Rookie Historian Goo Hae-ryung is a historical Romantic Comedy Korean drama set in 19th-century Joseon, focusing on free-spirited noblewoman Goo Hae-ryung (Shin Se-kyung), who becomes one of the first female court historiansnote and sheltered prince Yi Rim (also called Dowon) (Cha Eun-woo), who writes romance novels under the pen name Maehwa ("plum blossom").
Contains examples of:
- Achievement Test of Destiny: Like all government bureaucrat positions in Joseon, prospective historians must take an examination.
- The Artifact: After the first few episodes, Dowon's Pen Name and romance novel-writing career is all but forgotten. At the end he starts writing again, this time as a travel writer.
- Artistic License – History:
- There were never female court historians in Joseon.
- The first Korean book on vaccination wasn't published until 1885.
- There was no Korean king in the 19th century who tried to introduce Western science and philosophy, and was deposed for it.
- The Big Damn Kiss: At the end of Episode 12, after Hae-ryung finds Dowon's love note he wrote for her.
- Book Burning: In the first couple episodes, the government suddenly bans many books, including Maehwa's, and burns them.
- Brutal Honesty: When the king asks the assembled councillors, as well as Dowon and Jin, if he has committed any of the sins that no king should commit, only Dowon has the balls (or is inexperienced enough) to answer yes, and proceeds to explain exactly which ones and how.
- Costume Porn: Everyone has elaborate costumes, especially the royals.
- Dark and Troubled Past: It's revealed that Min U-won had a wife who killed herself after her father was executed for corruption.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The showdown between the historians and the Royal Secretariat looks exactly like a fight between rival delinquent gangs, but with grown men in elaborate period dress.
- Evil Chancellor: Second State Councillor Min Ik-pyeong is the most villainous character, even having personally killed the previous king, but the king is no good guy either.
- Evil Reactionary: The king and Councillor Min Ik-pyeong, and their faction, are vehemently opposed to anything Western or modern and led The Coup against the previous king to stamp out any modern influences.
- Fake-Out Make-Out: When the two of them are caught outside the palace after curfew, Hae-ryung embraces Dowon to distract the guards, though they don't kiss.
- Iron Lady: The Queen Dowager is stoic pretty much 24/7, though she is (theoretically) powerless under the king's rule.
- I Was Beaten by a Girl: When Dowon fails to make a bullseye in archery, he challenges Hae-ryung to do better. She gets a bullseye on her first try, to the amusement of the crown prince and the other female historian there.
- The Jeeves: Heo Sam-bo is Prince Dowon's long-suffering manservant, though he's much less of The Stoic than his master.
- King Incognito:
- Prince Dowon, bored with staying in the inner palace, disguises himself as "Assistant Clerk Yi" and helps out the Office of Royal Decrees during the clerks' strike.
- Later on his brother, Crown Prince Yi Jin, puts on ordinary clothes and goes out to spend time in the city, ostensibly for an "undercover inspection".
- Large Ham:
- First Historian Yang Si-haeng is very loud and expressive, but a good boss deep down.
- The bookstore owner is also very hammy, to Officer Min's annoyance when he's trying to buy banned books.
- Left Hanging: At the epilogue at the end of the last episode, no mention is made of what happened to the king.
- Never Gets Drunk: Goo Hae-ryung demonstrates her unusually high alcohol tolerance in a drinking contest with First Historian Yang, to get him to respect her and the other female historians. She does get drunk, but it takes a lot to get there, as she mentions to the king later when he attempts to get her drunk and question her about what she wrote about him.
- Oblivious Adoption:
- Prince Dowon is actually the son of the deposed king, raised as the son of the current king.
- Hae-ryung and Jae-gyeong are not actually siblings, she was the daughter of his teacher at Seoraewon who was murdered.
- Pretty Boy: Prince Dowon is very handsome, as Seol-geum points out.
- Prince and Pauper: They look nothing alike, but upon finding out that Goo Hae-ryung is working as a historian, Dowon switches clothes with Sam-bo and has the eunuch hide behind a screen to pretend to be the prince. Dowon claims to be relaying the "prince"'s words "in his heart" by ordering her to clean up the house and yard to atone for impersonating Maehwa.
- The Reliable One: Officer Min U-won is the most responsible and stoic of the historians, and even First Historian Yang turns to him for difficult decisions. Song Sa-hui is his counterpart among the female historians.
- Runaway Bride: Hae-ryung runs away from her own wedding (though the groom had already said he couldn't go through with it, on her request) to take the historians' exam.
- Sheltered Aristocrat: At the start of the series, Prince Dowon has barely left the inner palace section of Nokseodang his entire life, and it seems the only people he has any regular contact with are his eunuch attendant Heo Sam-bo, his two maids, and sometimes his older brother Yi Jin.
- Slave to PR: The king is forced to moderate his behavior to ensure that he is looked upon favorably in the historical record.
- Strike Episode:
- In Episode 6, after the female historians discover the corruption involved in the pay system for government employees, Hae-ryung writes a petition to ban the hiring of clerks to collect officials' pay for them. This calls down the wrath of all the clerks in the government, who refuse to work until the Office of Royal Decrees issues an apology. The strike is eventually resolved by Hae-ryung and Min meeting with the head clerks and Min threatening to reveal their corruption. This strike is portrayed very negatively compared to...
- In Episode 11, after the king tries to exercise more control over the historians (and imprisons Goo Hae-ryung), they refuse to work, with even The Stoic Min going along with their fake Potty Emergency. Eventually the historians win and maintain their independence after Min challenges the king to personally kill him if he won't rescind the order.
- There Is Only One Bed: In Episode 6, Goo Hae-ryung brings Dowon to her house since he can't get back into the palace after dark. Her servant Seol-geum immediately assumes that they're sleeping together, and claims that all the servants' rooms are full of drying pumpkins, so the only place he can sleep is in Hae-ryung's room. They end up sleeping on opposite sides of a screen.
- Those Two Girls:
- Dowon's two maidservants don't really do or say much and are mainly there to help Sam-bo.
- Apprentices Oh Eun-im and Heo Ah-ran get slightly more characterization, but they're still mostly comic relief compared to Goo Hae-ryung and Song Sa-hui.
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: Both Jean-Baptiste and his brother Dominique are played by the same actor.
- The Wise Prince: Crown Prince Yi Jin is much more reasonable and merciful than his father, and a competent ruler. In the penultimate episode, the king even admits this. At the end, he becomes The Good King.
