Using my personal rating system of "loved," "liked," "meh," & "nah," this rates a “liked” and quite possibly a “loved” but for some inconsistencies.

After re-watching Vincenzo I had to rewatch this one because of Ok Taec Yeon. When I first watched Secret Royal Inspector and Joy, I would have rated it a “liked” but upon rewatching it, it…almost became a “loved”.

Things I liked:
As the title implies, I found this drama to be all about strong women. Women who defied the conservatism of their times; women who went to hell and back only to be victim-blamed and ostracized by the very people who should have welcomed them back; and even women who did bad things but did them because they were human, not due to some cop-out trope like irrational jealousy over a male lead. I liked that this drama showed the harm and hypocrisy inherent in patriarchal societies. I liked the FL and ML’s relationship. It was gradual, strong, and mutually supportive. I like that she was defiant in front of his grandmother nor was she interested in marrying again because it, once more, made her the property of someone else. I liked the FL’s friends and the ML’s servants. I liked the strong friendship they all formed. I liked that the ML and FL were pretty consistent throughout the drama. She stayed strong and intelligent and did not suddenly get weak and stupid so the ML could rescue her.

Things I did not like so much:
Not really sure what they were trying to do with Park Tae Seo’s character. He seemed a little inconsistent like they could not decide if he should be a sociopath, a conflicted and abused child, or a criminal genius. I don't really see how one person could be all three. And they kept taking his plot nowhere in particular. For example, he plans to kill the monarch but then nothing came of it—don't write a scene that predicts something that goes nowhere and never even remotely happens! And his poor, anti-climatic ending! If we were supposed to sympathize with him then at least give him an ending where his father realizes who he is while PTS is still alive and able to give him the bird.

The ending. Took way too long and departed a little too much from what seemed to have been relatively faithful to
historical reality (though the food influencer scene was funny!). They never seemed to explain why the crown prince died (as in why the king did that) and, for that matter, who replaced him. The “triumph” over the evil guys felt incomplete and a bit hollow. Why did Ra Yi Eon wait until the last episode to free his slaves? Couldn’t he have done that at any time then? (I did however like the very end with [a seemingly pregnant] Joy. Based on her hair they either got married or she was fine being a concubine…?)

Questions remaining:
Hair. Why did Joy wear her hair down after divorce if her friend always wore hers up? Of the two, Joy was the only one who had been married before. What was with the braid guy’s hair? Is that some sort of tribal dress/costume? I’ve never seen that style before in a KDrama.
Mothers. Why, if in patriarchal societies like Joseon, women are denigrated and considered to have no role in society, does it f****** matter who your mother was!? Why were the children of concubines reviled? 99.9% of the time, I bet the concubine had zero choice about her status. If being a man was all that matters, then how does who your mother was make a difference? (Those are rhetorical questions.)

I would recommend watching this despite inconsistencies. It gave me “joy”. :D