American Perspectives: A positive relationship between brothers

I really enjoy seeing the sibling comradery between Prince 연잉 and the Crown Prince on "동이." It's seriously a breath of fresh air.  Sometimes, the sibling rivalry trope gets really old, really fast; so it's nice seeing two siblings as friends.  It's the breath of fresh air that I honestly didn't even know I needed!

Actually, it reminds me of the relationship between my 21 year old daughter and my 10 year old son.  They don't have the sibling rivarly that I had with my sisters, and am I ever relieved!

Anyway, I like how in spite of the intense palace in fighting, you have two brothers who want to focus on their sibling friendship, and it makes sense.  In spite of being surrounded by so many people, the palace can be a very lonely place.  The Crown Prince's mother is distracted by politics and spends minimal, if any time with him.  While 동이 is dedicated to Prince 연잉, she's still tied to some political responsibilities of her own, and there don't seem to be any other children for Prince 연잉 to play with.  On top of all that, neither one of the boys see their father, the King very often.  As the King is the most wrapped up in palace politics out of all of them!

They have no interest in competing with each other, and they are interested in catching up after 6 years of lost time.  As in, they didn't even meet each other until Prince 연잉 was six years old, and the Crown Prince was 13.  Never once (so far, as I just finished Episode 53), has their been any sort of resentment.  Both children have to some extent been groomed to be wary of the other concubines' families and allies.  Crown Prince probably much more overtly than Prince 연잉, but Prince 연잉 has also been groomed.  Case in point: having to downplay his intelligence in order to stay off of 장옥정's radar.  However, both Princes are smart enough to think for themselves, and perhaps lonely enough to not care about petty adult constructs.  연잉 does not exploit his knowledge of the Crown Prince's illness.  The Crown Prince does not exploit the sensitivity Prince 연잉 feels about his mother being lower class.

동이 supports the comaradery, while 장옥정 does not.  Indeed, 장옥정 automatically assumes that 연잉, a very young child, must have an ulterior motive.  So, she and her supporters are essentially making asses out of themselves by harassing and targeting a little boy.

In spite of all this harassment and targeting, I like how the Crown Prince defends Prince 연잉, no matter what.