Another sageuk drama with a doormat Crown Prince/King controlled by a powerful minister and his faction. Where have I seen that before? No seriously it's ridiculous and such an overused theme in k-drama, I wonder if they even have other ideas than this tired plot. One or way another most of their court politics drama has this premise.

I tried to have an open mind with this drama but i watched the first episode and my original hunch was right. This is another power struggle between an all powerful minister and a puppet ruler. This drama is even worst. They magnify the ineptness of the king seeing how they show everyone having complete deference and loyalty to the minister. They then highlight the lack of decorum, the disrespect and contempt of natural order the minister's faction have toward the royal house to really drive the point. It seems to be a running theme for Korean court dramas to have this overarching plot over and over again.

I'm a voracious historical drama consumer, mostly Chinese historical ones and I barely recall where they show their rulers as inept and powerless and controlled by his ministers. The emperor would be either benevolent, gullible, nonchalant or despotic yet never powerless and never some puppet of a some minister. I think the problem I have with sageuk court dramas is how unoriginal, unimaginative and stale they are. They seem to gravitate towards this plot 3/4 of the time. A sever lack of originality and I can't stress that enough. There is no need to even imagine where this story will end. If you've seen one you'll know how this story goes. How the power struggle develops and how the king acquires power to defeat the corrupt and treacherous minister in the end.