Sejak

Really looked forward to watching this. Waited until all the episodes were available to start watching so could blitz to the end.

The "accidental" king who takes the throne when his brother the King is poisoned falls in love with a wannabe spy/traitor who is disguised as a man. Let me say right here right now the she/he does not even pass as a boy! Not even a twinkie. Ayway, Yeah the she/he falls for the king too.

There is all the usual Palace intrigue with the women stuck in there at their very best at being devious. 10/10 to the Dowager Queen, but you can't really act that role badly

There has been a spate of dramas with girls pretending to be boys and confusing the ML who begins to think he is Gay and so here is another one.

The story is basically good. But the absolute lack of PASSION between the ML and the FL literally ruined this drama. It was like watching a Kdrama from the '80s - stiff and unemotional. The FL, Shin Se-kyung, was absolutely dreadful, just one expression dead-pan, occasionally she threw in dead-pan with tears. Will certainly avoid her in anything in future! Not once was I convinced these two Leads were in love or capable of being intimate.

This Director should watch "My Dearest/Lovers" for tips on how to film deep affection/love in a historical context! Even "Mr Queen", was way better at filming believable affection between the leads. Can't believe this was released in 2024. Not tepid or tame, just ice cold!

The cinematography is feeble. When they finally have one night together where the king discovers she is a woman, the light in the room was like a DOZEN led bulbs! Ridiculous.

This is okay to pass the time if you are looking for a historical drama but I had to leave it a few times as I was getting so frustrated with the poor acting. And we know that Jo Jung Suk is a brilliant actor but in this he was so wooden I was baffled. Maybe this was the directors plan? Didn't work for me.

Oh and there is no secondary relationship to ease the boring moments and zero comical moments.

Finally have to mention; watched with Korean audio and English subtitles. The absolute WORSE subtitle translations! So much American modern slang that was totally wrong for the status of the leads. Someone who couldn't comprehend that Royalty do not speak like working class bums and translated as though everyone spoke 'street'. Ugh.

When picked this drama to watch, I hadn't realized that the male lead was Jo Jung Suk. I smiled like a teenager in love for the first time. I immediately thought of "Oh My Ghost!" and "Hospital Playlist" (they owe us a third season, by the way). What a difference between these lead roles, however, his performances were super each and every time. I don't recall seeing the female lead acting before, therefore, I can only applaud her performance. The match between them was delightful. I must finish saying that I was expecting the same historical drama that I have previously watched. It is far from the truth! From episode 1 until the last one, this drama catches all your attention an heart. It is a "must watch".

I've liked Jo Jung-suk from 'Oh my ghost' and 'Don't dare to dream', so I was easily drawn to this drama. What do I like about him the most... it's those intense loaded looks he gives his female leads that make my heart skip a beat.... and he didn't disappoint in this drama with 'Shin Se-kyung'.

There was a point in one of the episodes where I didn't realise how much I had been holding my breath in great anticipation of a certain meeting.

I've just finished watching episode 5 and have a WHOLE day to wait for the next episode (how will I cope? Lol) The acting has been superb with no dull moments in my opinion. There are so many of the supporting cast that I have been endeared to which is a credit to them bringing their characters to life. I'm not sure why it's been rated lower than I would have expected but the characters are bringing to our present world the cut-throat and back stabbing behaviours of those who wanted power back in the day, which at times is hard to watch. I am hoping and praying that the next 11 episodes don't disappoint.

I thought it was a very good drama, thanks for the most part by the acting skills of the main character. Yes, they could have much done better in terms of altering the female lead's appearance to make the story credible. Aside from that, the kissing scenes are awful and there is no passion between the actors who are supposed to have fallen heads over heels for each other. The Queen dowager however played her insavory character with great skills (and humor) and recites her lines perfectly. I thought that in many scenes where they appear, she overwhelms and outshines all the other female characters in the plot.

2 episodes in - the biggest plot twist is so definitively written in that self-explanatory title, and it's no doubt that this romance drama will be gut-punching the audiences to tears in the latter episodes. Yes, it's that obvious.

However, the main casts, production, script and directing has been great so far. I just hope that it didn't include too many gap-filler mini-dramas with minor casts, like other could-have-been-great series as long as they maintained the main track of storytelling.

2 main casts are doing their great job, as expected as usual but surprisingly well set in this between them, which is so overwhelming to watch.