The day I didn’t think I’d come its here, yes my friends another drama has come to an end, “100 Days My Prince” ended last October 30th with its episode number 16, its final episode achieved its highest average viewership ratings yet of 14.1% and a peak of 16.7 %. Reaching a new personal best, and stayed on top from the beginning to the end of the broadcast. How I lived it? with mixed feelings, I pulled my hair?…well yes, I cried?…you bet I did! ( sobbing and whining).
When I start to watch a drama I try to guess more or less what turns will the story take, with the usual drama cliches that unite couples (all dramas have these cliches), but in my innocent head I did not glimpse in the future, the prince heir surrounded by enemies conspiring to kill him, being happy with the young woman whose family was killed to ensure his father’s ascent to the throne, but dramas are dramas and sometimes take unpredictable turns to end the story with a happy ending, and by God I was going to throw myself over a cliff if it didn’t end with a happy ending!
Characters and performances.
Won Deuk/ Lee Yeol, the prince heir, a village fool and the protagonist of this story, this character was splendid in Do Kyungsoo‘s skin, the character itself, is complex to explain because he already had a personality defined as the prince heir, but when he lost his memory and became Won Deuk he was a man with the same arrogance as before but without anything to back him up, despite this, he does not surrender himself to his current circunstances as he is an ambicious man, he builds his own life, name, and reputation although he does not remember his previous life, which shows us that it is in the nature of the prince to be intelligent and tenacious, when he goes to the palace and recovers his former name, Lee Yeol, we have again the prince heir but with changes, the improved version, if you can say, this prince has the ability to feel compation, some kind of camaraderie with select people around him and an incalculable devotion and affection for Hong Shim the woman he fell in love with who turned out to be his dearest friend and love one from childhood:Yoon Yi Seo.
The character and story were complex, to explain it in a way Do Kyungsoo was personifying three different personalities: The Crown Prince, a man with no memories and the Crown Prince after meeting Hong Shim. Kyungsoo has received high praises for his performance for this drama from experienced actors like Jo Han Chul, definitely well deserved, excellent characterization.
I would like to applaud the production for giving me a strong, brave, intelligent, independent female protagonist, we need more characters like her in dramaland, Hong Shim/Yoon Yi Seo the character of Na Ji Hyun, was a character who grew over the course of the drama as well as its co-star, when the drama began she was already a capable, intelligent and brave woman, who was not afraid to put herself in danger to protect another, but this young woman, Hong Shim, feared and fled constantly from her past, the influence of the useless but unexpectedly intelligent Won Deuk, turned her into a much more capable woman than she was before, of course, when she finally found her brother, and realized the tricks and conspiracies that were taking place in the palace, this elements also influenced her character, and this is one of the things that I love the most about her, this was not your typical damesl in distress who sat looking out the window while she worried intensely about the most important men in her life, her brother and the man who in unusual circumstances became her husband Won Deuk/ Lee Yool, well no, this girl went out and took action, with intelligence, discretion and as much prudence as her circumstances allowed.
Her character was at the same caliber as the heir prince of Do Kyungsoo, an intelligent, strong and brave man, a man in a position as delicate as that of an heir prince, does not need a useless woman to watch over and protect all the time, he needs a strong and brave woman who is able to endure a lifestyle loaded with tensions and responsibilities that surrounds royalty, and that is precisely what I was given with Hong Shim/Yoon Yi Seo. Perfect.
Jo Sung Ha‘s villain was a man whose greed did not let him see beyond his own plans and ideals to the point of using his only daughter as a pawn in his game, despite everything, the last move of his character that ultimately cost him his life, was it compassion for his daughter? … perhaps, we can interpret it that way. The man was mostly a villain, but for a moment he was also human, in his own way, in his crazy head, this man had some affection for his daughter, otherwise, he wouldn’t have done what he did. Well done.
And what about the supporting actors? all excellent, in the end, I became rather fond of the people from the small village of Song Joo, naive but good-hearted people. They all tried to help Won Deuk and Hong Shim in some way even in matters of love, what they did in the last episode for them I did not see it coming at all, they were some really endearing characters.
And finally
“100 Days My Prince” I liked it, I didn’t think I would, but I did. About the grand finale… SPOILER ALERT! it was a happy ending! I love happy endings, these guys deserved that ending, and not only that but the way they disposed of those who committed some lesser evils in the plot, like the previous governor of the village of Song Joo were well thought and very satisfying to see, I also liked how things that seemed meaningless at the beginning finally had their explanation in the last episodes, and how they took up previous characters that we had already forgotten like the personal guard of the prince, who died sacrificing himself for him in the firsts episodes, that man had to be remembered and cried for. I enjoyed this drama and I hope that you too if you are new to the world of Kdrama, you can watch “100 Days My Prince” as many times as you like right here.
