dangermousie | I try Queen Seon Duk and all I can say is

I needed consolation because the fast blogspot subber won't release IRIS final ep subs any more (she is pissed off at someone) which means I have to wait for WITHS2 which is going to take forever. So I decided to check out Queen Seon Duk.

Bidam. Bidam. Bidam. BIDAM. BIDAM

Oh God, Korea, how can you be so good to me?

I have fallen like a ton of bricks. A ton of smitten, swooning bricks.

He fights army units single-handed, unarmed, and with his arms tied up. He sneers at Lady Mishil, Seon Duk's biggest adversary (and Bidam's unknown and unknowing mother!!!) even when captured. He is willing to risk his life for Seon Duk and he gets chained and almost burned at the stake. Seon Duk cold-bloodedly uses him and he seems to find it brilliant. He is off-kilter and dangerous and so hot my eyeballs are melting. He loves her and he is destined to eventually lead the biggest rebellion against her reign.

What makes me even more gleeful about this is that, as far as I can tell, Bidam is one of those characters that was never intended to be as prominent as he was but he sort of ran away with the drama! If you look at the main poster, he wasn't on it before QSD started, and the big love affair was supposed to be between Seon Duk and General Yushin (Uhm Tae Woong). But then Bidam appeared and set it all on its ears. And in one of those really rare events (I can only think of East of Eden as another example), TPTB saw the good thing they had and ran with it and now the romantic stuff is all about Seon Duk and Bidam. Oh YES. YES YES.

So, I decided to watch ep 28 of QSD, coming into it knowing just the general outlines of the drama - mainly to see if all the fuss over Bidam was worth it. My answer? In case you haven't figured it out from the above? HELL YES, IT IS.

Bidam got himself caught as a part of Deokman's (later to be known as Queen Seon Duk) plan to undermine Mishil's authority. Out of consideration for me, who have not yet watched QSD and is not used to his hotness, Bidam agrees to wear a mask and some fake skin disfigurement.

The super-evil and super-clever Lady Mishil. She is *gasp* Bidam's mother though neither of them know of it. I have to say, there is a heck of a lot of very inappropriate chemistry between them.

Unknown courtier makes me lol - hey, Bidam is still hotter even with his fake disfigurement than you are.

You know how you can tell he's the King? Because he's got giant peacock fans behind him EVERYWHERE. I wonder if they follow him to the bathroom.

She is evil but I confess I find her more interesting than Deokman (characters I like so far are Mishil and Bidam - Deokman and Yushin are good people but are not too interesting).

Mishil's brother. Let's christen him McSmirky Pants. I want someone to stab him in the face.

Yup, Mishil and Bidam are by far the most interesting.

Deokman herself. I don't find her too fascinating I confess. I wonder if it's Lee Yo Won's fault - I liked her in Fashion 70s but she doesn't have the biggest on-screen presence. I think they would have been better sticking with Sung Yuri like they planned. Sung Yuri can make me love any character.

A little flashback:

Have a little tasty imprisoned Bidam:

This is what Bidam looks like before deciding he would like to escape the whole group of armed to the teeth soldiers while alone, unarmed, and with his hands chained up.

And a totally INCREDIBLE fight scenes ensues.

But he's finally defeated and Mishil shows up to tell him (for long plotty reasons) his escape attempt basically ruined Deokman's cause.

darkeyedwolf, are you paying attention?

Yushin, who was supposed to be Deokman's OTP. I think QSD is some sort of Korean Veronica Mars where the heroine was supposed to be with one guy but then they saw the potential she had with the unstable charismatic potential-bad-guy and went with that. If that is the case, I can see why! I adored Uhm Tae Woong in Mawang and what I have seen of Resurrection but he is a big colorfully-dressed empty space here. He is honorable and upright and I like him abstractly, but I don't find him interesting at all.

Deokman herself. I am not exactly in love with Lee Yon Won's protrayal (at least from what I've seen in this ep - she can be amazing in other ones) but I like Deokman's character. She is ruthless and whip-smart.

Bidam is supposed to be executed in the morning.

This guy may be Mishil's flunkie, but he is one hot ahjusshi!

Apparently a little public burning is just what the doctor ordered if you are a medieval Korean thirsting for some light entertainment.

Christmas has come early for Lady Mishil. Who still does not know the man she is about to burn to death is her son. Would she care though?

God, I loved this scene. I love that he fights them the whole way. I love that he's terrified and that he can still smrik and that they have to force him to his knees.

Why don't they burn McSmirky Pants instead? Ugh.

This drama was made for me.

They are sad to waste such hotness too..

Awww, Bidam!

And the eclipse, on which all of Deokman's plan hinged, starts.

Deokman is SCARY. During this episode she ruthlessly used the two men who love her to outmaneuver Lady Mishil (taking a pretty high risk Bidam would die in the process).