I liked the drama concept, but I want it more!
Let’s start with the visual, I love the vivid colors of the hanboks and the scenery. The storyline was Soso it was monotonous and kept repeating over and over again. I love the actors they chose for this drama however I think the lead female could have dove deeper into her part. It would’ve been nice to see the couples develop more and it would have also would have been nice to have seen the differences between the twins. I love that they had an overweight person in the selection, process you don’t usually see that in a K drama.Was this review helpful to you?
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The first part had an interesting story. Although the first episodes were a bit of a let down and probably could have pushed people away, the idea of the selection was entertaining and full of intrigues between the women (hence the girls war alternative title). The mean characters were plenty, and some of them were even playing friendly when they were in reality the worse. Some others had tragic endings, so the tragedy genre was plenty in this one. So, the girl's adventures and how she managed to survive the twists and traps that the other contestants set for her were entertaining and spiced up the story.
The chemistry of the couple was amazing, too, and they had a nice romance. Their romantic scenes were pretty intense and they had plenty of kissing scenes, which is often rare in historical dramas. Though, the love triangle they wanted to present was not as good and it was underdeveloped.
However, the second part was predictable. It was pretty much what happens to all historical dramas, the bad old aristocrats want power, the girl wants to protect the king, the king wants to protect her, and so on. The ending was okay, but boring.
Finally, the main character was good, but she got annoying from time to time, especially in the end, even though she started as a strong, sassy character. The male lead was pretty swoon worthy and he was a nice romantic lead.
So, overall, seven out of ten.
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This review may contain spoilers
A good drama to watch if you have time to kill
The plot line is good but the execution is not. Could have used the fantasy element in a much better way. I loved it very much at the beginning but later the drama became so repetitive. Whenever the King finds the culprit, they will find a way to escape or King won't have enough evidence. This annoying cycle remained same till the end. If you hate powerless and dumb ML, then this show is not for you. I'm okay with evil ministers with King finding tough to control or arrest, but here the antagonists weren't even worth for it.Some of the supporting characters like Wal made the drama much better. And as for the FL, I loved Jin Se Yeon in the role of Eun Bo, but she was also annoying at times and definitely not a strong and independent girl as she was shown in the beginning of the drama.
Chemistry between the leads was good with great kiss scenes. I loved the acting very much and the OST is something to die for. Would have been a wonderful drama if it was short. This drama is definitely not a bad one for me, but there were annoying moments and some draggy parts which I would wish to skip.
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I’ll say right off the bat, historical dramas can either go 2 ways, they can be amazingly good like “The Crowned Clown” or they can be sub par like this one and be quite annoying at times. With this kind of show, it was the kind to where I had to finish it in 2 sittings for me to be satisfied because some shows just eat me up if I don’t know what happens and want a conclusion so I can be done thinking about shows. This was my first time seeing the actors for the leads and I’ll say they didn’t leave a negative impression on me but I would love to see what more they have done to properly evaluate them.First of the story was quite simple to be honest but one thing that annoyed me is that in the first 7 episode the two main leads had like 2 interactions and neither of them with good ones at that. So these episodes were just torture to get through but once they started interacting I’ll admit it got better as we saw their relationship develop. I was quite satisfied with the ending as it was a good one which made sense to me, it was a nice touch for them to have a child which I predicted when they spent the night together that one episode. I can’t just help that I have a hole in my chest about this show and I can’t quite pinpoint why but I guess watching another drama will fill that.
With the main male lead Lee Kyung as the king, I can neither say I liked nor hated his character because there were times in which he saved scenes but there were others in which I wished he would get a backbone and step up. Something that can’t be explained is the dreams he kept having, it made no sense to why they would add that plot line in the story but I do know why it made sense in terms of the story, the promise the King and Eun Bo made was to help each other so the dreams was technically his way of protecting the Eun Bo.
Eun Bo’s character was quite predictable because I have seen characters like her before to where they want revenge and they infiltrate where the main male lead is and over time they see what they are really like and see that she was lied to about the king and end up falling in love with him like she did when she met him when he was the crown prince. I’ll admit I liked how she wasn’t always a damsel in distress and had a spark to her which made her seem reliable and she can look after herself.
The princes character in my opinion pissed me off a lot at the start of the drama acting so nonchalant and oblivious. The way he hides his true intention didn’t sit right with me. Technically as the main antagonist since there are normally multiple in historical dramas he fulfilled his role I guess. The way he just gave up and killed himself what quite cowardly to me and doesn’t fit his character but it’s done now and I’m glad his character died.
The OST was actually quite good as most historical dramas hit the mark with OST’s, especially the instrumental OST’s so it added to the feelings and made me pay attention.
Overall if your looking for a historical drama, I would most definitely say to look elsewhere and get a good impression of historical dramas as this one does not live up the expectations I would normally give historical dramas. However if your like me and would give anything a try, then be my guest and watch this drama and make your own remark. Luckily I watched “The Crowed Clown” as my first historical drama and it gave me an amazing first impression so if this is going to be your first historical, don’t watch this one but watch “The Crowned Clown” instead.
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Good romance, bad plot
The drama has a nice premise but the pacing of the story and the way it's developed are not the best. The first few episodes are a bit difficult to sit through, then it gets better and then the story goes downhill once more. To me, the best part of the drama was the romance, which was unfortunately underdeveloped and constantly pushed aside by the mediocre political scheming plot.The acting of both leads is a bit stiff initially, but they grow more into their characters as the show progresses. The ml is swoon-worthy and although he showed he wanted to be a nice, smart king, he made very rash decisions sometimes, while some other deductions of his seem to come from nowhere. Eun Bo starts off interesting, some type of street smart, feisty woman, but toward the end the writers really dumbed her down and made her character insufferable. She was constantly being chased and kidnapped and never put up a fight, she was basically dead weight.
There's a lot that goes unexplained, like how the king survived a bullet to the head (the scene where he gets shot is very lame so I can't really tell if the bullet went through his brain or not) or how/why he got those profetic dreams, which were just a cheap plot device really. The ending is very meh and rushed and I was also frustrated at how the Kim family, who commited many crimes, including help plotting to dethrone the king, got such light punishments for their crimes.
The supponting cast is ok, Wal is definitely the highlight being a nice comedy-relief. The costumes are beautiful, but then again the ones in all historycal dramas I've watched are. It has some nice scores in the OST, though. Frankly, I only finished the show cause I wanted to see more of the lead couple and it's their sparse but angsty and dramatic scenes that allowed me to look past the flaws of the plot. If you plan to watch this, go with low excpectations and persist through the beginning, then you'll probably be able to finish it.
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Not a historical-fantasy genre
This is a bit (or too) slow and I would have dropped this but1. I want to see Kim Min Gue's good acting skills
2, I want to see how the story ends
If you're looking for a historical fantasy then this might not be for you. This is more of a historical drama than a historical fantasy. The story is told too slow but it kinda picked up starting at the end of ep 11. The story can be intense at times. The actors did a good job portraying their characters. You'll love and hate them as the story unfolds.
I first saw Kim Min Gue in The Business Proposal and his acting here can't deny that he has a great skill and is one of the actors to be reckoned with.
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I think I might have over-hyped this drama for myself. Don't get me wrong, it was still good, but I think I expected more. I think I expected this huge climax and resolution, and it kind of fell flat. It was still good, but it felt like I was watching a documentary about the almost overthrow of a king, where the traitor's plan was kind of terrible and he kind of assumed that if he could get the king, one-on-one, he would win 100%. And honestly, yeah, Prince Lee Jae Hwa was kicking major ass. He was basically his whole army, but when it came the King Lee Kyung, who we had zero idea if he could actually fight or not, the prince was a mess. It was underwhelming. I felt like everyone in this drama was a villain in their own way. The Kim family was wild-ing out because they thought they were better than everyone else, and raised their niece Kim Song Yi into this entitled woman who thought we deserved everything because of her family name. Home girl was about to "poison" all the other consorts so they wouldn't be able to have children, therefore, cannot produce an heir. Plus, she was getting help from King Lee Kyung's mother, a member of the Kim family. The Queen Mother (King's mother) was a different kind of evil. She would manipulate her son, the King, as well as the Great Queen Mother (King's grandmother) to get what she wanted. Out of all the women in this drama, even though both the Jo and Kim families were insane, I thought the Queen Mother was the WORST. The ending was satisfying, but also unsatisfying. I know it is insane to say or think this, but the King's family was executing people left and right with beheading, poison, and hanging. Why did most of the villains at the end get exiled? We were made to believe that Jo Young Ji, the daughter of the Jo family, was supposed to be the main villainess int his drama, and was, but it was super interesting seeing how all her plans failed because the King's men always kept an eye on Eun Bo, and would intervene. Jo Young Ji was a special character, where we thought that she was a friend to the main character at first, but because of her jealousy, she thought everything was justified. If she were to get rid of Eun Bo, the King would fall in love with her. She definitely had a screw missing. She was ok using her father's men (and their feelings for her) to carry out her petty, and terribly planned out executions and had the audacity to cry for her punishment rather than the punishment inflicted on her whole family. So badly wished for a different punishment. Another leader villain would obviously be Prince Lee Jae Hwa. Unfortunately, we were not given a long backstory on him and why he was seeking revenge in order to feel sympathy for him, only that he wanted to get revenge for his father being labeled a traitor. Then he went ahead and used the whole Enlightenment cause as a cover, thinking he was fighting for the people to govern themselves. I honestly really liked him in the beginning when he came off as this fun loving guy who kept saving Eun Bo at random moments. I knew something was up though; they couldn't introduce this guy as a love interest when he is competing with the King - you knew right away that something had to be terribly wrong or bad about him.
But that is what this drama was - it was compiled of different drama troupes. It was obvious what was going to come next.
That being said, I was intrigued to see how Eun Bo was going to enter the place during the selection, pretending to be her twin sister and at the same time pretending to be someone else entirely. The relationship between The King and Eun Bo was very sweet and their chemistry was really good, but I am not sure if that makes up for the first 10/11 episodes of the 16 ep drama of her lying to him about her identity twice. Especially since they both did not know about the twin prophecy. I think it makes it worse in a way. Like...you want to find your sister's murderer. You acting like that is a terrible reason to come to the palace. I think it is more plausible than coming in and telling certain people you are Eun Ki, but you will be entering the palace as consort Hong and hope nobody notices.
There seemed to be a lot of plot holes, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I am a sucker for Selection type plots. Plus, out of all the terrible people, and Eun Bo going back and forth between begin a strong character and then a weak one, I did enjoy the comedic relief of Wal's character (not only was he funny, but he solved hella cases and got stuff done) as well as the King's right hand Han Mo who was just plain a badass as well as an older brother type figure. You could ALWAYS count on him to kick ass and help protect everyone.
Eun Bo started off as a strong character for me, but later into the season, she was still strong, but it became more of a mental thing, and less of a physical thing. Then, the very last few episodes, she stopped being strong altogether and instead of finding a solution, she just ran away and hoped for the best. The King on the other hand, came up kind of weak in the beginning (given he thought that the love of his life was murdered, and then came back to life, but didn't want to tell him), but gradually became this cheesy romantic guy who would also fight the crown, counsel, and other consorts for his woman.
Overall, I just feel like this drama wasn't strong. It was good, but fell a little flat. It was like watching a historical drama about a possible overthrow that never really happened due to lack of planning and the two leaders fawning over the same woman, which made it become sloppy and personal. Like watching a documentary about an almost overthrown that just became a quarrel between two men. But I did enjoy the actors in this drama, as they all did a great job.
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Really good but something felt missing
Probably my favourite Korean drama genre is sageuk, mostly because 95% of what I watched is of a very high quality. This one is very good and is innovative. The first episode was a bit confusing but once you get familiar with the characters and the story, the show is getting on the right track. I also thought the last episodes were a bit dragged, the most interesting part for me was the queen's selection and the king's prophetic dreams. Maybe if there were less episodes, it would've been more intriguing. The ending was so satisfying.The acting was very good, props to Lee Jae Yong, he always plays this kind of characters and he does it so well!
The OST was pretty; it reminded a lot of the The Princess's Man OST!
I wouldn't rewatch it that much; not enough cliffhangers to make it more exciting. But still, very worth watching.
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This is one of my binge watched dramas after being "locked down" because of COVID 19. Binge watching a 16 episode drama is basically watching a drawn out movie that is told in slow motion. As a background I am sharing this information so you understand my bias and critique. During this period I have binged two Chinese historical dramas (Ming Dynasty and Serenade of Joy) both with King/Emperor - Queen/concubine issues. It took less than 2 days to blow through this drama and the only thing I felt was good actress, good actor, poor portrayal of king, poorer portrayal of concubines and queen. The costumes were colorful -- an A+. You could write a summary of this drama in less than 2 paragraphs because of the simplicity of story telling. After trying to research whether this was a real Joseon King or a made up one for dramaland purposes -- I could only come to the conclusion that he was a made up King. So this story was purely a work of fiction.
There is a total lack of mature telling of a story. I felt I should have been in 5th grade watching this drama as opposed to being an adult. Other than a few steamy kisses, the lack of heartfelt romance -- which should have been the bases of this drama seemed "starved." The court officials seemed more powerful than the king and when the king finally decided to take power his actions were always "minimal". The description that calls him a peaceful king is really a description of ineptness e.g. woman over nation sacrifices and reduced punishments for gross acts of treason.
The question is always -- to watch or not to watch? Well, if you just have nothing else to do and follow the careers of the actor and actress I would say definitely. Their performances were really commendable with the material given to them. As a fan of historical dramas I am still waiting for the quality of SIx Flying Dragons, Jumong, The Moon Embraces the Sun, Jewel in the Palace,. Sungkyundwon Scandal, Dong Yi -- I can go on and on because I love the period dramas. The quality continues to fade and I truly wish for the "good old days".
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Strong protagonist
The best word to sum up this kdrama is "strong woman".Queen: love and war is a good title because you can tell that it is focused on the power of women. As I went through the kdrama I could see the different roles that women played in this period of time and the differences in power that they had. Even though sometimes it had its clichés they were very well proposed in the story and I feel that they were necessary.
I can't say enough that I loved the main character because she was strong, intelligent but a bit naive and I must add that the chemistry was good with the male protagonist. Although I found the kisses a bit uncomfortable between them.
The photography in general was very good and the color palette that they handled with the actors equally, I think that with the costumes they also spoke to us about the growth of these.
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