screens, deceleration/accelaration effects? The director or the writer?
Damn, I just rewatched and missed the middle finger during audition.
Im a desesparate case…. T T
@WE, rewatch again haha.
I am noticing little things on this rewatch, one of the values of a rewatch, like the view of ML through the fine web of his hat. I nice touch, it somehow gives an element of remove to the scene; as though he is and is not a part of the current scene.
@feifei: it’s the director!
During a phone conversation, the writer indicate “Intercut” if wanting to see the people speaking. But most of the time, directors choose to use one shot on someone then another shot on the other. Here the director choose to use a split screen.
Same about acceleration/deceleration: during a fight like that, I’m quite sure the writer just said the place and “they fight and the hero is pushed outside” (then another scene for the fight outside). She did that in W episode 12. The fight is very short in the script with almost no details except how it starts and how it ends.
@feifei, just did it. That jerk hide the middle finger with his other end, so other people in the room can see it. aahahah!
@SD, yea I like that too the view through the hat. It is quite a rare take.
@WE I like the deceleration effects during the first fight scene, and we get to see the things that were sliced by the sword disintegrate and float in the air. And the fight resume at normal pace.
Wow that went fast. I definitely had forgotten both how fast paced it was and the humor in it.
Yeah, the episodes are short, 45 minutes.
It’s almost a drama where we could do a pause in the middle.
Or no, will I be able to wait another week or end Up binge watching like I have in the past. I better find something else to binge watch
LOL I’m watching and commeting on other shows, so I barely have time for a pre-watch, before the rewatch.
A week flies by very fast!
Checking out now, I had an enjoyable time re-watching with you all and see you all next week.
OK, I’m falling asleep here. Will say goodbye until next week!
Thanks for a fun rewatch party, everyone!!
Bye bye everybody, see you next week!
Bastard second lead is out of line – BIG WAY. Exposing someone while undressed is a high form of disrespect.
As lovely as I remember was this first episode. Yoo In-Na was luminous. Loved how earnest the male lead is.
– Don’t you think recurring to a Giaseng is a sign of incompetence?
– Yes, it is (while laughing uncomfortably)
See you next week! 😀
AAaaahhh!!!!!
I can’t resist but come here to post a last comment.
Find out, of course, now I’m rewatching episode 2. ^^
It just start with a scene we know: first meeting of the two leads.
Now, when I’m watching that, my purpose is to enter the writer mind.
Because of course, I love this writer and she’s able to twist scenes, get the best of it. And we got that in a really crazy way in Yumi Cells.
So, on the outline it’s just “the hero comes from the past and meet the actress on the set”.
Then… let’s see. Put ourselves in the writer shoes.
How to write the best scene and dialogs with that????
It’s just what this scene is about. I think we are all creative people. I know many of you aren’t involved in an artistic activity. But fuck that. You are watching dramas on this blog. What means, you don’t only watch dramas with a brainless mind, you have pleasure to dig, understand, and write about that. And I think it’s also a creative action!!
So let’s see this scene. I think it would be worth it to split each steps, because I feel like the writer had a lot of ideas. Then it’s like a puzzle. Take the best ideas and make something with that. Of course with the difficulty that it sounds natural, and have a flow. But as I worked on hundred scenes like that, I ended to find that it’s really a puzzle and nothing is impossible.
I love natural flow. The first time you write a dialog, you mostly rely on that. And you are happy because it sounds natural. But of course, it can’t be just only that, except in purely character driven stories. So quickly I was strugling with that: the natural flow but also, all the ideas I have on the outline.
What means: I have a dialog scene to write, and in this I want point A, point B, and point C. I don’t care if it comes in this order, but it’s the goal. Then write that. When I was quite a noob, all that was difficult. But I quickly find out it’s not. It’s juggling. Create a natural flow from any point you start to any other point you want. It’s crazy, but when used to that, you can do almost anything you want.
And really, I did. Once, I took an idea from a dialog scene, and think: it’s too important, I really have to put theses lines. Only the lines where in a too long dialog and my jugdement was: I have to shorten that and remove that lines. So, I put back the lines in a draft file and wonder… How and when can I use these lines. Waiting… Not taking action now… Need time for an instinctive resolution.
And BOOM, one day, you wake up and get the idea! I put that in another episode, another scene and… In a completly counter-intuitive way. And I was smashed by this: unpredictable, and work x10 more than what was before.
SO…. When I’m watching SJJ dramas, I often think about that. Because of course I’m inspired by many different screenwriter. But this one is my favorite.
And going back to the scene of the first meeting:
There is many steps in the dialog. What I see as kind of bricks (blocs?) of how is build the scene.
Step1: “Im queen In Hyun” while the guy understand nothing.
Step2: “eat something, I bought that for the team”.
Step3: “are you actor”? Lights flash, blinding ML.
Step4: “I am dead or dreaming?”, answer from FL: none of this, you’re just a bit nuts.
Of course, it’s not just the text but also the way they say it. For example, when FL say to him “you’re mad”, she’s light and laugh a lot. A decision to make for the writer. 😉
Here: create a contrast, the guy serious, living the most crazy event of his life, and the woman, light and funny, unable to understand what this guy live and talking about trivial things.
I can just imagine how all this was on a draft file of Song Jae Jung, with many other weaker ideas she didn’t use. But she selected the strong ones. Then build the scene, the dialogue. Looking for a natural way to go from one step to the other. Not a 100% natural flow, but an oriented flow that sounds just as natural. I resumed the big lines but just rewatch the scene, there are many other lines to jump from a step to another.
It’s over, thank for reading my text wall if you could. 🙂
@WEnchanteur, OF COURSE i can read your Posts!!!: aside the pleasure that is to be reunited with all of you, your script analysis has always intrigued me in the best of ways 😀 .
Reading you and remembering the scene made me understands why it works. It is basically a person finding himself in an extraordinary situation (imagine explaining modern day Seoul with all the blinding lights to a preindustrial folk), then meeting a beautiful woman barely dressed and speaking to him in banmal (both outrageous happenings from his point of view) like everything surrounding him is the most natural thing ever. Just by forcing the irreal down his throat even further it cements it is absolutely normal.
Welcome down the Rabbit Hole, dear Alice 😉 .
@WE
What fun we had yesterday! And how nice it is to have more to read today.
That is interesting,… that in scriptwriting, you have points to make and want the dialogue to get to those points, but have to make the conversations sound natural.
It reminds me of how I’m trying to get to a point in my discussions with kids but they veer off and I have to figure out how to use what they say to link back to the point LOL. Yes to orientate the flow. Very challenging.
I don’t recall a particular dialogue, but there was a scene in this cdrama where suddenly someone had to want to commit murder prematurely, in order for the ‘almost victim’ to then be able to rout out all the enemies. So the Point Z was for the enemies to be routed. To get to Point Z, Writer had to introduce the impatience of villain.
I’d say, in conversations, a similar principle may apply. We need character W to say X but X is something said because of ABC, hence W has to encounter something to do with ABC in order to for him to naturally bring up X.
I used to think that in Scripts, not much direction is given and the interpretation is left to the Director and Actors, but with SJJ scripts that you’ve shown us, we see it’s the Writer who determines the actions and expressions.
Some time back a friend sent me an excerpt of a Western-style script. It was very bare bones, without much direction. But it’s different with SJJ scripts. She has thought it through from the start and tells the Director what she envisions.
I’ve started questioning more scenes when in the past I’d just accept what was presented. I wonder why it was shown. Why it was done that way. Same with dialogue… why say it? Why say it that way?
🤨🧐🥸🤩🤪
I have been thinking about what makes this drama so special. I really enjoyed the watch yesterday and the commentary. I was thinking what makes it special is the male lead and the chemistry. I am a sucker for time travel romance.. I see how much I can learn by watching with You all. There is a lot that makes this drama so special.
Their acting really communicates the feeling of initially being attracted to someone- Scene in the car I think in episode 2 and the kiss in the elevator. I was not able to wait to Continue watching.Good thing because I realized that the whole series is no longer on YouTube just the first episode.. I Had a major crisis Where I needed to calm myself down just before bedtime. Luckily I avoided going down the rabbit hole for too long. Really wanted to watch this show on my large screen television. Because I find rewatch is certainly more enjoyable that way. To My amazement, my semi smart TV suggested Tubi And sure enough, the series is there and even for free.. I was dreading trying to figure out how to access Amazon Prime in the US When I am in Canada.
Now I am set for the Group rewatch of episode 2.
That’s good news @Monmor! Now to be able to stop yourself from binge-ing! LOL.
See you on Saturday!
@GB, Hello,
I think SJJ doesn’t have a linear creative process. Whether for the drama in general, or even the scenes. Everything is based on a more or less precise structure, outline. The creation of the drama is more like a big puzzle that comes together little by little, without any consideration of before or after.
For example, if the aim is to have a well-defined plot twist two-thirds of the way through the drama, the content of what comes before is built to lead up to that plot twist. It’s recursive. New events created in the past generate content in the future. And again, new ideas from the future require the modification or construction of the past. Until something stable is achieved.
This can be felt in other dramas too. Just look at pm3’s articles here, analyzing foreshadowing or intention in a dialogue or scene. Sometimes predicting what comes next. Because there’s an overall structure and nothing happens by chance.
For sure, the screenwriter defines the actions. For expressions, yes. However, we can see from SJJ’s script that this is not systematic. It depends on the scene. Sometimes she just indicates the change of shot and writes (Face) or (Expression). The actor improvises this, but has a good feel for what it could be depending on the dialogue articulation.
You’ve identified the disadvantage of Screenplay Western. And I wonder if the lack of emotion doesn’t stem from that. Korean screenplay is much more lively. Easier to read than a novel, in my opinion, because the characters’ names are indicated before the line. And because it’s a screenplay, the descriptions are more concise and quicker to read. It’s written in the present tense, so it’s quicker to read.
You can question the scenes. In fact, we should be doing this more often and in greater detail. It’s a pity because although every detail has a reason when I write, I’m not much of an analyst, apart from the self-analysis of my own content. Pm3 does it much better, a main reason for this blog. But if it’s written well enough, sure, everything has its place.
And sometimes, unluckily, it’s not so well written. So it doesn’t really matter what you see. It’s a filler. It gives the impression that the writer just has a simplistic outline: “here they meet in the restaurant, the point is that they say XXX to each other.” But alas, all the rest of the dialogue is useless, or a repetition of some other dialogue.
We see this with the example of this drama. A nobleman serving the Queen. The first thing the FL says to him is “I am Queen In Hyun”. A kind of genius here. Everything interconnects perfectly between the overall storyline and the strength of the line in the dialogue at that moment.
Remember a scene from W. Episode 4. Yeon-Joo is in prison and returns to the real world at the bus stop. Someone had noticed this: “ouch” Soo-Bong comes to see her but stumbles on the sidewalk, hurts himself and falls. At first glance, it seems like a visual gag. But in reality, there’s a deeper intention to the scene. Yeon-Joo is so shocked by what she’s been through that she stares blankly ahead. And Soo-Bong’s fall is here to reinforce this aspect, as she doesn’t react when he falls hard and hurts himself. Here, it’s a reason within the scene. But often, an element finds its reason in a previous scene, or a scene to come.
@WE, this sounds like the way I go about reading and analysing and writing too. No proper head or body or just a rough idea. Some idea of the point to be made and hunting for the evidence to prove it, which leads to other points and discoveries and then go backwards to smoothen out the rough bits to add more sense. Back and forth without until it looks organised LOL.
There is a recurring dialogue about being crazy ,losing one’s marbles. This occurs in the scene when they meet and in subsequent scenes. At first I thought there might be a translation issue related to the losing ones marbles. I don’t imagine that is a korean expression but maybe it is. Because this becomes a plot point in the next episode. We are rewatchink. I am thinking about it again. I am wondering if there is anyone who has a better grasp on this or who may understand korean. This is not essential to understand but it is part of the detail this writer includes in her productions. I enjoy idioms and it is very interesting to see how they are.
Translated well or not.