Kings 2 Hearts (2012), a 20 episode kdrama hooked me in the first 8-10 episodes with the romance between the North Korean Special Forces Officer Kim Hang Ah and the South Korean Prince Lee Jae Ha. The royal family were decent caring people who had to cope with tragedy after tragedy. In second half of the series the villain became the driver of the story line. Bottom line for me, I want good to triumph over evil. At the end of King 2 Hearts, I felt that evil had the upper hand the entire series. There were never had any significant consequences for horrible actions. In addition, the second couple of the series, the plucky Princess and reserved Royal Guard were pointlessly destroyed, without a valid story line payoff.
What I liked about King 2 Hearts:
1. Our Heroine, Kim Hang Ah, was tough and tender. She loved her man, she literally saved her man (multiple times), and she demanded his growth into a better person. One of the strongest kdrama female characters I've ever seen.
2. Our Prince (then King), Lee Jae Ha, grew into a fine man after initially being lazy, petty, and at times mean. This jerk to hero evolution seems to be a specialty for the actor Lee Seung Ki. I loved his portrayal of similar evolving characters in Shining Inheritance and My Girlfriend is a Gumiho.
3. Our stalwart Royal Guard protector, Eun Shi Kyung, was deftly played by Jo Jung Suk. This character could have been wooden and boring, but instead was a rock for our Prince/King (terrific bromanace between these two). His romance with the princess was slow but lovely to watch. The death of this character was unnecessary. When a character dies by a villain as the villain is being caught, I find it senseless and an emotional gut-punch that has no story line validity. I felt the same when the writers of City Hunter killed the prosecutor in the next to last episode. This was unnecessary and harsh and left other characters and the viewers shell shocked in the final episode.
4. Our plucky princess, Lee Jae Shin, played by Lee Yoon Ji started bold but was traumatized and paralyzed by the evil villain. The unlocking of her memory had an emotional payoff when you found what the villain forced her do. The actress Lee Yoon Ji created a character that you rooted for. The same actress was great in Dream High.
5. Our initial King, Lee Jae Kang, was loving, wise, fun, the best brother and king. The actor Lee Sung Min made a big impact in the initial third of this series.
6. Our Queen mother, Bang Yang Sun, was tolerate and stronger than you initially thought. She loved her family, and showed true pluck when face-to-face with the villain.
What I didn't like:
1. The villain John Mayer was initially weird, creepy, and strangely compelling in the initial episodes. But when the writers let this evil character drive the last two-thirds of the series, our good characters only played catch-up and never really triumphed. I so wanted our heroine to use her sniper rifle on the villain instead of his evil side-kick. His penalty was to be thrown in prison where I imagined he could still run his evil empire remotely. I was not satisfied this character paid for his crimes.
2. The royal adviser Bang Yang Sun so easily betrayed the royal family after taking a bribe and then lied, manipulated and became the inside man for the villain. This was difficult to watch and swallow.
3. The foreign actors could not act. In an attempt to make the story line conflict global, many foreign actors were employed. Unfortunately, they were all bad actors with weird accents. The foreign actors were outmatched by the core actors and were distracting to the story.
King 2 Hearts had many pluses: good actors, solid romances, characters you liked or hated, twists and turns, but the writing in the latter part of the series bothered me and downgraded my feelings of the series to "missed it by that much" (good but not great).
What I liked about King 2 Hearts:
1. Our Heroine, Kim Hang Ah, was tough and tender. She loved her man, she literally saved her man (multiple times), and she demanded his growth into a better person. One of the strongest kdrama female characters I've ever seen.
2. Our Prince (then King), Lee Jae Ha, grew into a fine man after initially being lazy, petty, and at times mean. This jerk to hero evolution seems to be a specialty for the actor Lee Seung Ki. I loved his portrayal of similar evolving characters in Shining Inheritance and My Girlfriend is a Gumiho.
3. Our stalwart Royal Guard protector, Eun Shi Kyung, was deftly played by Jo Jung Suk. This character could have been wooden and boring, but instead was a rock for our Prince/King (terrific bromanace between these two). His romance with the princess was slow but lovely to watch. The death of this character was unnecessary. When a character dies by a villain as the villain is being caught, I find it senseless and an emotional gut-punch that has no story line validity. I felt the same when the writers of City Hunter killed the prosecutor in the next to last episode. This was unnecessary and harsh and left other characters and the viewers shell shocked in the final episode.
4. Our plucky princess, Lee Jae Shin, played by Lee Yoon Ji started bold but was traumatized and paralyzed by the evil villain. The unlocking of her memory had an emotional payoff when you found what the villain forced her do. The actress Lee Yoon Ji created a character that you rooted for. The same actress was great in Dream High.
5. Our initial King, Lee Jae Kang, was loving, wise, fun, the best brother and king. The actor Lee Sung Min made a big impact in the initial third of this series.
6. Our Queen mother, Bang Yang Sun, was tolerate and stronger than you initially thought. She loved her family, and showed true pluck when face-to-face with the villain.
What I didn't like:
1. The villain John Mayer was initially weird, creepy, and strangely compelling in the initial episodes. But when the writers let this evil character drive the last two-thirds of the series, our good characters only played catch-up and never really triumphed. I so wanted our heroine to use her sniper rifle on the villain instead of his evil side-kick. His penalty was to be thrown in prison where I imagined he could still run his evil empire remotely. I was not satisfied this character paid for his crimes.
2. The royal adviser Bang Yang Sun so easily betrayed the royal family after taking a bribe and then lied, manipulated and became the inside man for the villain. This was difficult to watch and swallow.
3. The foreign actors could not act. In an attempt to make the story line conflict global, many foreign actors were employed. Unfortunately, they were all bad actors with weird accents. The foreign actors were outmatched by the core actors and were distracting to the story.
King 2 Hearts had many pluses: good actors, solid romances, characters you liked or hated, twists and turns, but the writing in the latter part of the series bothered me and downgraded my feelings of the series to "missed it by that much" (good but not great).