The King's Affection (2021)

A misstep, this show gives late 2000s vibes

The visuals of this drama were captivating for a sageuk. I have seen more than a handful of historical kdramas and with all due respect to the creative minds behind this project, I did not like The King’s Affection. Just like a lot of dramas, this started off promising with enrapturing sceneries, acting performances, and plot. Unfortunately, the cracks began to surface during the middle episodes and the show makers were not able to maneuver the storyline and just succumbed to be a bland and generic sageuk. Characters who were once smart and sophisticated became predictable and outright boring and mundane. Starting from episode 15, I was watching it at 1.5x speed, perhaps the series would have been better off if they conduced it to 16 episodes. The ending was disastrous, like really, didn’t the allegedly “smart” characters somehow foresaw that the antagonist had an actual army that he could use to fulfill his evil plans. Cant believe also that they used only 2 songs throughout the series, officially there might be more, but the same song was just playing over and over again from the first to the last episode. The acting of the leads were just good, the acting of the supporting characters were able to show more emotions than the leads though. Overall, I would not recommend this, there are a lot more better period kdramas than this. Only watch it if you are an avid fan of the leads.

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|| OVERALL ||

Started off strong, then gradually lost its way and started to drag during the course of the drama. For me, what kept me watching every week was the romance of the two main leads. I enjoyed watching the romantic scenes, and was pleasantly surprised by the amount of intimate scenes they had. The light-hearted scenes were a great watch, but was unfortunately always sandwiched by melodramatic and supposedly heart-wrenching scenes which got a bit frustrating as it started to feel forced. The plot was decent overall but certain parts that felt important were just brushed past whereas some less important parts just dragged on and on. I found myself fast-forwarding more and more of the episode near the end. Also can I just say, it's ridiculous how fast their wounds heal. Other than Lee Hwi's injury that Ji-un attended to which had a more realistic time frame, I found it absurd how it takes one scene for the males to go from slashed up at the brink of death to suddenly up and running as if nothing happened. Anyways, this is the first Park Eun Bin drama I watched and not to say the others are bad at acting, but she was clearly the star of the drama. A good romance drama nevertheless with a unique and interesting premise.

**I recommend this drama to those that like historical romance dramas. The romance was well executed with plenty of heart-fluttering scenes. I wouldn't categorize this as comedy despite there being more light-hearted scenes, as I generally felt it was more somber than happy for the most part.


|| DETAILS ||

= Story =
*Premise - Explores the aftermath of the birth of twins, one of which is the heir to the throne. Unique and rather interesting as it is based on the belief that the heir to the throne sharing the same womb with a twin let alone it being of the female gender is an ominous sign. Just as there cannot be two emperors, it is frowned upon for the heir to be a twin.
*Genre - A historical romance drama with well executed romantic scenes. A bit too melodramatic at times, otherwise not much comedy and the action scenes were rather mediocre.
*Main plot / love line - The main leads' romance was the highlight of the drama. From them meeting and falling in love as children, separating then meeting again, falling in love again, overcoming hardships, the general love story was great to watch. Additionally I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of intimate scenes we saw, despite some of them being the cliché getting jealous of each other and treating each others' battle wounds (I enjoyed those too). Honestly though, I did cringe every time the title of the drama was mentioned. The reveal that Lee Hwi is a woman felt a bit rushed as it took an episode or two for many people to either expose they knew all along or realize she is a woman. The affection between the two were well executed, though, as I did feel they really loved each other. The politics on the other hand was a bit boring, as I was still able to get the gist of it despite fastforwarding most of it. Action scenes were mediocre and it was very unrealistic how they kept getting slashed but in the next scene they are fine again, except that one wound Lee Hwi sustained which Ji-un tended to for a whole episode. The healing time is just crazy fast. It was nice to have alternating happy and somber scenes / episodes, but somehow those sad parts seemed forced close to the end and dragged for too long which got a little annoying. In the end, though, because I did enjoy the romantic scenes, they made up for it.
*Supporting characters - Understandably there needs to be other love interests for the main leads, but I found it a bit redundant for there to be three. I feel the drama could have done without Lee Hyun's unrequited love as it was so superficially explored and nothing happened in the end anyways. He could've just been a good friend and loyal subject, and it would've just been the same for me. I felt that the characters Kim Ga On and Shin So Eun were rather unfortunate as they seemed like decorations and just placed there for brief periods of times when the plot needed some fillers. Shin So Eun didn't even appear in the last episode. The antagonists did well though, they were rather annoying to watch. Court Lady Kim and Eunuch Hong were also great additions to the plot.
*Symbols / Motifs - I felt like the symbol of the lotus flower and the wooden cubes could've been used more to add more flavour to the drama. The drama made it sound so important in the earlier episodes, but neglected to mention it at all and seemingly forgot about it in the latter episodes.
*Ending - To be honest, I was very pleased with the ending scene as it was simple and did it's job in concluding the drama. However, the ending as a whole, especially the events of the battle, it felt very random and some parts didn't really make sense to me. I can overlook it though, as the ending scene is usually more important for me as it's the last thing I watch from the drama.

= Cast =
*Acting - Park Eun Bin really stole the spotlight for this one with her stellar acting. Her subtle reactions when there was no dialogue spoke volumes. I also really liked her contagious smile. Kim Seo ha (Prince Changwoon, Lee Hwi's uncle) was also quite good as he really did get on my nerves. Otherwise, the other actors did not stand out too much for me.
*Chemistry - Park Eun Bin and Rowoon had good chemistry, and their acting did make me believe that Lee Hwi / Dam-i and Jung Ji-un loved each other. Their romantic scenes were swoon-worthy.

= OST =
There weren't that many songs so certain songs were repeated quite a few times. Despite this, I didn't find the background music repetitive. I'd have to say that the OST was quite good, especially the light-hearted songs which I particularly liked.


|| A LESSON ABOUT INDIVIDUALITY ||

Be the lotus flower, sparklingly clean and blooming despite being surrounded by mud. Inevitably there will be times we are surrounded by undesirable circumstances or situations that urges us to compromise our values and beliefs. To stand strong even if you may be alone and believe that your individuality is something to be cherished rather than just being swayed by others is the true challenge.

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I don't usual write a review of shows I haven't finished but this was a struggle to continue

"This series was written by a woman who intended to write the romance purely to create a "forbidden love" out of historical implications behind King's/Prince's position but remembered, last minute, it was still historical so they slapped together some cheap politics to create tension." - Me at the start of the drama.

I'm proud to say I was not wrong by the end of it. I do have some positive feedback to give so this isn't 100% negative. Just 90%.

I'll start off by saying I don't understand why this ended up being 20 episodes. It could have been concluded with the typical 16 episodes. HALF of the show didn't progress for it to deserve more. This is a classical example of bad writing. If it was shorter, the flaws of the drama would be less glaring.

My biggest problem with this series is the politics. If you are not a fan of politics, this drama is for you. However, out of all the historical dramas, this had to be the weakest power struggle I've seen in forever. The worse part? It ties in with the characters development/motives of our main lead because if the politics is weak then the character development is WEAK as well. And that's where our female lead come to play.

I'll admit that one of the best part of this drama is our female lead. She is charismatic, badass, emphatic and a woman with survival instincts. However, her potential is wasted on a writer who can't think beyond the romance. What's the point of making survival as her motives but do not take ANY MEASURES in ensuring she does? You can't seriously tell me hiding her identity is the powerful, woman empowerment development everyone deluded themselves into thinking? She does NOTHING except try to work hard within her limitations which makes no sense since she needs to create a path if she wants to survive. But instead she goes where the wind blows. Since she is a woman pretending to be a MAN (CROWN PRINCE) that means she will get married... how was she planning to keep her secret as a woman? She will eventually be pressured to give a "royal baby" but again, NO PLAN. She only tries to come up with something WHEN it happens. What about when she gets sick or gets hurt, does she have a trustworthy royal infirmary to help her? Nope, NO PLAN. Nothing. She kisses in public! Forgetting she is PRETENDING TO BE A MAN... again, no measures whatsoever. You can kiss in hiding... that would have been the MOST LOGICAL kiss scene... but NOPE. There was even another point I would mention that really shows BAD writing but that would be a manhwa spoiler so it won't be mentioned. She is one of those FL that start cool, promising, badass but then barely does anything after few episodes. You remember those dramas? This one is one of them.

She is a character that could be morally grey if the writer wishes her to be. The enemy are barely scheming against her. If anything, whatever they are scheming IN HER FAVOR from BOTH FRACTIONS. As I said, weak politics. I wonder if the writer realize the potential they had when they wrote this story. This could turn very dark or fluffy based on what direction the female lead could do if she took ACTUAL measures. It could also be a revenge story or self destruction story if the author realized that the female lead is a double edge sword that can use her identity for revenge. One of those "If I go down, you go down with me." It's such a shame she was a wasted potential.

I'll end this review with a positive note that this is for people who want fluff, romance, and the temporary misunderstanding/breakup before everything ends perfectly. People who enjoy rom-coms and want light hearted historical drama. Romance is positive aspect and this is really cute. If that's what you are coming here for, there is a high chance you will love this drama. It's sweet, diabetics and the chemistry is good. It's why people love it. I'm just disappointed they sacrificed the side plots for romance when they could have had BOTH.

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A WOMAN WHO IS SUPPOSED TO BE A MAN BUT REALLY... HE'S TOTALLY A WOMAN

While I'm still on the fence about this drama, I do admit the kids, in the beginning, set the stage for this show. They were very good. However, I find it ironic that K-dramas can be so strict on "bedroom" and sex scenes but when it comes to scenes with the murder of children, it's fine. I always have a hard time with those kinds of scenes or storylines, but whatever. Luckily it was all in the first episode. Nothing gory but still sad. Kudos to the child actors though!

Anyways, my hesitancy about this show is because I think it's a hard pill to swallow trying to make it believable that the Crown Prince DOESN'T look or act like a woman. To me, it's very obvious she's a woman. Maybe it's just a wrong casting for the FL but that's my opinion. I didn't expect her to be overly masculine, butchy, or brawny, but there's just something missing with her character. Luckily the ML, the second ML, and the bodyguard all make up for it. Bunch of handsome men... and now I just realized there are not enough female actresses. They should've given her a close confidante at least the same age as the FL. Even the ML and SML have a bromance.

All the acting is good so far and the storyline is interesting enough to keep me watching but by now, knowing what and who the Crown Prince knows about those who tried to kill her early in the series, you'd expect her character to be tougher or show more enmity over the years towards them. It's like she's constantly cowering in their presence. I think this was a missed opportunity for the writers to make the FL character stronger and gustier. Maybe this could've contributed to making the FL more believable as a woman acting like a man.

(As of this writing, I've finished E6 and I'll wait to see if I'll revise or update my review when the series concludes).

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The King's Affection: a Sageuk Done Right

I decided to watch this drama firstly because it's a sageuk, and secondly because of Rowoon and Park Eun Bin, and the story at its opening did not fail me. I don't think I felt this much admiration for a character in a historical drama, as I did for Yeon Seon/Lee Hwi/Dam Yi, and all the credit goes to Park Eun Bin. She was brilliant in this role and worthy of an award. The King's Affection wasn't only a good script, but also riddled with many brilliant talents.

From the Crown Princess/Queen Jang Sun, played by Han Chae Ah, who is beyond impressive in her limited but impactful cameo appearance, to Bae Soo Bin as Jung Seok Jo and Jung Ji Woon's (Rowoon) father in how brutally and precisely he fulfills his duties to the royal palace, and the same goes to Yoon Je Moon, who is phenomenal as the demon grandfather. So is Choi Myung Bin in the dual role of young prince Lee Hwi and princess Dam Yi, but the actor who stole the show for me was Nam Yoon Su in his unshaken stance to protect those that mean the most to him, regardless of who he had to go against to do it.

As I continued to watch the drama, I wasn't sure if I should be enraged at the royal place for believing twins were abominations, or for the measures they took, or laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. But then I reminded myself of the era and the deeply knitted beliefs of the times, and felt utter sadness for the many lives that must have been lost because of those beliefs. Some elements of the story reminded me of Mirror of the Witch, but unlike it, this one was cruel with its carnage. But it stayed true to the idea that choices make people who we are -- people are the culmination of their past actions, which have a way of creeping back up to them unannounced and when least expected in their present. No evil deed goes unpunished.

At the core of it, this drama is a story of courage in face of adversity, but also about immense cruelty, betrayal, treason, and unconditional love. The most impressive parts of this drama have been in its loyalties. From misplaced loyalty, to firmly edged subject to royal loyalty, to loyal love and brotherhood. Even the unrequited loves in this story are engulfed in loyalty. At the same time, the story is also about greed, fear, and the injustices committed in the name of loyalty. But most of all, it's about courage and how an unsung hero born out of circumstances rose to the occasion when she could no longer coexist with the hypocrisy that was the royal palace, and gained the respect and loyalty of many, even her enemies, but also the love of her life, hence the title: The King's Affection.

The King's Affection is a drama that stayed solid to the end, which was fitting to the story it told, from suppression to betrayal, love, and the fight to be acknowledged, as a human being worthy of the life she was born into, a twin and a princess, who through her trails and tribulations came to understand her worth, which made her powerful. Her world gravely needed a hero, so she became that, a strong woman disguised as a man who took no nonsense from anyone. A thousand and one kudos to the writer, director, and all the cast, production team for a job beyond well done. A drama worthy of your watch!

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one of the most disappointing dramas ive ever watched

This drama started out really promising, the story line was interesting and the acting was good too. I was especially surprised by Rowoon as I was expecting him to be inexperienced and more lacking. However after the first few episodes i kept losing interest and around episode 10 I was really close to dropping it. It just kept dragging on, adding more and more stereotypical kdrama tropes that ruined not only the plotline but also the characters; I started being annoyed at the constant back and forth in their relationship.
definetly not a "must-watch" as there are many other, and better (historical) dramas with a similar plot.

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How to lump as many Kdrama tropes as possible

I was excited for this series because I watched a ton of BTS videos on Youtube between Park Eun Bin and Rowoon and they have some of the best chemistry I've seen. They're so cute and so funny together.

The series was a giant hot mess. From start to finish, I began pointing out all of the stereotypical KDRAMA tropes from, "we met while children and became each other 1st love then fatefully reunited later as gorgeous adults", love triangle, female-disguised as male but falls in love with the right hand, etc etc etc. It just felt like the writers wanted to lump in as many tropes as possible while simultaneously stretccccching out the series to an unnecessary 20 episodes.

I liked watching Rowoon and loved that he accepted his sexuality and loved Eun Bin despite full-heartedly believing she was a man, versus Park Bo-Gum's character in Love in the Moonlight falling in love with his eunuch and discovering he was a she BEFORE the kiss scene, which felt a lot like gay-baiting to me because I loved his self-discovery regarding his sexuality too and thought it was a cop-out for viewers to be tricked into thinking he still thought Hong Sam Nom was a man during the kiss scene than in the very next episode revealing he'd seen Sam Nom change her clothes and reveal her true gender before he'd kissed her in the garden.

I couldn't finish this series. I literally skipped through the majority of them after faithfully watching the first 6 episodes. If you want to watch great chemistry, watch their BTS videos online. This series ain't it.

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Sometimes good, sometimes infuriating...

Let's start with the good :

- The overall concept was very good.
- The ending was okay for me.
- Park Eun Bin's acting at its best.
- Interresting bad guys.
- OST: fine too.
- Visuals: very good.


Now.. for the bad, i'll start with the huge problem for me:
- The male lead character: Infuriating, thoughtless, useless most of the time, bad decisions all the time.. From my perspective, he was the main enemy in this drama lol

- The 20 episodes format: the 4 extra episodes was a bad idea. Some parts were almost not entertaining at all.
- The secondary characters, i did not feel anything for them. Their presence was way too inconsistent, episodic.

Yet, do i recommend this drama? The answer is yes. My rate might be a bit low, but the story was original for a historic drama and the FL is carrying the show very well.

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just watch it and judge by yourself

imo reviews and comments are too extreme - i agree it isn't the best saeguk out there. it has several flaws in the writing and the plot sort of fell off after ep 10-12. if you came in looking for a politically-driven drama, this was definitely not it since the beginning. if you read the synopsis of this drama and expect strong politics, that's on you tbh because it screams romance-centered. "political" is not even a tag here, so judging it for having weak politics is out of place, since it wasn't even part of the main plot. the plot is clearly about how the female twin survives as the CP and develops feelings for her royal teacher, and that's pretty much what delivered. now, again, i agree it wasn't the best after the leads got together and the second half was underwhelming and draggy, but most of the reviews are focusing on things unrelated to this particular drama, and bringing up plots from other saeguks. the fact that it's a saeguk doesn't mean it needs go be politics-centered.
that said, it would've been better off if it had 16 eps as the regular format so that some of the writing mistakes wouldn't be so noticeable or bothersome. i feel like the writer forgot about certain characters throughout the drama and remembered them only by the end (tho they did have a purpose), which shows kind of lazy writing. it feels like the writer ran out of inspiration in the second act and didn't know what else to throw to the plot, but kind of recovered by eps 19-20 and produced a nice 3rd act (for me). these two were the best of the second half and gave a nice closure to the drama. overall, i did enjoy it but i'm also a rowoon stan, so i'm aware that my judgement isn't completely unbiased, lol. tho i wouldn't really recommend it to someone who isn't into saeguks, and maybe only if they like a lot of romance and rowoon, lol.

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Good title. It was Affection indeed. Not Love.

1/STORY

GOOD : The dramaturgy of the early episodes. Endearing leading teen actors. Cute first Love story. Nice twist of fate.
BAD: The palace schemes and action part only in the beginning and in the 2 last eps. The drama is 20eps but a long part of it is about a fake love story because it is rather Infatuation from his part and Affection from her part. It can't be called Love when it is plagued with lies and confusion and deception. The final part is rushed, messy and quite ridiculous.

2/ CHARACTERS:

- Dami/Lee Hwi:
GOOD: Dami was great. Lee Hwi was consistently written and well portrayed (kudos to Park Eun Bin and Choi Myung Bin). She was credible as a woman forced to live the life of another person and carry on the mascarade while trying to protect the ones she cared about.
NOT SO GOOD: Never understood why she kept living as CP and King just to avoid death. We all die sooner or later. Living just to avoid death means you are already dead. I was expecting her to live for something greater than herself as a woman, a person or a King. Nope. It was just about saving her butt.

- Ji-Un:
GOOD: Good kid who grew up to be a fun young man, talented, charming, a tease, dedicated to people and keen on justice.
NOT SO GOOD: He soon became a sorry character stucked in an unconditional puppy love and crawled back to his daddy to be a part of the props and be able to see the CP/King.

- Bad Grandpa: Never understood why the guy was so feared. He did not look so powerful. In the end he is a very weak vilain and his demise was a bit ridiculous and pathetic.

- Grandpa's dog: Ji Un's dad and a children killer. A man full of lame excuses for his terrible actions. No redemption for him. Straight to hell.

- Hyun: I did not like his obsession for the CP at first but he grew on me. A dedicated man, a good brother and a good friend who ends up on a high note.
- Ga-On: A man with a sword and his own agenda who achieved his goal and helped others at the same time. The real silent hero of the drama rewarded with a cute ending.
- Noh Ha Kyung and Shin So Eun: Two sad fates who are endearing enough to create empathy from me.
- Also I liked Commander Yoon good soldier and a man of duty.

OST:
I really started to hate the main song. Because it was played on every "romance" scene between the two leads and that "romance" was draggy and lopsided.

REWATCH VALUE:
Zero. Nada. 20 eps of that again? Surely not.

OVERALL:
A promising drama at first but ended draggy and disappointing with a thin palace plot and a draggy romance you can't buy because the FL and ML are on different agendas. It did not entertained me actually so I will not recommend it. 7/10 for it still has some qualities.

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Yes, She Can: Themes of Power and Love…and Feminism

I love the cast and most of the series. It is true that at some points its narrative pace weakens, and there are some transition issues perhaps from time constraints. However, when this 20-episode drama is good, it's very good. Some scenes are delightfully hilarious, others charming or deeply moving: the makers did a great job of developing characters and relationships. I think if it had been tightened and trimmed into 16 eps, with a less hurried writer, the series would have been gold. Still, the story and characters are strong, and the themes of loyalty, protectiveness, devotion, and love are explored tenderly. The series never is boring unless one views the dark sides of historical sexism, homophobia, classism, jealousy, abuse of power, political intrigue, assassination, murder, and struggles for position or justice through combat and power plays as boring. Or one never finished the series at all. For me, the real excellence of the series is its belief in friendship, loyalty, and love that "sees" and embraces the beloved, no matter the shifts and even threats. It is the series' greatest theme, and the actors deserve praise for their gifted performances in telling their characters' often tragic but also triumphant stories. And the most important take-away is that “Yes, she can.”

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