NAILED IT.

NAILED IT.

Nailed all the issues I had with her character.

This is it, folks.

I feel like they tried too hard to appeal to the audience with her characteristics rather than trying to give those characteristics a good story that would itself be compelling for the audience. That's why she's all wishy-washy, try-too-hard-in-really-random-moments-and-not-at-all-in-the-right-ones.

...also yeah...the romance scenes...they really were not it. ("this is your super obvious reminder that our MLs are just frieeeends!!!!!!!!!!!") (I have no problem with them just being friends...I actually love it bc it makes their story that much more powerful. I just think that if that was their - the writers' - goal...shouldn't they have stuck to it??? idk)

MC is such a strong story, could've been even stronger if HJ hadn't been in it at all, or if the writers had just gotten a grip, a goal for her, and carried it out

Ask meme! - Hui-jae: underdeveloped character and a *diaster* leader

strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree

Like an 85% agree?

Disaster leader--I want to say strong agree. Madam Seo kept Ihwaru safe her whole life by maintaining its political neutrality, only selling secrets here and there, never actively taking sides. Hui-jae jumps into politics before becoming Ihwaru’s head and never adjusts to being neutral once she does get that role, and the reckoning does come--I’m not sure how many of Ihwaru’s people got killed or wounded by Seung-gye’s attack, but at least a decent number. And Hui-jae’s reason for siding with Bang-won over Nam Jeon is not about helping Ihwaru or what is the right path for Joseon, it’s about helping Hwi and getting revenge for her mother’s death. Understandable reasons but her priority as Ihwaru’s head really should have been Ihwaru.

(Technically everyone at Ihwaru is free to leave and she in fact tells them not to be there when she’s expecting an attack. They choose to be there and to follow her. But the fact that they don’t listen to her does say something about her leadership--and also, she’s still responsible for putting them in this danger. Ihwaru is meant to be a gisaeng house that dabbles in spying. It’s Hui-jae’s job to keep it from having to face this kind of direct attack.)

On the other hand, she also says that she paid off her gisaeng workers’ debts so that they’re free to leave and that’s pretty cool. I mean “freeing slaves” is always a good thing. Bang-won does this just once, for Jeong Beom when he burns his papers, and it’s a very emotional moment. Hui-jae does it for a huge number of people offscreen. Admittedly doing it offscreen kind of undercuts it, and they never explore it--it’s more like a side note of “just to make sure you know Hui-jae’s a good person despite running a gisaeng house, you should know all of the gisaengs chose to be here.” Which.... I mean, I would indeed have a hard time rooting for someone who ran a gisaeng house with lots of women being forced to work as gisaengs there, but it also feels like the writers want to preserve her moral purity as the main female character/love interest, which is not a courtesy they give almost anyone else. Still, as far as leadership goes, that’s pretty good.

Underdeveloped character--Well yeah. For me I think it’s less that she’s not developed enough and more that she’s developed inconsistently? She is willing to risk her life to protest the oncoming war, but you don’t see her speaking out against it again after the first episode, and that view doesn’t seem to be why she throws in with the queen-to-be, supporting Yi Seung-gye. She’s in love with Hwi, but they also are constantly separated, and she only seems to prioritize their relationship at the exact worst moments. She at first wants to leave Ihwaru to gain influence working for the not-yet-queen, but then leaves the now-queen and returns to Ihwaru for no clear reason. She becomes leader of Ihwaru and seems like she’s going to prioritize them, but then puts them in danger with her lack of neutrality. It’s hard to track her motivations.

I wish the writers had given her a more coherent plot arc because she has individual scenes that do slap--her almost killing the guy who killed her mother, for example, or Madam Seo’s death scene and Hui-jae taking on the mantle of head of Ihwaru, or her seeking out the not-yet-queen and demanding employment (actually I liked that whole arc and enjoyed her dynamic with Bang-won a lot). But yeah, they seem to say “Hui-jae should be in this episode--let’s give her some random plot-relevant thing to do” without considering whether it suits her character arc. I’d have a hard time even saying what her character arc is. It’s all over the place.

Also, on a side note, the main issue with selling her romance with Hwi is Seon-ho and I don’t even say that in a “I ship Hwi/Seon-ho too much” kind of way--I DO ship Hwi and Seon-ho too much but also. Every time she and Hwi are having a romantic scene it’s either directly before or directly after a more compelling scene with Seon-ho. Their cute little kite scene and walking home with Yeon on Hwi’s back? Seon-ho just had a dramatic confrontation with Chi-do and is sadly going home to nurse his wounds alone and you KNOW that’s what we’re thinking about. Hwi and Hui-jae’s reunion when she tracks him down to his shack? I’m not 100% sure I’m remembering this correctly but wasn’t Seon-ho just in a tense meeting with Hwi in that shack and isn’t he still hiding back there like he’s Hwi’s secret mistress while Hui-jae and Hwi are talking? Hwi and Hui-jae have a Meaningful Conversation in the last episode but Hwi has a Meaningful Conversation with Seon-ho like right before it and I’m distracted. Listen. They needed to not distract me with Seon-ho if they wanted me to invest in this ship!

But anyways, tangents aside--yeah they should have done more with Hui-jae. Or rather, they should have done less with Hui-jae in that they should have figured out her plot arc and stuck with it instead of bouncing her around.

⚔️🛡️🗡️ my country: the new age (2019)

Okay, was anybody going to tell me Chan and Felix are Australian or was I just supposed to find that out myself

Just saw this and… because I haven’t said it in a while, I love Nam Seon Ho. The broken beauty.

Hermine & Heloise

Hermia & Helena

...wait.

When it comes to Hwi and Hui-Jae, I can’t help but feel that he just didn’t want her enough like that to start a life with her. She asked him to. Several times. But Hwi always prioritized his revenge, his sister, his army buddies and his dealings and feelings for his soulmate-nemesis over her.

He could have walked straight to her when he came back from Liaodong, but instead he just let her think he was dead. For four years! And that could have turned into forever if she hadn’t accidentally run into him.

Then he told her he was busy with things, but that she could wait.

However, after he stopped being busy, he skipped town. For six years!

Then he returned, being busy again, and told her again that she could wait.

After he achieved his goals and stopped being busy, he was mostly seen with his old army buddies on his free time. Sometimes feeling blue because his soulmate-nemesis skipped town after he hurt him so badly. This went on for almost two years! During this time one of his old army buddies, who had been as busy as him, had time to court and marry one of Hui-Jae’s friends.

And eventually he became busy again with what Bang-won needing his help and his soulmate-nemesis reappearing and Hwi trying to charm him back.

So, I don’t know, I think he loved her, but maybe more like a friend after the initial crush faded. I want to think that he just never had the heart to tell it to her face rather than leading her on on purpose. She was also his one chance to start a traditional family if he should feel like it one day. It can be hard to close that kind of door permanently. Especially when things at that time were more on the nemesis than soulmate side with Seon-ho.

(To me My Country: The New Age is ultimately a love story between Hwi and Seon-ho. (With some delicious flirting from a prince, softness from a faithful sword wielder and bisexual confusion sprinkled in.) I’ve also given up and started skipping all Hwi & Hui-Jae emotional scenes, because I don’t feel like the chemistry is there and those scenes disrupt the pacing of the main plot. And I just grew tired of seeing those passive tears.)