"Not the most original premise, but the leads make it worth every minute so far."
Currently airing — rating will be updated once completed.
First Impressions of the Joseon Villainess Romance
Someone mentioned it had the same energy as Mr. Queen, and that was enough. I loved Mr. Queen — the sharp humor, the body-swap chaos, the way it somehow managed to be ridiculous and genuinely moving at the same time. That drama set a high bar for the genre, and I have been chasing that feeling ever since.
I will be honest — Lim Ji-yeon was not the reason I clicked play. But Heo Nam-jun was. After Perfect Crown wrapped and left a quiet gap in my watch list, I needed something to fill the space. This felt like the right kind of gamble.
The synopsis
A Joseon-era villainess, sentenced to death by poison, wakes up in the body of a struggling modern-day actress — and promptly decides that surviving one era was hard enough, so she might as well conquer this one too. The story sets her against Cha Se-gye, a cold and ruthless chaebol heir who has absolutely no patience for whatever it is she seems to be. It is an enemies-to-lovers setup wrapped inside a fish-out-of-water comedy, and it knows exactly what it is.
The cast
Lim Ji-yeon (Shin Seo-ri / Kang Dan-sim): She was not on my radar coming in, but she carries the dual role with more confidence than I expected. There is something in the way she shifts between the modern Seo-ri and the Joseon Dan-sim — a stillness in one, a controlled ferocity in the other — that makes the possession premise feel less gimmicky than it has any right to be.
Heo Nam-jun (Cha Se-gye): This is the performance I came for, and so far he has not disappointed. He plays arrogance without making it exhausting, which is a harder balance than it looks. There is something quietly watchable about him — a restrained quality that makes you lean in rather than tune out.
Episode updates
Episodes 1–4
May 19, 2026
The first four episodes move fast, almost defiantly so, and the comedy lands more often than it misses. The Joseon villainess adjusting to modern Seoul is the kind of premise that could easily tip into tired repetition, but the writing keeps finding new angles — a binged drama series here, a confrontation that goes sideways there. It does not take itself too seriously, and that lightness carries it through the moments where the plot feels familiar.
The premise is not new. Spirit possession, time displacement, enemies circling each other until something shifts — we have seen this shape before. But familiarity is not always a flaw. Sometimes it is simply the container, and what matters is what gets poured into it.
The love story has not fully bloomed yet. But there is something there — a tension in the early scenes between the leads that feels earned rather than manufactured. I am watching for what happens when the walls start coming down.
Current rating: 7.5 / 10
Enjoying this one too? Drop a comment below — I would love to know where you are in the series. Or check out my other ongoing reviews on the Drama Reviews page while we wait for the next episode.
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