What a view | Shin Se-kyung and Cha Eun-woo starrer Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung follows female rebel with a cause
- The splendidly costumed historical K-drama set during the Joseon era is on Netflix now
- Plus, seasons one through three of The Expanse are available on Amazon Prime ahead of new release
“History is written by the victors” is a familiar refrain, but not one that takes account of historians’ power and influence at the early 19th-century Joseon court – or their voluminous, swishing silk robes and hats like semaphore signals.
Yes, it’s time for another superior, splendidly costumed historical romance, with understated comedy thrown in, of the sort done so well by Korean television. Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung, which has just started its debut-season run on Netflix (new episodes added on Wednesdays and Thursdays), stars Shin Se-kyung in the title role of uncompromising female rebel with more than one cause.
Born into nobility, Hae Ryung is determined not to be married off and resents having to attend bridal classes that teach duty and deportment in matrimony. “A virtuous woman must hide her talents,” runs one typical precept. At night, she works as a book reader, narrating the latest racy romance novels, some of them Western, to crowds of excitable young women.
Meanwhile, the cloisteredprince Yi Rim (Cha Eun-woo) lives a double life as a celebrated yet mysterious romantic novelist. Which can mean only one thing: Hae Ryung and the prince, frustrated in their different ways, will eventually be found mutually banishing their disappointments in the bed chamber.
Before that, Hae Ryung is destined to rattle a bastion of male privilege by sitting an exam for a position as court historian; as such she will no doubt bring some enlightenment to the bitter political scheming of those pretend potentates and their Office of Banned Books. As one arrogant robe-swisher announces, the king, who favours Confucius, fears that the influx of “novels … might destroy our customs and taint our country’s education”. Any de facto government that can prohibit Robinson Crusoe needs to grow a sense of humour.