Since I'm tired of seeing most of the fandom go with "let's call a female character a greedy bitch instead of acknowledging she deserved better writing"...
Reasons why PM Goo Seo Ryung deserved better: a thread.
#TheKingEternalMonarch #TheKingEternalMonarchFinale #JungEunChae

Let's start with Goo Seo Ryung's introduction scene...
While most of criticism and "controversies" around TKEM were unfair, the reactions to the wireless bra line was justified.
Can you believe it was the first proper scene that introduced her to our 2nd lead who's COREA'S PM?

The advisory warning TKEM got because of this scene was completely justified... An character introduction is important and what did we get? GSR talking about wireless bra.
Do you think we would have gotten that kind of things if it was a man as PM? Obviously not.

Rather than highlighting the fact she became the youngest and first female PM of the Kingdom Corea thanks to her hard work/her cleverness, what did we get? WIRELESS BRA. And after that, it didn't get any better.

I found her first scene w. another character (Lee Gon) very interesting because LMH and JEC have chemistry there (not romantic but still).
However, it also shows the wasted potential between them as (reluctant) political allies later in the story.

In TKEM's official description [given before the drama started airing], it was said that LG and GSR are "two people who have no choice but to coexist."
And that's why that scene had potential... But it went nowhere.

Instead of giving GSR a significant political role (bc she's a PM, duh) and making her go from a foe to a reluctant ally of LG, all we got is the cliché of the woman trying to seduce the King and making a fool of herself. As if she needed that... And as if she truly "loved" him.

Let's talk about Corean people. In the first episodes, it was said several times GSR had a high approval ratings.
But the moment LG announces a Queen that isn't her, said approval ratings drastically fall because of that? It would've never happened to a man as PM.

GSR's approval ratings falling because she isn't the Queen makes no sense.
It wasn't as if (despite ppl wondering if she would get w. LG) it would matter since they elected her knowing she's a woman from a fish shop who capitalized on her divorce from a chaebol who's now in jail.

Prince Buyeong said it himself: GSR was born in an ordinary family, that's why people voted for her and love her. So why would her approval ratings crumble simply because she doesn't become Queen?
If anything, it should've been because of her party's incompetence/betraying her.

Then, we have her fellow politicians (even from her party) not taking GSR seriously as PM because she's a good-looking and stylish woman and because THEY made her PM, not GSR herself with her hard work.
And while sexism in politics is realistic, GSR never grew past that.

We never saw GSR properly shutting them up or outsmart them through political schemes to either reveal their corruption or bad decisions taken for their party.
The only thing we saw with GSR as PM literally is men insulting her/not taking her seriously.

On a political level, we don't know what GSR has concretely done...
What Prince Buyeong said there is partly true but GSR has the POWER to change that as PM, so people from modest background like her could get a chance to thrive. But once again, Kim Eun Sook didn't explore that.

That's how I come to the next point: her family background.
Media and politicians alike look at GSR with disdain for managing to become PM despite not being part of the elite from the start. Even her "friends" are badmouthing her in her presence for coming from a fishing shop.

While GSR never hides where she comes from and isn't ashamed of it, the elite keeps telling her that all her hard work isn't enough.
She'll never be and do enough to maintain that level of power and get a second term as PM. So that's why she's obsessed with becoming Queen.

You know what? GSR is self-aware about greedy for power, that's good.
You have to be ambitious and greedy to be good in politics. But it's perceived negativity from fans because she's a woman (thus "a bitch") and because there's no development with her putting some limits.

When I say GSR never got proper character development, I mean that we didn't get to see GSR outgrowing the desire to become Queen to stop proving her worth to the elite.
Instead, we had to see her ruin years of hard work foolishly. And GSR's character arc never got resolution.

TKEM's plot isn't only about parallels worlds, it's also about politics. A traitor (The King's illegitimate brother) wanting to make a coup d'Etat and committing treason....
So you would think the female 2nd lead who's the PM would get a pivotal role politically but NOPE.

GSR was disconnected to the story, including the LR/LG battle despite being PM... WHY?
Even as LR's ally, she didn't do much. She deserved better.
I would've loved to see her becoming LG's reluctant ally to save Corea as its PM and actually play a decisive role + get development.

GSR realizing her mother, the one person she genuinely loves, got replaced was heartbreaking.
As if her political downfall hadn't enough (said downfall always happens with women who have power in dramas/shows), she got this...

No, GSR didn't deserve that despite wanting power.
Yes, she's greedy but isn't it weird to see how fans keep repeating that to justify their satisfaction when they see bad things happening to her? But we don't hear that when it's w. Lee Rim or men in general who are ambitious

GSR isn't heartless & has a good relationship w. her mother. After becoming wealthy, GSR provided her new clotches and money although she didn't need it.
And whenever GSR seeks for comfort, she goes to her old home/gets food from her mother. They mutually care for each other.

In conclusion, Goo Seo Ryung deserved better, the lack of character development is sad considering the potential + background she had.
Her role as PM could've been pivotal to the story since she's literally a second lead but it went nowhere. #TheKingEternalMonarch #JungEunChae

Goo Seo Ryung worked so hard to become Corea's first female and youngest PM and to think she would ruin all her efforts foolishly is infuriating.

I love TKEM but I cannot ignore the fact Goo Seo Ryung was written with latent misogyny.
Why are ambitious women always presented as a jealous and evil temptress doomed to have a fallout? Why are women with power, especially political power, always portrayed negatively?

GSR saying she can dress the way she wants was nice but it felt like KES was pretending it was enough to empower her. She had good intention but the execution was so-so.
The only time we saw GSR acting as PM was during the JPN/Corea conflict & it wasn't related to the main plot.

Thank you for reading the thread! I love TKEM and I'm still putting 9/10 on MDL but it needed to be addressed.
We know KES could've done better and include GSR more in the plot. GSR & Jung Eun Chae deserved better.

#TheKingEternalMonarch #TheKingEternalMonarchFinale #JungEunChae

Okay, I wanted to add something since The Swoon posted that...
The way it was worded "... even though that family is GSR who at least ends up in prison" irritated me bc you can feel the latent misogyny of KES' writing in the way fans perceived her.

Luna and GSR both are women who had done bad things (including murder) but aren't entirely evil either...
One get a happy ending (Luna) in the new parallel world of Corea while the other ends up in jail (GSR)?

MAKE IT SENSE PLEASE.

Only GSR got punished bc she was a woman with political power. But she isn't pure evil either and comes from a loving family so what's wrong w. Luna being her sister?
This is where KES failed: GSR got stereotyped and lacked of nuances.
#TheKingEternalMonarch #JungEunChae

I still love Goo Seo Ryung because I see the potential she had despite ending up getting stereotyped for her social class and gender and never growing past that.
GSR never even got proper closing before the parallel world (Corea) changed.
#TheKingEternalMonarch #JungEunChae

Despite that, I really enjoyed the GSR/Luna scene because GSR ends up having her mother still being alive and Luna gets to be in a loving family with a mother and a sister.

It's such a shame we didn't get more scenes w. Kim Go Eun and Jung Eun Chae where their characters don't antagonize each other. JEC deserved more comedic scenes.
P. S: I'm tired of having female characters put against the other for a man...
#TheKingEternalMonarch #JungEunChae

Anyway, I've really finished this thread this time! Thank you for reading it and I apologize for the typos I made, I wrote it around 3A.M