Early Access: The King's Affection E1

E1. What a solid, solid opening episode. I am cautiously hooked, you guys.

While I was most attracted to this show because of the dreamy trailers that promised a cute, sweet romance between Park Eun Bin's Crown Prince and Ro Woon's scholar, I understand that there is a lot of necessary context for why our female lead would be in a position to pass off as the Crown Prince. That context is fraught with secrecy, and that secrecy is, as expected, everything to do with political scheming and machinations. I mean, we need to get there somehow, right?

Therefore, even though our opening is more bloody than I would personally prefer, it all makes sense. And, I feel horrible for the Crown Princess, that she finds herself in such a terrible situation, right after giving birth. I mean, it's exhausting enough, giving birth to not one, but two babies, but to then immediately fear for the life of your newborn daughter, and have to kneel, and plead, and worry, and ultimately say goodbye to the fruit of your womb? I can't even imagine what that feels like.

I also feel sorry for all the people who served the Crown Princess, while she delivered her babies. To think they really killed everyone related to the incident, in order to keep the fact that there was another baby, a secret. It's not exactly new, for a sageuk, but it still blows my mind, that these maids and eunuchs lose their lives, just for doing their jobs. 💔

Switching focus, I just have to blurt out my main takeaway from this episode: Choi Myung Bin, who plays both prince and hidden princess, is just mindblowingly good! 🤩 She is fantastic at portraying both a bright and confident prince, and a curious yet shy palace maid-in-training. Seriously, how is she this good?!? 🤯

There are so many shades in her delivery - the prince Lee Hwi, Lee Hwi pretending to be a girl, the maid-in-training Dam, and Dam pretending to be the prince - and it's all so very believable. Even though I know in my head that both characters are played by Choi Myung Bin, I completely feel like I am watching two distinct people on my screen. And, even though there are a number of times we get both characters in the same frame wearing the same clothes, it's always clear who's who, in the way Choi Myung Bin fleshes out her delivery of each character.

It reminds me of Yeo Jin Goo's fantastic outing in The Crowned Clown, where he plays both King and clown. The thing is, though, Choi Myung Bin is only thirteen. She's still so young, and is already showing so much skill and talent. I'm completely floored to realize that she's literally so young, that she's only ever played the younger version of adult characters. And in this outing, which I find completely amazing, she's still in that space; she is playing the younger Park Eun Bin. I am so very impressed. I already love her and want to see her in other roles, right away. 🤩

On an irreverent note, I also wanted to say that I am very much amused that young Ji Un looks so gawky in his teens, but turns into Ro Woon later. Tee hee. I guess even the most handsome among us have a gawky stage too, eh? Also, while I didn't immediately see any sort of resemblance between young Ji Un and Ro Woon, there were a few moments, like when young Ji Un's closed his eyes and is unconscious, where I felt like I could see a bit of Ro Woon. Nicely done, casting director!

On a complete tangent, I also wanted to say that I found it a bit of a mindbender, to realize that Bae Soo Bin is literally now old enough to be cast in a father role, where his character will spend most of our story as an older man in his fifties. I mean, I still remember him playing a handsome second lead in 2009's Brilliant Legacy! 🤯 How very surreal.

The meeting and quick connection between Dam and Ji Un is pretty tropey, I have to admit. A random meet-cute, followed by a quick fall into the water and subsequent rescue, mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and an oddly accelerated bond between the two where they promise to meet on the bridge but never do, feels like a random collection of tropes, like writer-nim just threw a dice, to pick out the half dozen or so tropes that should apply to this young OTP.

That said, everything is so pretty on my screen, that I'm inclined to just roll with it. The colors are gorgeous, with a strong flavor of Spring, and some of the frames look absolutely dreamy, with lush greenery, bright sunshine, colorful laundry hanging out to dry, and butterflies dotting the landscape. This kind of Pretty, is one of the key things that attracted me about the trailers, so I'm very pleased that Show does seem to want to live up to that promise.

I must say, in this one single episode, I became very attached to Lee Hwi, and was devastated when he died. I mean, I knew it was coming and everything, because it's literally baked into the premise of our story. If Lee Hwi doesn't die, there's no need for Dam to take his place, right? YET, I grew so fond of him, that the gathering tension in my chest, as I watched the events come together to place him in mortal danger, was quite hard to bear.

I love that Lee Hwi is so bright and clear-eyed; I love that he's intelligent yet caring; I love that he's idealistic yet down-to-earth. I wish we had a story where he wasn't required to die, so that he'd be able to bond with his long lost twin sister, because to be honest, I was more invested in the scenes of the twins, than the early connection scenes of our OTP.

That said, I like Dam too. I like that she's curious and intelligent, and isn't afraid to want to read the classics, even though that's not a thing that palace maids do. Plus, the fact that she can even use the right royal-speak, while playing Lee Hwi, even though she's had no time to actually prepare for this masquerade, tells me that she's fast on her feet, and is a quick thinker.

When she finds herself in a tough spot and unable to answer the question posed by her father, I was very impressed that she thought to turn the question back at Dad. Plus, she's shown that she's capable, with how she saved Ji Un, and down-to-earth, with how she answers the Crown Princess, that she doesn't know what it's like to be lonely because she's never had a family. Plus, she's kind, with how she shares the sweet treat with the eunuch (how cute is he?) because she can see that he's quite taken with the cakes too.

While I'm sad to lose Lee Hwi, I'm also happy to follow Dam on her unorthodox journey to reclaim her place, not just as a royal, but as her mother's daughter as well.

Next episode notes will be out on: Wednesday, 17 Nov 2021!

*This show will be covered on the Ultimate Early Access (US$25) Tier*