The Last Empress

First, the portrayal of a modern Royal Korea is pretty much what I could believe in. The mixture of women in Hanbok, with modern facilities. The scheming Dowagers still in existence and the bored spoilt princess - no change there! So yes 9/10 to the production for this portrayal.

The story is not half bad but then spread all over the place with way too many sub plots going on, that actually began to loose interest.

It is impossible to believe that the bodyguard was the same bumbling stumbling pathetic person in the first couple of episodes, who becomes the cool calm efficient slimline gorgeous man later.

The FL plays the same role always in every single drama she is in! Miss "wide eyed innocent cutesy plain but nice person" who finds inner strength later and everyone is rooting for her and she is sooooo NICE and ultimately boring.

The Emperor is gawd awful. Could think of at least a dozen other actors that could have done this role way better. He starts out loathsome and then personality switches over completely so that you are meant to be all empathetic towards him particularly once he sleeps with the FL.

Finally it was dragged out unnecessarily, 12 episodes could have wrapped this nicely.

Not particularly great but with popcorn you can pass a wet day indoors watching this.

My opinion the acting was amazing. But the storyline around the last episodes need more time and explanation. There were many times that the actors chooses dumb ways bringing them back again in to the same problem. The ending was good but I hoped the emperor had the chance to explain better or choose better dialogue. This series is mix of everything action, drama, comedy...

At first glance, the cast was stacked but that alone wasn't enough. The drama was obviously some kind of a parody on the genre but it didn't embrace its nature. It made me realized the complete lack of parodies in Kdrama in general which is really unfortunate. Hyper intense, extreme overreactions, deranged morals, illogical by design, fueled by insanity, and unhinged characters. However, for this formula to work, the drama needed one of two things, either add more self-awareness, commit to the theme and double down or create a structure amidst this entire madness. Both of which the drama didn't do. Which left us with a half-arsed attempt to what could have been a unique experience. It would have benefited greatly if it had been cut down to 12 episodes. Will remember it for the potentials it might have had.

That's the worst part. I read a lot of reviews where people praised the acting. I can't believe how I felt like puking whenever the Emperor showed his face. His performance is, imho, one of the worst, most pathetic, ridiculous, caricatural and embarassing I've seen in a long time. Not even on purpose! Also, the dowager's face was indeed such a mixture of botox and fillers that I couldn't read her expressions, if any.

It's also true that people keep showing their anger by throwing things across the room and breaking glass. I guess, to compensate for their lack of acting skills. I mean, anger, frustration, hatred, they all should be read ON THE ACTOR'S FACE? Right? Or in their lines? Again, Park Seo-Jun in The Itaewon Class. Sorry, it always comes back to him, but most Korean actors are incredibly talented, I don't know how they ended up picking that guy who doesn't even have the good looks to get away with it, like Lee Min Ho does.

Having said that, I won't blame it all on him. Those evil smirks??? It has to be the director. For me, it's another way of either compensating for the bad acting, or helping poor, dumb viewers understand that the character just deceived someone. Except, good acting and good plots don't required such things.

About the plot. It all boils down to "How to ruin your own plans in one lesson: Go find your enemy and brag about how you're gonna bring them down, leaving out no detail..."

So many things that don't make sense at all. Like. Apparently, this is a parallel universe where the cloud doesn't exist. People use their phones to get evidence, but will only keep the data on the device? WTH!!!

And the ending. After everything, I don't think the one dimensional villains got what they deserved. No. I can't believe Sunny crying over her former enemies "ande, ande, irona!", especially over a guy who wronged her so much! What about Na Wang-Sik? Who cares about him? WHO???? I'm sorry but the emperor pinning a badge on his own bare chest and taking over Na Wang-Sik's cause, is just... sickening. He has no right to. That douch*, that joke, that evil clown, that sad excuse for a human being... he doesn't deserve redemption. I don't care about his dead parrot, or his dead wife, or his insane mother. He's a monster. Period.

Ah, 6 stars? Why. Because the last five episodes were okay, and because A-ri, the little princess was cute and an amazing actress. They should all take lessons from her. She was the only one with presence, the only one who shone. I look forward to seeing her again in something better. Attagirl!

I am surprised to see such low rating of this show. I think it was very well balanced and brilliantly executed. The character arc was beautifully developed. Even though longer than the normal Korean dramas, it didn't lose its charm. Also loved the way they didn't try to needlessly glamorise everything.