Early Access: The First Night with the Duke Episodes 1-2 – The Fangirl Verdict
Hi everyone!
I hope you enjoyed my recent episode 1-4 notes on Our Unwritten Seoul (here!) and Good Boy (here!)
Today I’m sharing my episode 1-2 notes on The First Night with the Duke, because I am having a ball of a time with it, and I was wondering if you’d like to join me? 🤗
These are my episode 1-2 notes, exactly as they appear on Patreon, ie, without screenshots (I’m saving those for the actual review).
I hope you all enjoy, and I hope you’ll consider joining us over on Patreon, for the rest of the discussions! ❤️
Episode notes:
E1-2. My friends, I am having the best time, with this little show. 😁
It’s just such silly, tongue-in-cheek fun, and I feel like if you’re seasoned drama fan, you’d likely get an extra kick out of it, since Show is all pretty nudge-nudge-wink-wink at the tropes at play in typical love stories in Dramaland.
There are several things that are really working for me here; let me try to break it down.
First of all, I find the premise a lot of fun.
In some key ways, it reminds me of 2020 c-drama The Romance of Tiger and Rose, where a scriptwriter ends up in the world of the novel she’s writing, as a minor character, and catches the fancy of the male lead, in spite of herself.
I had a lot of fun watching that show, and this show is scratching the same itch, but in its own way.
While stories using this particular type of transmigration as a premise are popular in c-dramas, I feel like they are reasonably new to kdramas, and that does give this show a feeling of freshness which I am enjoying nicely.
I’ll talk more about this in a bit, but for now, I thought I’d mention that I love the very play-like, stagey way that all the scenes from the original novel are presented, in our opening scenes.
It feels like a nudge-nudge-wink-wink collection of tropes, which many drama fans would recognize on sight, like the fateful encounter between the OTP, the appearance of a jealous second female lead, and the perfectly gentle second male lead.
Sounds like this is describing many a kdrama that I’ve watched in the past, heh. 😁
Second, and very importantly, I find Seohyun very likable, as our female lead, whom I will have to call Sun Chaek, her character’s name in the novel, because we don’t actually get to know her real name in the real world.
The way she’s so happy to be in her favorite novel is very cute, and it’s also admittedly refreshing, the way she thinks it would be amazing if she got to stay, and didn’t have to go back to the real world.
After all, in most transmigration stories, the character’s burning goal, is to figure out a way to get back to the real world, yes?
Also, the way she’s so thrilled to see her favorite characters, and be in the position to witness important developments in the novel, is also very cute.
She’s such a fangirl, and I feel like many of us who’ve loved a novel or drama before, would be able to relate. 😁
She doesn’t need a long-term plan; all she really wants to do is enjoy her novel coming to life before her eyes – while she enjoys the unexpected joys of being a rich side character who happens to be the daughter of the Chief State Councilor. 😁
We do get a few fish-out-water type moments, but nothing too crazy; it’s mostly around Sun Chaek using modern turns of phrase instead of more formal sageuk-speak.
Which, to me, is fine, because I’m not here for the fish-out-of-water moments, I’m here for the transmigration hijinks. 😁
Overall, I find Sun Chaek to be pretty wholesome and pure, in the sense that I really like how she takes so much joy from little things like a lavish breakfast table.
There’s an almost ditzy quality in how Seohyun plays her, which I find very endearing.
I also like how practical she is, like when she runs into the nasty second female lead, Hwa Seon (seriously, Ji Hye Won seems to be getting typecast as the nasty-pretty type), she opts to give in to any and all of Hwa Seon’s demands, in order to keep her own life simpler.
Our girl has her priorities in the right place, as far as I can see. 😁
Also, the way she literally squees with stars in her eyes every time she recognizes one of her favorite characters, is just the cutest. 🥰
And then there’s Taec, of course, as our male lead, Lee Bun, which our second male lead, Su Gyeom, is hilariously subtitled as addressing as Bunny, at least on VIU, which is where I’m watching this show.
I seriously don’t think this was the original intent, since Su Gyeom is most likely just using a casual term of address, by adding the “i” behind Bun’s name, but I am tickled nonetheless. 😁
Personally, I think Taec’s perfectly cast in this, coz he really has that chiseled handsome look that perfectly fits with his character being the out-of-this-world handsome male lead in a romance novel. 🤭
And of course Bun’s a tsundere male lead, who’s scarily ruthless in reputation, but a real softie on the inside.
I love how self-aware Show is, while serving up exactly what we would expect of our characters. 😁
I thought it was such a hoot, when Bun turns on all of that smoldery, come-hither bedroom-eyes charm at the end of episode 1 and the beginning of episode 2, after spending the night with Sun Chaek.
I mean, Taec wears the smolder well, don’t get me wrong; I’m just inordinately tickled by the fact that this is very unlike the silly-dorky personality that I’ve seen coming through in his personal vlogs.
It’s extremely trippy to see him be all sexy, come-hither like this, in the best, most entertaining way. 😁
And of course I snerked with knowing appreciation, at the way Show’s splashing Taec’s shirtless idol bod all over these episodes.
It sure knows how to maximize its, er, resources, yes? 🤭
It’s so funny to me, that Sun Chaek gasps and covers her eyes, when Bun nonchalantly takes off his shirt, but then can’t help but peep anyway. I feel like she’s kind of representing many of us? 🤭
Ok, fine, she’s representing me. 😂
I do like the fact that the key reason Bun’s so intent on marrying Sun Chaek, seems to be more about the fact that she’d drunkenly spoken right to his heart, about how he would rather choose loneliness than choose to kill people.
I’m not 100% sure, but to my eyes, it feels like Bun is using the first night as his excuse to push for the marriage between him and Sun Chaek, when in fact he’s really drawn to her beyond the physical intimacy.
We spend the bulk of episode 2 around the various ways Sun Chaek tries to avoid marrying Bun, and I am both charmed and amused.
Like, yes, it’s all very silly and funny, but at the heart of it, I’m charmed that Sun Chaek is so earnest about wanting Bun to meet and marry the original female lead of this story, Eun Ae.
Even though Bun is so handsome and so smitten with her, Sun Chaek doesn’t entertain the idea of claiming him for herself, for a moment, and I find that charming. 🥰
The other thing that I find charming, is Sun Chaek’s burgeoning friendships, first with her maid, and then with Eun Ae.
Even though Sun Chaek’s told herself to lie low and not make any waves in this story world, she can’t help but draw people to her, just by being herself. I like that.
I like that she’d kind and protective of her maid, and even discusses things with her; they quickly become like a little pair of naughty schemers, and that does tickle me.
I also like that she can’t help but be kind to Eun Ae, even though she doesn’t realize that her actions will eventually have an impact on the way the plot develops.
As for Bun, I’m suitably tickled that he keeps showing up to stop Sun Chaek from succeeding in her various attempts to run away, and I can only conclude that he’s continued to keep tabs on her via that pair of binoculars that he takes from Su Gyeom.
ALSO. On a related tangent, I literally clapped my hands with glee, when Show lets loose that iconic Chuno track in episode 2, at the mention of slave hunters. Ahhhh!!! Chunoooo~! 🤩🥲
Back to Bun, I am also quite amused at how steadfastly smitten he is, with Sun Chaek, such that even her attempt to be the most unkempt woman in the world, has him complimenting her for being an inspiration to others.
For one thing, it’s funny to me how he’s that determinedly smitten by her, and for another, part of my brain thinks it’s quite hilarious how he’s living up to his template of Smitten Male Lead so well. 😁
And, even though it’s played for laughs, isn’t there something quite poignant about the way he doesn’t even care, when Sun Chaek informs him that according to their fortunes, he will die if they marry – and he says that it doesn’t matter to him?
That, as long as he gets to spend some of his life with her, his beloved, he’d think of it as a gift from his parents?
I dunno; there’s something very affecting about the idea of someone being willing to die for love. 🥹
But then Show does pull the rug out from this beat of poignancy, with the way Bun informs the nun at the temple, that the reason Sun Chaek can’t become a nun, is because she’s not celibate, and I’m practically scream-cringing in secondhand mortification. 😂
Honestly, I’m kinda loving the fact that by the time we get to the end of episode 2, Su Gyeom’s swiftly falling for Sun Chaek after a dramatic rescue encounter (I cackled when he descended in that big twirling flourish, to save her 🤭), but is finding out, just as swiftly, that she is the woman whom Bun wants to marry.
Not only that, Bun’s also announcing it to his future brothers-in-law, which has Sun Chaek concluding that the Handsome Pyscho’s obsession with their first night, would only end with her death.
Tee hee hee!
SUCH a fun opening pair of episodes, and I am very much looking forward to what other fun nonsense Show’s going to serve up, in our next episodes.
Please join me, my friends, so that we can laugh and squee together! 😁
*This show is being covered on the Early Access (US$5) Tier on Patreon*
To view episode 1-2 notes in Patreon, along with everyone’s comments, you can go here!
You can find my Patreon page here, and for all future episode notes for this show you can click here.
Episodes 5-6 notes will be out later this week! I hope you’ll consider joining us!
It’ll be a way to have fun, and support me at the same time? 🥲❤️
PS: For more information on what the Patreon experience is like, you might like to check out my Patreon update post for June, which you can find here!
