El afecto del rey

There are many historical instances of women living their lives as men, but the unbelievability of such a beautiful and petite woman successfully doing so could well have been an obstacle to enjoying this series. Somehow it did not seem to matter. There are so many compensations with the usual Korean high standard of acting, skillful and propulsive plotting, believable relationships and rounded characters. No cardboard baddies here. Great!

With just 5 episodes, I am loving each of the episodes so far. The acting are spot on. ParkEunBin is convincing as a man and monarch, and Rowoon is just too adorable as JiWoon. He is indeed what she needs in a cold and dangerous palace. I cannot wait to see how their love will blossom, how both will join hands to fight evil while remaining virtuous. Great story. Wonderful cinematography.

There's romance, espionage, mystery, political wrangling and edge-of-seat "OMG!" moments in every single episode. The storyline (the writers should be knighted) and cinematography are both amazing - but the acting? Everyone is so good at conveying emotion with just their eyes. Each episode is so so insane - twists and "just when you thought it was going HERE..." moments not withstanding - but the last 10-12 minutes of each episode have been riveting. You want it to resolve, but don't want it to end! It will seriously have you talking to your TV.

I love the cast and most of the series. It is true that at some points its narrative pace weakens, and there are some transition issues perhaps from time constraints. However, when this 20-episode drama is good, it's very good. Some scenes are delightfully hilarious, others charming or deeply moving: the makers did a great job of developing characters and relationships. I think if it had been tightened and trimmed into 16 eps, with a less hurried writer, the series would have been gold. Still, the story and characters are strong, and the themes of loyalty, protectiveness, devotion, and love are explored tenderly. The series never is boring unless one views the dark sides of historical sexism, homophobia, classism, jealousy, abuse of power, political intrigue, assassination, murder, and struggles for position or justice through combat and power plays as boring. Or one never finished the series at all. For me, the real excellence of the series is its belief in friendship, loyalty, and love that "sees" and embraces the beloved, no matter the shifts and even threats. It is the series' greatest theme, and the actors deserve praise for their gifted performances in telling their characters' often tragic but also triumphant stories. And the most important take-away is that "Yes, she can."

The main key element who makes this show to fresh and original is the complete reverse of stereotypical gender roles. I know the king has to pretend to be a man but she never tries to act like one following ridiculous stereotypes. She never shied away from showing empathy and tenderness and at the same time she always proves to be strong, independent and fearless.

Then there's the male lead (Rowoon's character) who throughout the drama is so loyal, confident and proud of his feelings for the person he loves, no matter who that person is, is just amazing to watch.

I keep discovering Rowoons acting, I love the range of his late roles, comedy is where I enjoy him the most and this show makes his performance shine.

I love how coherent all characters are, from start to finish, all their actions make complete sense and they are in sync with their personalities.

This is not an overdramatized and exaggerated plot where everything is predictable so it will keep you interested until the end.

Just didn't give it a 10 because towards the end the pace is a bit slow for my taste and I missed more passion between the main couple but this is a Korean drama so Im used to that.

Good watch.