A Devout Widow by Day, Joseon's Spider-Man by Night? The Korean Drama 'Flower Blooming at Night'

A Korean drama depicting the double life of a Joseon Dynasty woman who lives as a widow during the day and a hero who helps the needy at night, “Knight Flower”is here.

‘Joyeohwa,’ who became the daughter-in-law of a high-ranking Joseon official, the ‘Left Minister,’ unfortunately lost her husband on her wedding day and became a widow. Joyeohwa, who has been wearing white mourning clothes for 15 years, is an ordinary woman who spends her days doing household chores as instructed by her mother-in-law. However, she has a secret. At night, she puts on black clothes and a black mask and goes out to help those in need. She is skilled in martial arts, able to climb over walls and even run freely on rooftops. While secretly helping someone in need as usual, one day, Joyeohwa meets a man.

‘Park Suho,’ who works for the ‘Royal Guard,’ an organization that protects the king and defends the capital during the Joseon Dynasty, is a capable officer who topped the exams. However, he has one flaw: he lacks flexibility. But for someone who enforces the law, a lack of flexibility isn’t much of a drawback. While secretly investigating a case, Park Suho accidentally encounters Joyeohwa in a mask. He immediately recognizes that the masked person is a woman. After a few more encounters with Joyeohwa, he also learns that she is actually the widow of the Left Minister’s family.

Actress Lee Ha-nee plays the role of Joyeohwa, the widow leading a double life. Lee Ha-nee is an actress who has appeared in dramas such as “Extreme Job” and “The Fiery Priest.” She majored in traditional Korean music, and her appearance in hanbok is already familiar to Korean viewers. As an actress who has mainly acted in comedic roles, she is also showcasing her unique comedic acting skills in this drama, “Knight Flower.”

In the late Joseon Dynasty, women who got married and whose husbands passed away before them lived as widows. Due to the strong Confucian ideology of the time, which demanded that women serve only one husband throughout their lives, remarriage was impossible, and they had to live in their in-laws’ house for the rest of their lives. In this drama, the protagonist Joyeohwa is shown working under her mother-in-law for 15 long years as a widow. Through this drama, we can also gain insights into what life was like for widows in the late Joseon Dynasty.

It's also intriguing to see how romance blossoms between Joyeohwa, who breaks free from the Joseon Dynasty’s constraints on women and lives two lives, and Park Suho, who strictly adheres to Joseon law.

The Korean drama “Knight Flower” airs every Friday and Saturday at 9:50 PM on MBC starting January 12th, and is also available on Wavve, Coupang Play, and KOCOWA+.