All these #kdramas are having a healing effect on my bitter & skeptical heart, I keep finding myself reluctantly believing in love again...what is happening!? Is that part the #Kdrama newbie initiation?
I binge watched this drama, and then got everyone around me interested in how it was going and how it ended. My brother could hear my loud reactions from the TV room. I was gasping, shouting, screaming and laughing at the screen. I even tweeted about it. It was too much in a good way!
This Korean drama, also known as Hundred Days My Husband, stars Do Kyung Soo aka D.O as Lee Yul the crown prince and Nam Ji-Hyun as Yeon Hong-shim our heroine. It was written by Ni Ji Sul, and directed by Lee Jong-Jae and Nam Sung Woo.
It is the 11th highest rated series on cable television in South Korea...(Wikipedia says so...)and rumor has it Season 2 will be out in 2022...
Basically the story starts with our onscreen couple being childhood buddies, both from noble and wealthy families. Yeon Hong-Shim family ends up being massacred in a merciless coup, in order for Lee Yul's father (Jo Han-chul) to take the converted royal throne.
Years later Lee Yul is still traumatized by the onslaughter he witnessed and how much his life changed as the heir to the throne. During an unsuccessful attempt on his life, he losses balance after being shot at by a deadly arrow and tumbles down a hill where he is discovered by Yeon Hong-Shim's adoptive father, Mr Yeon ( Jung Hae Kyun), Yul is unable to remember who he is, and is given the new identity of Na Won -Deuk and married off to the willful and independent Yeon Hong-Shim to save her from corporal punishment .
From this point on, there will be SPOILERS all the way through this post.
Stop now if you haven't watched it!
Then return when you have, so we can discuss in depth how entertaining it was....
1. The Oh-Sooooo-Many Suspenseful Plot Twists & Turns !
It caught me off guard, but this drama had just the right amount of mystery and political intrigue. It didn't take away from the comedy or the romance, instead these elements added some zest and zeal to the storyline. Each character had their own story, and each story moved the overall plot forward.
Its very clear from the beginning that both our hero and heroine remain deeply disturbed by their shared childhood experience . Lee Yul reluctantly becomes crown prince and is frustrated by the duties and demands of the kingdom. He is in a loveless arranged marriage and the country is suffering through a drought. The people believe that if the prince 'sleeps' with his wife, the crown princess (Han So-Hee) it will balance the yin and yang energy in the country, and rain will finally fall. To avoid consummating his marriage, he writes a royal decree that every single person who is eligible for marriage should be married by the end of the month or be punished severely.
The vice premier, Kim Cha-eon (Jo Sung-ha), who lead the massacre that killed all the noble families when Lee Yul was a child, happens to be the crown prince's father in law, and coincidently wants his son in law dead.
The crown prince is sent to preside over a rain festival by the King, and on the way there, with the help of his trusted bodyguard escapes death. As I said earlier, Yul is found by the Hong-Shim's adoptive father, who wants to save his unmarried daughter from punishment so he creates an identity for the crown prince and succeeds in getting them both married on the very last day of the month.
From episode eight onwards, fire after fire after fire gets dropped! Every thing and every one is connected somehow. Things just continue to get fantastically complicated. Hong Shim's brother, Yoon Seok-ha (Kim Jae-young ) who we thought was dead/missing, is in fact alive and well, working as an assassin for the evil Vice Premier.
Now to add to this whoooooole story, the crown princess is pregnant with Seok-ha's baby... WHAAAT!?
Also at one point some one was supposed be dead...well he isn't two or three episodes later...
All these many many many plot twists and turns in a drama I thought would be relatively predictable....!?!
2. Sloooooooooooooow Burn Romance
I think this is what they call 'slow burn romance'... right? It took too many episodes for them to fall for each other, even though they had very nice chemistry.
Neither of them can recognize each other from childhood. Hong-Shim must hide her real name and the fact that she's of noble blood from those around her and Yul can't remember who he is.
The prince is cold, stubborn and unfriendly....which isn't attractive but makes for comical situations. It shows rather that tells us the contrast between a life of privilege and a life of relative poverty.
Our heroine is independent, she didn't want get to married and is planning on abandoning her husband when she reunites with her long lost brother.
Eventually the prince confronts and heals his traumas then remembers who he is, and we warm to his personality as he realizes the value of his friendships and life lessons from his village life identity. Our heroine also realizes she is worthy of love and that love is worth fighting for.
3. The comedy of the Aaaaaawesome villagers!
The supporting characters are the glue. They may not be the stars of the show, but without them the sky would fall. They bring this drama to life and make it believable and hilarious.
As a dotting father Mr. Yeon does everything he can to support his responsible and hard working adopted daughter, including marrying her off to a man he found unconscious in the forest.
Hong-Shim's best friend, Kkeut-Nyeo (Lee Min-Ji) and her husband, Gu-Dol(Kim Ki-Doo) are committed to ensuring that Won Deuk and Hong-Shim have a successful marriage including advising them on how to consummate it .
Then there's the spoilt entitled aristocrat/Yangban Park Seon-do(Ahn Suk-Hwan) who is upset that Hong-Shim refused to be his fourth or fifth concubine, so he makes it a goal to ensure the newly married couple's life is miserable and full of struggle .
The town clerk, Park Bok-Eun ( Lee Jun Hyeok) is just trying his best to do his job, and ensure all the villagers follow the rules and abide by the laws of the kingdom; he is stuck in the middle because the villages are his dear friends too.
Lastly we have Jang Jae-Yonn (Kim Seon-Ho) a trusted civil servant in the palace who gets promoted to become the Magistrate of our beloved village. He helps the crown prince regain his memory and keeps Hong-Shim safe as the chaos ensures in the Kingdom.
I repeat the villagers are the glue..
And who are these people? I don't recognize them...lol
There's not much I didn't like in this drama .
I think the episodes were cut well and used the time to tell the story efficiently. The costumes and the setting spoke to the time and characters and didn't distract us. I am not a historical expert so there isn't much value in my critic in the above areas.
My only question is.... why isn't Hong-shim enraged at the King for killing her family?
Maybe season 2 will answer it.
100 Days My Prince will be added to my all time favorites' list, just for making me laugh and shout s0 much.
Please...Pretty please go watch if you have not already.
If you have, in the comments below share your favorite story twists? I need to know.
Photos from Hancinema
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