100 Days My Prince (2018)

I am feeling uncomfortable after finishing this drama. And that's because i already miss the characters.
The story had a lot of potential from the first episode. I love how i never watch historical dramas but when i rarely do,i always choose good ones. There have been plenty of Korean historical dramas that felt really drawn out and just plain boring, but this one was really balanced,it had the right amount of laughter,romance,mystery and sadness. Also,the scenery was stunning.

The negative part of this drama was that the ending could've been a bit better, but that's nothing new with kdramas. I just felt that there were too many things that were left hanging. I wouldn't have mind 10 more minutes. Neverthless I wanna congratule the cast on getting the 14.4% for the finale and being in top 4 highest rated cable drama. I think they never expected this to be so big. I even read that this drama was a low budget one. The plot and acting were so great that they made it look like a big project so I guess I understand why people(and me included) wanted more and expected more from the ending.

Leggi di Più

Yet another Joseon drama, that adds nothing. .

The plot is ridiculously standard and the court intrigues half baked. There are no interesting themes or unexpected twists in characterization. I did enjoy the 'fish out of water' first half. It was a great illustration of how unattractive your standard cold arrogant lead is when he has no money or power. If you like 'rescuing' romantic scenes, and protectiveness/jealousy there are tons of them.

I found the secondary romance much more intriguing and the brother's storyline much more compelling than the other plot points.

The acting is mediocre, the music is fine, the action scenes are fairly thrilling so maybe there is a vague rewatch potential.

I grade on other criteria as well:

Complex Themes: 7
I enjoyed the point made over and over that wealthy and powerful people without their wealth and power are fairly useless. I did NOT enjoy the theme of the second half of 'heavy is the head that wears the crown.' The villagers are bumbling up until the end, and the female lead is in constant need of rescuing all the way through. There is no subversion of power.

Character Growth: 3
Despite losses of memory, and drastic changes of scene. The characters remain basically exactly the same.

Complex Women/Relationships Between Women: 3
There is a female friendship, but it's almost fully about discussing men or the lack thereof. The female lead is 'plucky' in the way they usually are.

Production Values: 8
Costumes, sets, are all above average, and the action scenes are excellent for a K drama.

Leggi di Più

OMG what an excellent drama, watched it in day and half. Great from 1st Episode to the end. Many laughing parts, some were so funny , I couldn’t stop laughing. Crown prince did an excellent job, his acting was over the top. This drama did a remake of the crown prince love ?? towards his love just like the drama , The Moon Embracing The Sun, at least that is what I was reminded of. The story was great , every episode was good and fun. Love how the love between the lead couple grew and the wonderful flash back added to each episode. Love the ending. Plus, plus drama

Leggi di Più

“Do you like falling snow or cherry blossoms?” Well, I love both just like I loved this drama. It’s a sweet plot with a good blend of comedy, romance, history and action. I was hooked from episode one and continued to love it until the end. The acting was spot on and I’m only becoming a bigger fan of D.O. as time passses by due to his spectacular performance. The chemistry between the leads and the whole cast made the drama interesting and fun to watch as well. Delivery of beautiful cinematography was a bonus. This drama is a whole package and I’ll definitely come back and re watch it to relive all the amazing feelings that it delivered. I’ll recommend it to everyone wanting a well-balanced fun watch.

Leggi di Più

Story 8.2/10
The story of this drama is pretty good, but not great. What I love from this drama is they made this with good touch of comedy, a lot different with others saeguk drama I have watched. It is a romcom on first 9/10 episodes, then turned to be saeguk-melodrama type, and I don't know why I like the way they shifted the story like this. But honestly, the idea of Crown Prince loving an accused traitor's daughter is really lame and boring. It is even more common to find this type of story than Cinderella kind of story. This is why I don't watch saeguk drama much. Overall, the story is good, especially the love story, and they don't focus that much on kingdom's thingy.

Acting 9.3/10
Nam Ji Hyun never disappoints me everytime she shows up. Her acting is really great. I expected her to do this great job anyway so nothing to be suprized for. But, what suprized me is DO's acting has stands out. His gaze was something else, it felt weird at first but it became deeper later on, and what I mean is deeper in a good way. The chemistry between the two is also great. It convinces me that Won Deuk and Hong Shim fall in love to each other.

Ost 7.8/10
None is memorable for me. They didn't overuse it though, so it fits the story pretty well.

Rewatch Value 7.1/10
I might watch it again in the future, but I don't invest my emotion to it, so maybe only for seeing some of the scenes there.

Leggi di Più

Beautifully shot basic story.

A perfect historical drama for a novice, who never saw any. It combines all the most popular, but also cliche plot lines, without being too gruesome and heavy with tragic stories. We have smart and moral Crown Prince, pushover king, evil ministers, sus Queen and "queen to be", childhood connection and sweet romance with just enough love triangle to keep it going.

That said, for someone who saw a fair share of period dramas, this was just not enough. The plot was amazingly predictable, the political schemes were underdeveloped in favor of romance, which was a pain of itself. The whole middle part was barely anything more than Won Deuk and Hong Shim being awkwardly cute with each other.

The show being so focused on romance was the biggest problem for me, since I felt close to no chemistry between the leads. I'm not the biggest fan of Nam Ji Hyun, and this show just made me more sure why. While she is a good actress, and her delivery is great, I feel like she never had a good chemistry with her co-actors up till now. Not once watching her drama I was interested in romance, because I never felt the sparks on the screen.

Acting wise, the whole cast did an amazing job. Do Kyung Soo's role was not the most challenging, but his performance was great. The highlight of the show were his scenes with Kim Seon Ho. If the show focused more on them working together to discover the ploy of the bad guys, and develop the political background a bit more, this would be a fun watch. Make the plot happening in the village a lot shorter, come back to the palace quicker and truly dive into the conspiracy part - that would save the drama.

I also wished we saw more of Moo Yeon. His character had the most depth behind his actions and sacrifices, and it's a shame it was not used to its full potential. His connection to all the characters made me curious about his future and the choices he will make. I wanted to know more about how he deals with the situation he is in, and what will be the end result of it.

One thing that the show aced was scenography and cinematography. Truly stunning views and scenes, that made me take screenshots all the time.

Soundtrack wise, I do not remember one song from it. They were fitting for the situation, but not memorable.

Overall, there are plenty of better historical shows both in terms of romance and political schemes. I have watched the whole second part in 1.5x speed, since the show was directed in an extremely "slow" way. Everything seemed slow: the shots, dialogues, action... 1.5x speed truly did not feel that fast. It's a shame, since the cast was outstanding in many ways, but the predictable and not well balanced writing made the drama average at best.

Leggi di Più

Fun and heartwarming story

I hesitated a lot before watching this drama. It was still on air at that time. The only familiar face was Nam Ji Hyun at that moment. I was not a Kpop fan so didn’t know D.O. Thanks to this drama I learnt There’s a group called EXO that sang a song in our language rather than Korean before :)). The cast was young and beautiful. They are all now more famous than before, especially KSH and HSH. I noticed them in the drama as well.

Again I didn’t expect much from this drama. I just wanted to try something new. I don’t like historical dramas that much. After 1 episode I got hook. The directing and scenes were beautiful. You will love scenes of Cherry blossoms and flower fields here. The story is quite simple, so if you look for some serious drama, this one is not. It is about a prince who learnt to live with ordinary people. He looked down on them But later grew to be friends with them. He found his long lost girlfriend and HS is a strong and nice female character.

There are many witty and fun conversations. If you look for joy and laughters in small moments, this drama is a gem. Nothing grande here. The plot was weak when it comes to the villain. The fighting in the end was too simple, but the love story is nice and the main focus still. So if you can ignore those flaws, then you will enjoy it like I do,

I really like the chemistry between NJH and DO and DO and KSH and KSH with NJH. I was not so impressed by KSH in this drama, but always remember his scenes. The last scenes when he triggered jealousy from the crown prince were funny. The bts were very nice. You should check them as well. All of them are really good actors. I would love to see them in another drama or movie together. Would be my wish.

Leggi di Più

I've just finished the marathon of this series, back to back for two days straigjt. The show was great, interesting. One of the downside of this series is Nam Ji Hyun's acting. I've watched some of her dramas before and idont feel that her acting shines in this drama. Her acting look a bit stiff if i could put it tht way, especially in sad/crying scenes . but Do Kying Soo's acting really blew my mind. It was impactful and memorable. Amidst watching, i kept comparing Nam Ji Hyun with other actress who have played similar lead characters like Kim Yoo Jung and others and kept thinking how it would be if the character was played by other actress.

Anyway, the story is entertaining and i like it a lot. The ending could have been better though. I meam, i really hate the whole extended drama of Hong Shim refusing to be with The Prince because of her concern of burdening the Crown Prince yada yasa. I would prefer to see her in the end confess about how she couldn't live without him too and how she love him too. I mean, the first rejection is okay, but i was expecting a sweeter reunion after their parting when they both realised they cannot live without one another.
but then again, it is a happy ending anyway so i can be okay with it.

The comedy bits are working to tone down the seriousness and conflicts in the plots. i especially enjoy Won Deuk 's funny antics as arrogant amnesiac man.

Leggi di Più

High Rewatch Value (4 times since first watched 3 years ago. Still a ✶✶✶✶✶✶✶✶✶✶!

This is a very good drama. The storyline is solid, it has great cinematography, good music, and it offers a wide range of emotions that are found through a good blend of emotional unexpected series of events, comedy, action, and romance within a historical background. . The cast did a great job bringing their characters to life and there was good chemistry among the whole cast. The lead couple had very good chemistry as well, but I must say that it was strongly carried by the intense and stoic personality of the Crowned Prince. This drama offers a good range of complex stories and characters that gave a wholesome feeling to the storyline that was not solely concentrated on the female and male leads since each story was weaved nicely into their lives. The drama is entertaining on all aspects. Enjoy it!

Leggi di Più

I have to say... this drama completely exceeded all my expectations, and I’m extremely glad for it. I don’t think I have ever watched a drama where I wanted to keep watching episode after episode quite like this one. All of the secrets which the characters were keeping from one another made for a compelling plot that kept me coming back for more and more. I absolutely adored Nam Ji Hyun in this drama. She never disappoints with her acting and always has amazing chemistry with her co-stars. DO was one of the most stunning actors I have ever come across. His acting skills were also wonderful in this drama, and, like some people here already said, his little “Oh HO!” that he did when he got upset was honestly the most hilarious and endearing thing ever. He really made the drama magical for me. I absolutely need to see Kim Seon Ho with a first male lead role because I feel like the guy only ever plays the second male lead despite being a wonderful actor. Overall the storyline of this drama was absolutely amazing, however I was left slightly disappointed at the very last episode. The death scene of the Vice Premier (or whoever he was) was a little anticlimactic, and I was frustrated to tears with the last 30 minutes of the drama, since they took what could have been a magical conclusion with the prince’s becoming king and providing us with an epilogue of his future life and turned it into a “funny” skit where he kept getting rejected by Hong Sim for an entire year straight. The progress that the lead couple made seemed to not matter at all, and it frustrated me that they were still unwilling to embrace their relationship and just GET TOGETHER ALREADY even in the last episode. It wasn’t funny. It was sad and it frankly ruined the entire ending of the drama for me. To not end this review on a sour note, however, I still believe that this drama is definitely worth a watch. My opinion on the ending is completely subjective as there was nothing inherently terrible about it. It was just not my idea of a perfect ending, and I had to take off a star because of it. The whole rest of the drama more than makes up for it, and I would honestly watch this drama again in a heartbeat if I didn’t have like 200 other titles on my watchlist.

Leggi di Più