They are both so funny! Someone somewhere on tumblr described (jokingly) their relationship as being ‘Annoyed to lovers’. I love that take, I find it hilarious. I mean just look at Jeong Tae-eul’s face in the first screenshot when she’s just found the talisman. It just screams: “Are you actually serious?” and Lee Gon must know how strange he is coming across and just decides to... roll with it. I adore their dynamic. How Jeong Tae-eul is so straight-forward and Lee Gon so outrageously earnest. Tae-eul quickly becoming quite bothered by him during their interactions early on (wonder why? *cough* *cough*) and Lee Gon being so happy to have finally met her that he just decides to answer basically everything and anything she asks honestly and openly (the exception being his name) even though it makes him sound completely insane is all compelling stuff. In this scene Tae-eul outright teases him a lot. First about the talisman and then about the “monopoly” money. We see her get quite serious however when she asks him about why he told her "I finally get to meet you". She clearly felt his sincerity in that moment and wants to get to the bottom of what the hell is going on. To say that’s she’s taken aback is putting it mildly. She is quite frustrated by this whole situation and about this man in front of her who is seemingly spouting out nonsense, but who is simultaneously seeming to be incredibly earnest. You see her struggle with this paradox in their scene at the chicken place and while they’re in the bamboo forest as well.
I would argue she feels something between them early on. There’s definitely some outright attraction. After he catches her off-guard with his compliment (”You look better in real life too”) the camera emulates her point of view and lingers on him as she is looking at him (he is hilariously framed in a very attractive manner in that scene). Then Tae-eul undercuts the moment as she tells him he looks like a criminal, however not before taking him aback by asking him why he is staring at her in a certain way (the implication being romantically). Lee Gon is even flustered for a moment in that scene (which is equally as hilarious as it is adorable). Tae-eul undercuts the moment deliberately, I would argue, to re-assert herself after having been flustered (I love her). A person on twitter has written some really great ‘meta-threads’ where they spell out some of the cultural subtext which cannot be fully translated through subtitles. An example is the “Will you continue talking down to me?” exchange. They bicker about how they are addressing each other (which has to do with who’s older and Korean speech levels). This adds to the emotional and somewhat flirtatious subtext of their interaction, an aspect slightly lost on international viewers. I have attached a link to the thread below. Tae-eul later teases Gon about how she might be older than him in episode nine, which can be argued is a fun continuation of their bickering here. I do think that some of the subtext in scenes like these might have been lost on the international audience (of which I’m part) at times due to the need to read subtitles + not having access to the characters’ tone through their use of language. Saying that however I don’t think that dramas should simplify their scripts to cater to international viewers (that would honestly be awful), but it can be worth keeping in mind when watching as an international viewer. Tae-eul is flustered by his compliment here, and then again when he compliments her at the hotel, but being the somewhat “tsundere”-like character she is she quickly hides it by basically insulting him instead. We see later that this slightly thorny aspect of Tae-eul is part of her personality, which at first glance may obfuscate her very passionate and kind character (her taking on KSJ’s bullies and telling him, somewhat rudely, to come back to the dojo springs to mind - I really like her).
So two quite quick-witted and unapologetically straight-forward people meet and it all unsurprisingly ends up with them bickering a lot. One of the thing I like the best about their bickering is that it is really equal, neither of them simply “takes it”, so to speak, instead they respond in kind. This creates an air of honest reciprocity between them. Later in the episode stuff gets more serious. Tae-eul gets more and more genuinely annoyed by all the impossible things Gon keeps claiming. After he asks her if there might be a reason for her helping him, she doesn't respond. But she thinks back to that moment later. His lack of a name and the fact that his claims are genuinely insane becomes a bigger issue for her the more they get to know each other (i.e. the more they connect). Her frustration is quite understandable. Her well-honed instincts are basically at war with her rational mind and world-view (and she has started to like him, which makes it all personal). There’s not much Lee Gon can do however. We feel his frustration easily since we know that he’s telling the truth. It all results in their fairly cold goodbye in episode three. Then of course she misses him, and really starts to believe him. Resulting in their quite emotional reunion in episode four. It is so great that in episode five she continues to tease him after she arrives in the Kingdom and finally seeing that everything he has claimed is true. Why? Because it furthers their relationship instead of resetting it. It is also an indication that Tae-eul’s slightly ‘thorny’ attitude is part of her personality and not simply a consequence of her being annoyed with him. She starts to realize just how much she likes him in episode five and six but she also freaks out a little, because she's more emotionally guarded. Which is why after she first opens up, expressing admiration for him and apologizing for leaving him alone, she then states that she cannot compete with a person from his world (expressing some insecurity. I’ll write more about that scene later). Lady Noh’s warning words are fresh in her mind. Back in the Republic however, after missing him and being worried she finally decides to embrace her love for him when he returns.
Let’s talk about the first mention of the Royal Ancestral Shrine. Lady Noh is referred to here as Tae-eul finds the talisman planted in Lee Gon’s wallet. A talisman which states it purpose as finding love for the recipient. This because Lady Noh is, as she stated in episode one, adamant of finding Lee Gon a Queen so that he can fulfill his duty as King (which entails providing the Kingdom with an heir). This talisman and this mention of the Royal Ancestral Shrine foreshadows this aspect of the plot and is brought up again later in episode 16. Where Lady Noh brings it up, hinting that Lee Gon and Jeong Tae-eul might marry in a year (‘completing’ the Royal Ancestral Shrine as she put it). A very nice person on soompi explained this for me. She also makes Lee Gon bring a talisman with him as he goes off to have a weekend with Tae-eul. Later on they find themselves back in the Kingdom, almost like the talisman (which Lee Gon accepted this time around which indicates his change of heart from episode one) have deliberately brought them back to the Kingdom to lightly push them to move forward in their relationship. One can definitely argue that it’s technically FateKid’s doing. A very good meta which has written about this in particular is linked below, this blog has a lot of really great posts about TKEM. I would highly recommend it.
Lee Gon’s amused expression in the last screenshot is such a funny beat, especially in addition to Jeong Tae-eul’s disbelieving expression after she’s found the talisman and her subsequent “Good Luck”. I do so love the comedy in this show. It works so well with the quite grounded characters Lee Gon and Jeong Tae-eul are.
Link one (spells out some subtext easily lost on international viewers): https://twitter.com/jungpilot/status/1304404562896277505?s=21
Link two (talks about FateKid and LG’s and JTE’s future and more): https://bitchesoverdramas.com/2020/06/16/the-king-ep-16-the-happy-ending/
snowghoul
discoholicmusic
jacobvanloon
pixelskylines
kaledo-art
romaincrisis
blakekathryn
prguitarman
