Summary
My Royal Nemesis gets a little more serious in “The Dark Side of the Moon”, which is to its credit, as the relationship between the leads continues to develop.
Good news, folks – My Royal Nemesis is on a bit of an uptick in Episode 7. I’ve been critical of this recent portion of Season 1, with the last couple of episodes feeling a bit dopey, and a bit unconvincing, and while some of those problems are still present here and there, “The Dark Side of the Moon” gets back to what was compelling about the premiere, touching on Dan-sim’s villainous Joseon reputation and the idea of cultivating one’s own image as a means of self-defence and survival.
This ripples through the ages, of course; it’s in a romantic context in the present day, with Dan-sim especially struggling to reconcile her feelings for Se-gye and attempting to keep him at arm’s length to make the situation easier, but it also interestingly relates to the flashbacks, where we get a sense of Prince Cheongheon nurturing his own scary image, perhaps floating the possibility that Dan-sim’s status as a villainess was, in itself, a bit of a convenient fabrication.
There’s an argument to be made that this still constitutes a cop-out, ensuring that neither character is as “bad” as they were initially suggested to be, but I’m not going to make that argument, since I think the whole thing works thematically.
The pacing’s a bit better now, too. The cliffhanger kiss – which is where Episode 7 starts, naturally – evidently sped things along in that regard, even if Dan-sim’s not wholly committed yet, falling asleep instead of indulging in a sequel kiss. But even in her mind, the parallels between Prince Cheongheon and Se-gye are there to see. Se-gye is totally motivated to keep their relationship going, warning Dan-sim not to play the blackout card, since they both remember the kiss from the night before.
It’s not that easy, though, obviously, especially with Tae-hee sniffing around, trying to ingratiate herself into the family with the aid of at least one of Se-gye’s aunts. Mun-do is still focusing on causing Se-gye as much disruption as possible, and everyone seems to feel like it would be better if Se-gye were out of the inheritance race completely. Tae-hee goes to Seo-ri and tells her, essentially, that she needs to get out of the way of the pending marriage, and it’s something that she takes to heart, since Se-gye’s careerism kind of keeps her distant from him. She can’t help him in that regard, so as a consequence, she starts to focus on her own career as an actress and pushes Se-gye away.
One of the smarter choices that My Royal Nemesis makes in Episode 7 is having Se-gye double down. It feels like a welcome inversion of the usual K-Drama formula to have the male lead be so sure of his own feelings while the female lead is having doubts. Dan-sim also has her own, more specific problems, since she’s – for the first time, even though I mentioned it weeks ago – starting to feel bad about inhabiting the body of Seo-ri. This especially manifests around Grandma Nam being sick, and Seo-ri – the real one – receiving a birthday present that makes Dan-sim feel very much like an imposter when she picks it up. I was moaning when the show wasn’t acknowledging this, so I have to give credit now that it is.
Credit is also due for the fact that we aren’t dragging the will-they-won’t-they thing on too long. It only really takes his episode for Dan-sim to confess her mutual feelings for Se-gye, which, like the first kiss, should move their relationship on a not-insignificant amount. Some comedy is being sacrificed on the altar of dramatic progression, granted, but after feeling a little overwhelmed by the almost juvenile nature of the comedy in some of the previous episodes, I really don’t think that’s a bad thing.
