Weird that this was airing at the same time as Empress Ki on MBC. Same-ish costume and set styles but the difference in production values is quite noticeable.
Not gonna lie, I got a little confused with the timelines towards the end. I also would've preferred that Yunru…
Also, after subsisting on an exclusive diet of puritanical K-dramas, it was pretty refreshing to see some mature and/or non-heteronormative stuff in this drama. A male-male kiss! A rainbow flag! Implied masturbation! Unmarried cohabitation!
Not gonna lie, I got a little confused with the timelines towards the end. I also would've preferred that Yunru had more uplifting and positive resolution to her arc, but that's me. Overall, it was creative and enjoyable. Alice Ko's performance was great, the rest were decent to okay. The soundtrack was a bonus (even if the main theme was overused). I'm looking forward to seeing how the Korean remake turns out.
Shin Minah is very charming as a gumiho, but I'm not a great Lee Seunggi fan and his feckless character here did him no favours. Also, there was nowhere near enough plot to sustain 20 episodes. Overall, this was average at best.
Because this is fictional, I'm having a hard time keeping all the characters straight lol. The Queen alone has five sons. Was this really necessary to the story? We shall see.
From the poster, I was expecting something gritty (my fault for not taking heed of the writer). In fact, it's a cartoonish comedy about a bunch of lovable idiots with a few darker, emotional moments sprinkled in. I enjoyed it for the most part but struggled to find the motivation to watch the next episode because I found it lacked narrative drive. Maybe because many of the episodes are over 90 minutes long, which results in bagginess and pacing issues. Tighter editing would've helped. There was not much in the way of conflict or menace. Ultimately, the silly humour mostly landed and it was warm and comforting. However, don't expect much realism about criminality or prison life.