Letter #5: Rookie Historian Goo Hae-ryung

Good morning, Erin.

 

So…to what is (I’m sure) your great excitement—I watched a historical drama! Woo!

 

"But Daryl, you irrepressibly rakish literati," I hear you say, "why are we still not talking about Goblin? You swore an oath to me that your third show would be Goblin, and yet here we are at show five...and you want to talk to me about still another thing that isn't Goblin? What am I to think of this? Are you not a man of your word?" 

 

Well, my sage and discerning k-drama mentor, I want to assure you that I am, as I stated previously, working my way through Goblin, even as we speak. But, because I can watch the shows featured on Netflix much more easily while at work (um...during lunch, of course...heh heh heh...lunch...), I'm getting through those a little bit more quickly. However, be heartened by the fact that I have no plans for the Christmas break, so, in that sense, Goblin is good as watched!

 

(Preview: I sooooooo love how tsundere Mr. Goblin and Mr. Death are for each other. Like, as bros, of course. [hastily clicks out of fan art tab])

 

For now, though, let's talk about Rookie Historian, shall we? (Admit it: disappointed as you are for the continued lack of Goblin chatter, you're psyched to see if I liked this show so you can cram me full of your favorite historical dramas. You can't fool me!)

 

1. My general thoughts? Y'know what...I really liked it. Enough to give more historical dramas a go? Oh, definitely. Buuuuut--I have a big problem with the ending of this one. Like, a really big problem with it. (But we'll get to that.) Otherwise? Good fun. Bring on more. 

 

2. I love these outfits the ladies wear. Like if a kimono had a baby with a prom dress. They're so floofy! I was actually a little bummed when Ms. Goo became a historian and had to wear her blue governess-esque smock instead of her normal clothes. 

 

2A. These men's hats, though...kinda meh. Some of them look....right, I guess, with the outfits the guys are wearing (like, the Crown Prince's royal hat matches his outfit), but some of them...not a fan. I mean, those see-through brimmed hats are awful. 

 

2B. ...as if I know anything about fashion, let alone the evolution of Korean traditional garb. Ignore me.

 

2C. Regardless, I did have trouble discerning who was who because everyone was dressed so similarly. The ladies at least had color-specific dresses, early on, but the gents all had the same outfits and facial hair. Took a little time before I could tell, like, the bookseller from the brother. I mean, they don't look alike, once you know who's who, but they were styled similarly enough back when I still hadn’t gotten a grasp on which characters were actually characters and which ones were just general background citizens. (Again, the ladies were at least color-coded.)

 

3. I will never—EVER—get tired of romance protagonists who start out hating each other. It's one of the absolute best literary conventions. I mean, maybe I'm kinda biased because...y'know what, this isn't about me. It’s just great to see, here, because it’s ALWAYS great.

 

4. And let me say, up front, that I did not expect there to be such a complex layer of conspiracy and intrigue underlying the whole thing. As much as I had a problem with it by the end (which I'll get to), I was super-duper excited to see it crop up at the end of the first episode. (Literally from my notes: "Oo! Conspiracy!")

 

5. Biggest negative, though: we're back to a lack of Hyundais. Just…unbelievable.

 

6. I was going to tell you who my favorite character is...but I want you to guess. I'll get into it, in a bit, but I wonder if it's as obvious who it will be, this time around, since there isn't a "main girl from Vincenzo" kind of standout character in this one. That said, I was very much a fan of seven characters, so I'll give you half-points for getting someone from the top half of the list. 

 

6A. Actually, speaking of Vincenzo...THE ZUMBA SNAKE IS IN THIS!!! For all my talk about not knowing who is who, I jumped up and down in my seat when she showed up. (Hint: she's not on my list of favorites. In fact, I didn't like her character. Not that she was poorly written or poorly performed, but I just didn't like her.) I was like, “Why does the Dowager sound so familiaOH MY GOD IT’S HER.”

 

7. There's a scene in Ep 1 where Ms. Goo is reading to some ladies, and they get angry at her because the story she's reading doesn't end with the main characters getting together and living happily ever after. And I could not help but feel like this was the show acknowledging that I've been complaining about exactly that in all my other letters. Which I appreciated. (Even if the show was mocking the idea. At least I feel heard!)

 

8. Also, there's a great setup scene in Ep 1 where she's drinking at home with her brother that doesn't feel AT ALL like it's a setup scene. So, when the hazing comes along a couple of episodes later, and the girls are challenged to drink, we already have floating in the backs of our minds that she's not a lightweight. Which I actually exclaimed at the TV when it happened: "Oh! Remember how she always drinks with her brother? What a great setup!" The show is reeeeeeeally good at this kind of detail and keeping the story bounded by its own internal continuity. Which, of course, is how you can get moments like that.

 

9. You have no idea how often my "incoming love triangle!!!" senses were tripped, watching this. And a love triangle never developed. Not even once. And you cannot understand the depths of my disappointment.

 

9A. No, genuinely, there are two very explicit notes I made about this: 1) "I'm going to need an explanation for why this show isn't just a love triangle between the Crown Prince/Ms. Goo/Officer Min;" and 2) "I'm going to need an explanation for why the main subplot isn't just a love triangle between the Crown Prince/Ms. Song/Officer Min."

 

10. ...actually, that may have tipped my hand, a little, but I'm sure you've sussed it out, by now: my favorite character is Ms. Song (the secondary female historian who acts as a spy for Chancellor Bad Guy). Smart, sly, savvy, secret spy? Yes, please! I knew from the moment she stepped on screen: "Oh, that's the rich girl who's going to be standoffish but then have a heartrending arc where she goes full 'good guy'? Just gonna call dibs on her right now, thank you." The only thing I got wrong about her was that I assumed she'd be the romantic rival for Ms. Goo, but...well, as I noted above, there were no love triangles. (Well, like, there's sort of one with Ms. Song and the Crown Prince and Crown Princess. But it's suuuuuper-background, isn't it. Which...I mean, I’ll take it, but come on!)

 

10A. But I did promise you half points for choosing someone from at least the front half of my 7 Favorite Characters list, so...in descending order: Ms. Song, the Crown Prince, Officer Min, Ms. Goo, Prince Dowon's serving ladies (who count as one character), Mr. Yang, and Ms. Goo's serving lady. 

 

10B. ...also, since no one else wants her, if someone could let the Crown Princess know that I'm available, I'd appreciate it. 

 

11. When Ms. Goo first argues with Dowon (at the bookstore) that Maehwa's writing is trite, she scolds him for speaking to her without honorifics. Which is hilarious because she'd spent a previous scene arguing in her "how to be a lady" class against the standards of etiquette. Which is suuuuuch a great moment, if you catch it, because it's actually totally indicative of Ms. Goo's character: she isn't committed to principles but to outcomes. It's why she so often clashes with more broad-minded characters (like Officer Min) and why, ultimately, she's kind of a crappy historian. She follows her heart, often (but not exclusively) to selfish ends, and generally doesn't think about long-term consequences—positive or negative. That is, she is committed to individual outcomes, not a broader goal. So, in her head, it's not inconsistent to be against something in one moment and for it in another if either argument helps her achieve what she deems as the best result in that given scenario. Essentially, she believes in a sort of subjective, case-by-case morality that falls under a certain ideological umbrella. In the negative, this repeatedly makes her a self-righteous hypocrite. In the positive, she's a big believer in personal freedom (…albeit with her freedom being paramount). And it's all right there in that moment about honorifics: she doesn't care about etiquette, but she certainly cares about not having to be placed in a position of any kind of subservience to anyone for any reason (which, innocent though it may be, is what Dowon was doing when he asked her to defend her opinions).

 

12. Speaking of: one of my favorite moments in the series was the argument Officer Min and Ms. Goo have over the young historian threatening the Crown Prince to save his fellow Catholics. It's a fight over two definitions of "the greater good" (and a great argument for why that phrase is a stupid justification for anything…but I digress), with both making a point about the ramifications of straying from the cold indifference of record-keeping. Ms. Goo, as she always does, thinks the morally upstanding choice is always the right one and must be achieved by any means, thus she believes using the records as a weapon is okay. Officer Min, as he always does, sees the equal and opposite reaction that can come from this, rightly noting that this is a double-edged sword that can be used for evil as much as for righteousness—and that allowing for one (in this case, righteousness) immediately allows for the other to occur, because there would no longer be an argument that historians and the histories serve anything but a political function and, therefore, would cease to be a necessary consideration for the people at court. It's a great argument with real-world stakes that allows it to become more than just a philosophical debate, in that moment, even given the action had already been taken to save the 73 Catholics, at that point. Now...why is this one of my favorite moments? Because it's indicative of the thing I think I love the most about the show: it doesn't take a stance on the philosophical arguments the characters make. The "good guy" isn't right by virtue of being the good guy. Different "good guys" can oppose each other. It typically presents a conflict, lets the characters make their cases for what to do or what's right or wrong, and then there are consequences to whichever route is taken. I love that. Because there are always consequences, always things that ripple out from a decision, no matter how logical or principled or righteous or moral. And the best fiction, in my opinion, makes you take a side, asks you to think about what you really believe, and doesn't tell you what's right or wrong. Which is so often what this show does. My notes are FULL of commentary on decisions and stances the characters take—which doesn't matter, here, but which clearly mattered a lot to me as I was watching the show. Which is exactly as it should be. 

 

12A. ...of course, I deliberately say it often doesn't take a stance. But we'll get to that. 

 

13. On a lighter note: do you happen to know how I can get a retinue of poofy-dress ladies to follow me around, all day? I mean, I'm sure they had some kind of function (...right?), in ye olde times, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I just want the visual. And also to run around in a big circle so I can see the floofy skirts going all swish-swish as they trail after me.

 

14. As things went on and Ms. Goo seemed less and less to be the driving force in the story and more just the character we follow most frequently, I wondered if a better title for the show might not have been "The Female Historians" or something akin to that, since the story was so much less about her than it was about events that rippled out from hiring the female historians. I also saw that the Korean title (at least, per the translating skills of the google machine) is roughly "New Recruits," which is awful, but also closer in spirit to what I'm suggesting. Between that and some of the other translation choices, I'm wondering if someone shouldn't hire me to make these kinds of decisions for them. Y'know, after the translator has spent weeks slaving over the nuances of translation to make the English version of the dialogue not only make sense but also be appropriately colloquial, I swoop in and adjust three or four grammatical choices and get paid a ton of money and get all the credit. That should definitely happen.

 

15. Oh--I wanted to mention how much I appreciated that the seized Catholic paraphernalia (during that arc) was all crucifixes rather than crosses. That was such a nice detail, given I would assume there isn't much distinction between the two items in the eyes of non-Christian (or non-religious) folks. But Catholics typically use the crucifix where Protestants typically use a cross. So...good job, prop people. 

 

16. In case you didn't know, je t'aime is how you would say "I like you (in a romantic sense)" in French. The French dude was screwing with Dowon, but this is one of the few things I know how to say in French, so I wasn't fooled by his trick. 

 

16A. I also know that it's suki, in Japanese. Which—fun fact—is a “problem” in a couple of senses, because it sounds the same as saying tsuki (which means "moon"), and it's also interchangeably used to mean "I like you! As a friend!" and "I'm totes in love with you!" So...good luck, should you need to woo someone in Japanese. 

 

16B. Oh, also: baka means "dummy." So, should you try to, as Dowon did, get a native speaker to give you a secret way to confess to someone and he tells you anything involving the word baka, he's lying to you and you should hit him with a stick. Or, like, tell him you know he's lying. I guess you could do that, too. Depending on your stance on hitting liars with sticks. 

 

16C. ...this is the part where you tell me you’re fluent in five language, including Japanese, and I quietly feel like an idiot, again.

 

16D. "Idiot" is aho. But I digress. 

 

17. Speaking of translations, I love that "you punks" pops up all the time. I'd love to know why whatever is being said gets consistently translated as that. 

 

18. Similarly, I love how there's noticeable differences in who's translating from one episode to another, in terms of little things. Like, who decides that all the footnotes that kept popping up needed to be translated rather than only the ones that really matter to the story? Or who thought "Wow, you rock!" was an accurate translation for a historical drama? (Are the footnotes a normal part of these kinds of shows?)

 

19. You know who I really didn't like? Prince Dowon. Or, more specifically, I just didn't care about him. I thought he was dull. (Which is why I kept shipping Ms. Goo with the Crown Prince and Officer Min. Waaaaay more sparks there, in my opinion.) I liked him better once the romance really kicked off, but he was such a flimsy character, otherwise. He didn't have anything to do, and then at the end...look, we'll get to it. Just know that I'm not a fan of his. 

 

20. I was simultaneously excited and bummed when I saw Officer Min sneakily purchase the Christian books, at the end of the Catholic historian arc. It was great because the unyielding man of principle was committing literal spiritual and political heresy by trying to get an idea of what was so compelling about Catholicism that his fellow historian would be willing to both die and blackmail the Crown Prince for it, and I was hoping we'd see it influence or in some way create conflict within him, as a result. But I was bummed because, great an idea as that would be, I knew it wasn't going to happen. It wasn't going to go anywhere. And it didn't.

 

21. Actually, going back to the argument between Min and Goo about the role of historians, it was a delicious irony that Officer Min's argument about the double-edged sword hinges on his belief that everyone needs to be treated the same way by history, with no judgments by historians...and yet he was so adamantly resistant to the Catholic historian for his adherence to a spiritual philosophy that he described as treating everyone the same way. 

 

22. Things started making a lot of sense, in terms of character dynamic, when the show explicitly mentioned that Ms. Goo is 26 and Prince Dowon is 19. 

 

23. I love the score that plays whenever things get tense. It sounds like something out of a Batman movie.

 

24. Oh—this is going back to the beginning of the show, but I thought the dude Ms. Goo was supposed to marry was, for an arranged pick, pretty darn good. I know she didn't want to marry him, so I'm not saying she should have been happy about it or anything, but he seemed like a totally nice guy. Her brother did a good job with his pick. For whatever that's worth.

 

25. The three funniest characters: Yang, Ms. Goo's servant, and Dowon's serving ladies (who, I remind you, count as one character). 

 

26. Speaking of things that made me laugh, I think the funniest scene in the show was when the other female historians stumble across Ms. Goo and Prince Dowon holding hands and how the two girls are trying so animatedly to get Ms. Goo to confess that Prince Dowon forced her to be his plaything...and then immediately flip from righteous protectors to gushing shippers when they misconstrue that the pair had already "spent the night" together. Which is, in another brilliant callback/setup moment, just an iteration of the issue with the women fawning over trashy romance novels in the first episode. 

 

27. Okay…I think we have to talk about smooching: I don’t know what it is about these shows (whether they be Japanese, Chinese, or Korean), but—in my not limited experience—they have some of the worst kissing I’ve ever seen. In that I think it’s some of the least believable kissing, visually. Now, I’m not advocating for anything lascivious, and I don’t need to see tongues all up in everybody, but…I mean, you could part your lips, at least. Just a little. These look like stage kisses! Worse, they look like stage kisses for high schoolers! Pressing your face against someone else’s face is technically kissing, yes, but it sure doesn’t look right. Again, I’m glad that the instinct, in these cases, is to keep things demure (which…is a whole other discussion about how, when, and to what degree physical affection can/should/needs to be included in shows, which I will spare you from), but I think a little more effort is in order to sell the stage kisses as something more than just a stand-in for actual smoochy-time.

 

27A. In fairness to the show, though, there is an actual kiss in Episode 20. And, yes, it did make me blush.

 

27B. Kidding, of course. It didn’t make me blush.

 

27C. …much.

 

28. I mentioned the hats causing me some issues when trying to get a grip on who was who, early on, but this wasn’t the only thing that had me scratching my head, in the show. I don’t know how much of this is because I’m not familiar with Joseon sociopolitical morays and how much is the pacing of the reveals (or my perspective on the drip-drip-drip pacing of them, that is), but I have a lot of “What the hell is going on?!” notes I made to myself. As in, I could certainly follow the plot, and I had a good idea of what the big secrets were, but I couldn’t tell if the show was aware of that—as in, if the revelations that I had figured out were assumed to be things I, as the audience, was meant to have inferred or if it was still being held back for a big reveal. There were just a lot of scenes of people working to their own machinations and carrying on—quite logically—as though they know what was happening (which they did, ‘cus they were the ones with the machinations) but with no overt indication that I was supposed to understand what they were saying or doing or referring to. Which is mostly fine, if that was the intention, if I was supposed to wonder what they were doing. But there were a few scenes where I felt like I was maybe missing an assumed detail (like how a story about George Washington might assume you already know details because you learned about Valley Forge in school) that would have made the scene make a little more sense. Which, again, I don’t know is a light criticism or an unfortunate consequence of me, y’know, not being familiar with ye olde Korea times.

29. I call total shenanigans on Ms. Goo knowing she was living a fake life the whole time. Like, I'm not saying it's unrealistic, but it's a heck of a thing to spend the entire show tricking the audience about. (To say nothing of how convenient it is that both she and Prince Dowon both just happen to be directly tied to the deposed king.)

30. Not to pat myself on the back, here, but...I totally knew that Zumba Snake was behind the fake ambush on Prince Dowon and his entourage. Because of course she was. She's the Zumba Snake! Why wasn't she everyone's first suspect???

31. Actually, speaking of Zumba Snake and her machinations...I think it’s time we talk about the final arc of the story and how it had me shouting at the TV for four straight episodes:

 

31A. Okay, so, the best preface I have to my specific problem with the last few episodes is probably the smallpox arc, when Ms. Goo and Officer Min travel with Prince Dowon to reassure the infected villagers that, by golly, the king is always with them in spirit. The problem? That the show picks a side, in that arc. That is, rather than have the characters pick their sides and argue their opinions and the appropriate fallout follow whichever decisions are made—which is how everything else in the story is handled—there is a “correct answer” presented, and it wins the day only because the protagonist says so (and, further, because we, as the modern day audience, know that smallpox vaccination is a real thing that works). The idea that putting cow pus in a cut will protect you from an illness sounds bonkers, and people (including Dowon) thinking it’s nuts is a perfectly valid reaction—particularly since the “proof” the physician lady Dowon that it works was having 7 out of 12 kids who got it be fine but the 5 others who got it be on the brink of death. (Not a great ratio, that.) But Ms. Goo, who has no objective argument for why the cow pus is the correct way forward, is the deciding factor—and, wonder of wonders, she just happens to be correct. Because she’s the protagonist, and that’s what protagonists do. 

 

31A1. If you want to get a little deeper, structurally, about it, I would say this contrivance is reinforced by the section where Dowon and Min clumsily do manual labor because Ms. Goo bullies them into it. It doesn't really make sense for them to do it (nor even for her to try to force them into it, now that I’m thinking about it), but she's the protagonist and, therefore, everyone who didn’t agree with her, initially, is silly, and deserves to be made to look silly. Because lulz.

31A2. Of course, you could also argue that the show justifies this by having Dowon make the decision based solely on his affection for (and, therefore, bias towards) Ms. Goo, rather than because she’s using protagonist powers, but I’d argue back that the show wouldn’t have presented her argument for the cow pus in the way it had if that was the case. And, like, I’m an English major, soooooo…

31B. So, what’s that got to do with the ending? Well, it’s a similar set of circumstances: the protagonists are right because they are protagonists, not because they reasoned out the best or superior stratagem for the situation. Which is an unnecessary way to resolve the plot when it's already set up to be resolved in a more character-consistent, tactically sound, and narratively logical manner. They do this whole thing where they think their righteousness will make the flimsy evidence they have (regardless of its veracity) matter more than the fact that the King and Chancellor Bad Guy are, y'know, 20 years into being in power and, therefore, are the legitimate government. Essentially, the good guys have some rumors, an unconfirmable written account that contradicts the accepted narrative, and Prince Dowon suddenly showing an uncharacteristic concern about his status as the "rightful heir" of the country. None of it is worth a damn, unless A) the good guys parlay this into a strong political movement, or B) the bad guys get undercut by the show writers—which is exactly what happens. Do they use the Crown Prince's political power to outfox the baddies while also assuring that a civil war doesn't erupt over the coup they are themselves trying to pull? Does their plan at all extend beyond being "right"? Do they consider at all that Dowon's "legitimacy" is irrelevant after the previous king was overthrown? How does having a crappy reason for a coup at all negate the success of the coup? Has anyone thought about what's best for the citizens? None of this is considered, which is just...such a stupid way to resolve the situation. We've spent the entire show with Ms. Goo's transactional approach to moral decision making conflicting with Officer Min's unwaveringly principled approach to literally everything, so you'd think the compromise between the two philosophies (which is basically how the Crown Prince operates) would be what was necessary to overcome the ultimate conflict…but no. It's just good guys win 'cus they're good guys. And that bothered the dickens out of me. 

31C. And...did anyone notice the big crime the bad guys committed was not the coup but using the historical record like a weapon? Y'know, the central philosophical conflict between two of our central characters? Does that sound like a theme to anyone? Maybe one upon which the solution to the ultimate problem might hinge?

31C1. And forget about the irony that Zumba Snake’s whole plan is just the same thing (launch a coup!) that the King and Chancellor Bad Guy did in the first place! How…is that the morally sound decision?!

31D. Of course, the really interesting thing, after having said all that, is the actual ending—AFTER YET ANOTHER FLIPPIN’ TIME JUMP WHY MUST THERE ALWAYS BE A TIME JUMP—is pretty much what I would have hoped for: Crown Prince is king, Dowon is off doing his own thing, the Crown Princess is single and maybe her DMs are open. Everyone ended up more or less where I not only wanted them to, but where I thought they logically should. I just kept shaking my head at how they got there.

 

32. …that said, I didn’t end up crying for the whole thing, so...10/10 would finale again.

 

All in all, yet another good time (even if there wasn’t enough Ms. Song love triangle). Really, I think you might be kind of a genius with this. Not a single misfire. Which is impressive, yes, but also a really great balance, right now—because I seem to be bored to death by literally everything else I’ve watched, in the last month, that isn’t a k-drama.

 

So…no pressure.

 

--Daryl