15 Things You Missed In Episodes 1-4

Warning: Major spoilers ahead!

‘My Royal Nemesis’ Episode 1

1. Although Dan-sim is a fictional character, she’s believed to have been inspired by the real-life concubine Jang Hui-bin (sometimes spelled as “Jang Hee-bin”), Joseon Dynasty’s most infamous femme fatale who rose through the court ranks to become the queen consort of King Sukjong. Famed for her beauty and cunning, Jang, whose real name was Jang Ok-jeong, is said to have manipulated the king into deposing his queen so that she could take her place (though some historians dispute that account). Jang was later demoted and eventually executed by poisoning.

Jang’s life has been dramatized in many Korean movies and TV shows over the years. In My Royal Nemesis, Seo-ri is a stand-in for the character of Jang Hui-bin in a historical drama she’s filming—which is why Dan-sim is initially incensed when she awakes in Seo-ri’s body and finds herself being addressed as “Jang” and not “Kang.”

2. The Avici hell is the lowest and most terrible level of the eight hot hells of Buddhism, where those who’ve committed serious crimes (like parricide) must face constant suffering.

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3. King Yeomra is the Korean name for Yama, the king of hell and the judge of the afterlife in East Asian and Buddhist mythology.

4. Shortly after waking up in present-day Korea, Dan-sim encounters Ms. Geum, a shaman (played by Oh Min-ae) who bears a striking resemblance to the Joseon-era shaman she knew. Shaman Geum suggests that Dan-sim might be “wandering through time” and lists some examples of time-slip K-dramas, including Rooftop Prince and Thousand Years of Love.

Dan-sim likens her current situation to “The Butterfly Dream,” one of the stories contained in the Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi’s eponymous book. In the story, Zhuangzi says he dreamt he was a butterfly, but after waking up, he wondered if he was a man who dreamt of being a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming of being a man. Zhuangzi is considered one of the key works in Taoism.

‘My Royal Nemesis’ Episode 2

5. Seo-ri’s residence is shown as a “boarding house” in the English subtitles, but to be more precise, it’s a type of building called a goshiwon (고시원). Rooms in a goshiwon tend to be very tiny (typically there’s barely enough space for a single person to eat, sleep and study), though more spacious and luxurious ones have cropped up in recent years. Kitchens are shared, and sometimes bathrooms as well. Goshiwon were originally meant for people preparing for civil service exams, but over the years they’ve come to be occupied by a wide range of Koreans (as well as foreign expats and international students) looking to save on rent.

6. Here the shaman accidentally gives Dan-sim/Seo-ri a 50,000-won bill (about 33 USD)—the highest denomination of South Korean currency.

7. Yakgwa is a type of traditional Korean cookie made by mixing wheat flour with honey, sesame oil, ginger juice and a bit of rice wine and then pressing the dough mixture into a mold and deep-frying it. Other ingredients like cinnamon are often added.

8. In the credits scene at the end of Episode 2, a sign saying “Oh New World” is briefly displayed onscreen—no doubt a reference to the show’s Korean title, 멋진 신세계 (“meot-jin shin-se-gye”), which literally means “Wonderful New World” or “Cool New World.” (It also happens to be the Korean title for Aldous Huxley’s famous novel Brave New World.)

It’s worth noting that se-gye (as in the character Cha Se-gye’s name) can mean “world” in Korean.

(And for anyone who’s curious, the Korean sentence at the bottom of the screenshot is thanking Jung Jae-kwang for making a guest appearance on the show. Other guest actors are similarly acknowledged in some of the other episodes.)

‘My Royal Nemesis’ Episode 3

9. Se-gye seems a bit surprised that Dan-sim knows a term like kkondae (꼰대) but doesn’t know the expression 내로남불 (pronounced like “naero nambool”). Kkondae is a popular Korean slang term used to refer to people who give unsolicited advice or force their outdated way of thinking on other (usually younger) people. In that sense, the English subtitles’ use of “boomer” (as in, “OK boomer”) is an apt translation.

Naero nambool is the abbreviated form of a Korean phrase that translates to, “If I do it, it’s romance; if others do it, it’s adultery”—an expression that basically means “to have double standards.”

10. Here, a more accurate translation of what Baek Gwang-nam (played by Kim Min-seok) says to Seo-ri about love would be, “Do you know what it feels like to give someone something and feel heartbroken because you cannot give them 10 times as much?”

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11. In My Royal Nemesis, Sonagi is the name of the K-drama that Seo-ri starred in as a child actor. But the fictional series is inspired by the actual 1979 film of the same name (sometimes referred to as The Shower in English), considered to be a classic in Korean cinema. Its famous rain scene has inspired similar scenes in various Korean films and K-dramas over the years, like My Sassy Girl, The Classic and now, My Royal Nemesis.

The fictional Sonagi here first comes up in Episode 2, where it’s listed on Seo-ri’s resume as a 2005 series.

In the above scene, customers at the supermarket are heard saying that the child actor (referring to, of course, a young Seo-ri) was really good, but that they haven’t seen her on screen in a long while. Perhaps it wasn’t the writer’s intention, but one can’t help but make comparisons with the real-life child actor Jo Yoon-sook, who played the young girl in the 1979 Sonagi. Despite being a rising child actor at the time, she left the entertainment industry altogether only a few years after appearing in the movie.

‘My Royal Nemesis’ Episode 4

12. When Dan-sim/Seo-ri is cast in season 2 of The Women’s Kingdom, she starts watching various K-dramas to prepare for her meeting with the director. Clips from some iconic K-dramas are shown, including Sandglass (1995) and Rustic Period (2002)—two of the most-watched TV shows in Korean broadcasting history. Seo-ri also rejoices at a scene from the 2001 historical drama Ladies of the Palace.

Rustic Period—a 124-episode series based on the true story of Kim Du-han, a Korean mobster who rose to become a prominent politician—is alluded to again later in the episode when Seo-ri takes on a bunch of gangsters threatening her grandmother’s restaurant. Humorously dubbed “Seo-ri’s Rustic Period,” the scene hearkens back to the drama through its dialogue and fight sequences, even featuring one of Rustic Period’s theme songs.

13. Now this is one of those moments where I wish Netflix subtitles displayed a more literal translation, because when Koreans take photos, instead of saying “cheese,” they often say “kimchi”—just like Se-gye does here.

14. Before King Sejong the Great and his team of scholars created the Korean alphabet (Hangul) in 1443, Koreans used Chinese characters (called hanja in Korean) to read and write, and literacy was mostly limited to the wealthy elite. Over the years, the Korean government has continually alternated between emphasizing and downplaying hanja instruction, so different generations of Koreans have varying degrees of familiarity with hanja.

In any case, most Koreans today would probably struggle to comprehend this letter that Dan-sim/Seo-ri wrote in hanja.

On the other hand, the words beneath Seo-ri’s drawing of Se-gye are written in Korean, but Se-gye struggles to read her flowy handwriting. He initially misreads it as “멋진 내 편” (“meot-jin nae-pyeon”) which means something like “my cool/awesome ally.” (Side note: The English subtitles read “my man,” but 내 편 technically refers to “someone who’s on my side.”)

Of course, Seo-ri actually wrote “멋진 내 팬” (“meot-jin nae-paen”)—my awesome fan.

15. As the end credits roll and viewers are treated to a preview of the next episode, the male narrator heard in the background is none other than Yun Ju-sang, who plays Se-gye’s grandfather. In addition to his film, TV and theater work, Yun has also narrated a ton of Korean documentaries over the years thanks to his sonorous voice.

My Royal Nemesis is currently streaming on Netflix, with new episodes released every Friday and Saturday.

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