The Last Empress

"Could be better but still good" That was my first thought about the serie. But the further I went, the more I enjoyed it. Serie was taking me all in and I must admit that it was a great show with the most unexpecting finish. 

Background

Story is based in Empire of Korea where emperors are still ruling and they are liked by the society. Country is ruled by young emperor named Hyuk Lee who is widowed for 7 years. He lives with his mother, grandmother, sister and her daughter in the great palace. On the other side of the story we have Sunny Oh, starting actress at the theatre that lives with father and sister and own fried chicken restaurant. Two completely different worlds clashes at one of the charity lunches during which Sunny saves king’s life from the bomb. The time is passing, unusual romance develops and the strangers are getting married.

Where is the criminal part you think😐…. There you go!

Until the marriage ceremony, murders were just in the background but now they are stepping in. With time we are getting to know more and more dark secrets and odd habits of imperial family. Unfortunately cheerful Sunny stepped into quite a shithole. She has to grow and toughen up very fast.

 

That hasn’t been the most unusual and the longest kdrama I have watched. It took me 3 months to watch it out. It was worth its time!  

The last empress is more criminal and dark than any other kdrama (didn't expect that coming😬) You can find here numerous fights (more or less brutal) and murders, tones of lies and twists at their reveals. Not talking about revenges which main characters were soaking it.  All in all, serie has very developed storyline which sometimes overwhelms. It has been first time when I needed some time to think that the hell just happened and reposition my emotions regarding the characters. From episode to episode I have been changing my likings and teams. Those characters really have a soul!😍 They are so authentic and never “black-or-white”. At the beginning, I hated Hyeong with passion and loved his counter character Na Won Sik, while at the end I felt hard for the Emperor and was deeply annoyed by the head of guards. The same goes for the emperor’s daughter (PLOT TWIST!) Ai-ri and his mistress Yu-na. Both were irritating me until the mid of the serie, when I finally understood them.

The slow and confusing beginning, pays off at the end 😱😱 Last 4-5 episodes (26 in total) has to be watched as one, without any break. It is the festival of shock and reveal.  We get to know what happened 7 years ago and how really main and many secondary characters are connected. There was no moment when I could breath normally.

Are there any disadvantages? Of course, for me it was inconsistency in a plot revel. Sometime the story goes too slow and viewers (like me) are getting bored. It took place 2-3 times that I turned it off and decided to watch something else. Editors should have cut down some scenes in its length. 

The Last Empress together with The Eternal King and The King. 2 hearts, make amazing imperial collection what are worth watching for more than 100%.