What have I been doing this week? I’m glad you asked! Here’s what’s been on my watchlist this week:
*Note: My reviews usually contain spoilers. You have been warned. Proceed at your own risk.*
TV
The King’s Affection (2021) – Ep 11-20
My k-drama watching had fallen by the wayside a little bit, but there’s nothing like a sageuk to pull me back in. While The King’s Affection is pretty light on the history part of historical drama, it has only amped up the drama in its second half.
As our young Crown Prince’s (Park Eun-bin) identity is revealed to more and more people to be that of his twin sister, the scheming political struggles also increase. Park continues to be one of the strongest performers, but it seems that she is largely relegated to sitting around waiting for things to happen to her rather than taking action. That gets left largely in her court members’ hands. Whether that be her being sent into exile, her father’s demise which forces her return, or the impending war with her grandfather’s army, Lee Hwi, is forced into a passive role.
Jung Ji-un (Rowoon) also vacillates a lot, and when we last left him, he had decided to distance himself from the court and from the Crown Prince, unaware of her identity either as a woman or as his childhood love. After learning of the danger on her life, he jumps at the opportunity to protect and as a result discovers the prince to in fact be a princess. He returns to court, and they decide that they can weather any storm that comes their way, as long as they are together (cheesy, but very beautifully shot), only for him to nearly marry someone else, before he comes to his senses when he learns that Hwi is Dam-i, his childhood sweetheart.
That’s all well and good when you have only minor troubles to deal with, but with Lee Hwi’s sudden ascension to the throne, and the resulting power struggles with his uncle and cousins, it’s easier said than done. Ji-un’s father is also another force to be reckoned with, who in turn is also bound by the Left State Councillor (Yoon Je-Moon). All this means that they ultimately come down to a small team of 6 truly trustworthy people and, especially for those like Court Lady Kim (Baek Hyun-joo) and Eunuch Hong (Go Gyu-pil), their reach is particularly limited.
While all this is ripe for a large battle and major strife, I felt like the last few episodes fell a bit… flat. The promised grand war didn’t happen, there was unnecessary loss of life (why did they need to kill a child?) and in the end it came down to Lee Hwi and his grandfather sharing a poisoned pot of tea. There was no explanation whatsoever about how Hwi survived his own poisoning or the toll it took on Ji-un that she was willing to do that.
The writing was a little too convenient in the final episode, with everything wrapped up neatly and our couple getting to ride off into the sunset. While this is standard practice for most k-dramas, here it felt a bit artificial and therefore unearned. While it was very pretty to look at, the show had its fair share of issues, and I didn’t come away with the fuzzy feelings I think I was expected to.
Colourful Granny 