Episodes: 20, Romance/Fantasy/Period
Cast:
Kim Soo Hyun as Lee Hwon
Yeo Jin Goo as Hwon (15 years old)
Han Ga In as Heo Yeon Woo / Wol
Kim Yoo Jung as Yeon Woo (13 years old)
Jung Il Woo as Prince Yang Myung
Lee Min Ho as young Yang Myung
Kim Min Seo as Yoon Bo Kyung
Kim So Hyun as young Bo Kyung
A friend recommended I watch this, so I gave this a go. It was well received during it's airing time in South Korea. I had no expectations because it was in the period of Joseon time with their puffy costumes :P
This is a fictional story and has no historical background to it. The crown prince Lee Hwon wanted to climb the palace wall one day because he was bored and wanted to see his step brother Prince Yang Myung. Heo Yeon Woo was at the palace for her brother's valedictorian ceremony, distracted by a butterfly, caught him and thought he was a thief. The first meeting was an awkward misunderstanding.
Lee Hwon was immediately impressed by Yeon Woo's intelligence that day and wondered if he'll see her again. When Yeon Woo found out who he was, she was aghast, but nevertheless intrigued.
She was chosen along with Bo Kyung to be the crown princess's study buddies in the palace. The crown princess favoured Yeon Woo as she was in love with her pretty older brother Heo Yeom. Bo Kyung disliked Yeon Woo. Bo Kyung, with her father's influence was able to get to this position today and she wanted to win the crown prince's heart to become the future queen.
Lee Hwon was infatuated by Yeon Woo and thought of various ways to meet up with her. Eventually, he was able to during a party feast. They met/talked and fell in love. So young at 15 years old and it's love. I have to say "aww." Lee Hwon chose Yeon Woo to be the future queen. Preparations were made and they were about to finish off the ceremony when Yeon Woo suddenly became ill and died fatally as it seemed.
The queen dowager along with the high shaman put a black spell on Yeon Woo. The queen dowayer wanted Bo Kyung to be queen as they were relatives and she wanted her relatives to be royalty.
Unbeknown to her, the high shaman didn't put a spell to kill Yeon Woo. She put a spell to stop her pulse. Yeon Woo was buried and later her coffin was dug out. The high shaman took her away along with Yeon Woo's slave girl to somewhere far away. There, they lived a happy simple life.
Of course, 6 years down the track, the high shaman was called back to the palace. She had to go back. Yeon Woo and her slave girl went back with her. At this time, Yeon Woo had lost all her childhood memories and she was dubbed a shaman and labelled as the high shaman's spiritual daughter.
Circumstantially, she was used as a human talisman to help the king sleep in his bedroom. Lee Hwon had bumped into her once in the woods and thought she looked so familiar. Now, in his bedding chambers, the same girl appears. His feelings for Yeon Woo had never died and this girl who looked so much like her and acted like her stirred his feelings.
As the drama progresses, the investigation into Yeon Woo's death/disappearance 6 years ago and those behind it surfaced slowly. Yeon Woo regained her memories, she and the king reunited. It was not an easy reunification. They had to be careful and get rid of the traitors in the palace. In the end, this was achieved with the help of Prince Yang Myung. However, it was also to the death of Prince Yang Myung, who deliberately died by the spear of a traitorous soldier. He wanted to die because he no longer wanted to be blamed to be someone who would one day steal the king's throne, and most of all from heartache of his unrequited love for Yeon Woo.
Some funny scenes in this drama was 1. the scene where the king is lifting the chair with the books when the queen dowager charges in. He then pretends to be lifting weights; 2. the king's personal assistant climbing to the rooftop and throwing flowers down at Yeon Woo and Lee Hwon. A lot of the amusing scenes were with the personal assistant. 3. the bedding scene where he had to sleep in between Yeon Woo and Lee Hwon because they were not officially married; 4. the learning of the gayaguem. He was more musically inclined than Lee Hwon. Lee Hwon wanted to learn the gayageum to perform for Yeon Woo's birthday. He was taking lessons and was terrible at learning it. The personal assistant kicked his ass and showed him how it was done by just watching and picked up everything this way.
The superstition in this drama played such a major part in how lives can change. Thank goodness people today is not so superstitious. How awful it must have been to live in those days.
The child actors here were truly talented. Yee Jin Goo as the young king. Outstanding performance at the age of 15. Kim So Hyun & Kim Yoo Jung played their roles very well. Lee Min-ho was very cute as a young Prince Yang Myung. I liked him in Rooftop Prince also.
This is the first time I've watched a drama with Kim Soo Hyun. He is one young and hot looking king. Great acting too. Ha In Ga, hmmm...I thought her acting was a bit bland. She was in Witch Yoo Hee and again quite bland. She did an ok job but the role could've been played better with another actress.
I didn't like any of the songs in this drama so won't be listing any for this review.
Good drama, enjoyable and a lot of eye candy.
Rating: 4.5/5
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