This review may contain spoilers
Decent acting didn't make up for weak story
There were lots of enjoyable moments in this drama, so if your goal is to watch a boy's love story in a historical setting, it'll probably be fine (although be warned it's high angst). However, if you are a fan of political intrigue dramas, the plot incoherence will drive you crazy.
Vague spoilers ahead:
This is, for example, the only political intrigue drama I've seen where the court is divided into *one* faction. The prime minister is manipulating both princes, but with completely unclear and never-stated goals. It might be a fine plot point if the ultimate goal was to get the princes to take each other out and then seize power, but that isn't the note his character finishes on, so... shrug?
The world building was lazy, with many key elements left out or with contraditory elements thrown in at different times (for example, the leader of a group must be the king's brother, but also leaders can only serve for 10 years... how does that work?). There is a birth secret where the mechanism by which the character's identity changed was never revealed.
Characters constantly made baffling choices (for example: in one scene a character declares that it will be beneficial if X takes the throne and then a few scenes later orders that X be killed).
The ending was also... frustrating. It's like the writers wanted to write a tragedy with a happy ending and ultimately failed to deliver either effectively. I'm honestly surprised at the rave reviews and feel like they indicate more about how low the bar is for bl than how good the show is.
Vague spoilers ahead:
This is, for example, the only political intrigue drama I've seen where the court is divided into *one* faction. The prime minister is manipulating both princes, but with completely unclear and never-stated goals. It might be a fine plot point if the ultimate goal was to get the princes to take each other out and then seize power, but that isn't the note his character finishes on, so... shrug?
The world building was lazy, with many key elements left out or with contraditory elements thrown in at different times (for example, the leader of a group must be the king's brother, but also leaders can only serve for 10 years... how does that work?). There is a birth secret where the mechanism by which the character's identity changed was never revealed.
Characters constantly made baffling choices (for example: in one scene a character declares that it will be beneficial if X takes the throne and then a few scenes later orders that X be killed).
The ending was also... frustrating. It's like the writers wanted to write a tragedy with a happy ending and ultimately failed to deliver either effectively. I'm honestly surprised at the rave reviews and feel like they indicate more about how low the bar is for bl than how good the show is.
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