Hope I didn't give away too much here.
First of all, I wont call myself a saeguk fanatic, since I don't think I watch that much dramas of this genre, though I definitely do enjoy them and Korea's history.
Story:
Plot is interesting, satisfying amount of action and nerve-wrecking moments.
I definitely say that the content is like 80-90% political, with the remaining parts for romance, just to spice up and bring some colors to the political issues here.
I like how they focuses on the political history of Joseon with its neighboring countries instead of the usual domestic politics among the clans.
So I wont recommend it if you are looking for a more romantic saeguk drama like The Princess' Man or The Moon Embraces The Sun.
Acting/Cast:
I started this because of Seo In Guk, but that definitely isn't the main reason why i completed this.
- Seo In Guk
I do feel awkward at first seeing him acting in a historical drama, since this is his first.
I even thought that his voice isn't suited for a prince especially when he give out commands, which usually goes well with deeper voices.
But he improved over time, and before I knew it, I was too into his character, GwangHae, to even remember it's InGuk who's acting.
Definitely a good actor indeed.
- Shin Sung Rok
He's just PERFECT at playing the bad character. No words needed to describe it.
- Jo Yoon Hee
Not a fan of her acting. Keep feeling that there's something missing in the way she acts in some of her scenes.
- Others
I always feel that saeguk drama actors/actresses are the best. Most of them portray the characters clearly, which makes you hate or love them to the core.
Kim GyuRi's acting is worth mentioning, love the way she successfully acted the Kim GwiIn character that makes me dislike her, but at the same time feeling that she is pitiful and likable as well.
Music:
I'm addicted to it now, putting it on replay, so that should mean its nice ;)
I'm a huge ballad/emotional drama songs. They definitely have the good ones, the ones that when you listen to, you cant help but to replay scenes of the drama like an mv in your head. And it makes you emo afterwards (or maybe its just me XD)
Though I wish there are more songs instead of only 3 being repeated in 23 episodes.
Re-watch Value:
Since its hugely political, i don't think it is worth re-watching.
Unless one don't mind listening to the usual long political conversations in saeguk dramas :P
For InGuk fans out there like me, maybe it wont be so bad to re-watch it just to stare at how hot he is as a prince~~
Hope this helps :)
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The cast is mostly good. I started this because of Shin Sung Rok. My mistake. Even he couldn't save this drama.
Music would get on my nerves at times.
I will never watch this again.
I do not recommend this drama even to seaguk lovers.
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A beautiful but heartbreaking historical drama.
I really like watching “The King’s Face”, a historical drama based on the actual historical figure and life of Prince GwangHae that became King GwangHae (1608-1623). “The King’s Face” has romance, palace intrigues and political issues interwoven that make the story is so engaging and entertaining. The actor Seo In Guk and actress Jo Yoon Hee are both so attractive and fun to watch in portraying teenage Prince GwangHae and Kim Ga Hee. Both make the beginning of the story so interesting, and their interpretation of adolescent compassionate Prince Gwanghae and tomboy Kim Ga Hee, is so convincing and makes the story fascinating.I notice Crown Prince Gwanghae becomes a man during Imjin War and actor Seo In Guk’s performance grows into his character as well. The story is getting sadder and sadder as King Seon Jo is so envious of his son, Crown Prince GwangHae, that has a King’s Face. To make the matter worse for Prince GwangHae, Professor Go San, the palace physiognomy, advice King Seon Jo to take Kim Ga Hee as his concubine to improve King Seon Jo’s facial characteristics and become a sage king. It is truly a heart wrenching moment watching the episode when Crown Prince GwangHae realizes it for the first time that Kim Ga Hee is King Seon Jo’s Court Lady.
There is an ambitiously smart but vile character in the story, Physiognomist Kim Do Chi, that uses his physiognomy skills to fulfill his dream to capture the throne. The actor, Shin Sung Rok, portrays Kim Do Chi convincingly and accomplishes as the most hateful character. The sword fight between Kim Do Chi and Crown Prince GwangHae is a beautiful choreography.
I cannot get enough of Eunuch Song, his character works as a catalyst between the King and his Crown Prince. Eunuch Song’s appearance always makes the story less sad as the character’s word of wisdom are a soothing. Actress Kim Gyu Ri that plays as Concubine Gwi In Kim is worth mentioning, her portrayal as a driven Concubine to seat her son, Prince Shin Sung, to become Crown Prince is compelling indeed.
“The King’s Face” is a beautiful but poignant story. It is not a love-dovey K-drama series, but a historical political story. I wish “The King’s Face” would not have an open ending story that ends in episode 23. I would give a ten-out-of-ten for the story, acting, and the original soundtracks. I love the ballad songs and their music that continuously enhancing the scenes in the series. It is worthy to watch and re-watch. The film scenography is beautiful especially the one in the reed field when Prince GwangHae is running after Kim Ga Hee. Whenever Prince/Crown Prince GwangHae embraces Kim Ga Hee, I do not want the scene to end. It is so heartwarming and heart wrenching scene on the same time.
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If you care about history and politics and also don't mind to get a little bored, then sure. Go ahead and watch!
I confess I have mixed feelings about this drama. In my opinion, it started well and was a bit funny in the beggining. However they dragged this for toooooo long. Seriously, I had to take a break from this drama for... several months.
Overall, the main characters are fine. The plot is also easy to understand. Someting I also liked was that the story focused in the life of Prince Gwanghae since he was a kid/teenager until his adult age.
I really enjoyed Seo In Guk's acting. You can tell he grew a lot during the whole show. He was actually my favourite character because he always stood up for what he believed. Shin Sung Rok's acting was also amazing!
My conflict with this drama is all about the politics and the whole big web of treason that usually comes along with sageuks. That's why the story was dragged. And that's why my rate is 7 in the overall.
As for my rewatch value... yeah I don't picture myself watching this again. There are better dramas in the world. Moving on!
This is just what I think. If you really want to watch the drama, please do so. In the end you might have a different opinion :)
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Mask On
A snoozefest by definition. It felt like an endless, meandering road leading absolutely nowhere, like a book with no chapters, just pages and pages of the same old, same old. This what an AI is capable of generating when giving it the prompts "power, struggle, palace" in no particular order. It would have been less tiresome if it were only half its length. They were so desperate to prolong the drama that they added a war in the middle despite being outside the theme and scoop of this drama. The writing was abysmal and shameful, they made the characters like clowns. Although we were introduced to face reading at the start but that played little to no importance later on and was rarely used outside some fillers.Was this review helpful to you?
Pleasantly surprised
After reading many of the other reviews, I was pleasantly surprised that this was much better than they were predicting. Several reviewers said they stopped after the fourth episode, which made me reluctant to watch but I’m so glad that I did anyway. Based on a lot of real history so caught myself looking up many historical facts that are throughout the series as well.I enjoyed the acting and storytelling as well as the OSTs which are a few of my favorites.
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The thing about historical dramas for me is that I always look out about the king or queen in question to know about their real life and if the story would be a happy ending, and in most cases, this doesn't happen because -of course- is real life. I started this drama very excited with the possibilities of Gwang Hae and what would happen with him (I shared this before), but the main problem here is the base of the plot: the physiognomy thing.
I searched about it to know if this was so important at the time, but I didn't find anything strongly embased, so probably was a technique that could be used by some people, but for sure doesn't was so strong and determinant to the kingdom like they put here. The idea was a bit cool at the first size, but with the process, it was just too childish.
The most terrible thing to me was the construction of the villain (I won't give any names). I understood the idea that he defended at the beginning and I thought that they could develop a big reason behind this to make him the worse, but what happened was just a complete change of the character. It was like there was one character in the beginning, and then he was killed and replace by another person who had a completely different personality. I couldn't bear it, but his cruelty was worth the award of one of the worst villains that I watched and the one who I wanted to kill the most.
Another award to this drama is one of the saddest story ever. I was perplexed with the hate of King Seonjo with Gwang Hae and I cried many times in the scenes when this hate was evidenced with attitudes. Gwan Hae was the most loyal subject and the ambition of the king stopped him of see that. The love story between Gwang Hae and Ga Hee was the other face of tragedy. Really, I'm just like Ga Hee and now I don't have words (get the little joke?) to say how cursed these two were.
I could say more, but I'll stop here. This drama isn't garbage, the story catches you sometimes, but it is far away from being an amazing production. The acting of Seo In Guk it's clearly immature here (writing this with tears), but this makes me very happy when I see the great actor that he becomes.
I will put this as an "I'm not so regretful" (★ ★ ★ ★ ★) and let you make your own choice. If you wanna know some details or spoilers, send me a message and I'll be glad to respond to it.
See you soon!
XOXO, Mari.
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