The King 2 Hearts

Nowadays it's pretty rare that I get the urge to write on my blog. I admit I have been lazy. But I strongly feel I have to write a review on this particular drama before it fades away from my memories, which could only mean that it's powerful enough to impact my current state of living.

The drama that I just finished watching recently is called The King 2 Hearts. It's a fictional k-drama about South Korean prince (or king later on) falling in love with a North Korean military soldier. The genre is a mixture of action and romance. Hearing the title being mentioned over and over again among some k-drama lovers, I tried watching the trailer and decided to watch it because it seemed interesting.

The start of the drama didn't go so well for me. It was kind of boring. The lead male character (Jae Ha - the South Korean king) was acted by Lee Seunggi, and I've seen him before in My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox with a pretty similar characteristics: immature and acting like a jerk. Similarly Ha Ji Won, who played the lead female character (Hang Ah - the North Korean lady), always acts as that strong girl like in Secret Garden or Sector 7. One thing that I've learnt from watching so many k-dramas is if I can finish the first episode, no matter how boring it is, it's probably not gonna be that bad. For some reason the first 2-3 episodes of k-dramas (with the exception of The Greatest Love) always make me bored. With that kind of mentality I decided to continue watching it, and I'm glad I did, because it turned out to be a really good one.

The number one reason I feel is the perfect choice of cast. Every single one of them can really act, even down to the minor supporting roles. As I stated earlier, I'm not that fond of Lee Seunggi and Ha Ji Won (I don't hate them either, I'm just neutral) because they keep having similar characters, but still they are good at acting those roles. I feel more content with Ha Ji Won especially, because she displays more range of emotions (and for some reason prettier haha..) than in Secret Garden. Lee Yoon Ji, who acted as princess Jae Shin - Jae Ha's sister, is as good as usual (she was that teacher from Dream High season 1), or I should say even better. Jo Jung Suk was already good in What's Up?, but I only became his fan after watching this drama. He had the same awkward character like in What's Up? as Eun Shi Kyung - Jae Ha's right hand man and Jae Shin's bodyguard, but Eun Shi Kyung is 100% stronger physically and mentally. Jo Jung Suk is simply a fabulous actor, his portrayal of his character is just perfect. It's impossible not to fall in love with Eun Shi Kyung, he's such a sweet guy. In fact, I'm actually more of a supporter of Shi Kyung - Jae Shin couple than the main Jae Ha - Hang Ah couple. Yoon Je Moon played as the bad guy, John Mayer/Bong Gu. I've seen him before playing as the bad guy too in Midas, but here he's even better. Same with that foreigner lady who played Bong Bong (or Bon Bon?) - John Mayer's sadistic underling. The fact that they both creeped me out throughout the entire drama just proves that they are really good actor/actress. As I stated earlier, even minor roles like the WOC team members, the head of the palace maids, John Mayer's secretary, and those nasty politicians were acted really well too.

As far as the storyline goes, it kept me in suspense. Except the first two episodes, it was interesting and made me want to keep watching. The last one and a half episodes were unnecessary though. The idea of the problem is good and it could have warranted another arc in the story, but it wasn't developed long enough. For me it felt like they put it there just to make the drama longer. There is also one part where I felt so so so disappointed with the writers, but I guess that's more of my preference and has nothing to do with the quality of the storyline. I won't spoil it here in case you want to watch the drama, once you watch it though I'm sure you can tell which part exactly I'm talking about. The ending is good. My criteria of a good ending is it doesn't make you feel you just wasted your entire time watching the drama/movie. You know, there are those films where the story was actually good but just because the ending sucks (whether it was done abruptly, didn't really tell the conclusion, or just sucks in general) you feel that you just wasted your time (yep, I'm talking about you, Flames of Desire and Introduction to Architecture). But yeah, this drama didn't make me feel like that, so it's a good watch.

The King 2 Hearts passed my criteria of highly recommended dramas: I couldn't stop thinking about it even after it ended, which made me search for behind the scenes videos and cast interview articles online. So yeah, if you're looking for something to watch, try this one :)