I too was unexpectedly delighted by Knight Flower. Despite its overlap with The Matchmakers, I'm not directly comparing the two shows. Instead, I see it as a screen adaptation of one of Sam Soon's delightful erotic novels featuring her stoic officer and daredevil female ninja. And faithful to its pulpy origins, its goal is fast-pace fun, which it delivers.

Having said that, I was surprised by how dark a Joseon it presented compared to its predecessor. And living in a country where widows remain ostracized for life, children are still sold to pay off debts, and servants can be bloodily beaten, I wasn't sure how they would make a comedy of such fare. But Yeo-hwa made it more than palatable, in her refusal to accept these injustices, her determination to set them right, and her hilarious antics as she does so. Ain't no one gonna get this widow down.

And all credit goes to Honey Lee. What a delicious performance, be it drumming it up at the shrine, delighting in the morsels she's given, and the satisfaction with which she paints her forged masterpiece, The Kitty. If our officer falls for her, I wouldn't be surprised. May the shoe fit! I hope Beanies will be kind in their comments toward Honey Lee. Perhaps in this world you can't imagine a man would be interested in an older woman, despite how attractive and charming she is. But a different world is possible. Let it play out on our screen.

Well, this was fun! I was also a bit wary to start yet another Joseon drama so quickly after THE MATCHMAKERS, but for one, the vibe of this is really different, and for two, I guess I just got into the fusion sageuk groove. 😂

The characters seem very likable, and the story unfolds in an engaging way. Of course, the connections between the histories of most characters are already blaringly obvious as pointed out in the recap (that incident 15 years ago, where Suho’s family and Yeohwa’s brother died, Pil’s entanglement into it all (how come he has the same butcher’s knife as was used in the ambush on Suho’s family?), the potentially political move of the left state minister to have Yeohwa marry into his family, while she didn’t obviously seem to have anything going in her favor at the time etc etc) - but color me intrigued!

Thus far, some scenes are downright hilarious (her painting abilities 🤣🐅👏), the fighting scenes are well choreographed and I’m already rooting for Yeohwa & Suho. (Yes, I do hope there will be romance!)

While my inner dragon sure is provoked by the obvious misogyny and injustice visible in some scenes, I’m still looking forward to the next episodes. I hope they’ll be as entertaining as the first two have been, instead of getting too dark 👏🫰

I love the King here. But, I didn't expect that he'd be serious with state affairs to that extent. I guess it makes sense that he maintains that exterior to his court.

Yeo Hwa can't draw to save her life but i think for the first time, she got to put her lack of homemaking artistic talent to use with the drawing of the mountain tiger🤣.

So her husband died the day they were supposed to be wedded. How dare the spoilt brat of a daughter screeches that she should have died with her brother. Like...what gives🤷🏽‍♂️.

I'm guessing thug merchant shares family ties with the wife of the finance minister. She might be his mom, or his elder sister.

Yeo Hwa and her maid has the very best chemistry in the show for now.

Thug man, Yeo Hwa's father-in-law and other agents at play sure had a hand in the events 15 years ago that led to Soo-ho's family massacre and the disappearance of Yeo Hwa's brother. I'm very ready for her brother to come along and whisk her out of that household.

With Honey Lee as the main female lead and coming from the director from Hyenna, the drama is definitely an absolute delight to watch as the heroine is not a mere weak widow in her fourties, besides being a social commentary on Joseon society.

The subject can remind The Matchamakers but the story and style are very different. The Matchmakers was more unique in its story and direction.

Knight Flower is a typical comedy sageuk with the dark part of Joseon, its action and palace intrigues.

I wished that Yeo-hwa was smarter to hide her secret night life by being really a good widow and not just faking everything. But Honey Lee is pretty funny in this role.

Soo-ho will be important in the future to play with the "what happened 15 years ago" and how it's connected to her brother?

I hope Yoon-hak will be good during the whole drama! I want bromance not back stabbing.

I loved first two episodes. Honey Lee is fantastic in it. She effortlessly switches between the sorrowful widow burdened with society’s exception of her, without any colour or any life of her own and mischievous, swashbuckling vigilante.
The male lead is not as strait-laced as he looks. He is mischievous and he is trying to apprehend lady knight because she challenges him, intrigues him. Upholding law is just an excuse!
I loved how worst oppressor of Yeo-hwa are women and her best accomplices are also women.
The feeling of So-woon and Yeon-seon for Yeo-hwa goes beyond mere concern, sympathy or gratitude. They genuinely love her.
With history of seguke k-drama watching under my belt, I am suspicious of left minister. He is not entirely in clear for the past incident which destroyed male leads family and disappearance of Yeo-Hwa’s brother.

I was a bit skeptical about coming into Knight Flower so soon after The Matchmakers because both dramas have similar plot elements. But what this drama lacks in the charm of The Matchmakers, it makes up for in the fun. Although some scenes felt a little repetitive

This is exactly what I mentioned in premiere post, but I am dropping this one because it has all the signs of turning into a serious sageuk in the latter half. @unit Thanks for the recap!

There's a thing about age... Why do we care so much that we need to constantly place women in carefully locked little boxes. Is she over 40? Is she ready to be discarded yet? I have no asked to live in such a rotten world and I shall use all my words to fatality injure that rot.

I am not a fan of Honey Lee as an actress (because she can feel incredibly forced in most things I got to watch her in - and yes, even those first few episodes of Fiery Priest before I got used to her character) but age...? I do not have a single f*ck to give about that.

First, the woman looks gorgeous anyway.
Secondly, please 40+... ? How is that even old in a society where we can now live to 100?
Thirdly, her 40+ would put a lot of 25-year-olds to shame, if we are busy comparing (which we really shouldn't by the way — can we make 2024 the year where we stop discriminating those who have had the good grace not to die young and beautiful?)
Fourthly, her character is probably designed to be younger, so let's roll with the story instead.

Also Kim Mi-kyung is turning into oner incredibly busy K drama mother these days. And I do not mind because she's incredibly cool.

Anyway over.

Thank you Unit for your enthusiastic recap :)
I enjoyed this. 
Both the leads are really good for their roles.
I find the ML really mysterious and compelling. He was great in The Golden Spoon. 
It was funny to see Bok - kyu from My Demon as the king. 
I really hope they keep the comedy and action as I still feel somewhat burnt out from My Dearest and all the dark, painful machinations.
I'm only on episode six of The Matchmakers so can't compare too much but I have issues with Rowoon and his acting so maybe this will be a better fit for me. I agree with other beanies though that TM is very pretty and beautifully filmed so I'm persisting with the show. 

The show really doesn't need to give its leads dramatic backstories (about Soo Ho's family & Yeo-Hwa's brother). All the social pressure that Yeo Hwa is under is already tragic enough. I don't even think it needs a big villain. The drama is at its best when our female Hong Gil Dong lets poor thieves rob her, and the heroic Prince Charming jumps out to save her. A weekly villain would have been enough.

On another note, the chemistry is there and the leads look great together. I would even feel betrayed if they don't add romance to the drama thinking production shied away from that. Yeo Hwa can't spend her whole life being single and living under her not-fully tyrannical mother-in-law. I don't even like the prospect of her becoming the top merchant, because it would mean the current one died. Marrying someone who knows who she is and supports her would be the best case scenario for everyone.

Lastly, I love the king. While it is clear that he is planning something big, you can also see that dude is just naturally chill and friendly. Him, Yeo Hwa's maid and the top merchant are all well written characters and I would hate to see any of them die.

Confession: this is my first Honey Lee drama!
I checked it out only because of beanies excitement even though this isn’t my genre. And I already love her!! She is absolutely hilarious.
And I was a little neutral about our rule abiding male lead, but I was willing to change my attitude the moment he held on to those dear Cinderella shoes 😂

As much as the tone is comedic, the reality and dark aspects of being a woman in Joseon is glaring. Especially being a widow. It was tough to watch her mourn for 15 freaking years!! Wearing the mourning clothes, not going out, not even eating well. The only thing they haven’t done is murder her (of course she can’t be since she will win the fight).

I love her and her maid. And the merchant. I like this team of women. I will be rooting for them.

I am a bit worried about it going dark or going too into politics. I am here as long as it remains fun.

Adore the opening episodes of this show. I couldn’t quite get into The Matchmakers but feel more invested in Knight Flower. Not sure why? But I do appreciate that the characters are older in this one (giving it more gravitas) and I appreciate how well they’ve depicted the harsh realities of Joseon.

Also! If there is going to be a romance, I think this is indeed a noona romance. It seems like there is one singular incident / connected string of incidents that happen around the same time - and this incident is the Great Tragedy in which both leads lost their families / brother. Yeo Hwa was already married but Soo Ho seems to have been too young.

@unit, thanks for the recap.
I like it so far. The Ml does not seem very sageuk-y, but that’s just me.
The MIL can die now. sorry Kim Mi Kyung
I like the side characters.
I am amazed at all the wrangling over the FL’s age. Aigoo.

The knetz “people” may kill my interest not only in this show but K dramas period. Perhaps they can hound someone else to death, apparently it is a sport in Korea.

First. With the exception of starting and putting on hold KBS’s daeha sageuk THE GORYEO-KHITAN WAR, KNIGHT FLOWER is my first sageuk since JOSEON ATTORNEY (Mar.-May 2023). JA was enough of a disappointment for me to place myself on a sageuk sabbatical for the rest of 2023 meaning I missed MY DEAREST, THE MATCHMAKERS and whatever other ‘fusiony’ sageuks appeared on the scene.
Second. KF is my first Honey Lee drama and first Lee Jong-won drama except for his appearance in tvN’s HOSPITAL PLAYLIST 2 (2021) and frankly I don’t recall his part.
Third. I loved the first two episodes. Honey Lee (and presumably her stunt double) has been great in the action scenes. LJW (and maybe his stunt double) will have his work cut out for him keeping up.
(@sicarius, In my mind I am already calling LJW’ s character Soo-ho, BEAN BOY 2: The Good One lol).
Among the characters one thing that surprised me in the first episodes is that for the life of me I couldn’t recognize actor Kim Sang-joong under the facial hair of Left State Councilor Seok. KSJ was a hook that drew me to this drama and he has such a distinct appearance but here he blends with all the other ministers.

"Through a flashback, we see that Soo-ho witnessed his entire family’s massacre, and this bloody incident is most likely connected to whatever happened fifteen years ago. "

I mean. AAAAGAAAAAAAAAAAIN?!? Dramaland, when are you going to subvert this? There are elements of K-drama that are absolutely appealing but when if it's being on repeat from sageuk to sageuk to sageuk, I'm questioning if this a wise thing to do for us, audience. We might get bored, you know.

I didn't love this like everyone here seems to. I was horrified by Yeo-hwa's mother-in-law's treatment. I would be sad if Left State Councilor Lord Seok turned out to be evil as he's the only person in their household who is kind to Yeo-hwa.

I would be shocked if the drama paired Yoon-hak, a royal secretary, with Yeon-seon, a maid, after their run-in at the bookstore. So Yoon-hak's a widow too as the king said he lost his wife ten years ago. I like how the king is putting on an act of being disinterested in politics and almost gave himself away questioning Lord Seok about the memorial stones in a drought.

It was sad seeing Yoon-hak treat Soo-ho all cold at the Pil inn ("You can leave."), so I'm thankful how quickly Soo-ho found out that his older brother truly cares by Yoon-hak visiting his parents at the temple every year.

More than the romance, I'm most interested in the relationship between Yeo-hwa and Lady Jang. I already loved when Lady Jang "accidentally" splashed ink over the painting to save Yeo-hwa, but it was even better when we learned that they're working together.

I’ve decided to refer to her as Lee Hanee. It is much nicer sounding to me than Honey Lee.

One more thing about Lee Hanee. I had no idea of the following which is so impressive! Did any of you know she was considered a gayageum prodigy?

“Lee is a professional gayageum player,[7] a Korean music instrument. She was named a gayageum prodigy by the Kumho Art Center, the most prestigious musical foundation in Korea.[8] She has released four CDs and played in more than 25 countries, including concerts at Carnegie Hall in New York City. In 2017, she participated in the largest-ever mass performance of the gayageum as part of the two-day Uijeongbu International Gayageum Festival.” Source WP

Its only January and I already have my drama cracktastic watching in this drama! I love Honey Lee and this looks to be the BEST! Its one I will watch slowly, not wanting it to end but have to watch to see what happens each week! Happy days ahead of us!

I really enjoyed the first two episodes. I had this on my radar as soon as I'd heard Lee Ha Nee was going to be in it and she didn't disappoint. She's just oodles of charisma in everything, she can do comedy, tragedy, all of it without seeming out of place and keep looking gorgeous through everything. Lol, I think even with stuff she does that I'd find a bit ott on someone else in comedic moments, she manages to carry it off fully.

I do see the Matchmakers feeling because of the setting and widowhood with double life, but it feels very different. The good different is that she feels like a very different character than the fl in matchmakers, as does the ml, and the action makes for a very fun change. The slightly bad different is that there isn't as good an ensemble as Matchmakers had, and the really horrible MIL and SIL are very stereotypical. But it's just been two episodes so I hope there will be more aspects to the female in laws, since they're not the big plot evil ones here, and that there will be more ensemble supporters beyond the few we saw.

I think the leads have good chemistry, I haven't seen Jong Won in anything before, but he's cute and I like their dynamic. The touch of whimsy with Yeo Hwa where she's obviously not that young and has maturity in her experiences with life, but was deprived of a fulfilling life by being forced into the unfairness of a widow's existence for so many years and therefore looks for fulfillment when she can in secret, makes for a really fun mix with the trying to be upright in a messy world younger man.

I also liked how much genuine comedy there was in moments I didn't expect. The tiger painting cracked me up so much, I hope the dark stuff doesn't take over this lighter tone.