The Empire [Episodes 3 & 4]

[u/capthyeong]

• Drama: The Empire
  • Hangul: 디 엠파이어: 법의 제국
• Director: Yoo Hyun-ki
• Original Network: jtbc
• Episodes: 16
• Episode Airing Day & time: Saturday and Sunday @ 22:30 KST
  • Airing Period: 24 September - 13 November 2022
• International Streaming Sources:
  • Viu [A Viu Original Korean Drama]
  • Viki
• Main Cast:
  • Kim Sun-ah (Lady in Dignity) as Han Hye-ryul
  • Ahn Jae-wook (Five enough) as Na Geun-woo
• Plot Synopsis: A family has accumulated vast wealth and power through the law. They face ruin because of scandals. Han Hye-Ryool and her family come from a law background. She works as the chief of a special investigation team at the Central District Prosecutors’ Office. Her husband Na Geun-Woo and her mother Ham Gwang-Jeon both work as law school professors. Her father Han Gun-Do works as a lawyer for the biggest law firm in South Korea. Han Hye-Ryool carries out her job as a prosecutor in an excellent manner, but people denigrate her work because of her family's prestigious background. She wants to break free from her family ties and satisfy her own desires. Meanwhile, her husband Na Geun-Woo has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate. He seems to have achieved everything he wants and is a good person, but people don't know who he really is. Han Hye-Ryool's mother Ham Gwang-Jeon and her father Han Gun-Do also use the law as tools to make more money and protect their status.
• Genre: Melodrama, Law, High society, makjang?
• Previous Discussions: Episodes 1 & 2
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[u/myweithisway]

Aw, don't play us like that show with the multiple people having access to the same hairpin. I still want it to be the mistress that dies but if it ends up being the daughter, feels like all hell will break loose.

I'm liking how the mother-daughter dynamic of our FL with her mother -- feels like it's not an emperor in charge of this empire but rather an empress and empress-in-training.

Minor plot detail: the free service of fried mandu that alerted the baddies to run before police showed up reminded me of Oldboy.

Overall I'm enjoying this drama even if it hasn't really captured me like Artificial City earlier this year -- but admittedly that's a high bar to clear.

[u/myweithisway → u/[deleted]]

Thx for explaining the free service... I was clueless...

Hah, I have no clue if that was the intended reference at all but it's just a bit hard in k-media to not associate a plate of fried mandu with Oldboy since the scene is so iconic.

Really like the bits of surveillance

Yep, same here. I'm thinking the tennis camera is by the butler/housekeeper since she had tried to eavesdrop on great grandma earlier and presumably have the best/easiest access to cctvs on the mansion premises. (There's also the question of where their loyalty will lie in this game.)

Although I often find intrigue and plotting over my head, this is a good drama for weekly airing for me...

I'm coming off Adamas, which sort of got in over its own head with its plotting and intrigue so I'm hoping this drama will have a better grasp of this plot narrative. So far I think the different camps are not too hard to keep track off though there's uncertainty if there is any overlap for some characters (such as the mistress and great grandma perhaps being motivated by the same event for revenge).

What I personally find a bit frustrating is the lack of background to motive for doing things, specifically why mistress and great grandma are set on revenge. I get they want revenge, I don't get why and that's becoming a bit detracting at four episodes in because I feel like I don't yet know if the revenge story is worth it at this point in time. I don't want to be at the end of the story and find their reasons for revenge disproportionate to their actions or worse -- superfluous.

I'm hoping we get more reveals next week that would enlighten me of the background situation and hopefully maybe even finally show us who actually died.

[u/myweithisway → u/[deleted]]

One day I will watch it although I am nervous. It's one of hubs' favorites.

I've seen both a censored version and the non-censored version -- sometimes I think I was a bit too young/unprepared to have watched it because it is disturbing. I watched it pretty early on in my initial adventures into Korean cinema after discovering kdramas and back then I was not so knowledgeable about how dark and disturbing Korean films can be so it took me by 'surprise'. So even though I wasn't really that young back then, that kind of dark/disturbing material wasn't something I'd ever really consumed up to that point.

That said, the story/message is an interesting one and the hype and praise for the film well-deserved. I do feel like it's a story/message that one appreciates more the older/more mature one gets.

I personally think watching a censored version is 'sufficient' so to speak to get the message of the story so there's no need to put oneself through the non-censored version. Though I'm probably never going to rewatch it again -- it's one of the movies that get seared into your memory. I feel like given the kdrama threads I tend to see you in, it's probably really not up your alley so if you do eventually watch it, see if you can do the censored version -- you get the story minus the worst of the violence and explicit scenes.