Talking about drama or movie genres, it’s rare to find me writing reviews about Saeguk ones. That’s because most of them are really heavy dramas with heart-wrenching plots that I can’t digest. I hate frustrating heavy dramas in general, so I avoid those, especially if the ending is worse than the plot itself. Bittersweet or tragic endings is one of my pet peeves.

However, nowadays, saeguk dramas are more tolerable than in the past. They are able to find a way to bring some comedy in while romance and drama isn’t missed. It’s also refreshing to see new and young actors become the center leads of these dramas, because they do a good job pulling off something new that can attract viewers from all ages alike.

Much to my great pleasure, tvN‘s ‘100 Days My Prince‘ surpasses stereotypes about saeguk dramas and also idol-actors that can’t act or new actors that do bad acting and ruin the entire project, or a lack of originality with the story line. In fact, the drama is able to gather great actors together and flawlessly display raw emotions that easily touch the heart despite saeguk dramas’ inclination to a more poetic acting that hides the character’s true emotions under layers of deep dialogues and reserved historical customs.

Furthermore, the drama ended with a whopping final rating of 14.412% (AGB Nielsen), making it the fourth highest-rated (after Reply 1988, Goblin and Mr. Sunshine, also from tvN) Korean drama in cable television history. It has surpassed other well-loved dramas like Signal, Something in the Rain, Strong Woman Do Bong Soon and many others, which is pretty impressive for a cable drama, since most of the time ratings are lower for paid cable tv than public channels like KBS, SBS and MBC, which have unarguably more viewers.

If that’s intriguing enough yet you’re still not too sure whether you should watch it, well try reading my personal review about ‘100 Days My Prince’!

The Story

Lee Yul (Do Kyung Soo) met Yoon Yi Seo (Nam Ji Hyun) for the first time when they were young. He used to be a carefree child, but since falling in love with Yi Seo, who is bright and smart, he starts studying to impress her. To the boy’s credit, he was brazen enough to declare his promise to marry her one day.

However, one night, Yi Seo’s house is unexpectedly raided by men who successfully manages to kill her father under the command of the treacherous Kim Cha Eon (Jo Sung Ha). This devastates both her and her older brother Yoon Seok Ha (Kim Jae Young), but while on the run for their escape, it crushes little Lee Yul too to find out that his father is the mastermind to the plotted murder of the nobleman, who is apparently a prospective character to the throne.

Bravely, a young Lee Yul puts himself in front of danger to let Yi Seo and her brother escape, but the years that passed after that has been nothing but torture to him as his father usurps the throne and he assumes the crown prince’ position. He lives his life in great reflection, loneliness and longing for Yi Seo who he never saw after the incident that night.

During a time of drought, resentful of his new position and fulfilling the consummation of his marriage to the crown princess (Han So Hee), daughter of Kim Cha Eon who assumed the vice premier position, he orders for all singles to get married.

In an unfortunate journey to the rain ritual though, Lee Yul and his entourage gets ambushed by assassins. He and his personal guard Dong Joo (Do Ji Han) tries to escape them and in a desperate attempt to deceive the enemy, Lee Yul and Dong Joo exchanges attire and runs in opposite directions. Whereas, the one wearing the crown prince’ clothes fell down a cliff into the river, the one wearing the royal guard’s clothes got hit by a raging arrow and falls down a slope, eventually hitting his head.

Just when everyone’s mourning the assumed death of their crown prince, Yoon (Jung Hae Kyun), a peasant living down a small village with his adopted daughter Hong Shim, accidentally finds a wounded Lee Yul in the mountains. He immediately aided the prince in his home without knowing who he is, but when Yul weaks up he has lost his memories and forgot even his name.

Yi Seo, who has been living now as Hong Shim and is adopted by Yoon, has not been married yet. But because of the crown prince decree for singles in their twenties to marry, she is forced to find a husband even if she doesn’t want to get married. She tries to excuse herself by saying she has a man coming home from the military betrothed to her, whose name is Won Deuk, but the local government doesn’t buy it. It’s either she agrees to be the fifth concubine of an old nobleman or she will receive flogging for going against the prince’ orders.

Hong Shim is later forced to receive her punishment when she chooses not to be someone’s concubine, but before it’s too late, her father appears with Lee Yul, taking advantage of his situation by telling him he is actually betrothed to Hong Shim and introduces him to everyone as Won Deuk.

Won Deuk is skeptical about the situation and is not truly convinced he is to marry Hong Shim, so though unsure of who he really is, out of utter desperation Hong Shim tells him made up stories that he accepts despite his remaining doubt.

And that’s how Won Deuk ends up marrying Hong Shim without knowing who she truly is in his life. Yet, the last one hundred days they spent together seems to be the happiest days for them.

Review

Story:

I’m used to treachery, birth secrets, childhood sweethearts, a weak king, a really evil villain, fixed marriage, double life and amnesia being plot devices to move saeguk dramas. It’s either it’s some, most or all of them are together in one project with many others, so it has become typical for dramas. The deal breaker to be at least a little different from those typical dramas is how they use the plot devices to their advantage.

Just like the rest of saeguk dramas, ‘100 Days My Prince’ is a bag of cliches instead of its story line. It has used all of the plot devices I mentioned and to be honest when looking from the outside, I don’t see anything special about the plot. A prince suddenly becomes a peasant’s husband? Seems like typical K-drama plot to me. Rich guy and poor girl drama trope all over again.

So, what makes this drama different? In my own opinion, I think it’s how thoughtfully planned the scenes were. How flawlessly interconnected one event is to the other that I can’t even think of a plot hole. How beautifully crafted each character is and the great chemistry between each of them. How detailed their backstories were and how each character was treated as important element in the story whether the role is big or not. I also love the fact that it isn’t the usual heavy drama and that humor has been incorporated in between romantic and more serious parts of the story.

Characters:

For the most part, I love the good guys in this drama. For instance, Won Deuk, Hong Shim, her adoptive father, Jung Je Yoon, Kwon Hyuk, Kkut Nyeo and Goo Dol. They are all the good guys right from the start and what I like the most about these characters is their unfaltering loyalty to each other. There isn’t a moment when they have been weak and decided it’s best to betray the person close to them. That gives me the impression they are wiser than what they are given credit for.

Lee Yul’s character is especially remarkable, since as prince he is wise and not impulsive, upright but a bit arrogant because of his given title. As Won Deuk, despite not knowing his true identity, his characteristic trait of taking so much pride in himself made him look rude especially to the elders, but that added to the humor of the story. It made him eccentric in ordinary people’s eyes, because he is the only person that dared meet the noblemen and royal officers’ eyes. He looked a little pathetic for only causing Hong Shim trouble, but its understandable since he lost his memories. I think, too, that made his situation more believable; that he’s dumb. But because along the run he starts to gain back his memories, it’s good to see him slowly regaining back his knowledge and skills, because that put some of the bad guys back to their places.

Yi Seo exudes innocence despite what hardship she’s been through. It has not wiped away her kindness and she grew up stronger after living years as a peasant. It made her a strong-willed individual who will lend a helping hand to anyone that needs it. She’s also very patient and appreciative of Won Deuk, even with the little things he does for her. And I guess, I especially felt strong and raw emotions from this character when she was experiencing such heartbreak after finding out Won Deuk has returned to being Lee Yul, the crown prince.

What I saw as a problem about this character is the inconsistency. She’s portrayed as a tough girl who can defend herself (probably with martial arts she learned from childhood), but she always gets herself in trouble without being able to fight. Like a damsel in distress, she has to be saved also from all her poor decisions. Let’s bring to light the times when she sneaked into Kim Cha Eon’s house without any kind of aid. As if she doesn’t know its repercussions if she got caught, she impulsively goes back to that house out of anger, but couldn’t lift a dagger properly.

If you wanna experience that second lead syndrome, Jung Je Yoon is the guy you’re looking for. Though it’s obvious he can’t be on par to Lee Yul’s wisdom and combat skills, Je Yoon is the closest you can get. He is smart to have impressed the crown prince on their first meet, but also has some secrets of his own that made the character more than two dimensional. He has face blindness, a weakness he kept from everyone’s knowledge, but which made his other senses sharper. He’s not good with physical combat, but he’s a good strategist. He have shown a devoted liking for Yi Seo, but I like that he’s conceded without resenting the crown prince and instead has stayed loyal to him until the end while being a good confidant to Yi Seo.

There are also characters that I didn’t like on the get-go but eventually found rather tolerable than expected when I finally came to understand them. This includes the weak king (who learnt to grow some backbone in the latter half), Ma Chil (who became a completely changed man after meeting Won Deuk), and Prince Seowon (who despite being Yul’s half-brother did not harbor strong resentment for him or ever desired to usurp his place not unless he has to). They made me remember how people have their own two sides and that it takes time to truly know someone better.

There’s also the third type of characters I don’t like in this drama. The unlikable batch of characters, including but not limited to Kim Cha Eon, crown princess, the queen and (though not a villain in the story) Yoon Seok Ha.

For the most part Seok Ha’s thoughts, feelings and past has been concealed for a purpose, so it’s really hard to see what kind of character he is. He’s not a really bad person, but I can’t say he’s likable either. I mean, it’s nice he’s very fond and protective of Yi Seo, to the point he’d sell his soul to Cha Eon just to keep her protected. But what I don’t understand is how he’s able to work for him and stay by his side without wanting to kill him. I mean, he’s the one who killed their father, so won’t it be believable for him to resent him so much to the point he plots his death every day instead of listening to his words like a good dog and even falling for his enemy’s own daughter? Let’s not mention the fact that if it wasn’t for him impregnating the crown princess, then Lee Yul wouldn’t have to go through all that. But then again, it’s because of his bad decisions that Won Deuk and Hong Shim happened, so maybe I can thank him about this one thing.

Over all, despite some shortcomings with some of the characters, development is greatly showed for most of them and each has layer of traits and a supporting story to back up their strengths and flaws.

Chemistry:

The chemistry between the main couple is felt visibly as if its natural to them. I have not seen any type of awkwardness when they interact and the love between them is both innocent and consuming; happy and sad. Yet, I rooted for this couple a lot because they are just adorable together.

I also liked the relationship between Hong Shim and her father, because they both love each other so much even if they are not blood related. The strange friendship between opposite poles like Lee Yul and Je Yoon is also adorable because they can’t help but tease each other sometimes. There’s also their interaction with their friends and people they met and all are pleasant and felt like they’ve known each other longer.

Acting:

For both Do Kyung Soo and Nam Ji Hyun, whom I trust as actors, this is one of their best works.

I was skeptical whether Nam Ji Hyun can pull off a saeguk drama, but I guess she can pull off anything given to her so naturally. Despite inconsistencies in the character given to her, she is able to show a likable character who is innocent with a tender heart and raw emotions that can touch.

Kyung Soo has experience acting minor and lead roles, but considering this is his first drama lead role, I think this is his best work yet. He truly shined both as Lee Yul and Won Deuk. I’m very impressed how he portrayed the crown prince with so much grace, said words as if they were poetry and completely owned his character as if he’s really Lee Yul and Won Deuk, not Do Kyung Soo. I’m not sure how Kyung Soo is even able to learn all those combat moves and traditional customs like writing Chinese characters on paper like what most saeguk noblemen do when he’s already busy enough juggling acting with his idol activities with EXO. He’s just truly amazing.

I doubted this baby face can fit in with such a role, but I guess, Kyung Soo is one of this generation’s acting genuis.

Ending:

I can’t say I liked the last few scenes, especially when Seok Ha died in the hands of the ruthless vice premier Kim Cha Eon. But I’m a bit glad that Cha Eon died the death he deserved and will never rise from his grave to add more people to the list he already killed. After him, I guess no one would have to worry about watching their backs for a while.

Bad people were punished and put to their rightful places. Good people were rewarded handsomely because of their hard work and determination. Broken relationships were slowly mended and peace is restored.

Although some won’t agree with me, I truly liked the last few minutes of the drama. Hong Shim can be frustrating if she wants to, especially whenever she tries to escape Lee Yul’s grasp, but I like that Lee Yul is patient and has not stopped loving her despite of her attempts to discourage him for a past that wasn’t even any of their faults. The last scene where they stood in their small yard while their friends were throwing paper flower petals was really cute; it made the drama worth remembering even until the end.

Rating:

I love this drama more for its fresh and adorable cast, who are so good at what they do that they managed to mobilize such a normal story and give it such a beautiful execution that truly leaves a lasting impression to its audience. Rating this drama positively, I’ll give it 4.9 out of 5.