I was apprehensive at the idea of watching this, the reason being that the show didn’t do so great despite having a fan following. Once you read something like that it imprints a certain image in your mind. I thought the show would be bad. That wasn’t the case, for the most part.
The show had an ensemble cast, there were eight princes, that’s eight good-looking Korean dudes in one show, a lot of times together in the same scene. Overwhelming? Yeah, you could say that. There were several characters besides and as far as the acting is concerned, the show was excellent.
I began enjoying it immediately and continued enjoying it till the end. It was sweet and cute and light-hearted at the beginning but steadily grew darker and full of despair. Actually, this is where things went a bit haywire. The first half was incredible, so was the second last quarter, though less so. The final quarter was insane and there were so many things that either didn’t make any sense or made everything seem rushed and ill-conceived.
There were four love interests and despite being ridiculous, it didn’t surprise me. As we all know: more guys in the show = increase in the number of romantic partners. Two were obvious and made sense, the other two I could have done without. Especially Ji-soo’s 14th prince. I, somehow, haven’t warmed up to his acting, though he is good, and I never much cared for his character. One of the most surprising parts of the show was Hae Soo’s marriage to him. I can think of one other who deserved to have her by his side but never him.
The show’s soundtrack was impressive. All of the tracks bar one or two were wonderful.
There’s a lot of bloodshed and killing and dying and it was absolutely heart-wrenching.
One day I will stop scoffing at the concept of ‘multiple lives’ Korean dramas are so fond of, but this is not that day. They’re plucked out of their ordinary lives and into their past selves and just as unceremoniously dumped back or either the guy or the girl is shown to love all lives of the same person through time. So, GAH is what I’m saying. The former scenario happened in this show and it was lame beyond reason and imagining. It was particularly disappointing because of the seemingly open-ending. Are we supposed to accept that?
And what of that homeless guy? Who turned from being homeless to a museum tour-guide within the same lifetime. (I was super-stoked to see the Reply 1988 dads together, though.)
Okay, so the love triangle. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that it was THE most worth-investing love-triangle in the history of weird romantic shapes. The second lead is normally a great guy but he’s out-shined by the main lead even by a hair’s breadth and the heroine (and the viewer alike) aren’t that interested though they agree that he is likable.
This wasn’t the case here.
Not only did I love Wook as much, if not more, than So, he and Soo were a serious thing and the fact that it lasted for 10 episodes had me screaming with joy. Then the inevitable happened. He was ‘out-shined’ and out maneuvered and literally everything went bad for the poor guy. That made me pissed because that was a giant waste and all because he wasn’t the main lead. The least that could’ve happened was Soo marrying Wook and not Jung because DAMMIT WHY?
So and Wook’s love story was tragic and sweet and beautiful and while I knew what would happen, I still hoped it wouldn’t. Ah.
Wang So was probably my favorite character in terms of how real he seemed. His struggle to be accepted by his mother, his pain at being considered cursed and a monster, his desire to be loved, all made him extremely root-worthy and lovable. If only the creators of the show hadn’t completely ruined the ending, I mightn’t have mourned how they misused Wook in favor of So. (I don’t remember the name of the actor who plays So but the guy’s face has some resemblance to a lion’s and it’s GORGEOUS)
Then there was the incest. YUCK but I guess that’s what people did back then.
And wtf was that even with Baek Ah and Woo Hee? Okay, not him but her alone. Her suicide made NO sense to me, like AT ALL. The show became so muddled and confusing at the end.
Still, it was mostly impressive and entertaining and it did give me a ton of feels so…
My Rating: 7/10
