It's no secret that sageuks are undoubtedly my favourite genre; the politics, the court intrigue, the pining, yearning, the… female lead pretending to be a man in the most unconvincing way with the perfect eye makeup?

Slay, I guess.

PREMISE:
Kang Hee-Soo (Shin Se-kyung) is a noble lady dressing as a man in order to play baduk so that she can raise money for Joseon citizens who are kept as captives by the Qing empire so that they may return home. Lee In (Jo Jung-suk) is a prince returned home after being kept as collateral by the Qing empire to his loving brother who is… not exactly in a bro-love mood. Surprise! The King is crazy and needs to get a new nail lady because he’s chewing them to the bone.

Lee In loves baduk. Hee-soo also loves baduk. What more do you need for a stable relationship?

Turns out a lot because before long, their shaky friendship is the start of years long power struggle in the court that could mean the end of them both.

OVERARCHING THOUGHTS:
This drama, while marketed as a romance, focuses a lot more on LI and his struggle as a king to maintain control of his fragile power after sort of stealing his nephew’s birthright as king but for good reason. He weaves an intricate web that is years in the making, as he tries to rise above the corruption of the court.

HS… certainly is there.

While a cross-dressing female lead is nothing new, watching Shin Se-kyung, an undeniably beautiful woman, pretend to be a man and have everyone believe she is a man makes viewing this show an out of body experience. Especially when LI experiences true bisexual panic; if that man had a computer, his entire history would be doing buzzfeed “am i gay” quizzes.

SSK gets a lot of flack for her acting abilities, and I’ve always believed some (KEYWORD: SOME) of it is uncalled for. It’s not that she’s bad at acting - it’s just most of her acting is staring wide eyed and mouth slightly agape at another character with silent tears dripping down her face as her gaze is moving back and forth across the other character’s face. Not bad. Just… not particularly amazing. And when put with a veteran actor such as JJS, it becomes PAINFULLY clear just how lacking her acting abilities are. It definitely felt like JJS was having back pains with how he carried this show, in particular the romance, on his shoulders.

THE PLOT:
The plot is nothing spectacular, or anything new, really. You have your king who is in a power struggle with the corrupt (checks notes) uh, Prime Minister? No, the Primark? No. General of Defence? Principal Director? Honestly, I can’t really recall. Just your typical baddie. You got your extremely beautiful female lead who cannot pass for a man to save her life. You got the second male lead who, for once, actually knows he’s the second lead and is like “yeah, nah, not for me, thanks” and ultimately never really acts on his feelings and eventually overcomes them. Sketchy Queen Dowager who literally NEVER LEAVES HER ROOM AND STAYS SITTING IN THE SAME SPOT FOR ALL OF HER SCENES, the king’s loyal bodyguard, untrustworthy court lady - I honestly don’t remember half of their names because they’re very much the stereotypical archetypes of their genre.

The politicians are corrupt. The King and the main baddie fight a cold war with one another over power. The king wants the politicians to stop being corrupted and the politicians are like “nah”. FL swears revenge against ML for his past actions, ends up realising she was wrong all along and he’s actually the good guy and sides with him in the end. And, for some reason, EVERYONE and their mother wants to play baduk with the FL. Like, jeez, HS is more popular than the only person with a working vape at a party.

And the end? Lazy, rushed, dragged, and, not unlike Dixie D’Amlio’s music career, flopped. Somehow, HS just MANAGED to take the right path to the right spot to the right tree at the right time to find LI sitting there waiting for her with a baduk table ready to play.

Love wins, the bad guys are dead, and all the good guys get to live. Yeah. Honestly, that’s it. Anyways.

THE CHARACTERS:
I will say that LI’s character was the main chunk of keeping interest in this show because of the character’s actor and also the writing; while every other character was kept constrained to the roles this genre demands, LI was allowed to grow and show different sides to himself. He’s not afraid to play dirty. He’s not afraid to threaten and do what is necessary. He stole his nephew’s throne for himself, he lied, murdered, and betrayed, he’s the epitome of a grey character; which is such a breath of fresh air for this genre. JJS is a phenomenal actor and he was the main powerhouse of talent in this show.

Again, HS is… there. She has very little personality, and I am unsure if it’s because of how she was written or if it was how SSK decided to portray her, but either way, there’s very little about her that stands out; she’s good at baduk, she’s smart, and somehow everything she does ever always works out in her favour. Her promised revenge against the king was both badly written and portrayed due to the fact that from the start, it is very clear that whatever she has planned to do will never happen; as a result, there is no tension. It is plain bad writing, there’s no other way to put it. Similar to lunch in a school cafeteria: it was sloppy and very undercooked.

Speaking of tension - again, I have to say that the romance between HS and LI felt… lacking to say the least. By EP3, HS is already in love with him. I suppose it can be equated to a girlish love/crush that any woman would have when in the room with a powerful prince who is both handsome and kind to them. However, there isn’t very much that lends credit to the idea reiterated in the show time and time again that HS and LI are madly, deeply in love with one another - oh, sorry, that they are “captivated” by one another. Especially from LI’s side because there’s very little about HS as a person for him to love other than she plays baduk and is also very beautiful. The intimate scenes are very lacklustre, and reminiscent of old-school kdramas where the FL just stands there awkwardly frozen, eyes wide open as the ML is hugging or kissing them. There’s very little chemistry and the only way we know they’re in love with one another is because they say it. A lot.

Once again, I am unsure if it is because of the fault of the writers who are terrified at the idea of a woman being sexually active/attracted to her LI, or if it was a genuine decision by SSK to play HS as a person who barely meets eye contact with the man she’s supposedly in love with and only shows him a display of affection of her own free will, like, once. Even when she does touch or hug him (after he initiates, ofc), it’s like she’s doing so reluctantly and would literally rather touch wet food in the sink than touch the man she is in love with. In truth, the romance was akin to watching a fish flop about in a shallow puddle trying to breathe: somewhat amusing at first, yes, but eventually unbearable to withstand.

JJS did all of the heavy lifting to make this romance even somewhat believable and watchable (even when his co-star decided the most romantic kiss is to press her lips together, remain completely still with her eyes wide open), but it was painful to watch him giving such good performances to a co-star who was either incapable of matching him or was limited by the extremely bad writing of her character.

As such, the romance is not for those who actually wanted a sageuk with romance because there is no romance. Much like trying to find your vape in a bed: it just disappears in a second the moment you try to search for it.

AND ONE MORE THING:
Again, JJS was amazing in this show; he is the only reason the romance was even interesting to watch and he really did have to carry the bulk of the work into making it believable that he and the female lead were in love. Again, I know SSK gets a lot of flack for her acting, and I don’t know if it was because of the writing or if she was given little to work with, but I just honestly don’t have anything to say about it or her. This was JJS’s drama and everyone else was there for a paycheque.


OTHER THOUGHTS:
- The kid actors did extremely well, and the Queen's storyline was the only part of the show that made me weep like a baby.
- I’m sorry, it was so funny to me that to show the three-year time jump, the show decided that EVERYONE needed to grow a beard.
- The set designs were okay. Nothing shabby, but not exactly extravagant like I’ve seen in other historical dramas. The costume department was the same.
- The big bad guy never really got one up on LI. It was like any time he tried something, LI would turn around be like “AHA! YOU FOOL! I'M 15 STEPS AHEAD OF YOU! I ALREADY KNEW YOU WOULD DO THAT WHEN YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU'D DO THAT!”
- Can’t say much on the music, nothing stood out to me, if I’m being honest.
- The “night of intimacy” between LI and HS - you're telling me that they did the dirty and then decided to get completely dressed in their bed robes straight after before going back to sleep? Or did they do it completely clothed, under the sheets with no lights on and in complete silence like a Catholic couple unable to withstand the weight of their sins?

This show was a nice way to fill my time. When I was bored, I would watch as much of the show as I could before switching to something else. It certainly isn’t bad by any means, but if you’re expecting to be blown out of the water, perhaps choose something else to watch.