Gantaek: Yeoindeului Jeonjaeng

It started slow. I already reached the episode 7 and I was still bored with the plot. It was too draggy and confusing because of its inconsistency, however, the leads were both good. 98% - politics and 2% romance. The drama was full of obstacles for the leads and ambitious characters. I suspected Han Mo at first because he's too good to be true but it turns out he's just good and plain loyal to the king. I almost fell in love with Han Mo. Lee Kyung, Kang Eun Bo, Hong Ki Ho, Han Mo and Wal were the only lovable characters here.

A costume drama which starts dramatically with a double assassination and leads then into a selection of a new queen and the conspiracies that occur to influence the outcome. The main stars are Kim Min-kyu who plays the king and Jin Se-yeon who plays Kang Eun-bo a candidate for the queens position who is investigating the assassination for personal reasons. It begins very well and the first half of the series is entertaining but the second half which deals with the plot to overthrow the king is less entertaining. The romance side was believable and I would have preferred the female lead to have remained feisty as she was in the first half. Overall an ok watch but could have been better.

When her twin sister is murdered, Kang Eun Bo (Jin Se Yeon) vows to find the killer and bring them to justice. But the Queen is the only woman with enough power to order a manhunt. As a woman on a mission, Kang Eun Bo resolves to win the prized royal title. To avenge her sister's death, however, she must first win the heart of Joseon King Yi Kyung (Kim Min Kyu). Throughout his life, Yi Kyung grew up in a time of great political unrest and is more concerned with bringing peace to the realm.

But winning the king's favor will not be easy, especially when the royal court is filled with beautiful women with the dream to marry the king.

Will Kang Eun Bo ever find out who killed her twin sister? Could love bloom between an idealistic king and Kang Eun Bo?

Actors ***** Action *** Imtrigue **** Villains **** Romance ***** Sidekicks **** Jealoous Shrew ***** Nagging Parents ***** Annoying Grandmother *****

The drama felt like it was held together with duct tape. There was this missing spark to make the twins plot work. How are we supposed to buy into this twin dynamic when there's no connection? Somehow, the dead twin had a better chemistry and her replacement twin never worked despite being the same actress. The romance as well suffered because of that, incompatible by design. Out of all the ideas that can be spun from a twins plot, they kept it very simple while doing the bare minimum to fill the episodes. Which also resulted in long draggy uneventful events. On another note, out of all of Jin Se Yeon historical roles, this is her weakest performance yet.

Whenever I looked at the king, I feel bored. Even he is acting, there's always this stoic expression that I cannot feel his emotions. The woman is the same and they only have some chemistry. The overall story has a lot of loops and the first episode is not well organized and confusing.