Captivating the King

Really looked forward to watching this. Waited until all the episodes were available to start watching so could blitz to the end.

The "accidental" king who takes the throne when his brother the King is poisoned falls in love with a wannabe spy/traitor who is disguised as a man. Let me say right here right now the she/he does not even pass as a boy! Not even a twinkie. Ayway, Yeah the she/he falls for the king too.

There is all the usual Palace intrigue with the women stuck in there at their very best at being devious. 10/10 to the Dowager Queen, but you can't really act that role badly

There has been a spate of dramas with girls pretending to be boys and confusing the ML who begins to think he is Gay and so here is another one.

The story is basically good. But the absolute lack of PASSION between the ML and the FL literally ruined this drama. It was like watching a Kdrama from the '80s - stiff and unemotional. The FL, Shin Se-kyung, was absolutely dreadful, just one expression dead-pan, occasionally she threw in dead-pan with tears. Will certainly avoid her in anything in future! Not once was I convinced these two Leads were in love or capable of being intimate.

This Director should watch "My Dearest/Lovers" for tips on how to film deep affection/love in a historical context! Even "Mr Queen", was way better at filming believable affection between the leads. Can't believe this was released in 2024. Not tepid or tame, just ice cold!

The cinematography is feeble. When they finally have one night together where the king discovers she is a woman, the light in the room was like a DOZEN led bulbs! Ridiculous.

This is okay to pass the time if you are looking for a historical drama but I had to leave it a few times as I was getting so frustrated with the poor acting. And we know that Jo Jung Suk is a brilliant actor but in this he was so wooden I was baffled. Maybe this was the directors plan? Didn't work for me.

Oh and there is no secondary relationship to ease the boring moments and zero comical moments.

Finally have to mention; watched with Korean audio and English subtitles. The absolute WORSE subtitle translations! So much American modern slang that was totally wrong for the status of the leads. Someone who couldn't comprehend that Royalty do not speak like working class bums and translated as though everyone spoke 'street'. Ugh.