I feel like a lot of the plot was wasted on unnecessary filler. The villains had potential to be true evil, but we never learn their reasoning (or even why they were having an affair). The love triangle was doomed from episode one when So-Rang was predicted to be queen, so why even have one? Could've just had epic bromance instead of weird angst. And I still don't truly believe So-Rang was happy to become queen (how many times can a girl get kidnapped?). Aedaldang hijinks were more her style.

But there we tons of cute and fluffy moments, the supporting cast was hilarious, and the modern winks were fun. All and all, it was a typical fusion sageuk romance with some faux danger thrown in to mix it up.

I appreciated the fluffy ending, as it came full circle to the absurdist tone at the beginning, and the anachronistic silliness of this drama at its best. I agree it was weakest when it tried for a more serious tone - the nonsensical villains with shaky motives, the let's crap on the second male lead as much as possible love triangle/melodrama, and so on. The fake haunting plot felt like a missed opportunity - they could've milked that for some fun quasi-horror moments instead of focusing on the Evil Stepmother and Minister Squinty.

Still, the premise was fun, at times it was genuinely hilarious, I loved the cast of characters, and the romance was nice thematically if not always in execution. I still feel like the chemistry between the leads wasn't really there, so the attempts at sexual tension felt forced to me. Ultimately, this was an enjoyable watch, but it probably won't go down as a particularly memorable one.

It was a good one but not one I will return to. The comedy scenes were good and I really loved So-rang's antics and her chemistry with Shin-won but the whole romance plot felt forced and perhaps out of place as if So-rang must end up with Heon despite the logic since he is the lead.

The biggest weakness of the drama is the villains where we're really caricature. No motives no logic just nonsense and over-the-top arrogance.

Case in point: why did Jo kill the crown princess? To enthrone a queen of his own, to break down Heon, to kidnap and sell women? Was it the three? Why not install Hyun-hee as the queen earlier?
Was Seo in on the plan since the beginning? Why try to marry Hyun-hee to Shin-won when she wants her to be queen?
We got no motives no confrontations nothing whatsoever.

I think 12 episodes are stretched and the drama was dragged on midway. Just 6-8 episodes were enough.

Thanks for the recaps @unit! The show had its ups and downs but ultimately I think it was worth sticking with it. Shin-won and Hwa-yoon were very cute and well-matched so I won't quibble over the neatness of the ending. Glad everyone had their happy ending.

I’d rather have a prolonged series of happy filler scenes than a too-abrupt ending. I appreciate that this show was a mostly fun watch that had more than its share of likable characters who were just good people — which can sometimes be hard to find in dramaland.

I'm erasing the second half of this drama from my brain. Instead, I'll remember the drama that could have matched the first half. So-rang remains the sassy swindler (not a traumatized noble in disguise). She does heal the king and vanquish real villains (not the caricatures we saw) through a really cool operation utilizing her verve. The king gets his own HEA, and So-rang rides off into the sunset with Shin-won to further adventures.

I liked this drama a lot and I have no idea why LOL
its not good by any means, but it just caught me 100%. the main actors didn't have that much chemistry, but I like both actors a lot anyway. the story was all over the place and the acting was not good, especially from our king. I wouldn't recommend the drama, but I had a lovely time following it, for whatever reason.

I don't mind the unnecessary fillers. It's just dozen shots of cupid for me and to the characters whom I care about in the Forbidden Marriage. Thankfully I have sweet tooth.

Even though I found Minister Jo cartoonishly annoying, I liked that he remained a bad guy to the end. I'd be pissed if he resigned to fate when all the cards were up.

I think the actors were miscasted. Park JooHyun and Kim Young-Dae did well in the comedy parts but everything that required some gravitas or fit a sageuk was lacking. This drama had a lot of romance but they didn't have the chemistry for it neither. They forgot to put make-up on PJH at the end too, they made her looking pretty plain.

For the story, they failed to show the FL's feelings for the King. She played him for so long, lied to him, finding him weak etc, it was weird she fell in love with him like this.

Kim Woo-Seok was a good surprise. His character was interesting too.

There were some really beautiful filmed scenes and the OST sounded very sageuk.

SIGH, I finished it. The first half was really great. The last half regretful. It ended. Why did they take away the funny?

Woohoo I got another No Min-woo cameo!

Shin-won dressed as woman made me far more thirsty for him *fans self*. And when he fought in a woman’s nightgown as the BADASS warrior he is, he became that much more SEXY if you can believe it. Daaamn could Shin-won get any more attractive, my fragile heart can’t take it!

Omo I LOVED those Joseon proposal TikToks hahaha. I wished the show stayed that camp, quirky and uniquely creative in its humour throughout its run but alas expectations and reality rarely align.

Since it’s a comedy I doubt anyone’s gonna get mad at the historical inaccuracies but *sigh* they still went for the most boring ass Joseon villains. At least I only had to suffer 12 episodes with their presence unlike a certain other drama where I suffered 30 episodes of the most infuriatingly evil character of all time… (who had the perfect villain eyeliner I must say).

Gotta say Gwaeng-Yi getting his own meet cute and love at first sight with another handsome Ajusshi makes me all kinds of happy!

Anyway I’m here to talk about Shin-won, no I mean The Forbidden Marriage. Yes yes I’m here to share my thoughts about the show as whole not just fangirling over one character!

LOL NOPE! I am a Shin-won fangirl through and through. When he is sad I’m sad, when he is happy, I’m happy. When he is longingly looking at So-rang, I pretend he is longingly looking at me. Every time he is on screen I go crazy, my heart starts beating faster, for some reason my body temperature becomes warmer and I get the typical pervert nose bleed.

Am I in love with a fictional character? Yes it’s undeniable, and it wouldn’t be the first time. Do I have anything coherent to say? Not really, it’s best to ignore this whole comment for your sanity tbh

Thanks Forbidden Marriage for giving me such extreme SLS that I haven’t felt in a long time. While yes I have seen dramas where I rooted for the second lead it was never as intense as this. Kim Woo-seok you did a fantastic job and I’m excited to see what project you do next.

And Shin-won stay happy with Hwa-yoon l like her, and while I wished she was introduced sooner so we would’ve had more romantic scenes between you two, her presence was strong and she’s a badass in her own way. Stay happy you two 😉

Thanks @Unit for the recap and for making it through the drama! I paused a few episodes back. I may just FF to the funny parts and to see Shin-won get his happy ending.

My first bean of 2023! I may not have commented on the previous posts, but thank you for the recaps, @unit. Your recaps helped me trudge through the drama when I wanted to give up.

I understand some viewers’ misgiving with the silly fancam-like footage of all the Joseon lovers, but I vastly preferred it over the nonsensical politicking and scheming of the previous episodes. It’s anachronistic and fluffy beyond words, but that’s what I wanted more from the show to begin with! I’m just happy that Shin-won and Hwa-yoon ended up together and that we got one last No Min-woo cameo.

Thanks for the weecap @unit. I dropped this drama at episode 9 and was just following the weecaps. After reading this, I did watch eps 11 and 12 for the scenes highlighted here, like Shin-won's kidnapping, and fast forwarded most scenes. I share the opinion of some beanies that if this show's strengths were the parts when it did not take itself seriously. But the romance was not convincing, both story-wise and acting-wise. Anyway, at least I discovered a new actor to watch out for - Kim Woo Seok hopefully gets more meaty roles in the near future. I did not realize it first but when I saw the comments about the FL make-up, I realized that I was not alome in thinking that she looked too pale in some scenes (even when she was supposedly healthy and happy), or in some scenes her face was too shiny, and then in the latter parts, her blush on did not seem complete, it looked like she had a permanent rash on her left cheek. I am not a fan of too much make up and filtering too, but since this show is not going for realism in the first place, she should at least look prettier than the other ladies in the show. She should fire her make up artist.

Thanks @Unit! I actually didn't mind the filler at the end, I generally like all ends neatly tied off, so this was fine with me. Not a classic drama by any means, but I enjoyed the fun.

As far as sageuk evil ministers go I don’t think Minister Jo was top tier however, worthy or not, the writer gave him a memorable death scene. It was rather operatic. I loved it when the royal bowmen cut him down from above. That’s how you handle guys like him. No fooling around.

Thanks for the recap @unit. There are always a few details that I miss when watching but the recap allow me to get everything.

It was a fun drama, at his best when silly and fun.
The best outcome is Shin Won / Kim Woo Seok, a new oppa in my aquarium.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the TV series. I agree that there were some parts that felt unnecessary, but the benefit of having a remote control is that I could skip forward without missing the main plot.

However, I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed the show's dry wit and campy humour. It added a fun and entertaining element to the overall experience. Overall, I appreciate your review and thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts on the series.

I actually clenched my teeth through the first "funny half" of this rom-com fusion saguek, until our FL toned down the swindle and began to fall for the king. Her character at the start was over-the-top agressively shallow and she was definitely not pretending to be a shaman so she could help lift the ban on marriage...nope...she was there to help herself make money as a matchmaker once the ban was lifted. I know it's a comedic farce, and according to drama rules, her character, just like a Tsundre hero, would slowly change too, but I needed at least a slight bit of nuance from her character in the beginning to make me care about her & her goals even a little. Especially since some of her lies to the king were so cold-heartedly bent on her making him forget his wife, that it hurt him very deeply...which blunted much of the humour for me. Especially telling him that his wife never loved him. Even in comedy, the character hurting someone so deliberately should have a deeper purpose for it other than making a lot of money. The drama felt more like a comic book at the beginning for me, which is fine, but I didn't think I could stomach sixteen episodes worth of cringy sketches, but I stuck it out because I've seen Kim Young-Dae in Sh*tting Stars & 'Moon in the Day' and read he won acting awards for 'Sh*tting Stars' as well as 'Penthouse 2:War in Life', 'Cheat on me if you can' and 'Forbidden Marriage" too. He impressed me in this one. I thought his physical and facial humour as well as his comedic timing was great. The writer wrote us an emotionally wounded king who 'simps' when he's in love, but swooshes in 'like the wind' when he's after his butterfly... and can wield his power & a deft sword to protect her. Kim Young Dae managed to make me believe all parts of him, even the dorky cheesie moments. And yet all his parts made a cohesive whole that drew you in and made you believe in his sincerity. Sadly, uur heroine didn't do that for me. I didn't feel their chemistry either, but KYD was 'giving it'...even while So-rang wasn't. I LOVED our hunky Eunuch and Court Lady Won to bits. Happy that our writer gave them a nice long arc. I also liked Shin-won a lot too, a stellar second lead who is yet another guy who 'simps' when he falls in love. Hwa-yoon (loved the 'crash landing' reference #Unit--hilarious!) was a much better match for him because with So-rang he had no 'edges' or boundaries...he just 'wanted' to 'be' with her. The King's relationship with So-rang was more three-dimensional as they grew through distaste at first, then admiration, respect and into love. Si-Won as her 'fiancé' eight years ago never got that chance. His love for her was a freeze-frame moment from the time he saw her silouette in the window. Not the same for her. But I was so very happy with Hwa-Yoon who was as smart, capable and charming as So-rang as his match. She belonged by his side.