Abraxas
Florida, but once upon a time Germany
A Pleasant One-Time Watch
I mostly picked this drama because I had just watched Park Eun Bin in Extraordinary Attorney Woo and was really impressed by her acting skills. She is just as outstanding in this drama. It’s amazing that the same person is playing the title character both shows.
The plot is quite intriguing. The twin sister replaces the crown prince and faces constant exposure and challenges, such as having to get married at some point. And produce an heir, good luck with that… Many gender-switching shows are very taxing on the viewer because the character is so very obviously NOT a boy or a girl. (Love in the Moonlight, I’m looking at you! Let’s pick the prettiest girl and everyone will believe she’s a boy… seriously…) Here, while we know the crown prince is played by a woman, it is not entirely unrealistic that people around her would believe her to be a young man.
The first few episodes are really good, there’s some fight scenes and the romance between our two protagonists develops nicely from when they were children. But then further into the show nothing really happens. It became extremely draggy. I kept watching because surely, at some point, it would pick up speed… and the last few episodes were definitely better, with lots of action and plot twists. But instead of 20 episodes, 12 episodes would have been sufficient to tell the story.
As others have mentioned, the cinematography in this drama is stunning. The setting for some of the romantic scenes at the home outside the palace was just gorgeous. Another high point was the acting. Though some of the characters were written a bit one-dimensional – like the bodyguard, very pleasing on the eyes for sure, but that seemed to be the main characteristic, and even our male hero lacked a bit of spark – the actors all did a fine job. A special mention goes to Bae Soo Bin, who was excellent as the ambiguous father of the male protagonist. The two supporting female characters were also quite well portrayed, which was a nice contrast to many other historical dramas where the female supporting cast is often forgettable.
Would I recommend this drama? Well, I did enjoy it overall due to the interesting storyline, the acting and the beautiful cinematography. But it’s not something I would watch again, unlike for example Mr Queen or Bossam, which I enjoyed much more.
The plot is quite intriguing. The twin sister replaces the crown prince and faces constant exposure and challenges, such as having to get married at some point. And produce an heir, good luck with that… Many gender-switching shows are very taxing on the viewer because the character is so very obviously NOT a boy or a girl. (Love in the Moonlight, I’m looking at you! Let’s pick the prettiest girl and everyone will believe she’s a boy… seriously…) Here, while we know the crown prince is played by a woman, it is not entirely unrealistic that people around her would believe her to be a young man.
The first few episodes are really good, there’s some fight scenes and the romance between our two protagonists develops nicely from when they were children. But then further into the show nothing really happens. It became extremely draggy. I kept watching because surely, at some point, it would pick up speed… and the last few episodes were definitely better, with lots of action and plot twists. But instead of 20 episodes, 12 episodes would have been sufficient to tell the story.
As others have mentioned, the cinematography in this drama is stunning. The setting for some of the romantic scenes at the home outside the palace was just gorgeous. Another high point was the acting. Though some of the characters were written a bit one-dimensional – like the bodyguard, very pleasing on the eyes for sure, but that seemed to be the main characteristic, and even our male hero lacked a bit of spark – the actors all did a fine job. A special mention goes to Bae Soo Bin, who was excellent as the ambiguous father of the male protagonist. The two supporting female characters were also quite well portrayed, which was a nice contrast to many other historical dramas where the female supporting cast is often forgettable.
Would I recommend this drama? Well, I did enjoy it overall due to the interesting storyline, the acting and the beautiful cinematography. But it’s not something I would watch again, unlike for example Mr Queen or Bossam, which I enjoyed much more.
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