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The main thing I really liked about this drama is that it perfectly captures the magic of falling in love with someone - when even the most mundane moments in everyday life feel more special and and exciting. You feel it when you watch this drama. The first half of the drama treats viewers to lots of happy romantic heartwarming scenes. There's nothing really dramatic or extraordinary about it. There's not a lot of setup. You just get to see lots of scenes of them being nice to each other and enjoying each others company and in lots of dramas those scenes are so rare because there is so much conflict and setup usually. It's the opposite of that in this drama.
The lead characters are just regular people - not perfect. (Though Jung Seon is an unrealistically nice boyfriend- which is probably one of the main reasons I enjoyed watching their romance so much.) Both have their issues and make mistakes. Hyun Soo is prickly and indecisive. Jung Seon has insecurities. They are making their way through life and career challenges - nothing over the top.
The downside may be that there isn't a whole lot of conflict. It's about finding love, then overcoming the obstacles of everyday life or personality conflicts that get in the way. A lot of the conflict falls into stereotypes. There is the rich CEO, the jealous friend and the disapproving parents that get thrown in there to mess with the couple. But these stereotypes are all given more of a normal realistic twist than in most dramas, so conflicts resolve in a low key fashion as most things do in real life. Many people might find that boring and anti-climactic.
For a relatively simple story, the drama is stretched out too long into 40 episodes when it probably could have been told better in half that amount. Many scenes especially in the last half of the drama felt kind of like filler. But having said all this I personally wasn't bored. I enjoyed all the simple happy scenes. There is a dreamy, soft-focus vibe that permeates the whole drama that I found pleasant and relaxing, like sitting quietly and sipping hot cocoa.
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The King's Woman aims to portray a ruthless tyrant as a complicated character that we can sympathize with in telling the story of his true love for a beautiful and talented woman. It's kind of difficult to do well and basically I don't think this drama did a great job at it. It relies too much on the actors' charisma and good looks, slow mo flashbacks, and pretty cinematography rather than thoughtful story writing and good character development.
By episode 40 or so I had a lot of built up frustration and dislike for the main characters so I didn't really care about them anymore. The side characters were uninspiring, but at least Jing Ke and Han Shen were more consistently written and had some good fight scenes. The main characters behave inconsistently and don't feel like real people. The most problematic character is the heroine, Gong Sun Li. She is supposed to be wise, upstanding and tough. As the story progressed I felt more and more repulsed by the idea of her falling in love with the King and being such a martyr for him. He is murderous one scene and then suddenly cute and seductive in the next. The drama jumps into a romantic comedy tone whenever the king does something terrible and they need you to feel sympathy for him and buy into the love story again. It bugged me that an intelligent woman would become submissive to such a man. The main failing in the storytelling is that there was not a compelling reason for her to be won over by him. They didn't portray much of her internal struggle to be with him. It goes against her character to fall in love with him, so give us an explanation. There were hints that she might have done it for political reasons or to protect others. But mostly the romance is portrayed as just fate - that Li was fated to always protect, love and serve the King no matter what his actions and he would always love her because of it. But why? This wasn't enough for me to buy into the romance.
I watched the last part of the drama mostly out of curiosity to see how the events played out. I knew I was supposed to feel the tragedy of it all as a result of the king's fatal character flaws and feel the heroine's selflessness and integrity, but the feelings just weren't there for me. Still, there were ample slow motion flashback scenes to inform me that something dramatic was happening. And every time they played a certain childhood flashback scene (which was A LOT) I knew I was supposed to be feeling how poignant it all was.
Then again after all my complaints about this drama again, I never once thought of dropping it. On a basic level it is watchable and entertaining enough to see the good looking costumes, actors, cinematography and martial arts scenes and find out what happens in the end.
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THE STORY: I was hooked on it from the first episode. It's about a father and 2 sons who run a renowned historic restaurant serving traditional Korean food. What I really enjoyed is the way the father-son and brother-brother relationships are played out. There are good guys and bad guys, but the bad guys are relatively well-rounded and realistic. You can kind of see their point of view and feel for them. The actors all do a great job bringing these characters to life. Kim Rae Won is really likable as the the sincere and naturally talented chef, Sung Chan. Kwon Oh Jung is good as Bong Joo, Sung Chan's overly-ambitious brother. And Choi Bool Am is endearing as their father.
The story touches on themes like balancing modernization with protecting tradition and heritage, living up to your parents expectations and finding your own way in life. It's relatively realistic for a drama. Just like in everyday life there's a little bit of everything - some fun moments, some sadness, rivalries, competition, jealousies, heartwarming and supportive friendships. There is some romance. It was cute, but not the main focus of this drama.
THE FOOD COMPETITIONS: The plot involves not just one food competition but several cooking competitions. And it all looks so good to me. I want to taste it all. There is a lot of focus on the food preparation and the drama of coming up with interesting creative recipes that will outdo the competition. I love watching cooking competition shows so I really get into this aspect of the story and find it exciting. And I don't know much about Korean food so it is really interesting for me to watch them making it and see how they eat and appreciate it.
THE PACING: I read some comments about it being slow. I didn't find it slow, but I can understand why some people might feel this way if watching people making food or talking food doesn't interest you or you prefer dramas with more focus on romance or thrills. But I thought the pacing of the story was just right. Every scene had its purpose and moved things along at a comfortable pace.
Maybe it's not everyone's taste, but this drama left me feeling happy and satisfied just like a good meal. It's definitely one of my favorites!
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Jeon Ji Hyeon is my favorite thing about this drama. Cheong, the mermaid character is strong, endearing and so funny. Lee Min Ho's con artist character is likable as well. Joon Jae seems similar to characters he's played in other dramas - kind of arrogant, charismatic and, underneath it all, a good guy. But I like him best when he is acting cute and happy. They are both so good. There is a reason they are so popular. Though this is mostly lighthearted, the sad emotional moments are stirring as well. I found myself laughing out loud (especially in the first half of the drama), crying, and swooning over the beauty and adorableness of the stars. Each episode is a visual treat.
The supporting characters are fun to watch too. The relationship between Joon Jae's roommates and the mermaid's friendships with the eclectic characters she befriends are sweet and satisfying. I enjoyed the little bit of Ocean's 11 feel with a couple of plot points that took me completely by surprise. The pacing is good with each episode revealing something new. The storylines don't get overly dragged out or complicated as they often do in dramas. The flashback scenes are a little too frequent and there may be things you can nitpick about some story details. But it is such a pretty and fun ride I can easily overlook it. This drama does what romance should do - leave your heart feeling warm and melty.
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The reason I do not rate it higher is that I found it really derivative of other shows. Though I did enjoy it, it was pretty predictable. I usually don't care about this so much, but here it was so obvious that it distracted me from getting emotionally involved with the characters. I didn't find the characters very realistic or complex. The characters felt so much like stock characters from very other crime mystery story of this type. It's like the writers decided they wanted to write a show like "Prison Break" combined with "The Fugitive" and just went with that without trying to add any originality or twist of their own. At first I thought the references to Prison Break were kind of cute, but after awhile the similarities became tiresome.
I didn't love the characters - not even Jeong Woo. There were details about him that bugged me, so though I wanted the bad guy to be punished, it's not because I loved the hero so much. The setup for the villain really didn't make sense. The crime that is the catalyst for the whole drama was psychopathic and impulsive and really without thought or reason. He gained nothing from it and just did it because he felt like it. Then he spends the rest of the episode impulsively covering it up. And then we are supposed to believe that he magically transforms into a resourceful, manipulative character who plans and thinks enough to get away with all that he does for the next 17 episodes? The motley group of inmates was kind of funny, but too glaringly cute for this type of story and obviously just there for comic relief.
I don't regret watching this, but didn't love it. It's one of those shows where I just wanted to see the story play out even though it was mildly disappointing along the way.
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The script is so tightly written. The story is a cleverly laid out labyrinth with compelling, intelligent characters at each turn. There are no throw away characters who behave stupidly, frustrating plot details, cutesy comic relief or romance just for the sake of adding romance. Every line could have a potential effect on the outcome. If you let your mind drift for a moment you might just miss out on some new clue or development. While watching, I often had the unsettling feeling that everyone is not who they seem and everyone is up to no good. Then a moment later I would often come to the exact opposite conclusion and think maybe this character is exactly who he appears to be after all. It had me on the edge of my seat and guessing up through the last episode. The writing is so impressive.
"Stranger" is really well-acted. The 2 main leads do such a great job. Jo Seung Wo is excellent as Prosecutor Hwang. Playing a cold, emotionless, and calculating character with limited facial expressions, he somehow manages to shine with goodness and integrity, gain our sympathy and win our hearts. Bae Doo Na is excellent as Lieutenant Han who is the more stereotypical good cop character, but she brings her character to life with warmth, passion and toughness. I also particularly enjoyed Lee Joon Hyuk as Seo Dong Jae. He portrays his smarmy despicable character with a lot of emotional range. He's the guy you love to hate and sometimes feel sorry for. All the characters have great chemistry together - both the heroes and villains - though you never really know for sure who is who until the very end when all the pieces fall together perfectly. It's a thrilling and compulsively watchable drama that builds in intensity as the story progresses. I am sorry to be done. I even re-watched the last episode immediately so I didn't have to say goodbye just yet.
This drama brings up ideas about what makes a person who they are. Does a person ever fundamentally change? What make us human? What makes us good or bad? Is it our emotions, our ideals or intentions? Our actions? Morals? A sense of justice? If you are into crime stories you have to watch this. But I also highly recommend this to people who appreciate an intelligent well told story that makes you think.
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The costumes and actors and cinematography are all really good looking. This is a very pretty drama to watch. There is some political intrigue and a little bit of adventure, but the main focus in this drama is the emotional tension and love story between the heroine and the 2 brothers - one king and the other grand prince. It's developed very well. It really hits all the right notes to make it a very satisfying watch for romance lovers. If you enjoy romantic sageuks like Empress Ki or Scarlett Heart: Moon Lovers, you'd probably really like this as well. Compared to those dramas, I felt this one was more pleasant, less emotionally wrenching and more satisfying overall.
The pacing was mostly good, but I think the setup was a little slow. Once the story is underway when the adult actors take over it goes pretty fast. The actors all do a great job - particularly the 3 main leads. There is a lot of praise for Lee Dong Gun as the king. He's an intriguing villain. But I think the main couple played by Park Min Young and Yeon Woo Jin are lovely together. It's a juicy love triangle. And I love that the main couple are given a decent amount of happy romantic screen time together. Even though there are plenty of tragic obstacles for them, at least their faith in each other doesn't get annoyingly dragged down by misunderstandings or false accusations. It is really touching their love survived all the violence and political struggle of that time. I had my mouth agape and tears streaming down my face during the perfect final episode.
The criticism I have for this drama is that it is peppered throughout with actions that the characters take or plot details that make you think "WHAT?!" or "WHY?!" and make you feel a little frustrated. Certain things seemed that they didn't have to happen that way and just happened for dramatic effect (especially towards the end) or came out of nowhere. But then later I read that most of those things or some version of those things really did happen in real life. So I think I would rate this higher if more attention was given to certain aspects of the story or the politics so I could appreciate what motivated certain characters or events better.
But still, this didn't stop me from really enjoying this drama. Historical dramas - particularly tragedies -tend to let me down big time somewhere along the line, but this is one of the more satisfying and touching ones that I've watched and highly recommend it.
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The GOOD: It's well-produced gore and action- both gross and engrossing. The plot moves at a good pace and keeps you pushing the play button to find out what happens next.
The NOT AS GOOD: The characters are all stereotypical. The heroes are likable but not lovable. The noblemen are aggravatingly corrupt and lame. The peasants are all just one generic group of people that stand for the weak and oppressed. There isn't really any depth to the characters or their relationships with each other.
The BAD: The ending was not satisfying, but that's all I'll say. You're going to have to wait months for Season 2 to get any sense of closure.
But it's a fun watch if you like zombie thrillers.
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This drama features several love triangles and for people who can't stand the love triangle cliche, this might be an exception to the rule because the characters are so endearing and the acting is so good. The secondary love triangles have their moments and are somewhat cute, but the main love triangle is the best love triangle ever.
Jo Jung Suk was my favorite. I want to watch all his other stuff now. How did he he make his arrogant jerky character so lovable and magnetic? He shows Hwa Shin's inner turmoil, heartsickness and insecurity with a subtle change of expression or shift in the eyes. The second lead character Jung Woon is a dreamy perfect guy and the main character Na Ri is warm and lovable. They all have great chemistry together and the friendship between the two guys is so good too. They stole my heart. Thanks to the great character development and acting, it was actually believable that Na Ri would be so conflicted between these 2 guys that are such polar opposites. I totally understand people routing for the second lead in this drama. I admit I was conflicted too for a few episodes, but finally I was won over and satisfied that Na Ri found her soul mate.
The drama isn't perfect. The secondary story lines weren't as interesting to me as the main one, but they did have their charms. The story slows down a little in the second half and doesn't have the same flow as in the first half, but it's still good and it ties everything up in a satisfying way. Even though the finale took me a little off guard in how it was done, I think it was a fun goodbye to the characters. And the main love story brings the whole thing up for me.
Aside from the heart fluttering romance, this drama is funny and cute and had me giggling out loud many times. It also deals with some serious issues that bring more emotional depth to the relationships, but it never gets depressing or too heavy. If you have been putting off watching this you should do it.
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The food scenes are a step up from Season 2. Almost every food scene is mouthwatering and delightful. I love how they go on forever and that there is always sort of a second act to each scene. Just when you think it's winding down you find out there's more coming.
Of the 3 seasons, I enjoyed this about as much as Season 1 - which was a lot. The fact that the last 2 episodes were cut unexpectedly did hurt it. I waver about rating it 9 because, if being strictly objective, the ending really falls short. But I enjoyed it overall enough to rate it a 9. I can't be totally objective because I loved the characters and how this drama made me feel too much. This show is not one I watched for the plot. Each episode just makes me feel good - watching the college friendships and shenanigans, the crushes, and the enticing food scenes. It's cute and funny and warm. I liked seeing the characters interacting and having fun together. I could just watch any episode and enjoy it on it's own without worrying about what happens next.
But the ending will probably bother a lot of people because it is obvious they didn't have time to tie it all up. That is really my only complaint about it. The last episode was a let down. It is a shame because otherwise it was great.
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I forgave plot holes or inconsistencies much of the time because it was so enjoyable to watch, but towards the end it fell apart and the actions of the characters didn't make sense to me. As a whole the events at the end didn't hold together to tell a cohesive or rewarding story. If only it could have finished as strongly as it started, I would've given it a 9 or 10. But still I'm glad I spent the time to watch it. It was worth it and it had me hooked to the last episode which not every drama can do.
Now that some time has past and I've watched many more dramas since, it still holds up for me as a great romance despite it's flaws.
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If you are worried about the length of the drama, that is not a problem. It goes by so fast, because each episode has so much plot going on and you just have to keep watching the next episode and the next to see what happens. After the first 20 minutes the plot was well underway. It didn't take the first 3 hours or so like many other dramas to get going. I was thoroughly hooked after 20 minutes.
Having said all that, Empress Ki is heartbreakingly flawed. I don't have a problem with tragedy if it all makes sense. But the plot went crazy during the last third of the drama. I felt cheated because we were led to care for these characters in the first 30 episodes and in the last part we are just tortured by having to watch bad things happen to them over and over and over again. Character and relationship development came to a halt. Nyang's feelings and motives become ambiguous because we don't get to see her with the King or the Emperor anymore. She is just dealing with all the plot twists for most of the last part of the drama. Alliances keep shifting and the plot turns become almost repetitive. How many times can we see a character being tortured before it loses emotional resonance? The drama is no longer character driven at this point - but the characters we have fallen love with are now at the mercy of plot twists and evil characters. The over-arching revenge storyline felt rushed and anti-climactic. That was supposed to be the main conflict of the entire drama and it is treated as just another plot turn.
The thing I hate most is that the main characters aren't given enough screen time together to keep up with the relationships that were developed so well in the first half. The scenes where they are actually together and interacting are really sparse in the last part of the story. The actions of even the most beloved characters were frustrating and hard to swallow.
But still I Ioved the characters so much by this time I had to see it through. After watching it to the end, I feel like I have been strapped down in the imperial palace's torture chamber for the last several episodes and feel pummeled and depressed.
Reading all the other reviews I see that not everyone feels the same way about the last part of this drama, so there is a good chance you will really love Empress Ki if you like melodramatic action historical drama. It definitely will grab you in one way or other. For me, knowing how let down I was by the second half, would I prefer to have never met these characters or started this drama to begin with? Well, I think I would probably go back and do it again. That's how much I loved Empress Ki despite it's major flaws. But I think I need a romantic comedy now to give my heart a break.
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You know how lots of dramas start off strong and peter out? This one starts strong and gets stronger and stronger as it progresses. The story pacing seemed a bit slow to me at first. There may be a few too many dramatic pauses. But it's worth it. As the plot unfolds it really builds to an exciting crescendo that wouldn't have been as powerful or heartbreaking if we hadn't been given the time to really know the characters. The last few episodes are so powerful I can't get some of the images out of my head. It finishes strong.
The story centers around 5 main characters - each intriguing and well portrayed - each with a particular viewpoint and relationship with the country of Joseon. There is Eugene, the slave who escapes to America as a young boy and returns for revenge, Ae Shin, the badass noble woman who leads a double life as a rebel and Dong Mae, the fearsome swordsman with a fatal weakness. Hina is the tough, enigmatic hotel proprieter and Hui Seung is Ae Shin's affable fiance. These characters play off each other marvelously. I love the unspoken and begrudging admiration that develops between them - even when their motives are sometimes at odds. I fell in love with them and I cried for them all.
There are so many pieces to the story and its put together perfectly - a great balance between the history, love story and thrilling action scenes. There's even a little humor and cuteness. Mr. Sunshine is a beautiful historical drama - well written, exciting, emotionally stirring and heartbreaking. Don't miss it!
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