King's Affection. Love it!

Lying down dying of my stomach ache, I ended up watching the finale of King's Affection. Until the mid-20th episode, I was sitting on needles. Incredible emotions and fantastic acting of a huge number of actors persuaded me to rearrange my second ten of the best dramas I have ever seen 💓 This drama gets very strong 8/10 from me and will stay in my heart for long. The series confronted me with a previously unknown bad omen, which is the birth of twins in the royal family, about which I had no idea 😨 The fact that the daughters of rulers are less important than sons has always been known and has occurred in almost every kingdom in the world, but the fact that their sharing of a mother's womb with their sister is unthinkable 😤 and terrible ... is totally unthinkable for me.

The story is set during the Joseon Dynasty when Crown Princess Consort gives birth to twins. When she hears of having son and daughter, secretly sends baby-girl out of the palace, pretending her to be still-born. No-one ever in the kingdom heard of this situation and the life in the palace goes on.

Time goes by and Dam-I and Lee Hwi are learning their obligations, she as a servant far away from the capital and he as a future Crown Prince. A few years later, Dam-I happend to get a job as a maid in the palace and twins meet each other. They are at hirst scared of the enconter but later see the adventage of possibility to switch places when needed (cliché 😝). Unfortunately one of those switches didn't end up well for Lee Hwi who loses his life. Their mother, having recognised her daughter, persuades her to take Lee Hwi's place. For years new prince dinstances herself from everybody to limit the possibility to be recognized. One day, Jung Ji Woon, her original first love and now royal teacher comes to palace and hiding feeling has now become very hard.

Show has started with a punch and finished in a similar manner 😍 Some of the middle episodes were prolonged and draged a bit. They could have shorten the drama by 1 or 2 episodes instead or as some say to "fix up some of the plot holes". I cannot say that I found any, I was thinking deeply about it but cannot find anything. They say that "it's unnecessary to have the 2 side female love interests when when there are already love triangles" .... but in my opinion it was a very nice trick that made the story authentic and realistic. The complexity of leads' realtionship is epic. I love how many people is involved in this relation net. It was also entertaining to watch a kiss of 2 women in a kdrama 😆 even if for few seconds (and by mistake) but at least the LGBT group had its appearance on screen.

What love trianles are we talking about? Well... there is planty of them 😅 

Most intense one and the longest existing triangle is Lee Hyun - King - Ji-un. Lee Hyun is a total sweetheart that would literally do everything for His/Her majesty. He knows the secret almost from the beginning but didn't say it to anyone. He's extremely protective and devoted towards Lee Hwi. His connection to royal house is a bit unclear to me (maybe that was the lot hole!? 😲). We know that he is younger brother to Prince Wonsan but they are called distant cousins with the King 😵 how cousin can be a prince then .... Some had a second lead syndrome with Lee Hyun but I think the story finished well for him. He got rewarded for what he did for Lee Hwi and Dam-I.

The other 2 triangles include ladies, therefore we have No Ha-Kyung - King - Ji-un and King - Ji-un - Shin So-Eun .... from which we can make a square 😂😁 No Ha-Kyung - King - Ji-un - Shin So-Eun. The beautiful So-Eun meets Ji-Un at the very beginning of the series, she falls in love with his handsome face from the first sight. Similarily to Ha-Kyung with the king who saves her from falling by stumbling. I am full of admiration that they were able to give up the one they loved for higher purposes. Ha-Kyung generally had no other option because he wasn't him 😅 but the fact that she kept the secret until the end was beautiful and showed how pure her soul is 💛

As for the negative characters, the one who made Dam-I turn into Lee-Hwi got what he should. Han Ki-Jae was one of those characters who's been bad from the beginning of the show, and you just wait tillthe end to see him reveicing the punishment he deserves. Small and old lords are always suspicious to me 😑

Another negative character is Chief Jung, Ji-Un's father and Lord Sangheon's right-hand man. Until the middle of the drama, he is a highly disliked charatker but as his story begins to unfold I'm starting to understand him and kinda even like him. The last 2 episodes completely changed my idea of him and although he was still not positive at least he tried to redeem his guilt. He shared the way of protecting the family and approach to it with the father of twins a.k.a. the recently deceased king.

Both fathers deeply cared for their children but were hiding it do it won't be used against them all in the political game. They prefered to be hated by their childern than to explain what is going on. It's somewhat noble and sweet but I would hate myself if my parent would behave like that. Bittersweet love is too cruel to me 😧

Moving to more positive aspect .... have you ever seen a drama so filled with such a beautiful actors? From the beginning of the series, almost every episode there was another stunning character added. Beautiful women, handsome men ... this palace is a paradise on earth! 😍 Interestingly the craze of handsome men in King's Affection was present across many forums and platforms but so little was said about women. It is known that women watch dramas more than men, but I didn't know that they were only focused on them 

Ladies first ....

• No Ha-Kyung (Jung Chae-Yeon) -left top picture; the later wife of Lee Hwi, she may not have played a huge role in the series but she protected the king well. I wish to see her together with So-Eun in another serie as I think they both have untold potential 😍
• Shin So-Eun (Bae Yoon-Kyoung) - right top picture; the wife-to-be of Ji-Un, we get to know her from the bad side when she threatens Ji-Un's associates, but with time she becomes more and more pleasant and lovely. In my eyes, she gains every episode 😇
• Crown Princess (Han Chae-Ah) - mother of Lee-Hwi, although she was only on the show for maybe 2-3 episodes, her actions made Lee-Hwi and Dam-I switch places. She had a very difficult role to play at the royal court but she did it brilliantly and with class 👌
• Grand Queen Dowager (Lee Il-Hwa) - I am incredibly happy that the character appeared sporadically on the show and was positive because of the stigma of Young Lady and The Gentleman I cannot look at this actress. She created a character there that I hate to this day 😤
• Queen (Son Yeo-Eun) - second wife of Lee Hwi's father, another beautiful woman and another small role, nevertheless her beauty has been noticed! The actress herself didn't do much on the show, but was referenced many times, so she played a greater role behind the scenes than on air 😬

And now gentelman.... 

• Jung Ji-Un (Ro Woon) - left bottom picture; first and forever love of Dam-I/Lee Hwi. Love this character as he is true to himself and does not waver with opinions depending on what environment he is in. I love him for protecting Lee Hwi and being loyal to Dam-I all the time 💓
• Prince Wonsan (Kim Taek) - middle bottom picture; uncle of Lee Hwi, even though he was a negative character I couldn't skip him in this list. There was a lot said about the Prince Changun but he was nothing to compare to Wonsan. He has class, desire and is determined to get what he wants. I don't even hate him for what he did because as he said "he is entilted to be the king as being a relative to late king" .... but what he did to little Prince Jehyeon is unforgivable 😡
• Kim Ga-On (Choi Byung-Chan) - right bottom picture; private guard of Lee Hwi, his entry made a splash on the internet and everyone was apparently googling who it was. When I was watching the series myself, I found a few articles entitled "who is the guard Ga-On" 😅😇 

Aside from leads, triangle members and handsome secondary characters, King's Affection is full of amazing characters. My and milions others most liked are chubby Enuch Hong and mother-like Court Lady Kim. The others are Ji-Un's associates, loyal Bang Jil-Geum & sweet Bang Yeong-Ji and palace guardian friendly Byulgam Gu. Each character is different and interesting. It is not known where the friend-palace guard came from (next plot hole or is it just my picking now?) but I'm glad he was there as played major role in last episodes. 

All the actors and characters are fantastic and they did a great job but the one who did the most is of course Park Eun Bin aka King aka Dam-I. After Do You Like Brahms I wasn't sure if I want to look at the drama with her. That drama wasn't good and I didn't like any character there therefore I was scared to watch King's Affection. But she was here more than excelent! In one moment she is strong and fierce Crown Prince and later King, then she turns into a gorgeous girl with stunning smile. She blown me away with her acting skill and almost convince me to watch Extraordinary attorney Woo. My husband's comment when I summarized this series to him was priceless "once again milion lives were saved my small boobs" 😂😂 I must admit that the comment was not unfounded, if not for her small breasts and neutral facial features this character would not exist 😅😲

Creating a drama about a young girl who has create a play and become the Porcelain Crown Prince to survive in the royal palace after her twin brother was murdered was a brilliant idea. Giant congratulations to the writer and producers! This is an amazing drama and I'm happy to convince myself to watch it. King's Affection has an amazing balance between romance and palace politics, intense and calm moments .... I honesty believe that this balance is the key to splendid drama, on top of that you have a chemistry between the leads that makes it top!

Aside from the lengthy scenes between episode 9th and 14th and some more developed elements, I can't say a bad word about the show. Unfortunately, these elements affect the overall picture and the series does not become an equal to Rookie Historian but only a step away from it. Nonetheless, go! and enjoy watching it, sit back & relax 💖

P.S. Sorry for so long review. Next one will be short 🙈