The King's Affection

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.

Read More

WHY DID THE STORYLINE CHANGE AFTER EPISODE 4?

The drama is good, but since the drama started off so strong, and with a focus on politics in the monarch, I was expecting the storyline to move that way but it totally flipped around. WHY DID THE STORYLINE CHANGE AFTER EPISODE 4? =/

Before reaching episode 5 I wondered why the reviews for this drama was so low because the first 4 episodes are worthy of a rating of a 10. However, after episode 4, the storyline turns from political to romance. However, the romance was not as well crafted as it could have been. Don't get me wrong, it's good but just not great. It is full of common tropes, and slow motion side effects when the female and male lead just so happen to mistakenly find one another in each other arms. Note: After episode 6, it recovers and is back to being great again!

Btw, the female lead actress did a wonderful job acting. The second male lead (Mr. Dimples) is super cute!

Okay, I'm back with an update after watching episodes 7 and 8 and the political part of this drama is good but the romance scenes are horrible. I don't think the writers and director did a good job at trying to convince me that the romance in this drama could work; they should have stuck to a political historical drama without romance. I have to lower my rating from a 9.0 to a 7.5.

Read More

Just, read the history, people

This was an adorable gender bender drama within an ACTUAL historical setting. As in, I knew from the 2nd episode (when I looked up the king, and discovered who was who), that our dimpled 2nd prince would end up on the throne.
The WRITERS didn't kill off anyone, HISTORY did. That poor brother of our lead girl, for instance. Sad but true.
It's like The Prince & the Pauper. Since we've been hit over the head with a gazillion retellings of said Prince's DADDY (that would be King Henry VIIII), we know what happens to our cute prince (just, go read it - Twain's awesome).
Anyway, I just loved this drama for the most part. It had it's angsty moments, it's WTF stuff, it's political intrigue (I mean, yeah, necessary, but not my fav stuff), but overall I enjoyed watching this - I mean, SF9's Rowoon & Victon's Byung Chan were VERY easy on the eyes plus gave good performances, and Nam Yoon Soo, oh my my my!!
I thought our leading lady did a credible job of acting like a boy - the real prince was 18 when he ascended the throne.
The supporting cast did their usual phenomenal task as well.
My biggest beef is that the writers didn't let the Queen Mother just hush it all up. I mean, NO, that girl would not have survived revealing that she became king! Under any circumstances!

Read More

Drags on and on

The concept is fresh and the first few episodes were quite fast-paced, with lots of plot twists happening. However, once we get to the middle part, the whole story just drags and drags.

1) the political intrigue was the strongest point of the series. Lee Hwi's grandfather gave some superb acting. He is soo evil and sinister and I was super invested in finding out what was happening with the court. I also liked Lee Hwi's father for his really great performance as a father

2) romance was so cringey. I started skipping all the scenes of the main couple. So cringe. The encounters all felt forced and their intimacy felt contrived. There was zero chemistry. I wish the story focused on the political intrigue instead

3) very repetitive. Episodes would pass and nothing has changed. Ji-woon is still angsting about his love, Lee Hwi is still trying to hide her feelings for him while pretending to be a prince/king, the grandfather is still threatening people... Also, it has got to be a joke how many people secretly knew Lee Hwi is a woman. It's like an open secret. Second of all, it's ridiculous how many characters were actually there at supposedly 'private' meetings and eavesdropping. And these eavesdroppers weren't even properly hidden! They would just be standing in the open and somehow nobody sees them.

Read More

It started of well, got lost in middle

First of all I want to say, if you are looking for politics? Skip this one. For romance? Watch on your own account, I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend this.

I had started this drama even if historical isn't my go to because everyone was talking about it, praising it and plot sounded interesting enough. Drama had so much potential in the beginning with switching twins, the king being secretly a woman storyline. The beginning was paced well and you get sucked into this drama pretty quickly, just enough events to keep you interested, but not too much to leave "how will they execute 20 eps?". Yes it had cliché storyline in the beginning but it was well executed, you will likely not mind it at all. However, if you don't like first few episodes and wondering if it gets better? Do not continue.

Most storylines of characters were presented well right off and it just makes you care and wonder about everyone, not only the two leads. Lee Hwi and the male trio were done well (well, Hyun was more later on rather than the beginning), but issue was with the female duo, So Eun and Ha Kyung. They were supposted to be important characters, even have main role listed on here, but they lacked depth, motivation. It is kinda like the writer got lazy writing their characters. Actress did well with their roles, kudos especially to idol turned actress, Chae Yeon, but they just didn't have space to do anything more noticeable, they were just used as plot devices rather than them influencing the plot. Even what was supposted to be So Eun's growth as chatacter wasn't well done, it felt forced and unnatural. Sadly, for those two it didn't change until the end.

My issue considering writing is great with Ji Woon's and Ga On's characters. Ji Woon went from brave, admirable and interesting character to just Lee Hwi's loyal puppy. He lost all dimensions he had on the start and just became bland character, his father in the end had more depth and dimensions. Ga On had amazing potential, his storyline was great, I would say even the best one of the show, but it was badly executed. His, what was supposted to be great revelation, was underwhelming and after it, he was just there, for eye candy I guess. However, both Rowoon and Choi Byung Chan did well in their roles, their blandness in second half is writer's fault, not lack of their acting skills.

Chemistry of leads was great in first half, you care for them and their relationship so much, you root for them. Even tho Ji Woon's sexuality could have been dealt with better, it didn't impact the main couple. And just like everything else, it was also ruined in second half, to the point I didn't feel anything for them anymore, I didn't care if they end up together, all I felt was annoyance with their storyline.

My another great issue is pacing. It was well done for almost entirety of first half of the drama, and second half was just marked with unnecessary and out of place events that didn't serve the plot nothing but to drag it to 20 episodes. It could have easily been 16 eps drama, if even that much.

Last few episodes I was just annoyed watching it and often skipped through some scenes. I hoped the ending will make up for some of this drama, but it left bitter taste, to put it nicely. It was NOT well done and it was so unrealistic. Kinda like they created a whole mess with everyone included, and they just ended it with everything solved but with a million questions of how.

Rewatch is definitely not in my plans.

Lastly, I want to say a few good things to justify an 6 rather than lower number. As I said, first half was just well done. Outside of it, actors did great job, from mains to supports, all were good or outstanding in their roles, especially Park Eun Bin and Bae Soo Bin, and even new actor Kim Taek whose first role is this one, what a start! Also, some support characters like Grand Queen Dowager, Jil Geum, Eunuch Cho and Court Lady Kim just made the drama better. Even tho I skipped some scenes, I still watched an episode as soon as it airs, so it was interesting enough, or I am a masochist.

Overall the drama is just badly executed cliché after a cliché with many known and respectable faces. So if you are expecting great story, great historical drama? You will likely be disappointed. But if you can make through pointed minuses of drama, you can give it a try, to waste your time, to bless your eyes, an easy time passing drama (if you give up on expectations) with great names and great visuals with OSTs worthy of your library.

Read More

DRAG QUEEN

The King's Affection started explosively but soon declined in terms of entertaining, probably due to the fact it is 20 episodes long. However, I am glad everyone got what they deserved. I also expected more from Rowoon, heavy chemistry with the fl but you don't always get what you want. The bodyguard was so good-looking, he and the King carried the show for me. Good show, but I wouldn't watch it again. The King's Affection started explosively but soon declined in terms of entertaining, probably due to the fact it is 20 episodes long. However, I am glad everyone got what they deserved. I also expected more from Rowoon, heavy chemistry with the fl but you don't always get what you want. The bodyguard was so good-looking, he and the King carried the show for me. Good show, but I wouldn't watch it again.

Read More

Exceeded expectations, loved it

I started watching this assuming it was going to be another mediocre or boring show, but I was very wrong. There is so much suspense in every episode, I couldn't stop watching because I was desperate to see what happened next. The story is interesting and well written except for maybe a couple of plot twists that felt odd or out of place or didn't fit (like when they kidnapped hwi back to the palace) and a maybe a couple plot holes, but other than that it was very well done. The comedy is good too and it made me laugh. This is definitely one of the better dramas I have watched.

Read More

Seemed innovative but it just didn't work

So the start of the drama was so good it sucked me in immediately. Why? Well, first the child actress did so well, like she seriously made this really good she cobveyed the right feelings everytime and just did an outstanding job. Second, the storyline in itself was pretty interesting, it is certainly something new. You may say it is not a new concept since there are many other dramas in which a girl or a boy disguises as the other gender. Yes i agree, however never have i seen it with ancient times dramas. So i thought oh wow pretty interesting. And it really sucks you in. In the start you start wondering hiw everything will play out. Like lets be honest how the hell will you hide the real gender of a king? They are expected to marry and have children at a young age and how would no one notice. OK, now lets go to the problem. Well don't get me wrong but honestly not many of them knew how to act like, some of their acting was sloppy they did not make me feel like i am living with the characters, like i feel what they feel, that was very very lacking. This, could be because of two reasons or they really didnt know how to act, or the script was written poorly. Honestly, I believe it was both. And that brings me to the fact that the storyline just became uninteresting, just so unclever, and unrealistic. Like, why the hell is the grandpa so fixated in making him king, he has no legitimate reason and when he gets asked why and you expect this elaborate answer he just answers with its my desire like bro wtf. also the amount of times they bring flashback scenes is just not it like bro i know already you have showed the same flashback like a million times, this made the acting feel so poor like legit it downgraded the whole thing. Also, why the hell did everyone start becoming so helpless. Like legit they drag the crown prince away and the dude be seeing how people be fighting for him/her and he/she just stands there like bro you also know how to fight pick up a damned sword and fight with him. Just everything makes no sense the story is just a bunch of cliches badly excecuted like dont get me wrong oh how i love a good cliche. Again GOOD cliché. This was just poor writting and editing like i am also dissapointed about the osts. The songs are legitimately good, its just they play them overand over again to make scenes more dramatic but it doesnt because they overplay them so it just makes the scenes less captivating. And ma man you cant tell me you broke a leg and was fine and then you legit get a scratch on your arm from an arrow and you almost be dying. Also that part is really a mess they be looking for you and then wait a whole day to start looking again and then miraculously start finding blood traces like no no no . And after that you carelesly go to the market and enjoy the day then the crown prince is left alone and gets kidnapped they didnt even show how the hell they found his whereabouts just out of nowhere they know where everyone is hidding and bruh i really am about to drop this show. The only thing stopping me from dropping this show is because i want to see how they bring down the grandpa. Also i mean you can watch the show it just isnt that great. Watch it for the repeating love scenes. Which get boring after some time and the good visuals. They all pretty faces.

Read More

"The King's Affection" is the story of a girl named Dam Yi, a simple court maid who discovered that she had the same face as the crown prince Lee Hwi. One day, they switch places and Lee Hwi accidentally dies, forcing Dam Yi to disguise herself and live as a man in Lee Hwi's place.
Ji Woon is her teacher and someone from her past life. Their lives intertwine and they fall in love, but Ji Woon thinks that Dam Yi is a man.

I've wanted to watch this drama for a long time, the story is good, but not enough to hook me as I expected. The main couple is cute, but I didn't see much chemistry between them, nothing that made me root for them.

To be completely honest, I think Dam Yi and Hyun would make a better couple; if the drama developed the story in that direction, I would like it a lot more.

Park Eun Bin's acting is the highlight of the drama, which makes it worth watching, the way she pretended to be a man and did it amazingly, she wasn't weak or feminine.

Read More