6
52
3
virgievirgie
Lost in Dramaland
It's Good - but not good enough to be a serious political drama, or a romantic-comedy
Completed - 5/22/2022 - 8.25 rating
When “The King’s Affection” was airing everyone commented how good Park Eun Bin was in the dual role of Dam Yi/Lee Hwi. And it is without a doubt that her great acting is a big selling point to watch this drama. I was hesitant though, as I am not a big fan of gender-bender. But my fellow MDL’er recently recommended this to me again, so I gave it a try. And yes, Park Eun Bin is excellent. However, I was under the impression that this is a romantic-comedy with a side of political plot. It ended up being a political drama with a side romance, and unfortunately, I found the execution to be average.
What I Like:
1. Park Eun Bin - As mentioned, she is excellent in her role here. Gender-benders could be a hit-or-miss as oftentimes, I just can’t force myself to believe that the actress is a man. But here, PEB gives off such an aura of a cold prince. We follow his/her journey from being manipulated as a puppet crown prince, to slowly dissolving that ice facade into a caring prince for his people, and the eventual king who finally has the strength to oppose his grandfather. Add in the romantic plot of acting shy and naive, PEB deserves her acting award. However, I would have loved to see more scenes of her as the adult Dam Yi, so that we have a better contrast of her acting prowess in playing the male and female roles. We got a little of that, but not enough.
2. Choi Myung Bin (child version of Dam Yi/Lee Hwi) - this young actress has a bright future ahead of her. She’s already appeared in many dramas and her role as the young Dam Yi/Lee Hwi really impresses me. What I criticized above for the lack of Park Eun Bin scenes as Dam Yi, we got it covered with Choi Myung Bin. Half of her scenes are of young Dam Yi - innocent, sweet, hopeful and smart. The other half of her scenes are of Prince Lee Hwi - scared and traumatized. Choi Myung Bin and her counterpart, Ko Woo Rim (young Jin Woon) reminded me of the excellent teen cast of “Moon Embracing The Sun”. And we all know how those young actors’ careers panned out now.
3. Romantic Role Reversal - It’s refreshing to see Lee Hwi as the typical cold male rom-com role, e.g. those CEOs, and then Ji Woon as the one who is lovesick and madly in love. The chemistry between the leads are great, especially n their initial student/tutor relationship, and when Ji Woon falls in love with Lee Hwi. I also like that the drama did not make it a big deal that Ji Woon is in love with a man. It’s portrayed that he couldn’t believe he loves the crown prince and didn’t really care that he’s a guy. He’s not afraid to profess his love. Additionally, once the leads are in a relationship, we see FL initiates a lot of physical affection.
4. Rowoon - He is really pretty to look at! (sorry, I just have to mention this). His acting has definitely improved since his “Extraordinary You” days. His role as Ji Woon provides him with an opportunity to portray many more emotions than his role as Ha Ru in EY. I do think he is better as the lovesick and funny Ji Woon, than the emotional and sad Ji Woon. His crying scenes leave room for improvement. I am looking forward to seeing him in “Tomorrow”.
5. Production Quality - Beautiful costumes for everyone. I love the colors and the patterns, especially the subtle designs on the king and crown princes’ hats. Ji Woon also has a variety of very colorful costumes as a male character, and is not limited to just blue, white and black. The set designs, props, and the use of natural lighting in candles are to my liking as well, even though the palaces are not as grand as in C-dramas.
What I don’t like or have mixed feelings:
1. Plot/Plot holes - I enjoy the overarching plot of this drama. However, I feel that it has an identity crisis. The drama appears to be a political drama with a romance subplot, but the execution and the tone are not as serious as other sageuks, e.g. “The Red Sleeves” or “Moon Embracing The Sun”. On the other hand, the romantic subplots have a rom-com feel to it with the slow-motion, bright backlighting, falling into your arms, etc. These elements are not enough to call this drama a rom-com, compared to “100 Days My Prince” or “The Tale of Nokdu”. The drama is not serious enough, and not rom-com enough to be excellent in either genre. The pacing of the drama isn’t great either. If this is a 16-episode drama, the stories would be tighter and won’t drag in the middle. I had to watch it at 1.25x speed at one point because everything is so slow in the middle.
Moreover, I do have minor issues with the writing of the story.
* The leads really don’t care about kissing out in the open????
* If the Left State Councilor is making life difficult for everyone, isn’t it easier to just assassinate him? He obviously went home at night with just a few bodyguards, and we got some excellent swordsmen and bodyguards on the good side.
* I don’t think I’ve seen a court official being so blatantly disrespectful to the King or Queen Dowager that he would barge into anyone’s room without announcement, insult or talk over others. There are similar villains in other historical dramas, but this one takes the cake in “I don’t care” and giving the King the ‘finger’. No finesse needed in manipulation.
* The ending of FL after having tea with the villain - no explanation of how and why she would have such an ending.
2. Music - There are some really good songs. However, I don’t like the use of songs in this drama. Ballads are on cue to play whenever there’s a romantic scene. It doesn’t leave room for viewers to feel for themselves, and the songs seem like manipulation of viewer’s moods. Some of the ballads sound pretty modern for a sageuk, but that’s just my personal opinion. I am used to watching historical C-dramas where songs have a more traditional feel.
3.
Underdeveloped characters/stories - Since there are 20 episodes and they somewhat ran out of stories to tell, why not give a little more on some of the supporting cast? I would love to see more of our good-looking bodyguard, Kim Ga On, so that he’s not just standing there looking handsome. I want to know more about his struggles after the death of his father. How about more childhood stories between Lee Hyung and Lee Hwi, so that we can see how Lee Hyung’s feelings start to develop for Lee Hwi? Or the friendship between the two veteran guards and how the friendship fell apart?
4. Fight Scenes - The fight choreography could have been better and longer. We have a couple top swordsmen in the show, and they barely show their skills. In fact, they seem to get hurt pretty easily and are unable to face off even 5 mere soldiers (not super assassins). I thought our ML is both an excellent scholar and a great swordsman, but he ended up always getting slashed and hurt in a fight.
Other Random Observations:
1. Love Court lady Kim and Eunuch Hong!
2. Korean eunuchs can have wives? They still have their…. reproductive organs?
3. No matter how wounded you are, you recover real fast - except Lee Hwi who needs TLC from Ji Woon often.
4. The tutors provide comic relief - not too over-the-top
5. No annoying character - The young queen borderlines funny and annoying and didn’t quite tip to the annoying side.
6. The way these characters tail/spy/follow others, it’s amazing no one was discovered.
7. Leads’ secret rendezvous spot is used in several other K-dramas aka “Rookie Historian”, “The Red Sleeve”. This must be the prime spot to have secret meetings.
When “The King’s Affection” was airing everyone commented how good Park Eun Bin was in the dual role of Dam Yi/Lee Hwi. And it is without a doubt that her great acting is a big selling point to watch this drama. I was hesitant though, as I am not a big fan of gender-bender. But my fellow MDL’er recently recommended this to me again, so I gave it a try. And yes, Park Eun Bin is excellent. However, I was under the impression that this is a romantic-comedy with a side of political plot. It ended up being a political drama with a side romance, and unfortunately, I found the execution to be average.
What I Like:
1. Park Eun Bin - As mentioned, she is excellent in her role here. Gender-benders could be a hit-or-miss as oftentimes, I just can’t force myself to believe that the actress is a man. But here, PEB gives off such an aura of a cold prince. We follow his/her journey from being manipulated as a puppet crown prince, to slowly dissolving that ice facade into a caring prince for his people, and the eventual king who finally has the strength to oppose his grandfather. Add in the romantic plot of acting shy and naive, PEB deserves her acting award. However, I would have loved to see more scenes of her as the adult Dam Yi, so that we have a better contrast of her acting prowess in playing the male and female roles. We got a little of that, but not enough.
2. Choi Myung Bin (child version of Dam Yi/Lee Hwi) - this young actress has a bright future ahead of her. She’s already appeared in many dramas and her role as the young Dam Yi/Lee Hwi really impresses me. What I criticized above for the lack of Park Eun Bin scenes as Dam Yi, we got it covered with Choi Myung Bin. Half of her scenes are of young Dam Yi - innocent, sweet, hopeful and smart. The other half of her scenes are of Prince Lee Hwi - scared and traumatized. Choi Myung Bin and her counterpart, Ko Woo Rim (young Jin Woon) reminded me of the excellent teen cast of “Moon Embracing The Sun”. And we all know how those young actors’ careers panned out now.
3. Romantic Role Reversal - It’s refreshing to see Lee Hwi as the typical cold male rom-com role, e.g. those CEOs, and then Ji Woon as the one who is lovesick and madly in love. The chemistry between the leads are great, especially n their initial student/tutor relationship, and when Ji Woon falls in love with Lee Hwi. I also like that the drama did not make it a big deal that Ji Woon is in love with a man. It’s portrayed that he couldn’t believe he loves the crown prince and didn’t really care that he’s a guy. He’s not afraid to profess his love. Additionally, once the leads are in a relationship, we see FL initiates a lot of physical affection.
4. Rowoon - He is really pretty to look at! (sorry, I just have to mention this). His acting has definitely improved since his “Extraordinary You” days. His role as Ji Woon provides him with an opportunity to portray many more emotions than his role as Ha Ru in EY. I do think he is better as the lovesick and funny Ji Woon, than the emotional and sad Ji Woon. His crying scenes leave room for improvement. I am looking forward to seeing him in “Tomorrow”.
5. Production Quality - Beautiful costumes for everyone. I love the colors and the patterns, especially the subtle designs on the king and crown princes’ hats. Ji Woon also has a variety of very colorful costumes as a male character, and is not limited to just blue, white and black. The set designs, props, and the use of natural lighting in candles are to my liking as well, even though the palaces are not as grand as in C-dramas.
What I don’t like or have mixed feelings:
1. Plot/Plot holes - I enjoy the overarching plot of this drama. However, I feel that it has an identity crisis. The drama appears to be a political drama with a romance subplot, but the execution and the tone are not as serious as other sageuks, e.g. “The Red Sleeves” or “Moon Embracing The Sun”. On the other hand, the romantic subplots have a rom-com feel to it with the slow-motion, bright backlighting, falling into your arms, etc. These elements are not enough to call this drama a rom-com, compared to “100 Days My Prince” or “The Tale of Nokdu”. The drama is not serious enough, and not rom-com enough to be excellent in either genre. The pacing of the drama isn’t great either. If this is a 16-episode drama, the stories would be tighter and won’t drag in the middle. I had to watch it at 1.25x speed at one point because everything is so slow in the middle.
Moreover, I do have minor issues with the writing of the story.
* The leads really don’t care about kissing out in the open????
* If the Left State Councilor is making life difficult for everyone, isn’t it easier to just assassinate him? He obviously went home at night with just a few bodyguards, and we got some excellent swordsmen and bodyguards on the good side.
* I don’t think I’ve seen a court official being so blatantly disrespectful to the King or Queen Dowager that he would barge into anyone’s room without announcement, insult or talk over others. There are similar villains in other historical dramas, but this one takes the cake in “I don’t care” and giving the King the ‘finger’. No finesse needed in manipulation.
* The ending of FL after having tea with the villain - no explanation of how and why she would have such an ending.
2. Music - There are some really good songs. However, I don’t like the use of songs in this drama. Ballads are on cue to play whenever there’s a romantic scene. It doesn’t leave room for viewers to feel for themselves, and the songs seem like manipulation of viewer’s moods. Some of the ballads sound pretty modern for a sageuk, but that’s just my personal opinion. I am used to watching historical C-dramas where songs have a more traditional feel.
3.
Underdeveloped characters/stories - Since there are 20 episodes and they somewhat ran out of stories to tell, why not give a little more on some of the supporting cast? I would love to see more of our good-looking bodyguard, Kim Ga On, so that he’s not just standing there looking handsome. I want to know more about his struggles after the death of his father. How about more childhood stories between Lee Hyung and Lee Hwi, so that we can see how Lee Hyung’s feelings start to develop for Lee Hwi? Or the friendship between the two veteran guards and how the friendship fell apart?
4. Fight Scenes - The fight choreography could have been better and longer. We have a couple top swordsmen in the show, and they barely show their skills. In fact, they seem to get hurt pretty easily and are unable to face off even 5 mere soldiers (not super assassins). I thought our ML is both an excellent scholar and a great swordsman, but he ended up always getting slashed and hurt in a fight.
Other Random Observations:
1. Love Court lady Kim and Eunuch Hong!
2. Korean eunuchs can have wives? They still have their…. reproductive organs?
3. No matter how wounded you are, you recover real fast - except Lee Hwi who needs TLC from Ji Woon often.
4. The tutors provide comic relief - not too over-the-top
5. No annoying character - The young queen borderlines funny and annoying and didn’t quite tip to the annoying side.
6. The way these characters tail/spy/follow others, it’s amazing no one was discovered.
7. Leads’ secret rendezvous spot is used in several other K-dramas aka “Rookie Historian”, “The Red Sleeve”. This must be the prime spot to have secret meetings.
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