All_In
The main reason to watch The King's Woman is the outright sexual chemistry between the two leads. Both actors do good work here and have a believable chemistry. Unfortunately, as often happens in historical dramas, a lot of this chemistry seems to dissipate after their relationship reaches a certain point.
I liked the initial episodes of this story and watched it all faithfully, but the drama rushes through some of the relationship between Li and her senior so that the audience can't totally buy into her strong romantic emotions toward him...at least I couldn't. I get what they were doing because drama does have King in the title after all. Unfortunately, because time wasn't spent on this early relationship, I never really bought that she passionately loved senior.
I could nitpick a lot of the drama, but my main issues were that I was totally uninterested in the secondary story and quickly started to fast forward through these parts. The three characters I cared most about were the king, Li and Han . Also, a lot of the drama is spent on the political shenanigans, and I was totally uninterested. To compare, I found The General and I flawed, but the political maneuvering was actually done quite well.
My other main complaint is that several times Li does things in what I would say was "for his own good" i.e. the king/a prince/senior. Sitting down and having an honest conversation might have actually worked better. They make her a bit of a too perfect martyr and in one case have her do something that makes no sense and puts people in danger. We are let to believe that's something she would care about but she doesn't give it a second thought.
The end is pretty much how I thought it would go and, though overly convoluted, I appreciated some late twists and turns. I also appreciate that the relationship between the leads was quite complex, and the drama writers did not sugarcoat the reality of the king being a tyrant. The mixture of the writing and the actor's talent really makes for a nuanced performance which I liked.
The first half of this drama, I would rate a solid 7.5 to 8 so it is the second half which brings me down to 6 or 6.5 range. I can't honestly say full steam ahead when I felt the need to fast forward through a lot of the drama; however, for the story about the king and Li and with some judicious fast forwarding I found it a compelling watch.
I liked the initial episodes of this story and watched it all faithfully, but the drama rushes through some of the relationship between Li and her senior so that the audience can't totally buy into her strong romantic emotions toward him...at least I couldn't. I get what they were doing because drama does have King in the title after all. Unfortunately, because time wasn't spent on this early relationship, I never really bought that she passionately loved senior.
I could nitpick a lot of the drama, but my main issues were that I was totally uninterested in the secondary story and quickly started to fast forward through these parts. The three characters I cared most about were the king, Li and Han . Also, a lot of the drama is spent on the political shenanigans, and I was totally uninterested. To compare, I found The General and I flawed, but the political maneuvering was actually done quite well.
My other main complaint is that several times Li does things in what I would say was "for his own good" i.e. the king/a prince/senior. Sitting down and having an honest conversation might have actually worked better. They make her a bit of a too perfect martyr and in one case have her do something that makes no sense and puts people in danger. We are let to believe that's something she would care about but she doesn't give it a second thought.
The end is pretty much how I thought it would go and, though overly convoluted, I appreciated some late twists and turns. I also appreciate that the relationship between the leads was quite complex, and the drama writers did not sugarcoat the reality of the king being a tyrant. The mixture of the writing and the actor's talent really makes for a nuanced performance which I liked.
The first half of this drama, I would rate a solid 7.5 to 8 so it is the second half which brings me down to 6 or 6.5 range. I can't honestly say full steam ahead when I felt the need to fast forward through a lot of the drama; however, for the story about the king and Li and with some judicious fast forwarding I found it a compelling watch.
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