Drama Review: Empress Ki (2013-2014)

Rating: 8/10

Main Cast:

Ha Ji Won as Ki Seung Nyang/Empress Ki

Joo Jin Mo as Wang Yoo

Ji Chang Wook as Ta Hwan aka Pyeha

Baek Jin Hee as Tanashiri

Jeon Guk Hwan as Yeonchul/El Temur

Jin Yi Han as Tal Tal

Kim Jung Hyun as Dangkise

The Plot:

                Koryeo-born woman, Ki Seung Nyang fell in love with her king during their time together. However some bad fates made her end up in Yuan as maid in Yuan Palace. She wanted revenge to her family and country only to be loved by Yuan Emperor. The journey to be an empress, that’s what drama all about.

Review:

“A very rough and bumpy ride.”

                A long sageuk drama (51 episodes) as MBC trying to revive the glory of historical sageuk like Dae Jang Geum, Queen Seondeok, and Dong Yi, this drama proves to be very popular and reigns at number 1 spot in the entire run. A star-studded cast leads by Ha Ji Won, an actress considered as Korean beauty and box office hit.  To make up the central love triangle, Joo Jin Mo and Ji Chang Wook played as Koryeo King and Yuan Emperor respectively. The production behind of this drama is rather uneven pair, PD Han Hee of atrocious Dr. Jin and pair writers Jang Young Cheol and Jung Kyung Soon of Giant and History of Salaryman. But fear not, this drama actually has another PD who’s talented and the directing is pretty good. Besides, the cinematography and the clothes are feast on the eyes. We won’t likely get bored when watching this drama.

Coronation Scene

                The drama started off strongly. The first scene was coronation scene of Empress Ki which been shot in Forbidden City, China. Then, the story flashed back to the days when Seung Nyang was in Koryeo. In the first few episodes Ha Ji Won cross-dressed as a man and can play the part convincingly. The plot was interesting and moved fast. Then after episode 7, the majority story moves to Yuan Palace. For the majority of episodes the main villain is El Temur, played by Jeon Guk Hwan. After that, the villain is not clearly established because everyone can be enemy to everyone. That made identity crisis to the plot after the death of El Temur. The story is still interesting, but the writers appear to avoid making bold decisions.

Hero/villain?

                Afterall the real villains actually are the writers. For 51 episodes the writers made everyone suffer and give them a very little happiness. The characters had numerous fights against each other and killed each other. The love triangle is being dragged until the final week, even after Seung Nyang becomes an empress. Despite the story that sometimes frustrating, this drama benefits from great acting from everyone from main cast to supporting characters. Some become scene-stealer like Jin Yi Han, some are underutilized like Joo Jin Mo. The stars of the show are Ji Chang Wook and Ha Ji Won. Their journey and their multidimensional characters are a joy to watch. Their romantic scenes are truly romantic and melted the heart of viewers. Their confrontation scenes are great but painful to watch. Their relationship is facing many obstacles but their love to each other can’t be denied. Their height of the relationship ultimately results in a son, Ayushiridara, the crown prince. Their skinship scenes actually the most ever happen in any sageuk drama that usually restrained skinship.

Skinship

                 Ta Hwan, Yuan Emperor, once said in a episode, “I believed there was more than power and gold in life”. Yeah, if the characters don’t care about power and gold, they won’t kill each other and this drama won’t exist.

Plus:

-A great cast and great acting by everyone

-Good cinematography and has very beautiful clothes, especially Empress Ki’s clothes

 -Very addictive

-The most romantic and having most skinships sageuk ever.

Minus:

-long drama, 51 episodes

-Solid writing in the beginning, then suffered from writers’ indecisiveness and many illogical plots

-A bit difficult to find a good english sub and download this drama (but you can DL via torrent)

-Has many political plots

Life lessons:

1. If you love someone, make sure you tell him/her ASAP

2. Revenge is bad for everyone

3. Sometimes the one who will hurt you is the one closest to you

4. You can learn history (although distorted), geopolitics, diplomacy, culture, etc.