It's a lot of Rowoon we've been having, huh?

I'm liking The Matchmakers for as long as stays super-weird, hella-beautiful, crazy-fast and not trying making to many serious points about the nature of humanity.

So far, that's been one week! I don't imagine it'll be all eight.

What a waste of Jung-woo’s brain and youth.

I'm unashamedly more worried about his youth than his brain.

The colors are gorgeous.
I always hold Roowon benefits of doubt, despite I think he has limited acting range, but I always tried to watch the 1st ep of his dramas. And this is the 1st time, I think his acting style matches his drama character. You know this reminds me the scene in Live Your Own Live when the aspiring actress character went to drama audition and acting all extreme with portraying a character because the fact she is still green and acting that kind of way is easier than acting subtle. And Rowoon falls perfectly in that criteria, and makes it entertaining. Just don't give him a character that requires him to act subtle and everything will be okay I mean 😏

Thanks for the recap @unit!
I really like our FL, she is interesting, intelligent, capable and strong. i do appreciate that she did not resign herself to the lofe society dictated for her. And as you said, pushing the boundaries on what she can do. I like her pursuit of her own happiness through matchmaking. That way she can relive the heart fluttering love through every successful match she makes.
While I found the ML insufferable with his uptight and condescending attitude. He needs to be taken down a few pegs since he is not better than anyone even if he is the King's son-in-law. That is why I liked that the King reprimanded him because what he said was true. He will not survive in the real world with an attitude like his. I did find his crush on our FL cute.
I will call it, most likely Left councillor also had a hand in the death of the princess. Same agenda in preventing the King's children from producing any legitimate heir to the throne. But hopefully the writer wilnot dwell too long in the murder mystery. I am more interested in whom the Maeng sisters and Ye Jin will be matched to. That young handsome scholar that Soon Deok planned to match with Ye Jin seemed to be interested in the second sister with the foul mouth. So I am looking forward to the matchmaking hijinks a lot

Awwwn, palace politics. How much I have missed thee!

Guess you need more target practice.

Jo Yi-hyun is sparkling as Soon-deok. Next to her, Ro-woon really seems to be struggling to play this prim and self-absorbed aristocrat. (Very similar to his early character and early struggles in Destined with You.) I'm looking forward to Soon-deok breaking down his book-derived ways of thinking, and seeing Jung-woo evolve more into the kind of character Ro-woon can play easily and well.

Meanwhile, I think his sidekick/faithful servant is hilarious and perfectly played.

I wonder how they will handle the widow remarriage. The kids would be banned from public office forever, and lost their yangban status.

Thanks for the recap @unit! I loved the king too! The tavern scene was hilarious. Jo Han-chul is so good at comedy.

I'm surprised how much I liked Cho Yi-hyun. I'd thought she might be too young to portray the role well but she was excellent both as the devoted daughter-in-law and as the sassy matchmaker.

I enjoyed everything in the first two episodes except for Jung Woo, he does nothing for me. However, Soon Deok is DELIGHTFUL. I adore her. I also really like the eldest Maeng sister, her FAFO look was my favorite part.

I also really really love Jo Han Chul. The man is consistently a scene stealer in everything he does and always delightful. He is no different as the King. Rowoon, bless him, is outmatched by a great deal of the cast in terms of acting here, but hopefully his uptightness disappears by the end.

JungWoo skipping along like a 12-year old girl on his way to meet SoonDeok sealed the deal for me. That and his huge frame on that tiny donkey. And his horny/peeping Tom pursuits. And his self-important buffoonery. And the delighted-idiotic smile on his face as he lies down on SoonDeok's lap. RoWoon has outdone himself here with his comic timing!

Love the fact that all the girls know their minds and speak it too. SoonDeok is competent and kind. Her streetsmarts will well complement JungWoo's booksmarts. The 3 spinster are firecrackers in their own ways and I look forward to their love stories too. It seems the middle sister will match with the young master, and the older sister may match with the inspector investigating the girl's death. I pray the show focuses on the matchmaking hijinks and romance instead of murder mysteries and palace intrigue. But since this is a segeuk, I'm keeping my hopes low.

While I'm loving the array of smart, opinionated women on the show -- from the matchmaking, dual-identity FL to the trio of sisters -- the fact that they're in the Joseon era makes me wary of the time when their bits of freedom eventually are constrained by society's rules. Perhaps the writer has some ideas for how this will be less disappointing than seems inevitable.

In the meantime, the candy colors are pretty, the comedy is fun, the king is surprisingly savvy (perhaps he gets out of the palace incognito on the regular), and it'll be satisfying to see the ML's inflated sense of self-importance get skewered.

It was a good start. Nothing ground-breaking, but some nice reversed tropes (FL catching the ML, ML desperately wanting to get hold of the novel, male being the loyal obedient child while female potential partner is loud and rebellious) and a sense of the drama being light and entertaining (as long as the murder never takes central stage). The king and the long-suffering servant are both great fun! I actually don't mind an obnoxious ML as long as a) he doesn't stay that way too long, b) it's not played for laughs at the expense of others and c) his redemption arc is genuine and believable. Let's see if the drama can do it...

I was pleasantly surprised how the show picked up from a bland first episode to a hilarious second. By the end, I was laughing at Don Quixote Jung Woo riding around town on his trusty steed, ass, donkey with his wiley Pancho helper on his quixotic crusade. I think they heard all the Beanies who complain about Rowoon’s smugness and overacting, and used it to great effect. You both feel sorry for the boy's poor fate, but even more, want to wipe that smirk off his face. Love it.

And who better to do that than Soon-deok. She’s street smart, she gives as much as she gets, and she’s, ahem, experienced. In other words, she’s no Hong-Jo! Of course, Jung Woo lost his grip from the get-go, no spells necessary thank you very much. Oh, those pulpy fantasies were hilarious.

Finally, the “old maids.” How fun were they! I am so looking forward to our matchmakers' shenanigans with them. (But as said on the fan walls, I hope they don’t make marriage the only destination for all three of them tho I’m not holding out for that for this kind of show.)

I know, I know, there’s palace intrigues, murders and social constraints waiting in the wings to cast a pall over the drama. But like Seon-ha, I’m just taking it one episode at a time. I don’t expect a lot from this fluffy sageuk. Just keep us entertained. (I said the same thing for DWY, didn’t I? LOL. I never learn.)

I noticed that when it comes to Sageuk dramas, especially, international viewers and Korean-speaking viewers tend to look at things a bit differently. International viewers are likely more concentrated on the visuals and expressions. Whereas, Korean-speaking viewers are more concentrated on the line delivery and diction. This is especially important when it comes to Sageuk. As someone who speaks the language, I'm actually very impressed with Rowoon's diction and delivery. I think he's got a great tone for Sageuk speech. I can hear him really clearly despite having super long and complicated lines because he enunciates them really well. Cho Yi Hyun is good but this is definitely one point that she fell short of. It's especially noticeable when she's having conversations with other characters. I guess onne way to explain it for those who don't quite get what I mean is that she sounds a bit modern in contrast. But it is understandable since she does not have much Sageuk experience. But I feel that there's a huge possibility of her improving as the show goes on (same as how I felt about Rowoon's performance the King's Affection and he significantly improved as the show went on).

Other than that, I'm quite enjoying this. & so far, I find all the characters adorable. Will look forward to next week's episodes. I think the story will get even more fun.

Thanks @unit ALWAYS a pleasure to read your witty recaps. But speaking of something everlasting, could we just ONCE have a comedy sageuk that left behind the endless battle between left and right ministers and willingness to murder to promote a different crown prince?!? And people ask me why I don't like sageuks! (Actually, no one has ever asked me that, but that's a main reason why.)

However, in this one, I do appreciate Rowoon's willingness to act as a fool, plus his costar, yet another really charismatic, very young (23!) actress, Jo-Yi-hyun. So I will stick with this one for a while.

Plus, in addition to the tired old minister and crown prince plot device, this show at least presumably will get at the major flaw of the Joseon era, its oppressive patriarchy. Coming off Destined With You, where the Joseon legacy "cursed" Rowoon, this is the second show in what I assume will be a trilogy, with the third (tentative title, Matchmaking with Destiny") returning to the promise of gender equality of the Goryeo period, showing how Korean history could have taken in different path.

The present show demonstrates how the Joseon patriarchy operated, enslaving women and turning men into petty bickering children who liked to dress up in silly hats-- as all boys do, that is if I correctly recall the cowboy hat when I was 5 years old. (But my junior cowboy hat held on by its rawhide chin strap was still better than that ridiculous marriage hat, with its anachronistic Calder mobile hanging in front.)

Rowoon in this show plays the same character as he did in the first chapter, an ineffectual popinjay, but in this one, he is even more impotent than in the first, his love life reduced to the surreptitious reading of risqué romance novels supposedly written for women.

Yes--in the Joseon era, men made their own hell in the name of gender domination, which I anticipate will be the grim theme of this one--after a lot of comic hijinks, of course!

As always, @unit makes the weecaps more fun than the drama. Watching the premiere, I feel like there is a missing ingredient. Rowoon's character is pretty much the same as Destined With You. And I don't know if it is too soon to judge, but I don't think the actress is a good fit for the role. Hoping next week's episodes are better.

I really liked those first episodes.

I realized I never really ask myself about the Princess's marriage in Joseon. She left the palace to live with her husband who couldn't work. What about their kids?

I was afraid to see Rowoon in a new role just after DwY but he totally made me forget Jang Shin-Yu. Their character have some similar elements but the final render is completely different.

He's a very funny character. But I pity those who cross his path. I found interesting that Rowoon said that his character was kinda stuck at the age of 17 because of what happened. He didn't really have interactions with people and didn't grow up. His interactions with people are really funny. When the King tried to make drink the poison, when he met the guard who put him KO, how he can't think with Soon-deok, how he was scared by the first sister, etc.

Soon-deok is a lovely character. She knows that noble women have only one chance to get married and happy. So she wants to give them the best one. If she got hers and it's over, she still found something to motivate her. Now, I'm not sure why they chose Jo Yi-Hyun because she looks very young for the role of a widow who still in love with her late husband. But she looks great in her hanboks.

This drama will have a lot of things to handle :
- The main love story
- The 3 old maids's love stories. It looks like Racket Boy is one of the suitors for the second sister \o/
- The death of the Princess
- The death of the old maid
- Stop the Crown Prince to be killed.

I like the King, he's funny too and not a completely toy in the ministers' hands like in some dramas. It was sad when he said he won't annul the marriage because he doesn't want his daugher to be an unmarried ghost.

The PD did a reat job. The episodes were really beautiful, full of colors. I like we still have the cute little ducks, the Dongsimgyul knot that is the lovers knot (means to be united with one heart and for eternity), the peonies when the Princess died. The costumes are beautiful. I like the music in the scenes.

The donkey aka Princess is super cute, I hope we will see her a lot!

I think after a long time, the recaps are elaborate. Thanks @unit for capturing the entire drama in the same upbeat way as it was telecast/webcast.

To be honest, I do not have much liking for sageuks because its always about power grab, so I started this with the thought of not going to be impressed, but the feisty FL won me over. It's my first time watching the actor, but she is good. I am liking all the female characters introduced, including the not so "old maids" whose story is intriguing as much as the FL's dual life.

I can already see the FL being torn trying to match the exemplary scholar with her SIL or with one of the the "old maids". The fight between the scholar and the loud mouth old maid felt like they were attracted to each other.

Rowoon is good at comedy so if they maintain this light pace, it is bound to be an enjoyable drama even if politics takes priority at the later half.

Thanks for the weecap @unit
I like the tone of this one even the politics and murder mystery were done in a light hearted way so I am hopeful that this will be a sageuk I can stick with to the end without getting disappointed and annoyed that my joy is being tarnished with unnecessary dark clouds of bitterness and greed.
Highlights for me were the skipping, laying down on the lap so meekly and the way he is now known as the man ‘who did not fall for you’. The servant needs a bonus for being long suffering and I love how he tries to save others as best as he can.

Despite Rowoon, and now Cho YiHyun's amazing expressions, I am on the fence with this one. I would like happy endings and not sure where this is going. Sageuks and comedy don't seem to belong together. That said, this week was goofy fun and liked it.

On the posters with the different couples, the first daughter is not paired with anyone. I wonder if she will fall for our ML. She is positionned in the direction of Rowoon on both posters. Or, her will will be restpected and she won't be married.

I enjoyed the first two episodes but I wasn't as excited about them as I'd expected to be (though that could be exactly because I had expectations...)

I like the story so far, bar the court politics is which just isn't for me, though I can see how it drives other parts of the story I do like so I can live with it.

Also, the set and wardrobe are really impressing me, it's not something I usually pay too much attention to in sageuks but it could be the way it's shot that brings attention to it. Or equally possible, reading beanie comments on wardrobe choices in the run up to this release has made me pay more attention, either way I like it.

So essentially there are at least two different murders to solve, with one connected to our longtime favourite trope... court intrigue? Yaaaaay 🙄

but tho I felt the pace was a lil bit draggy, I did genuinely enjoy the drama's premiere week. Jang Siny-- I mean, Shim Jung-woo is such a grumpy, down bad, bedraggled, annoying lil meow meow man, I adore him. His interactions with Soon-deok are great, so I'm excited for them to actually band together from now on. bro is so whipped for her, the way he laid in her lap like a touch starved kitten omg... I don't think even Hongjo got an apology out of a Joseon Rowoon so early. And speaking of down bad, that scandalous ankle scene had me dying 💀💀

Hmm, so, she has a whole son?? And she's still very much in love with her late husband?? oh boy, we are in for so much angst on the romance front

I was skeptic about this one because I have droped many of Rowoon's dramas in the past. DWY I didn't even try. But I liked both episodes and Rowoon is pretty good in this one so far, I must admit. The FL and the King I knew and liked from previous dramas and the scenes with Rowoon were both fun and well played. I prety much liked everyone and everything, including the donkey. Oh, I even liked his timid fan action.
I really don't care about timelines or history or how authentic this one is...had enough of that lately. I am here for the fluff, for the romance, for the comedy, for the visuals and even some old school court politics and murder mistery.

I have started this one and am glad that I did. Show: Please stay light and fluffy.

I was expected better . I am not sure the story is enough to keep me going. Spinster sisters!! Reallyyy! I defiantly agree about the King :) He is the best one I have seen for a long while and the most interesting in the drama. My main complain is the Female Lead. I see here that others like her but first episode imm ok but second I past faster her parts. I ll give a chance one more week :)

I like the premises and side characters especially the king but I am not feeling the main leads. I find them bit lacking. I think I need more downtime between Rowoon dramas. Two in one month's time is bit too much. There are very few actors and actress that I can watch in back to back dramas as main leads and Rowoon is not there yet.

These episodes were super cute for me. I really enjoyed them and will continue with this. I haven't watched Destined With You so can't compare as some commentators can.
I thought Rowoon was great and so was the FL, she's actually adorable, feisty and funny. Did not expect her to have a child though. I just assumed from the first episode that since matchmaker's lose their spouses early that it was going to be a similar theme to the ML marriage, in that it really wasn't one.
No idea how they are going to resolve her being in love with her dead husband - the little glimpse into the marriage was cute.

Fun sageuk so far! Upbeat and colorful. Hope that continues.
Great to see Jo Han Chul again! Just finished Gyeongsyeong Creature, and he was super in Romance is a Bonus Book, among others.
I had to wonder if the writer is fond of Hyun Bin? There was a brief mention of a character named Hyun Bin, there's a Ye Jin, and a Sam Soon.