Sageuk Lover

I'm so glad many people know her now through her latest projects. I may not call myself her biggest fan, but I always notice her. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, she's always cast as the young version of the female lead (provided that young version is on her late teens). I think she has worked and paired with the who's who of teen actors (Yoo Seung Ho, Lee Hyun Woo, Noh Young Hak, even Lee Tae Ri in the early 2000s) in their late teens to early twenties back then.

The lead actress Park Eun Bin is extremely good, I think she's the best among the many actresses that played a woman pretending to be a man (second only to Moon Geun Young from Painter of the Wind, which says a lot of Eun Bin's performance since Geun Young won Daesang and Baeksang award for her performance years ago). Sorry to his fans, but I'm less impressed with the lead actor (though I'm not bothered by his performance) and I did not really enjoy their romantic chemistry (I fast forwarded their romanctic scenes sometimes) but many people do enjoy them as a couple (and I still rooted for their happiness despite not really caring too much of their romantic scenes) so your opinion might be different from me if you watched him. What kept me going in this drama was the intrigue on how they will do this story of a woman pretending to be a man as a king since there are higher stakes. Plus I love the scenes where she faces her villains. I hated some of the villains while others I really enjoyed their performances (I could be biased on the villain that is male lead's father though, since he's portrayed by one of my fave actors Bae Soo Bin).
I suggest you watch until at least episode 6 to get a feel for this drama to see if you'll love it or not.

Gotta give again my praise to child actress Choi Myung Bin, she was so good in playing twins differently, playing those twins in their pretense/exchange roles, plus playing an actual male character

If you care enough to know their names, they are Bae Soo Bin and Yoon Je Moon respectively, basically sageuk veterans. If you check out Bae Soo Bin’s sageuks, almost all either have very high ratings or critically acclaimed. He was supporting role in almost all of them (except Dongyi where he was the second lead guy) but his characters are always memorable.

Thanks for informing me, just realized the same writer wrote Gunman in Joseon. I have the same feeling for both dramas. Both started well but dragged in the second middle half, plus though I wanted happiness for the leads, the chemistry of the lead couple in both dramas is not the most enjoyable part for me. Park Eun Bin here (and Lee Joon Gi in gunman) are both excellent in their respective lead roles though.

The best thing about this drama is Park Eun Bin acting as a man. Among all actresses I've seen, she's the most effective in playing such a role, second to Moon Geun Young. The chemistry of the two leads wasn't convincing enough for me, but I'm still glad they ended together. Lol, it was in the back of my thoughts that her good cousin could become a good King, never realized it will actually happen (didn't expect her half brother to die).

From watching historical dramas in the past, I can think of a scenario how they can make this a happy ending. The whole kingdom doesn't have to know Hwi is a woman. What they can do is that they can fake Hwi's death to make her half brother king. Faking her death means she had to go to a very far away place though. She and Ji Woon thus go to a very far away place where the live happily ever after with twins of their own.
I'm not the biggest fan of the actors' chemistry, but I still hope for a happy ending for them.

Such a beautiful drama. What I really appreciate is how everyone acted so well (despite no cast member being a standout) and the plot is so good. Cinematography is amazing too. Some episodes in the beginning, I find quite slow so I'm only giving this a 9.

I hope they change her profile picture. Please change it to the one where she has her long wavy colored hair while wearing red lipstick (she was so pretty in that).

https://kdramahood.com/nt/the-king-of-tears-lee-bang-won-ep-1/ Available here.

I cant help but notice his voice and accent. Watching his new historical drama Lee Bang Won, his character is one of those you don't immediately notice at first episode but the moment he spoke, I knew I've watched him somewhere before (I was right, he was one of the villains in Two Weeks). I don't think I noticed his voice and accent in Lovers of the Red Sky and River where the Moon Rises though.

I love Tree with deep roots. I havent seen 6 flying dragons fully but I like the clips i've seen, on my watchlist too.

Baek Yoon Shik's cameo in Tree with Deep Roots too. Plus let us not forget Kim Young Chul (Lee Seong Gye here) played Lee Bang Won twice in his previous dramas.

it's much longer than my country but i will watch 6 dragons first since i've put it off for 6 years already, plus it's a preequel of Tree with deep roots (SJK cameo drama, by the way Jang Hyuk of My Country is the lead) and written by Arthdal writers.

I have a really good impression of her in Handmaiden and now I'm liking her more and more in Mr Sunshine. I love her presence in sageuk. (I will watch Space Sweepers soon enough).

she has a new movie next year We Grow Up with Kwon Sang Woo and she also announced a n audio drama (not sure really what that meant but it's more like she'll provide voice acting) with Lee Je Hoon coming sometime this december.

thanks for the recommendation, My Country seems really interesting. I have so many dramas on my watchlist though. I think if I'm able to finish them all i might watch My country (I want to watch 6 flying dragons first, another drama by this writer which is also about Lee Bang Won).

As for me, I already seen him in Sungkyunkwan Scandal, Tree with Deep Roots (his cameo here was short but showed what an amazing actor he could be, since he had so much charisma and delivered great acting even on par with the veterans he was acting with here, this show was also written by Arthdal writers), Werewolf Boy movie, plus some clips of Innocent Man (drama I only watched wholly after his divorce). I already know he was a versatile actor even during DOTS era. Arthdal was his best work to date for me (at least actingwise). Vincenzo was good (but it was so easy, considering we already know how much more he can do). The irony that DOTS and Vincenzo are the ones that gave him baeksang nomination in dramas when I feel actingwise, his non-nominated dramas (Innocent Man, Arthdal Chronicles, even tree with Deep Roots cameo) showed his range more. I think this is why some of the general population who only watched his popular works have an impression that he wasn't that good of an actor.

me, sometimes I open wikipedia to understand if they're basing it on real characters. In Arthdal (since it's completely based on fiction), I relied on the explanation on other people who also watched the same show on twitter, plus add the fact that the drama makers gave some explanation themselves at the beginning knowing it was complicated. The recent drama I was quite confused on who is who is The King's Affection (completely based on fiction), I was stuck on who is who between the two evil grandfathers and the evil prince uncles.

Yup, this drama is not as complicated as some other sageuks (ex: Arthdal Chronicles).