This was mildly disappointing? I don’t know what sets this show apart from other historical dramas centered around power struggles and scheming, but this was only okay. Jo Jung Seok and Lee Kyu Hoe both delivered the best performances of the show and were generally delightful to watch. Especially JJS has great screen presence and created tense atmospheres out of nothing. One second, the scene is normal and in the next he’s scary and intimidating.

I liked his chemistry with SSK whose performance was alright. I liked her crying scenes a lot (which… she had a lot for some reason ??), her tears were like diamonds rolling down her cheeks, I can’t explain it. The female lead’s revenge was… I don’t know. Lacking? So-so? Wishy-washy? Can’t put it into words. I think the lack of character development (for all characters) at the end of the show also disappointed me. Did anyone change or grow? I don’t really think so… meh. Also… the fact that everyone believed that MW was actually a man… honestly a bigger plot armor than my girl Ying Luo ever had. The writers decided that her dressing as a man was believable to every single character when it really wasn’t lol. It was believable in “Coffee Prince” for example, but here??? It’s because the writers wanted it lol.

The show generally has left 0 impact on me, and I probably won’t really think about it now that I finished it. It did pull me in – ultimately, it was the tension between Mong Woo and the king that kept me going and made me finish the show. The last episode was a whole lot of nothing that kind of dragged and felt a little useless not going to lie. Overall, “Captivating the King” was alright, but not crazy good!