Summary: Hong Ra On, the daughter of Hong Gyong Nae, the leader of a famous uprising during the Joseon era had to live a life as a man in order to hide her true identity. She didn’t have any idea though until she got reunited with her mother. Meanwhile, she passed the screening for eunuchs out of sheer lack and became the favorite servant of the crown prince who consequently fell in love with her.
Genre: Period, Romance, Comedy, Kings & Princes, Gender Bender
Episodes: 16
Stars: Park Bo Gum as Lee Yeong (later Crown Prince Hyomyeong)
Kim Yoo Jung as Hong Ra On
Jin Young as Kim Yoon Sung
Chae Soo Bin as Jo Ha Yeon (later Crown Princess Jo)
Kwak Dong Yun as Kim Byung Yun
Likes: It’s refreshing to see young and pretty faces in a period drama. Kim Yoo Jung is kind of a veteran for me as she was in the famous The Moon that Embraces the Sun which I particularly love. She has grown into a really beautiful lady befitting a crown prince’s love. Her pretty face and smile doesn’t get unnoticed that it becomes hard to believe how he could actually pass as a man in this drama. But of course, not to be taken seriously as it is not a serious period drama afterall. Park Bo Gum, on the other hand is a fresh face for me but lo and behold what a handsome fresh face you’ve got there your Majesty! Definitely, one of the most handsome crown princes in a period drama. I guess now, everyone wants a piece of our BoGummy, hello girls?
Two more handsome guys in this drama who deserves special mentions and that’s Jin Young and Kwak Dong Yun! Jin Young as Kim Yoon Sung is from the powerful Kim clan who loves painting and became an official in the palace. He took noticed of our pretty Ra On even though dressed-up as a noble man and started liking her and to the very end offering his life to protect hers (so tragic huh). And as expected died handsomely and heroically! Yoon Sung also holds the award for best dressed in this drama. His Hanboks are just too beautiful! Kwak Dong Yun as Kim Byung Yun was the special guard of the crown prince. Always dressed in black, excellent in fighting and disappearing in the dark, his bromance with the prince wouldn’t easily die thus he escaped death himself!
I always love that scene when the guy would about to confess his true feelings (woman or not) then finds out he actually doesn’t have to worry. Crown prince’s facial expression seeing Ra On wearing a dress was a thumbs up as if his heart skipped beating for a moment. Moments like this is the most awaited part when it comes to dramas with a cross-dressing heroine!
First kiss in the garden was awesome! With all that waist-grabbing and eunuch hat falling down.
I could melt at the prince’s stare. Library scenes are my favorites. These 2 lovebirds gets really close but they just actually stare and tease each other and yet that send us some giggles, right?
There were a lot of cheesy scenes that I thought don’t even belong to a period drama but surprisingly I like the one with the bracelets. When the crown prince bought two bracelets, one he would later wear and the other one give to his lady love, Ra On. It’s just cute!
Impressive chubby face makeup of the princess Myung Eun. She was very entertaining as well.
The ending was definitely happy.
Dislikes: Ending happy but too hard to believe it would happen in that era and that our main leads would really end up with each other given their different statuses. This drama comes as very confusing because it looks like in the olden days but behaves otherwise. The script was definitely written to cater to young audiences who don’t have much exposure to period drama. It’s good introduction though. But for people who fell in love with the real deal, we’re just missing the tragic and dark parts, the excellent politicking, the heartbreaks, the cruel reality of that time. This was too colourful, too playful and most times too cheesy.