Overall Rating: B+
Subtitles: It has admittedly been a while since I watched this, but I don’d have anything in my notes about the subs so I’ll assume they were good.
Brief Synopsis: The second son of a weak King faces many obstacles in his quest to become the next king. Watch it on Viki here.
**Full show spoilers below the image. If you do not wish to be spoiled, do not proceed**
Ending Type: This had a mostly happy ending– Gwanghae got his throne. By then so many people had died and so much had gone wrong though that it felt very bittersweet.
Characters:
Prince Gwanghae (Seo In Guk)
Kim Ga Hee (Jo Yoon Hee)
King Seonjo (Lee Seung Jae)
Gwiin Kim (Kim Gyu Ri)
Crown Princess Yoo (Kim Hee Jung)
(There were A LOT of characters in this, so I’m going to leave the list there. For more visit this page).
Full review:
I love historicals and I love Seo In Guk so I was really excited about this one. I have to admit though that I got kind of bored– not that the story wasn’t complex or intricate, just that it was very long and not overly engaging after the first arc.
I did spend a lot of time researching Gwanghae while I watched this because he was not a figure I was familiar with (turns out there was a reason for that!), and I liked that the writers chose to tell this particular story and to frame Gwanghae as a champion of the people the way it seems he wanted to be in real life.
In many ways this was a classic story– the struggle between a King who views himself as the most important member of the Kingdom and his idealistic son who sees rule as true service. This one really got into the complex world of politics and alliances over a long period of time in the King’s court, which was definitely interesting.
I think my main issue with the story overall was the romance aspect. This one of those classic, “We made promises to each other as children and meet again by chance as adults and fall in love” stories that was cute at first, but then as the story went on I just wanted them both to move on. Especially by the time Prince Gwanghae marries Crown Princess Yoo and ESPECIALLY when Ga Hee became the King’s concubine. The fact that they were both attached to other people for the majority of the story made it hard for me to feel attached to their connection to each other, especially when they almost never interacted. Crown Princess Yoo was also a wonderful character and a phenomenal partner and support for Gwanghae, so it was just upsetting that he was never able to return her affection.
I did enjoy all of their characters though, and the complex and evolving choices they had to make as the country faced war and various other threats. Perhaps the most interesting thing to me was how this show demonstrated how the ladies of the court, from the Queen to the concubines, influenced the overall politics that were taking place even if they existed mostly behind the scenes. The relationships between both Queens and the other ladies of the court was also very fascinating.
Overall I think there was a lot of good stuff here and in terms of a complex political story it was very strong, but it kind of missed me in terms of emotional investment. I don’t really know what else to say.
However if you enjoy historicals and especially if you enjoy a lot of political intrigue this would be a good one to have on your list.
High Points: The complex nature of the politics and relationships. The acting was also phenomenal.
Low Points: The length. I think given the complex nature of the politics of the story it was necessary, but especially when attempting to binge watch it drags on.
K Drama Kween 