This review may contain spoilers
What a Waste...
I watched Empress Ki way back in November 2017. I remember it so clearly, as it was the first K-Drama I ever watched. I was getting into East Asian cinema at the time, as the first 'drama' I ever watched was Empress of China with Fan BingBing. Then, I watched Empresses in the Palace, followed by Nirvana in Fire. I decided it was time for a shakeup and decided to watch Empress Ki, as the first 10 minutes of the show immediately captivated me.
When I initially finished Empress Ki, I thought it was one of the best things I've ever watched. However, as my tastes have matured and I've seen *a lot* of other dramas/movies, I have come to the complete polar opposite conclusion for Empress Ki: it sucks.
Now, hear me out. The first 20-23 episodes are pretty good. I still revisit the drama every now and then and rewatch certain scenes. Ha Ji Won & Joo Jin Mo never disappoint, as their acting chops are on full display throughout the entirety of the drama. The music is riveting and powerful, and the political intrigue of the late-stage Yuan dynasty is most certainly entertaining. The dynamics between El Temur and Tanasiri are hilarious. Tanasiri is soooo unhinged and I love it. Empress Ki has a lot going for it in the first 20-23 episodes, so much so that I don't have much to say about it other than it's great.
However, after episode 23 or so, it all goes downhill.
Sometimes, writers just don't know when to call the quits and make a drama 25 episodes or less. The moment that Lady Park gets killed and SeungNyang has to escape while being pregnant is where things all go downhill. I understand that film is not supposed to be realistic and that certain things are simply 'cinematic expressions.' For example, in Chungking Express, when Ho Chi Moo buys 30 cans of Pineapple that have a specific date on them, nobody is saying that people are going to do that (though, some might lol.) But it's a cinematic expression for the breakup the character is going through. Empress Ki, however, takes this liberty way too far and has her baby who gets thrown off a cliff survive! There are also so many other things that don't make any sense. For example, who cares about a 'blood vow' and who it was written by? A tyrant could easily forge it and convince others that their own blood vow is the real one. Even if the real one existed, who really cares at the end of the day? Li Shimin with the Xuanwu Gate Incident killed his brothers and forced his father's abdication from the throne. Henry the VIII killed his wives and told the Catholic Church to screw off; he even made his own church (the Anglican Church) just so he could marry the way he wanted. Why should tyrants like El Temur hold back over a blood vow? Some people say that Tanasiri using black magic to curse SeungNyang was too far, but I don't think so. She's a genuinely disturbed person, so I see no issue in that. The real issue is that the black magic actually *worked* on SeungNyang. Just stupid. It's a historical drama, not a wuxia/muhyeop. There are so many others I can't remember, but you get the idea. Again, there's a theme in all of this; when the writers can't get out of the clusterf**k they created, they take the easy route and write it off with some stupid tangent.
Additionally, after episode 23, Wang Yu's story takes a nosedive as well, as the whole 'counterfeit currency/vouchers' plot is another trope in historical dramas that's typically added when the writers don't know what else to do. The whole romance of Batoru and Wang Yu is just contrived and doesn't make any sense whatsoever. It's just there for there's sake. Just a huge yawn session through-and-through. Wang Yu's loyal sidekicks do give this section the humor is separately needs to be somewhat entertaining.
Let's talk about the most useless character in drama history: Togon / Yuan Emperor. This pathetic excuse for an emperor really gets on my nerves in the last few episodes. While he does grow a spine (much too late), he shows his unspeakable brutality by killing Wang Yu at the very end for no reason, under the 'guise' of protecting SeungNyang. SeungNyang evolves into a Mary Sue protagonist at this point, where she is the center of attention of all the male protagnists, and she is someone who can do nothing wrong. While this trope can be done right, it's not done well at all in this series. While Togon can't be blamed entirely for his infantile behavior, he certainly has to start taking responsibility at some point, especially after El Temur passes away. I honestly can't blame Kolta and the Empress Dowager for betraying Togon. The last scene where Togon orders the 'scum' conspirators of the court to be killed is pretty badass, though.
Now, with that all aside, what's the glaring problem with the drama overall? Well, it's the narrative behind our protagonist, SeungNyang. Her mother was killed by Tangqishi (son of El Temur) in the 1st episode, so she already has a deep-seated hatred for the Yuan Dynasty, so I get it. However, because the writers are so bad at their job, you start to feel that SeungNyang is overstepping her boundaries at a certain point. She makes an enemy of Bayan, Bayan's neice Bayan Khutugh, and the Empress Dowager after deposing El Temur, and while I certainly see why she's doing it, the writers are so bad at their job that I start to lose my interest in her story. She's grabbing at straws, and by the time she "wins", the Yuan Dynasty is practically moot and void. It's just so much trouble to go through for literally no gain. She probably lost her life, Wang Yu, Togon, Tal Tal, and many others. Maybe it was inevitable, but the drama doesn't make it feel that way. While Empresses of China was a mess narrative-wise as well, at least Wu Meiniang / Zetian actually became the only Empress in China's history, and the drama does reflect this somewhat. While not every drama needs a good or neatly tied ending, the motivations behind SeungNyang make me think that she went through all of that suffering for nothing. She got her revenge, but at what cost?
Overall, this drama became its own worst enemy. It didn't know when to stop and became convoluted, strange, stupid, and downright insulting at times. I miss the memories of this drama when I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I still recommend you give it a shot; but, after episode 23, do yourself a favor and either skip around the next 27 episodes or so or just watch/read recaps. I view Empress Ki and Queen Seondeok as sister dramas in a sense, and I'd take Queen Seondeok over Empress Ki anytime.
When I initially finished Empress Ki, I thought it was one of the best things I've ever watched. However, as my tastes have matured and I've seen *a lot* of other dramas/movies, I have come to the complete polar opposite conclusion for Empress Ki: it sucks.
Now, hear me out. The first 20-23 episodes are pretty good. I still revisit the drama every now and then and rewatch certain scenes. Ha Ji Won & Joo Jin Mo never disappoint, as their acting chops are on full display throughout the entirety of the drama. The music is riveting and powerful, and the political intrigue of the late-stage Yuan dynasty is most certainly entertaining. The dynamics between El Temur and Tanasiri are hilarious. Tanasiri is soooo unhinged and I love it. Empress Ki has a lot going for it in the first 20-23 episodes, so much so that I don't have much to say about it other than it's great.
However, after episode 23 or so, it all goes downhill.
Sometimes, writers just don't know when to call the quits and make a drama 25 episodes or less. The moment that Lady Park gets killed and SeungNyang has to escape while being pregnant is where things all go downhill. I understand that film is not supposed to be realistic and that certain things are simply 'cinematic expressions.' For example, in Chungking Express, when Ho Chi Moo buys 30 cans of Pineapple that have a specific date on them, nobody is saying that people are going to do that (though, some might lol.) But it's a cinematic expression for the breakup the character is going through. Empress Ki, however, takes this liberty way too far and has her baby who gets thrown off a cliff survive! There are also so many other things that don't make any sense. For example, who cares about a 'blood vow' and who it was written by? A tyrant could easily forge it and convince others that their own blood vow is the real one. Even if the real one existed, who really cares at the end of the day? Li Shimin with the Xuanwu Gate Incident killed his brothers and forced his father's abdication from the throne. Henry the VIII killed his wives and told the Catholic Church to screw off; he even made his own church (the Anglican Church) just so he could marry the way he wanted. Why should tyrants like El Temur hold back over a blood vow? Some people say that Tanasiri using black magic to curse SeungNyang was too far, but I don't think so. She's a genuinely disturbed person, so I see no issue in that. The real issue is that the black magic actually *worked* on SeungNyang. Just stupid. It's a historical drama, not a wuxia/muhyeop. There are so many others I can't remember, but you get the idea. Again, there's a theme in all of this; when the writers can't get out of the clusterf**k they created, they take the easy route and write it off with some stupid tangent.
Additionally, after episode 23, Wang Yu's story takes a nosedive as well, as the whole 'counterfeit currency/vouchers' plot is another trope in historical dramas that's typically added when the writers don't know what else to do. The whole romance of Batoru and Wang Yu is just contrived and doesn't make any sense whatsoever. It's just there for there's sake. Just a huge yawn session through-and-through. Wang Yu's loyal sidekicks do give this section the humor is separately needs to be somewhat entertaining.
Let's talk about the most useless character in drama history: Togon / Yuan Emperor. This pathetic excuse for an emperor really gets on my nerves in the last few episodes. While he does grow a spine (much too late), he shows his unspeakable brutality by killing Wang Yu at the very end for no reason, under the 'guise' of protecting SeungNyang. SeungNyang evolves into a Mary Sue protagonist at this point, where she is the center of attention of all the male protagnists, and she is someone who can do nothing wrong. While this trope can be done right, it's not done well at all in this series. While Togon can't be blamed entirely for his infantile behavior, he certainly has to start taking responsibility at some point, especially after El Temur passes away. I honestly can't blame Kolta and the Empress Dowager for betraying Togon. The last scene where Togon orders the 'scum' conspirators of the court to be killed is pretty badass, though.
Now, with that all aside, what's the glaring problem with the drama overall? Well, it's the narrative behind our protagonist, SeungNyang. Her mother was killed by Tangqishi (son of El Temur) in the 1st episode, so she already has a deep-seated hatred for the Yuan Dynasty, so I get it. However, because the writers are so bad at their job, you start to feel that SeungNyang is overstepping her boundaries at a certain point. She makes an enemy of Bayan, Bayan's neice Bayan Khutugh, and the Empress Dowager after deposing El Temur, and while I certainly see why she's doing it, the writers are so bad at their job that I start to lose my interest in her story. She's grabbing at straws, and by the time she "wins", the Yuan Dynasty is practically moot and void. It's just so much trouble to go through for literally no gain. She probably lost her life, Wang Yu, Togon, Tal Tal, and many others. Maybe it was inevitable, but the drama doesn't make it feel that way. While Empresses of China was a mess narrative-wise as well, at least Wu Meiniang / Zetian actually became the only Empress in China's history, and the drama does reflect this somewhat. While not every drama needs a good or neatly tied ending, the motivations behind SeungNyang make me think that she went through all of that suffering for nothing. She got her revenge, but at what cost?
Overall, this drama became its own worst enemy. It didn't know when to stop and became convoluted, strange, stupid, and downright insulting at times. I miss the memories of this drama when I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I still recommend you give it a shot; but, after episode 23, do yourself a favor and either skip around the next 27 episodes or so or just watch/read recaps. I view Empress Ki and Queen Seondeok as sister dramas in a sense, and I'd take Queen Seondeok over Empress Ki anytime.
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