We are going back to the Joseon Dynasty in this week’s drama review, with a story involving not just romance, comedy and fluff, but also political conflicts and secrets that need to be kept for a lifetime. Let’s talk about ‘The King’s Affection’.
Twins in the Joseon Dynasty times
Directed by Song Hyun-wook, written by Han Hee-jung, and created by Ki Min-soo and Hong Seok-gu, ‘The King’s Affection’ centers about the life of the Crown family. It also focuses on the unfortunate events they are involved in when the Crown Princess Consort gives birth to twins, considered a bad omen in the era.
To avoid the death of her daughter the Crown Princess Consort sends her baby out of the palace, however, unknowingly she comes back years later to work as a maid, putting her existence once again in danger.
Meeting her by chance, the now teen male twin discovers their physical resemblance, and plots a plan to make her sit as him while he leaves the palace.
Tragedy hits when Crown Prince Lee Hwi is killed mistakenly and now his twin sister Dam-yi (Park Eun-bin) must take over his place for the rest of her life.
Past connection coming back
While working as a maid Dam-yi met Jung Ji-woon (Ro Woon) and they became really close friends, as she disappears when becoming the Crown Prince, Ji-woon tries to find her. However, he discovers many secrets about his father leading him to leave the city and live his life independently.
Now back, as an adult he is forced by his father to work in the Palace as the Crown Prince’s Tutor. The connection they both have is inevitable, they are each other’s first love, but Ji-woon starts having conflicted feelings as he is still unsure of the reason behind his attraction to the Crown Prince.
At the same time, in the palace many plots are taking place but they only have the support of their small inner-circle. It might not be enough to play against the big figures behind the power that the King represents.
Behind the power
‘The King’s Affection’ balanced several aspects of the story perfectly. Without leaving out the issues arising from the love story between the Crown Prince and Ji-woon, this drama also takes the internal conflict in the palace and the political play in it.
Corruption and injustice are issues that keep shadowing the good reputation of the Crown, and they only intensify when the Crown Prince is forced to become the King. In this drama, family becomes the worst enemy and outsiders become the support system, making it a very interesting drama to watch.
The story itself is well-paced, at times I felt it could have been a bit faster, but it was a pace needed for the story to be fully rounded and cover every aspect.
If you are up-to watching a historical drama with an excellent cast, check out ‘The King’s Affection’. It is now available on Netflix, and you can watch the trailer below.
