I just want to bring up something which I think was brilliantly written and directed in The Matchmakers. It has something to do with Jung Woo and the Princess storyline & the rumors surrounding it.

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    I remembered that when it was first revealed that Jung Woo has actual feelings for the Princess, people were confused. Some were speculating if he’s just faking it to empathize with Soon Deok’s dilemma and make her feel better and some were questioning if it was a last minute added story line.

    I completely disagree and don’t think that it was a randomly added storyline. Seeing as how the show has consistently potrayed Jung Woo to be a man who is enveloped with unfortunate rumors and secrecy, I think that THAT is the whole point of episode 1 and what the show wants US to believe as well when we were first introduced to him.

    What we see in episode 1 is basically the rumours about him being played out for us. While what happened were mostly true, a fraction of it were also based off rumors. The point is that he is an isolated figure and people outside of his close circle would only know him through the rumours they’ve heard about him. Which was why it was directed in a way that us, viewers, would also only know him through those rumours. What we were given were only quick snippets of the events that happened with Jung Woo which doesn’t show the full story. What solidifies the director’s intention for me was that after we were shown the sequence of time passing while Jung Woo was left to live in isolation after the princess’ death, the scene cuts to a group of men outside the gates of Gyeongwoonjae (Jung Woo’s house) openly gossiping about him.

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      Now, what was the purpose of this scene if not to show that the scenes that were played out before this were based on the unreliable gossip made by outsiders? I think this scene prefectly illustrates that idea and most viewers might have overlooked this, including myself haha. It only clicked for me when I decided to rewatch episode 1. & now I’m smacking myself on the forehead for not realising lol.

      The Jung Woo we were introduced to in episode 1 is basically the Jung Woo from the rumors and it was directed with those intentions.

      & as the episodes go by, we, the viewers, who has only known him based on the rumors and snippets shown in episode 1 and made to believe that the rumours were true, begin to learn more and more about the real him alongside Soon Deok. The director and writer wants the viewers to be a part of the story and journey as well. I guess we can say that we are those people who believed in the rumours about Jung Woo too easily LOL.

      I just find this so clever! ‘Rumours’, in itself, plays a huge part in the story & it also goes along with the running theme within the drama about novels being based on true stories but they can also be turned into rumours because they are not written to tell the exact full story. The show also consistently incorporates the idea of misunderstandings to show that ‘not everything is as it seems’ and that things are not always what they appear to be on the surface. Like Soon Gu’s misunderstanding in regard to Soon Deok’s marriage. Jung Woo’s misunderstanding of Soon Deok’s identity. Lady Park’s misunderstanding of what happened with her son. The misunderstanding of the Maeng sisters based off gossip. Soon Gu’s initial misunderstanding of Hwarok. Everyone’s misunderstanding of Jung Woo, as a whole.

      Bravo to the writer and director of this show!

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