Warning, this will be a very long essay. I wrote this years ago somewhere else. I just need to let more people know how much I loved this show, so pardon for the irrelevance (or the long-squee moments instead of reviewing lol). This drama has three elements that catch a bucket of love. I won’t talk much about the (AMAZING) plot, I only want to stay in the realness of the character and how a glimpse of life can be so well captured in this series. Firstly, I noticed this drama portrays how the role of husband and wife should be (at least from my view). Jae-ha carries the most responsibility of his country. He has to be tough and smart and wise and professional in hiding his personal problem. He is the face of the country. On the other hand, he is just a human. At some points in his life, he falls apart- physically, mentally, or both. Then it is the righteous time when a woman ‘catches’ him and makes him stand. There is no talking of gender issue here, I am just pointing out the role of male and female in a relationship. Their case’s difference between common people is only the weight of responsibility that the male has to carry on his shoulder. Hang-ah is a perfect match for Jae-ha in many ways. Regardless they are the main leads in this drama which I personally put that fact aside, their character just complete each other. They have their own unique similarities which equal with their differences. Many dramas out there is trying to only focus on the leads’ differences and try to make them fall in love, while Hang-ah and Jae-ha have the same amount of reason to hate or to love each other. *I don’t know how to describe them anyway. Lols. Because they are just my favorite brainy-brawn-bad-ass characters (yeay!) Back to Hang-ah and her role as how any wife should be. And I just want to emphasize things happening in one episode which turns me into Jae-ha fans, Hang-ah fans, the royal family fans (the mother/queen, Jae-shin, Jae-Kang who are so welcoming Hang-ah), and Jae-ha-Hang-ah’s chemistry fans. Hang-ah is the most tough woman I’ve ever seen – in dramaland by far. She is not just advanced in martial art because she is so damn lovely and cute at the same time. Mostly, her feminism side is shown when she is being with Jae-ha. This is just realistic! errr yeah, I've seen Hang-ah girl type in real life. So.... I’ve just explained the first element – the main subtle message for me which is about the role of man and woman in the world of how to rule a country, now, lets take a look to the second elements: politics. I never interested to any part of political issue that any drama brings out – I still don’t care. However, The king 2 Hearts brings me to a whole new level of getting involved in political issue because I like how the main leads rule it. Its Jae-ha who wins over my heart, steals every adorable moment in my imagination to belong to his character, and he is such a witty-and-brainy person. His stepping up to become the king is precious and that is his best charm. Oh not to mention he is just the most romantic and sweetest king ever – or can I say he is just a portrait for every king in the world who adores his queen so much?. Hang-ah has the same equal role in ruling or steering the politics except she comes from north, a female, and she is not the throne. Those parts strengthen her legal to be on Jae-ha side. If she has the same power with him, I think the story would turn out differently. Maybe when Jae-ha ‘fell’, she overtook it and seemed more powerful than Jae-ha and it would hurt my fangurl side to team up with the king (lol, what? Ok just ignore my random thought). So the strength in Hang-ah makes them perfect to combine their power. The third element is how the romance doesn’t interrupt nor is awkwardly inserted in the middle of the tense in the drama because it has its own way to win viewer's heart. It is there from the beginning, you know. Comparing to the other shows, the king and queen love story in this drama is the real winner. It does not make me all whinny when the threatening moment comes, but the story is intriguing, gripping, and entertaining. Moreover, a small caring gesture either from Jae-ha or Hang-ah just gives me a whole butterflies to my stomach. Them teaming up to confront the bad guy is the best thing. To conclude, this is just a perfect drama for you if you're looking for a modern-setting korean royal story with badass female lead (who is so RARELY found in dramaland) and an adorable king. Also, you might enjoy the King's journey from him being a scaredy cat to be a powerful (and the sweetest) king like I did. And I know, I will love it all over again when I re-watch this for nth times :')