clarissa3658

I think it says a lot about this drama that it pulled me out of my drama slump and got me finishing it within a day. Very entertaining but it seems no drama can escape the curse of caving in on itself towards the end 🫠

The first 8 episodes were great, a real fun time. It was interesting to see their take on the monarchy in the modern era in comparison to The King: Eternal Monarch. The politics were a little much at times but it’s unavoidable in a palace kdrama.

The thing that disturbed me the most were the plot holes that they didn’t even bother to explain. First it was the brakes in Heeju’s flashy red car. How did someone drive it to from the mechanics to the prince’s private residence if the brakes no longer worked??? They could’ve said someone at the residence tampered with it AFTER the mechanics but no. But even then, anyone should notice if there is something wrong with the brakes immediately after they start driving. So THEN you’d have to argue someone hacked into the car’s electronics and disabled the brakes at the exact right moment. Or that once it reached a certain speed, then the brakes disabled. But no, none of that.

The next and obvious one is how anyone found that marriage contract when it was inside a locked safe??? I knew it was a bad idea the moment they started writing it, all because of the prince’s indecisiveness and backflipping on their verbal agreement. I can understand Heeju wanting to have something so he couldn’t back out again. But if the prince holds the one and only copy in his safe, he can just burn it any time he wants. So what’s the point? SHE was the one who wanted the contract for security so why is he the one keeping it? The fact that the queen was able to get her hands on it makes zero sense.

And then there’s Prime Minister Min. I mean they presented this character as someone who secretly pined for Heeju in school and had been her and I-AN’s long time friend. He never stopped ‘loving’ Heeju (obsessing over is more accurate) but was still a morally sound person who did a good job as Prime Minister. Even when the queen said to object to the marriage, he said ‘No, the crown and cabinet must act as one’. The moment he decided to let the marriage proceed, he should have realised that meant letting her go. Especially when he never once confessed his feelings. That is until she was about to marry someone else and he asked if she would marry him instead. And even then, she said no. That should have been enough for him to understand he had no chance.

So for him to just turn around and abuse his power as Prime Minister and not apprehend the person who tried to MURDER her (I know she was not the intended target but she’s still a member of the royal family) just shows that he never loved her. And for him to go so far as trying to kill her husband and KING of the nation just makes zero sense. You can make him an incel sure, but for him to have no plan nor motive for this madness and seemingly going off the rails is bizarre from a plot standpoint. If you want to make him a villain, at least show us why he strayed from the noble path.

I mean the fact that I-AN asked him why he tried to kill him and his answer was “you just wouldn’t let her go” is complete insanity. And then for us to not even see his punishment??? In the 3 year time skip we don’t see him at all? This is terrible writing.

I also hated the fallout with the public over the marriage contract. I mean they have no way of verifying if the contract is even real, there’s no signatures or anything that legitimises it. All I-AN had to say is ‘that’s not real and this is slander’. The fact they just bowed their heads and admitted it is stupid. And then it was all downhill from there, in what world would a divorce fix things for either of them? And the fact I-AN knew he is the rightful heir to the throne, all he had to do was take the former king’s will and go ‘I was willing to stand down for the sake of my nephew but now that they’re trying to assassinate me to bury the truth I can no longer stay silent. I am the true heir to the throne and I am setting the story straight’ but NO they just stayed quiet and let things torpedo in their enemies’ favour! Heeju always said that they need to fight to protect what they have and they always held their head high no matter what came their way. So for them to just unravel at the seams at the first sign of public outrage is wild. Even the fact that Heeju had to investigate things herself, track down the mechanic and palace attendants, take care of PR, etc is crazy. What’s the palace and cabinet doing! What are they there for! Oh and that fire, why are there no firefighters when the PALACE in the middle of the city is on fire. Why is it up to the QUEEN and the king’s AIDE to save the KING trapped inside a burning building. Can none of the attendants or guards step in?!! Honestly.

But putting aside all its flaws, I did like Heeju’s character and her amazing outfits. The aides were great value and Heeju’s brother and sister-in-law turned out to be endearing people by the end and a cute supportive couple. Even her father was an interesting character. He was by no means a good father but at least he seemed to care about Heeju, even if he didn’t show it for most of her life. I think it speaks volumes that he never wanted Heeju to marry into the royal family, even though it would give him and their family more status and power. But from the beginning, he was against it. And I don’t blame him for suggesting a divorce considering there were countless attempts on Heeju’s life after getting involved with the prince. I’d call the palace a ‘hellhole’ too.

I will say that I did like the ending and found abolishing the monarchy to be a fitting way to end the story. It gave Heeju and I-AN their freedom and a chance to live a normal life away from palace life and the rules, responsibilities and restrictions that came with it. Heeju got to return to being Castle’s CEO and reclaiming her place as her family’s successor. And now that there’s no ‘nobility’ anymore, she no longer has to worry about being ‘illegitimate’ and a ‘commoner’. So if you think about it, I-AN is no longer providing her status or power yet they stayed together anyway, because they love each other. So I do think it’s a great ending with them able to kiss on the kisscam, a reminder they are no longer bound to palace rules and can be a normal couple ❤️

Overall I'd say it was an enjoyable watch until the nonsense began in the 9th episode and then it just felt like a chore to push through and get to the end. But at least the ending was done reasonably well.