2026

Watched it bc I was bored and I've seen references to it in variety shows.

It's so bad it's kinda good. Awful acting at times, and the effects are also not great. But I was 100% entertained the whole time

I almost loved it, but it felt rushed.

Certain part of the story got more focused than it should've and the more important aspects, like the connection with the main leads, almost got rushed. I loved them together and wished there was more episodes to truly flesh out the story.

I really liked this one.

I'm still not a fan of 'daughter looks exactly the same as her mother' trope, so the plot twist ruined it a bit for me. The mental illness route was I also not the biggest fan of.

Liked the main leads and it was an interesting story. Very beautiful cinematography.

It was enjoyable, a bit generic but fun. Lost me a bit by the end tho

What a fantastic show. Koo Kyo Hwan, the actor you are.

Did not expect to love it as much as I did. I know I'm a sucker for levelling up stories, but the mix of humour and heart in this one just sold me. One of my favourites from this year!

I liked it, but wasn't wowed. Kinda lost me at the halfway but picked itself up by the end. Had some interesting ethical moments. The actors/actresses weren't great but as they are almost all nugus it's understandable.

Ngl thought I finished this one a long time ago, but had missed the last episode. It was okay. Nothing amazing but enjoyable watch

Fantastic! Loved all the dilemmas and ethical/moral discussions. Hated one of the side plots, but the main lead together with Lee Sung Min was *chef's kiss"

Did not expect to get completely obsessed with this one. Loved the first 2/3 of the show, the last part was kinda meh. It dragged out unnecessarily. Beautiful cinematography and the OSTs are one of my favourites.

The east palace is probably one of the most visually stunning kdramas I've watched. It is straight up gorgeous most of the time (some bad CGI ruins it at moments. The story itself in the beginning feels interesting and almost refreshing. I'm not the biggest historical kdrama fan (tho lately been enjoying them) but a more fantasy themed drama with focus on ghosts seemed refreshing. In the beginning I did find myself thinking "Ah they got inspired by stranger things but their take is very interesting". But at the half-way point the story just takes a dive. It felt like the screenwriters went "oops we only have 8 episodes to tell the story, we need to chop chop some episodes". It became quite an abundant amount of "tell not show", and for a show that have marketed itself has an historical fantasy action, that kinda sucks. You get told information, that should rather have been showed. And I felt myself get very annoyed multiple times, especially with any "plot twists".

The characters themselves did also suffer from the lack of episodes. Most felt like they lacked depth, and some felt very one dimensional. Even the main characters I felt like I kinda stopped caring for. The actors and actresses did their best, but the old queen and the king kinda outshined the rest so everyone felt kinda bland. I liked Nam Joo Hyuk's performance in the beginning, but that was before I realised that his character and performance felt very Namkoong Min coded for me . Roh Yoon Seo did a decent job, but her acting was very stiff, especially in the more emotional scenes. But the drama itself wasn't like complete shit. It had some action (not greatly choreographed) and are for the most part a very visually beautiful drama. It just felt like they cared more about how good it looks and not how good the story is.

This one I did overall really like, and I even contemplated giving it a 9 for I loved most of it.

The relationship between the mains and the focus on "what is a home" was perfection. I loved every part. My biggest gripe is that certain part, especially the audit and gangster at the end plot, dragged on for too long. The gangster plot felt meh and was the main reason I decided to drop it in rating.

If you remove those parts this show was fantastic.

Man was this a bummer.

Originally I really enjoyed it and was excited for each episode. But after episode 23/24 I just did not care anymore. The plot kinda stopped making sense. The brother who was following Song Mo like a puppy suddenly went full "evil" mode just bc his father (and recently learned biological mother) died. Like what,

I felt multiple times that I just rolled my eyes at the last 10 episodes and even had to sort to speed it up to finish it. Biggest disappointment.

A little bit conflicted about this one.

Been a while since I watched S1 but the mysterious nature and the relationship between uncle and niece was some of the best points. The mysterious nature was kinda gone in the second season and the uncle was barely even there... So nice entertainment in full John Wick/Mission impossible style, but kinda missed some of the heart of the first season.

Biggest disappointment of the year for me.

The premise seemed so good and it fell flat by the third episode. It was messy and the main characters were so annoyingly stupid.

Man this drama. Overall I really liked it. Always bonus points for making me cry and using Danse Macabre as much as it did

It's a fascinating story with a strong character focus on the two main characters. I would say one of the most interesting parts were the focus on love. If it was a more platonic, familial or romantic one, and how it could turn toxic against someone's wish. One could always argue that their friendship was something deeper than platonic.

Two characters, both who have been living in the shadow of their family issues find closure in their friendship. One of them have experienced love, albeit shortly, while the other one have only experienced a conditional one based on his own effort and prestige. Both needing to grow as people, but in different aspects.

Song Kang did impress me with his acting, but tbf I had low expectations. His dead eyes were goodsebump inducing and I felt his character's pain straight into my own heart. Well-done!

Lee Jun Young also did well. I've lately had a preference for him acting in more antagonistic roles, and he did somewhat end up doing it here and I LOVED IT.