Written by Nena Morena

The King’s Affection is a Korean historical show set during the Joseon dynasty, a kingdom that lasted for five centuries. The story is fictional but the filming locations, costumes, and antique décor chosen are done very well and bring the audience back to a time when royal families ruled the land and decided the fate of its people. The sword fights and the characters’ attitudes also successfully contribute to the replication of the era of King HyeJong of Joseon. Unfortunately, with power comes responsibilities and duties that must be fulfilled even if it means sacrificing oneself entirely. Political corruption, unspoken secrets, and family drama make the perfect frame for the development of an unthinkable romance within the Palace’s walls.

The story starts off on the night in which the Crown Princess is giving birth to her first child. Everyone rejoices at the sight of a boy, but the happiness soon changes into fright as another child is born. The birth of twins is considered an ominous sign in Joseon and therefore, the King gives the order to kill the girl. With the help of her loyal servants, the Queen manages to fake her daughter’s death and sends her away. Years later, a pre-adolescent Dam-yi returns to the palace as a court maid and meets her twin brother Lee Hwi for the first time. When the twins’ grandfather finds out, he orders her murder to ensure the prince’s position as future King. However, his most loyal guard makes a fatal error while executing the treacherous task and accidentally kill Lee Hwi. When her mother finds out, she forces Dam-yi to secretly take her brother’s place and leave her previous life behind. Ten years pass and Dam-yi is now a 22-year-old “prince” who trains every day to become the future King of Joseon. Her loneliness and anger have made her a cold and detached person, but her persona changes as she falls in love with her tutor Jung Ji-woon.

The series contains twenty episodes with each being about 65 minutes long. For the first half of the show, I was so taken by the story that I didn’t realize the passing of the time. The events were happening at a fast pace and the relationships between the characters were very captivating. Although the Crown “Prince’s” feelings were still the main focus of the show, the intrigue, action, and sub plots were just as interesting. I could not stop wondering when the Dam-yi’s identity would be revealed, what would happen when her grandfather’s private army finally attacks the palace, how would she avenge her family, how would Jung Ji-woon react to finding out that the Crown Prince was Dam-yi, to name just a few things. Unfortunately, when the romance between the two protagonists took off, I was a little disappointed. Not only did I not feel the chemistry between the two characters, but their interactions were often silly and unrealistic. Dam-yi has been concealing her identity from the world for many years in order to save herself and the people she loves. Her cousin Lee Hyun, which always knew the truth, hid his love for her to protect her from being executed. Instead, Jung Ji-woon repeatedly exposes their love by kissing and hugging her multiple times. This is very dangerous since anybody could have seen them and unrealistic since public displays of affection is forbidden for royal family members. Also, some of the scenes involving these two characters felt long, repetitive, and uninteresting. I preferred watching the fight scenes and the drama among the other characters. Compared to the first part of the show, the second half feels like not much happens and some of the acting is not good enough to keep the audience glued to the screen. In my opinion, the writers should have focused more on the events of the story and how Dam-yi reacts to them and less on romantic plotlines. The ending was also predictable, and I would have liked more suspense like in the beginning of the show.

In the King’s Affection, the Crown Prince and Dam-yi are played by Park Eun-bin. Despite her looks being very feminine, she does a great job interpreting a male character for most of the show. Because of her position as the Crown Prince and her identity being a secret, she must often act against her will. In my opinion, the actress successfully shows the audience the internal struggle that she is living and the feelings that she has to keep concealed. Physically she was not a convincing male, but her acting made her character believable. I wish the writers would have given more space to Dam-yi to see the differences between acting as the Crown Prince and her true self. The royal tutor and Dam-yi’s lover is played by Rowoon. Because this is only my second Korean drama, I have not seen this actor in other movies. He is quite famous in South Korea, and I read many people praising his acting skills in other shows. However, I did not like him much here. He played his role adequately, but he never convinced me fully. Despite having tears in his eyes, he did not give me the impression of real sadness and despair. His expressions of love were also weak. Part of the blame is because of the character he had to play. Jung Ji-woon was surely a loving, smart, and generous man that deeply cared for Dam-yi, but he was also too cheerful and confident, especially around His Majesty. He touched her often without permission and reprimanded her with no fear of the consequences; it would have been okay if the survival of his friends would have not depended on his job. He was also very clingy and, at times, so idealized that it became annoying. I rather prefer his best friend Lee Hyun played by Nam Yoon-su. He was the Crown Prince’s cousin who has watched over Dam-yi and protected her since they were kids. The actor did an amazing job portraying this loyal, sweet, and attentive man who suffers deeply because of an unreciprocated love. He uses his smile to convey happiness, sadness, jealousy, and pain. He was kind but also very firm when the time called for it. I empathized so much with him that I found myself rooting for him instead of the male lead character. The rest of the cast gave great performances and made the show a must see.

I rate the King’s Affection as Above Average on the five-tiered scale (Bad, Below Average, Average, Above Average, and Excellent). The story was well-written and very compelling despite becoming a little predictable towards the end. The characters were well-cast, the costumes were impeccable, the cinematography was excellent, and the locations were perfect. Everything transported me to a different time and place. My favorite aspect about the show was the music. The director chose great background music that perfectly matched the mood of the scenes. While it’s easier to find songs for a romantic moment, it is much harder to find music that reflects the feelings of two men fighting to the death to defend their honor or the sadness felt after a war. For the most part the dialogue was pertinent and quick-witted. The language in which I saw the King’s Affection was Korean with English subtitles, but the audio is also available in English and Spanish. Unfortunately, I cannot rate this show as Excellent because I found too many mistakes that, although small, were distracting enough to bring down my rating. For example, the Royal tutor’s inappropriate attitude toward the Dam-yi, the unnecessary length of some unimportant scenes, the lack of suspicion that the Crown Prince was a woman despite all the evident clues, and a miraculous and unexplained healing which was completely uncharacteristic of the series. I still recommend this show to those who like romances and I hope for a season 2 to bring some closure to the unanswered questions in the last episode.

Updated: Aug 27, 2022

By Nena Morena

In most cultures there is at least a myth, a legend, or a folktale about the existence of blood-drinking humanoid creatures that prey on the innocent for pleasure and survival. Books and movies have depicted these monsters in many different forms, but we call them vampires. In some stories vampires are demons from Hell, in others they are born from magic, in others they are supernatural beings. This is very unbelievable and hard to accept but what if they were the result of a DNA mutation caused by a virus that was thought extinct. V Wars, a Netflix show based on the homonymous comic book series by Jonathan Maberry, presents vampires as supernatural individuals affected by a disease or as they like to identify themselves “the next stage in human evolution”. This science horror fiction series made the idea of vampires into a scary reality from which no one can escape. While the Army is ready to exterminate them and scientists want to examine them, the people in power fight over doing what is right and doing what is best for them. This first season definitely poses a few interesting questions to the audience: what would you do if vampirism was real? How far would you go to protect yourself and your family? Would you see vampires as humans affected by a disease and in need of a cure or just animals that need to be killed?

The peaceful life of Dr. Luther Swann (Ian Somerhalder), a famous scientist and physician, is suddenly interrupted when he is called to investigate the mysterious disappearance of two colleagues in an artic research station. Once they arrive, Dr. Swann and his best friend Michael Fayne (Adrian Holmes) discover a skeleton and a broken biohazard container. Exposed to the toxin, they go back to the United States to quarantine. Weeks go by but no significant symptoms seem to affect the two men who are then sent home. Unfortunately, not long after, Michael starts to experience improvements in his hearing and strength, visions of himself drinking human blood, and an increasingly violent temperament. Things escalate when he kills a girl without remembering how and he asks his friend Luther to help him cover up the murder. At first Luther accepts but then he regrets his decision and goes to the police to confess. There, he finds out that Michael is a suspect in other murders in which the victims were completely drained of blood. As other people start to exhibit the same symptoms as Fayne, Dr. Luther comes to the conclusion that this millennia-old virus that turns them into vampires is spreading very quickly and must be cured before it becomes a global pandemic.

V Wars is made up of 10 episodes that range from 35 minutes to 1 hour long. I believe that the number of episodes and their length were the consequences of the low budget available to the producers. Unfortunately, this penalizes the pace of the show because too many events happen too quickly with little explanation. The jumps in the timeline were a little confusing and cause a lack of understanding for some of the characters’ actions. It is not easy to adapt a comic book into a show, but I think that the writers of V Wars could have left some things out and chosen quality over quantity. The writing could have also been done better since some of the dialogue was too simple at times and some scenes lack real emotions. Overall, the story was very engaging thanks to many little twists, graphic scenes, and interesting characters who challenge my own viewpoints on a possible dangerous situation like this one. Each episode left me with more questions and hopes for the characters’ futures.

In addition to being the producer and the director of some of the episodes, Ian Somerhalder is the main protagonist of the show as Dr. Luther Swann. He does a great job interpreting the roles of the smart scientist who wants to find a cure at all costs, a man who is struggling to see the humanity left in his best friend, and most of all the protective parent who fights tooth and nail to save his son from the pandemic. His struggle between wanting to save his friend and helping the police prevent more murders was believable and I admired the courage that his character showed throughout the show. However, I was a little disappointed by the indifference displayed towards the death of people he cared about and the superficiality of how he handles some life-or-death situations. I do not blame Ian Somerhalder who showed an incredible versatility when you compare this to his previous acting experiences, but instead I think that the problem is the writing. Adrian Holmes as Michael Fayne gave an excellent performance in my opinion as patient zero and the first human to go through the vampire transformation. The conflict between his human side and survival instinct was really captivating. I found him to be the most believable, logical, and dynamic character capable of involving the audience in his emotions more than any others. Jackie Lai plays Kaylee Vo, the journalist who exposes the government’s attempts to hide the virus to the public. My anger towards her character during most of the show showed me how well she acted her part. Her determination to find the truth mixed with her arrogance and courage made her remarkable. Lastly, although Nikky Reed as Rachel Thompson did not have much screen time, she absolutely dominated her scenes leaving me with a desire to see more of her character.

I rate V Wars as Average on the five-tiered scale (Excellent, Above Average, Average, Below Average, Bad). The idea that people transform into vampires due to a virus that changes their DNA is unique and refreshing. The cons that I found in this show were the CGI which was not always the best, the missed opportunity to develop the main characters, and the simplicity in which “the professionals” handle some situations. The pros were good acting from a great cast, interesting plot points and twists, and compelling action scenes. There is more sex and gore than in some other vampire shows but these elements contributed to the creation of a darker and more realistic atmosphere. There are some minor plot holes because of the jumps in the timeline, but they did not bother me much. I have heard that some people really disliked the show, but I find it quite entertaining, and I still hope for a season 2 in the future even though it was canceled.