amateurcritic
|| 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.
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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