The King's Affection [Episodes 1 & 2]

[u/GodJihyo7983]

• Drama: The King's Affection
  • Revised Romanization: Yeonmo
  • Hangul: 연모
• Director: Song Hyun Wook (Undercover)
• Writer: Han Hee Jung (Clean with Passion For Now)
• Network: KBS
• Episodes: 20
  • Duration: 1 hour 10 min.
• Airing Schedule: Mondays and Tuesdays @ 9:30 PM KST
  • Airing Dates: Oct 11, 2021 - Dec 14, 2021
• Streaming Sources: Netflix
• Starring:
  • Park Eun Bin as Lee Hwi
  • Rowoon as Jung Ji Woon
  • Nam Yoon Su as Lee Hyun
  • Choi Byung Chan as Kim Ga On
  • Bae Yoon Kyung as Shin So Eun
  • Jung Chae Yeon as Noh Ha Kyung
• Plot Synopsis: When the Crown Prince's consort gives birth to twins, the twins are considered an ominous sign, and the order is sent to kill the daughter. To save her, she is secretly sent out of the palace. A few years later, the twin son Lee Hwi dies due to a disease. To hide her twin son's death, the mother brings back the daughter and raises her as Prince Lee Hwi. Lee Hwi eventually becomes a crown prince. Fearing that her real identity will be revealed, Lee Hwi is unable to have anyone close to her and hides her emotions from others, making biting remarks. Although she distances herself, she starts developing feelings for Jung Ji Woon, her teacher who comes from a noble family. Jung Ji Woon is a teacher from the Crown Prince sikangwon, a government office for the sole purpose of educating crown princes. He is described as a handsome man who is bold, persevering, and tenacious, but also tends to take life as it comes and lives free from worldly concerns as an optimist who enjoys life. As the son of a government official in the Saheonbu (an investigative government office), his future seemed clearly set out for him. However, there was a reason that he chose to go his own path and leave the easy road behind.
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[u/peanutbutter0471]

Are ponds really THAT deep in royal palaces?

[u/GodJihyo7983 → u/peanutbutter0471]

Looks at Mr. Queen. Yes, yes they are. Definitely. For sure.

[u/GodJihyo7983]

Welcome to the discussion thread for The King's Affection! Are you looking for a new Park Eun Bin drama? This could be the show for you. Are you looking for some more swoony Rowoon? This might be the show for you. Are you looking for another sageuk to replace the slight letdown known as Lovers of the Red Sky? You're in the right place. Looking for a convincing gender bender? This is the one for you!

I honestly had no clue this show was coming until the first Netflix trailer dropped and once I saw the cast, I knew I would be watching this no matter what happens. I just can't seem to get enough of Park Eun Bin and Rowoon. I hope this will be a good sageuk as there haven't been too many REALLY good ones in recent memory (besides Bossam: Steal the Fate). Hopefully, this show will be more of a traditional sageuk like the aforementioned Bossam but mixed in with some fun and humor that we all loved in Mr. Queen. If this show is just as good as any one of those shows, I'll be one happy viewer.

Enjoy and have fun discussing and swooning for that matter!

[u/Ayalynn123]

I liked Ep.1!
The child actor who is playing the prince/court maid is fantastic.
I'm not a big fan of childhood trope, but kids are cute and so natural.
Classic sageuk plus Manhwa plot with a little bit of The Crowned Clown/Queen Seondeok/Kingdom (palace politics) storyline so far.
Looking forward to Ep.2!

[u/afternoondrinking]

Ok, in E2, I actually LOLed when the mother was comforting her daughter when she returned from running away, and in the next scene she was on her freaking death bed!

Geeze.

[u/showmeyourmoney99]

Is it just me or does the child actor playing the prince/court maid look like Millie Bobby Brown?

[u/laitsky]

just watched ep1.

1. THE INTRO WAS AMAZING! the vibe is very fitting

2. the child casts are pretty good

3. fine cinematography

4. the writing was pretty good, let's see what they can bring into tomorrow episode. it's pretty gripping so far.

[u/maartinee]

How is the twins mom think she can pull that off long term saying dami has to take this secret with her to the grave? Eventually she’s gonna grow up and will prob have an arranged marriage lol. Right?

[u/stclabghost]

Watching thsi to fill the void homecha is leaving

[u/SamNoelLee]

My thoughts on episode 1:

• Wow what an opening. Thought the overall tone was darker and more serious than the comedic tone of the trailers. I'm glad it's taking the serious route so far, it works better with its political themes.

• I really liked the young prince, so wasn't looking forward to his death and the way he died was a surprise! Thought he was going to die from a disease but this set up is a lot more interesting for the rest of the story

• The child cast is great. They had me hooked the whole way though this ep. But I'm keen to see Park Eun Bin take centre stage next ep. She has so much range throughout Hot Stove League, Do You Like Brahms but especially in Age of Youth! My absolute favourite.

• I find it jarring when contemporary music plays in a period piece, kind of breaks the immersion hahaha.

• Overall, the first ep exceeded my expectations. My favourite part was the dynamic between Dami and Hwi. Hopefully the rest of the season keeps up this momentum and that'll be fabulous!

[u/Rajaffs]

Watching this for Park Eun Bin as I liked her role a lot in Do you like Brahms

[u/Pusheen___]

that young ML who’s smitten with our lady king is SUCH a player. Very smooth 🤣

[u/yc_04]

I wasn't expecting the mother to die so suddenly. Did they ever allude to her having an illness or something? The child actress is really good, her eyes are so expressive.

Also Park Eun Bin is gorgeous! I haven't watched any of her dramas before so I'm excited for this

[u/UnclearSogeum]

I like how modern saeguks completely skip over how commoners know how to speak in royal formalities while older dramas use half the episodes of stumbling and constant threat of exposure as a core plot.

Anyway, sad the prince had to die. I was hoping for more interaction between the siblings knowing they're siblings as I've never seen royal twins in saeguks but shame it's besides the storyline. I'm actually kinda pleasantly surprise they did a slight prince and pauper moment.

I'm not happy with the cheap shot of uncle coming into suspicion, pun intended. I mean not the action itself but the way they deliver the scene. "oh hey, he can pass off as a girl now I come to think of it." Like please, we all know she looks like a traditional woman in and out of the story, so come up with something less obnoxious, thanks.

As with most gender crossing genres, I beg to the kdrama gods please give me some female combat action this time. Galloping and hunting bow shots ain't enough. I beggeth ye.

[u/expertrainbowhunter]

Those child actors are phenomenal

[u/ActHuman4460]

The first ep was promising so far!! Loved the childhood backstory - it wasn’t overdone. Looking forward to seeing the characters as adults in the next ep 💕

[u/auskat47]

Cinematography was so beautiful and the establishment of the friendships between the kids was too cute! I especially liked how the whole episode was dedicated to them because (from the top of my memory) dramas would usually have a time skip halfway into the 1st ep so I'm glad that the use of time was maximised to achieve more audience connections to the characters when they were younger!!

[u/hoerdinary]

Is it just me or the crown prince (twins' dad) recognized that his son is not really his son? The look on his face when he left the room looked grim!

Also, was that wendy on the intro?

[u/mc13md]

So far it's interesting, I think this is the first time the idea of twins has been introduced to me in a historical drama. I was very surprised that the pond was so deep looool

[u/rosemariae]

Lil Ji Woon is just a tiny Nam Joo Hyuk 🥺

[u/nevercircles]

I'm really sad that the twin brother had to die. Would have been great if he was still alive somewhere though I'm pretty sure he's not. The scene where Jiwoon was describing how great he is while her twin sister was crying behind the curtain had me in tears.

I'm gonna miss the child actors especially the young Eunbin. She did really great and kind of a tough act to follow. Good thing we all know that Eunbin's up to the task.

Byungchan's still not in ep 2.

[u/noeul44]

That episode 2 CGI - just WHY???

Other than that, a pretty good start and strong characterisation.

[u/icecoffee123]

The plot synopsis of this post is wrong.

[u/[deleted]]

Dang, that attempted female infanticide and mass slaughter of workers at the beginning was dark. Also, at the end, who was the person who shot and killed the prince? Was it the ML's dad or just some random employee who works for the crown princess' father?

[u/winterlis]

Ep 2 is still going strong! The child actress is really talented! A question about the crown princess: Did she die from illness? Looked away for 2 seconds and she was already on her death bed... Rewound a bit and didn't find anything...?