Editorials 
A MUDDLED MESS -- WITH LIKEABLE LEADS
Budget constraints, third-rate special effects, and an unbelievable script suck the life out of this series. The ghosts aren't ghostly and the monsters aren't monstrous. The girl in the well with the bad hair, the water spirit with raccoon eyes, and, most of all, the ho-hum colossal... whatever - inspire neither dread nor terror. In fact the monster-making funds are so deficient that we only see the feet of No. 3 in the beginning. (We do get to see him later--just a glimpse of a huge guy with bad skin.)
Plot holes big enough to swallow the Eiffel Tower are scattered across the filmscape. Yoon Gap is presumably killed-- although his dead body, occupied by a new tenant, continues to ramble about. Viewers (and especially Yeo-ri ) want to know-is the original inhabitant still alive or is he dead? Sometimes the writers suggest it's the first; sometimes they imply it's the second. Why does one Imugi (Gang Cheol) need a young girl's body to ascend to Heaven? But his brother (or is it his friend?) doesn't? Why is this series called "The Haunted Palace" on some platforms but "Return to the Palace" on others? Too many graybeards in the palace for the viewers (make that me) to keep straight. Confusion abounds.
In spite of all this, the two leads do a decent job. I especially liked Yoon Gap, whose devilish smile and boyish (often childish) personality steal the show-in fact, he basically saves it. The actress who played Yeo-ri was appropriately admirable, but she was too earnest and grim for my taste. Couldn't we see her playful side now and then? And much as I liked bad-boy Gang Cheol as a character--C'mon! He's a narcissist, glutton, liar, and he hates all humans except for Yeo-ri. Not exactly mate material. He would have been more appealing served up with some moral heft.
And Yeo-ri, poor benighted girl-Is she really about to hook up with this dude based on the discovery that he didn't murder her grandmother? Yes she is. She does bawl him out for his despicable ways later in the drama. We’re supposed to believe that’s enough to get him to reform, but when has nagging ever worked?
One other mention – Cha Chung Hwa, who is still beautiful and elegant plays the Mother and she does a wonderful job, making that character sympathetic and believable.
Yeo-ri and Yoon Gap are not the only characters whose values are out of whack. For example, the king gets points for wanting to free the slaves. That's a signal to the viewers that he's basically a stand-up guy. Then why does he torture people to death in such a ghoulish way, the innocent as well as the guilty? Right. That's how they did it in those days. I don't have to like it, though.
For some reason, the creators of this series are concealing the number of episodes from the viewers. But by episode 11, this series lost all its energy and began to drag. I could feel the writers had run out of ideas when they showed Yeo-ri being kidnapped for the third (or was it the fourth?) time.
That’s enough for me. I was going to give THE HIGHER PALACE a higher rating, but some of the problems listed above knocked it down.
I moved it up to six stars
Plot holes big enough to swallow the Eiffel Tower are scattered across the filmscape. Yoon Gap is presumably killed-- although his dead body, occupied by a new tenant, continues to ramble about. Viewers (and especially Yeo-ri ) want to know-is the original inhabitant still alive or is he dead? Sometimes the writers suggest it's the first; sometimes they imply it's the second. Why does one Imugi (Gang Cheol) need a young girl's body to ascend to Heaven? But his brother (or is it his friend?) doesn't? Why is this series called "The Haunted Palace" on some platforms but "Return to the Palace" on others? Too many graybeards in the palace for the viewers (make that me) to keep straight. Confusion abounds.
In spite of all this, the two leads do a decent job. I especially liked Yoon Gap, whose devilish smile and boyish (often childish) personality steal the show-in fact, he basically saves it. The actress who played Yeo-ri was appropriately admirable, but she was too earnest and grim for my taste. Couldn't we see her playful side now and then? And much as I liked bad-boy Gang Cheol as a character--C'mon! He's a narcissist, glutton, liar, and he hates all humans except for Yeo-ri. Not exactly mate material. He would have been more appealing served up with some moral heft.
And Yeo-ri, poor benighted girl-Is she really about to hook up with this dude based on the discovery that he didn't murder her grandmother? Yes she is. She does bawl him out for his despicable ways later in the drama. We’re supposed to believe that’s enough to get him to reform, but when has nagging ever worked?
One other mention – Cha Chung Hwa, who is still beautiful and elegant plays the Mother and she does a wonderful job, making that character sympathetic and believable.
Yeo-ri and Yoon Gap are not the only characters whose values are out of whack. For example, the king gets points for wanting to free the slaves. That's a signal to the viewers that he's basically a stand-up guy. Then why does he torture people to death in such a ghoulish way, the innocent as well as the guilty? Right. That's how they did it in those days. I don't have to like it, though.
For some reason, the creators of this series are concealing the number of episodes from the viewers. But by episode 11, this series lost all its energy and began to drag. I could feel the writers had run out of ideas when they showed Yeo-ri being kidnapped for the third (or was it the fourth?) time.
That’s enough for me. I was going to give THE HIGHER PALACE a higher rating, but some of the problems listed above knocked it down.
I moved it up to six stars
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