Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung
Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung (Available on Netflix)
Content Warning: Violence and brief Mature Content
My Rating: A-
Character Glossary:
Goo Hae Ryung: Female Historian
Yi Rim (Prince Dowon): 2nd Prince
Min Woo-won: Historian
Yi Jin: Crown Prince
Song Sa Hee: Female Historian
Min Ik Pyung: Counselor to the King
Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung is about a girl named Goo Hae Ryung (go figure, right?) who becomes one of the first female historians. But despite the adversity she faces at achieving that, there is only more to come. She has to decide what is more important the truth or her life.
SPOILERS AHEAD READ AT YOUR OWN RISK
OVERALL STORY: Holy crap this story was really amazing. I've always been a fan of the Kdrama's that take place in ancient Joseon times. I am going to start off with the things that I liked before I delve into the section of episodes that bothered me. First I loved the girl power. Back in that time girls were not allowed to work in government offices so the fact that a group of girls became historians was a big deal in this show. I loved the way they portrayed that struggle. The girls never backed down and fought to show their right to do this job. Most of the others in this show accepted them and fought with them. (except that one stupid guy.) I also loved the overall message of the show. Truth matters. Altering the truth for your own selfish purposes is harmful to everyone including yourself. Recording history is important and making sure that it is accurate is even more so. The characters in the show--the group of historians especially-- fight so hard to protect the truth. It is really inspiring. I loved the development of the story overall because what I expected from the beginning was not how it turned out by the end. The only thing that did stay consistent was the fact that the King was a spineless dirtbag and I hated him with everything in me. All of these things made this show definitely worth adding to my "to buy" list. Despite all of this I still had some parts that bothered me. The "break up" for example. That group of episodes (I think it is like 14-19 on Netflix) annoyed me to no end. We had barely any foundation for the romance and then suddenly the main girl is like "crap you're getting married so I'm basically gonna say I don't love you anymore." It took forever for them to get together and then without any sure romantic foundation suddenly we have to deal with this. It turned out okay in the end but it bothered me while I was watching it. During this section as well my favorite character--the crown prince--completely changed as a character. He had always been someone who did what he thought was right because he cared about the people more than power. Then suddenly he chose power over what was right! I felt like that didn't really fit with his character and I was so angry. Again though, by the end, he was back to being amazing. To finish off this lengthy story review I thought the last episode wrapped things up a little too quickly but that didn't bother me too much. This was still a fantastic show and I highly recommend watching it. I will definitely buy and rewatch it one day.
MAIN ROMANCE: Like I mentioned a bit in the review above I felt like this romance was a really slow build up. Which is fine and, excluding that group of episodes, I loved it. There was no love triangle which was awesome and their moments were so precious. She was not afraid to tell him how she felt and since he was a little more reserved it worked out well. I was unsure of how to feel about them at the first but they quickly became one of my favorite parts of the show. There was not a lot on them because this show was not focused on the romance but the little bits we get of them are fantastic.
SECONDARY ROMANCE: This section won't be particularly long because the main romance did not get a lot of screen time and this one got even less. This one was between Yi Jin (the crown prince) and one of the historians, Song Sa Hee. I adored their romance and I wished more than anything we could have seen more of them. I thought their chemistry was great and both of them deserved to be in a relationship where they loved and respected each other. We kind of get a hint at the end that they are still furthering their relationship but it is not confirmed.
GOO HAE RYUNG: I absolutely LOVED her as the main character. There are so many political issues and gender issues that this story could only progress with a certain kind of person. She was not afraid to state and defend her opinion. Her own life was not more important to her than the truth. She was determined and stubborn. If you are a fan of strong female characters I highly recommend watching this show just for her. She is not just a strong character at first but she develops so much as a character. She learns that she doesn't have to fight every battle and when she does fight, she does it with information to back her up. My favorite scene with her in the whole show is the very last episode when she has a sword to her neck and yet continues to defend the truth. (The actual quote she says in this scene is down below.)
YI RIM: For the longest time I really did not see the point of his character. I mean he was fun to watch and I thought he was pretty great but he did not seem to fit into the plot at all. He seemed to be there just to be the romantic love interest. No one likes any character in a romantic relationship just to be the "love interest." Some people are defined as love interests and have so much more to their characters. I was worried that he would not be one of them. But right towards the middle to end he became VERY IMPORTANT to the plot. Like it was a complete 180 but looking back on it, it was always there. Who is father was, was the biggest shocker. I legitimately did not see it coming! I loved the character development that occurred because of it. He began to fight for what he wanted and was willing to be far more outspoken. By the end I really felt like his character grew.
MIN WOO-WON: He was so kick butt. He was one of the chief historians and the son of the main antagonist. There were times where I expected him to throw away truth to save his father. And there were times where he did but it wasn't long before his sense of justice would cause him to come back and fight harder than ever. He was one of the most inspiring people in this whole show. He had the most to lose throughout everything and yet he continued to fight to defend the truth. Like that moment where he showed up at the palace and placed an axe in front of the King basically saying, "rescind your order or kill me." I would not be brave enough to do that but because he did that other people came to help him. And he won.
YI JIN: He was my absolute favorite character. He listened to other people and did not wield his position like some sort of weapon. He was never like the King who continually used the fact that he was King to back up his unfair laws. He always did things fairly and took the people into account like a good ruler does. If anyone deserves the title of King it is him. It did bug me however--like I mentioned above--that he acted completely out of character during that section of episodes. He was never power hungry and loved his brother. He would want to find out the truth because he believes the people deserve it. But no, suddenly he is a power hungry, he confines his brother, and wants to bury the truth. That bothered me because there was no basis for those actions and yet they happened. But I suppose he was fine by the end so at least there is that. And he did become King so at least he can be a good ruler.
SONG SA HEE: She was an incredibly complicated character. I liked her but at the same time there were times where I wasn't sure if I should like her. She was incredibly logical and straightforward. Min Ik Pyung helped her become a historian so she fed him information because she felt it was her duty. It bugged me because that information put things heavily in his favor which was annoying. But she did change sides when she realized that what she was doing was wrong. Because the man who she helped is conniving and has no sense of loyalty to her. I mean he literally tried to marry her off. After that she stood with the historians completely. I loved her character even more though because of the different facets. She was more complicated and I thought it gave her more depth.
MIN IK PYUNG: You could not have picked a more perfect villain for this story. I hate him with every fiber of my being but there were times where I sympathized with him. I felt bad for him because he had been an amazing person, like his son, in the past. And he did love his children or at least there was a time when he did. He was messed up and manipulative but there was a humanity to his character we were forced to acknowledge. That is a sign to me of a good villain. And I felt like he also got a satisfying ending.
FAVORITE QUOTE:
"Your Majesty, even if you slash my throat, we, historians will continue writing. If I die, one of my fellow historians will take my place. If you kill that historian also, another historian will take his place. Even if you kill all the historians on this land and take all the writing brushes and paper from us, you will not be able to stop us. From mouth to mouth, from teachers to their pupils, and from elders to children, history will be told."
SHIP VIDEO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki_GNgJqof8
Content Warning: Violence and brief Mature Content
My Rating: A-
Character Glossary:
Goo Hae Ryung: Female Historian
Yi Rim (Prince Dowon): 2nd Prince
Min Woo-won: Historian
Yi Jin: Crown Prince
Song Sa Hee: Female Historian
Min Ik Pyung: Counselor to the King
Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung is about a girl named Goo Hae Ryung (go figure, right?) who becomes one of the first female historians. But despite the adversity she faces at achieving that, there is only more to come. She has to decide what is more important the truth or her life.
SPOILERS AHEAD READ AT YOUR OWN RISK
OVERALL STORY: Holy crap this story was really amazing. I've always been a fan of the Kdrama's that take place in ancient Joseon times. I am going to start off with the things that I liked before I delve into the section of episodes that bothered me. First I loved the girl power. Back in that time girls were not allowed to work in government offices so the fact that a group of girls became historians was a big deal in this show. I loved the way they portrayed that struggle. The girls never backed down and fought to show their right to do this job. Most of the others in this show accepted them and fought with them. (except that one stupid guy.) I also loved the overall message of the show. Truth matters. Altering the truth for your own selfish purposes is harmful to everyone including yourself. Recording history is important and making sure that it is accurate is even more so. The characters in the show--the group of historians especially-- fight so hard to protect the truth. It is really inspiring. I loved the development of the story overall because what I expected from the beginning was not how it turned out by the end. The only thing that did stay consistent was the fact that the King was a spineless dirtbag and I hated him with everything in me. All of these things made this show definitely worth adding to my "to buy" list. Despite all of this I still had some parts that bothered me. The "break up" for example. That group of episodes (I think it is like 14-19 on Netflix) annoyed me to no end. We had barely any foundation for the romance and then suddenly the main girl is like "crap you're getting married so I'm basically gonna say I don't love you anymore." It took forever for them to get together and then without any sure romantic foundation suddenly we have to deal with this. It turned out okay in the end but it bothered me while I was watching it. During this section as well my favorite character--the crown prince--completely changed as a character. He had always been someone who did what he thought was right because he cared about the people more than power. Then suddenly he chose power over what was right! I felt like that didn't really fit with his character and I was so angry. Again though, by the end, he was back to being amazing. To finish off this lengthy story review I thought the last episode wrapped things up a little too quickly but that didn't bother me too much. This was still a fantastic show and I highly recommend watching it. I will definitely buy and rewatch it one day.
MAIN ROMANCE: Like I mentioned a bit in the review above I felt like this romance was a really slow build up. Which is fine and, excluding that group of episodes, I loved it. There was no love triangle which was awesome and their moments were so precious. She was not afraid to tell him how she felt and since he was a little more reserved it worked out well. I was unsure of how to feel about them at the first but they quickly became one of my favorite parts of the show. There was not a lot on them because this show was not focused on the romance but the little bits we get of them are fantastic.
SECONDARY ROMANCE: This section won't be particularly long because the main romance did not get a lot of screen time and this one got even less. This one was between Yi Jin (the crown prince) and one of the historians, Song Sa Hee. I adored their romance and I wished more than anything we could have seen more of them. I thought their chemistry was great and both of them deserved to be in a relationship where they loved and respected each other. We kind of get a hint at the end that they are still furthering their relationship but it is not confirmed.
GOO HAE RYUNG: I absolutely LOVED her as the main character. There are so many political issues and gender issues that this story could only progress with a certain kind of person. She was not afraid to state and defend her opinion. Her own life was not more important to her than the truth. She was determined and stubborn. If you are a fan of strong female characters I highly recommend watching this show just for her. She is not just a strong character at first but she develops so much as a character. She learns that she doesn't have to fight every battle and when she does fight, she does it with information to back her up. My favorite scene with her in the whole show is the very last episode when she has a sword to her neck and yet continues to defend the truth. (The actual quote she says in this scene is down below.)
YI RIM: For the longest time I really did not see the point of his character. I mean he was fun to watch and I thought he was pretty great but he did not seem to fit into the plot at all. He seemed to be there just to be the romantic love interest. No one likes any character in a romantic relationship just to be the "love interest." Some people are defined as love interests and have so much more to their characters. I was worried that he would not be one of them. But right towards the middle to end he became VERY IMPORTANT to the plot. Like it was a complete 180 but looking back on it, it was always there. Who is father was, was the biggest shocker. I legitimately did not see it coming! I loved the character development that occurred because of it. He began to fight for what he wanted and was willing to be far more outspoken. By the end I really felt like his character grew.
MIN WOO-WON: He was so kick butt. He was one of the chief historians and the son of the main antagonist. There were times where I expected him to throw away truth to save his father. And there were times where he did but it wasn't long before his sense of justice would cause him to come back and fight harder than ever. He was one of the most inspiring people in this whole show. He had the most to lose throughout everything and yet he continued to fight to defend the truth. Like that moment where he showed up at the palace and placed an axe in front of the King basically saying, "rescind your order or kill me." I would not be brave enough to do that but because he did that other people came to help him. And he won.
YI JIN: He was my absolute favorite character. He listened to other people and did not wield his position like some sort of weapon. He was never like the King who continually used the fact that he was King to back up his unfair laws. He always did things fairly and took the people into account like a good ruler does. If anyone deserves the title of King it is him. It did bug me however--like I mentioned above--that he acted completely out of character during that section of episodes. He was never power hungry and loved his brother. He would want to find out the truth because he believes the people deserve it. But no, suddenly he is a power hungry, he confines his brother, and wants to bury the truth. That bothered me because there was no basis for those actions and yet they happened. But I suppose he was fine by the end so at least there is that. And he did become King so at least he can be a good ruler.
SONG SA HEE: She was an incredibly complicated character. I liked her but at the same time there were times where I wasn't sure if I should like her. She was incredibly logical and straightforward. Min Ik Pyung helped her become a historian so she fed him information because she felt it was her duty. It bugged me because that information put things heavily in his favor which was annoying. But she did change sides when she realized that what she was doing was wrong. Because the man who she helped is conniving and has no sense of loyalty to her. I mean he literally tried to marry her off. After that she stood with the historians completely. I loved her character even more though because of the different facets. She was more complicated and I thought it gave her more depth.
MIN IK PYUNG: You could not have picked a more perfect villain for this story. I hate him with every fiber of my being but there were times where I sympathized with him. I felt bad for him because he had been an amazing person, like his son, in the past. And he did love his children or at least there was a time when he did. He was messed up and manipulative but there was a humanity to his character we were forced to acknowledge. That is a sign to me of a good villain. And I felt like he also got a satisfying ending.
FAVORITE QUOTE:
"Your Majesty, even if you slash my throat, we, historians will continue writing. If I die, one of my fellow historians will take my place. If you kill that historian also, another historian will take his place. Even if you kill all the historians on this land and take all the writing brushes and paper from us, you will not be able to stop us. From mouth to mouth, from teachers to their pupils, and from elders to children, history will be told."
SHIP VIDEO:
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