The Dramatic Friday Review: King 2 Hearts (ep 5 & 6)

The King 2 Hearts Episode 5 - Unnie's Review:
Since Dongsaeng got to give the review of Rooftop Prince I get to give the review of King 2 Hearts. At the end she'll get to give her "2 cents" worth, as I did on her review.  I'd ask for you to all give us some time, while we figure out our format & iron out the kinks, etc, but as yet, we haven't really had a whole lot of people stop by.  Ok.  Fine.  We haven't had anybody stop by.  {nervous chuckle & throat clearing ahem}

So the only way I can think of to get this review started is to simply assume you have all already watched episodes 1-4.  Mostly because I don't want to recap everything that has happened in the last 4 episodes, & since I am sort of jumping into the middle of the show rather than reviewing each episode I have already seen, hence the hoping you have already seen & formed your own opinions.  Or maybe I should just pretend this is not my first review of K2H.  That I have in fact reviewed every single episode already aired.  That you are all, already used to my format for review, & just keep going, as if we're all used to this.  I like that idea. 

Here we go...  {hang onto your hats}  {I don't really know why I felt that was necessary but I refuse to hit the backspace button & delete my 'witty repartee'} 

Would someone tell those rotten {crickets} to go away! 

Thank you. 

I have to admit I was excited to see what would happen next to our dynamic duo of Ha Ji Won (recently off of Secret Garden & my favorite actress) & Lee Seung Gi (formerly of My Girlfriend is a Gumiho & recently off Strong Heart), in episode 5.  Can I just say??  Lee Seung Gi has the cutest little dimples!! 

{I have a weakness for dimples - also something I love about our beloved Hyun Bin!} 

I was not disappointed.  Especially when Lee Seung Gi's character, Lee Jae Ha, got mad at his brother the King re: the subject of his (Lee Jae Ha's) arranged marriage.  Best part of the scene is when Lee Jae Ha, in a fit of agitation, stands up & confronts his brother, the King.  Did I mention Lee Jae Ha's character was in a bubble bath?  {giggle}  Thanks to the well positioned King, almost everything was left to my imagination.  {giggle}  Thank you to the writers & director for this scene alone.  {giggle}  Really, I am a mature mother of 4, I promise. 

Lee Jae Ha finds the idea of an arranged marriage & being forced to meet all the prospective brides as distasteful, especially as he is sure, that Ha Ji Won, Kim Hang Ah's, character will be snotty & superior when she sees Lee Jae Ha arrive.  Until the King points out that, because she is a trained assassin, the rest of the country would find her distasteful, as a prospective bride, & therefore has rejected her as a candidate.  At which point, Lee Jae Ha, obviously a little taken aback, & trying to cover his displeasure, that the girl he has started to fall for but isn't yet ready to admit his feelings for, has been removed from his list.  He covers it well, {not really}, by then consenting to meet the other girls on the list.  It's okay Lee Jae Ha.  We know the truth. 

Meanwhile, Kim Hang Ah, who was happy to be on the list, finds out she has been rejected & is now upset.  But the next thing we know, the news that the Prince has chosen a North Korean soldier/assassin/spy as his bride is leaked to the press.  Who leaked the info?  Honestly, I got a little lost in there, because they cut to the evil leader of the leader of the M group who is bucking for psychopath, {BTW Dongsaeng & I looked it up & he is a 'psychopath', not a 'sociopath'.  Apparently, psychopaths are worse than sociopaths.  Learned something new.  Go figure.}, of the century, he acts as though he's surprised by the news.  He condescends, to acknowledge the upcoming nuptials, by sending the King a wedding ring with his "best wishes" to the happy couple.  Not creepy or ominous at all is it?  Telling you Psychopath of the Century!  {So Awesome! I love a storyline with a  really awesome Psychopath, keeps things interesting & moving at a nice pace.}

What can the Prince & the King do with the country freaking out that he chose a North Korean assassin?  Why hold a press conference of course!  Even though the advisers all say be quiet & wait it out.  You know politics.  So the King arranges for the press to come & for him to give full disclosure that he, the king, had arranged it but then dismissed the idea.  Meanwhile, the prince, to save his brother the embarrassment & possible abdication, attends a huge, what else, football game, {soccer to us Americans}, just moments before the King is scheduled to speak to the press.  It's there that the Crown Prince announces that he is, in fact in love with Kim Hang Ah, he's lying of course.

{Really he's lying to himself, that he's lying. Smug Smile Here.  Was there something wrong with that sentence or am I the only one who is confused?} 

Kim Hang Ah sees this at the same time the rest of the world sees this.  Unlike the rest of the world, however she sees through Lee Jae Ha's obvious lie.  {She's blind to the fact that he actually does like her & that's why he is such a little stink to her.  Seriously, boys really don't outgrow that whole, "like a girl be mean to her" mentality, not until they finally admit or realize how important she is to his heart & that he'd be lost without her & that he's about to lose her.}.  At least in K-Dramas that's how it works. 

She refuses to see him, after his worldwide admission, because she's sure it's all a big con.  Until, that is, Eun Si Kyung calls her to ask her himself.  By then she has already decided that she will go & meet the Prince but the Prince assumes that she only said yes because Eun Si Kyung asked her.   A misunderstanding for sure.  Those never happen in K-Dramas, right?  But she goes & she meets him & he has a plan.  A plan to make her feel like an idiot.  However, she disrupts that plan, by flat out telling him she is not interested...or rather she sends her emissary, to deliver the message to him, in front of all the servants, surrounded by the balloons & confections & flowers & romance, he has set up for his mischievous plot.  You go girl!  The look of shock on his face is almost delicious, except we all know how he really feels, right?!?!    Which makes me feel bad for poor Lee Jae Ha, almost. 

Towards the end of this episode I kept thinking, "What's with all the donuts?!?!  Dang they eat a lot of donuts on this show!"  Then, of course, I realized that Dunkin Donuts is a sponsor & I went, "Oh.  Okay, well that explains the donuts!"  Nothing like good product placement right?

Looking forward to episode 6, tonight. 

My final assessment of the episode was it was wonderfully well written & acted.  And I adore the chemistry between Ha Ji Won & Lee Seung Gi.  They make almost as good a pairing as Ha Ji Won & Hyun Bin did in Secret Garden.  And that is saying something.  And if they keep throwing in the occasional bubble bath scene w/ Lee Seung Gi, I may have a new favorite drama. {giggle}


Dongsaeng's Two Cents on K2H ep 5:  I officially have nothing to add.  Unnie said it all quite well.  And helped me understand some of it too in the process, because I'll be the first to admit, as much as I am 100% loving this drama, there are parts where I sit and scratch my head because I don't quite understand all that is happening.  But I have faith that it'll all make sense as I go along.  And let's be honest - I'm really here for the romance and that's pretty easy to get so I am a happy girl, which leads me in to the next part where I get to review episode 6!!!

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The King 2 Hearts Episode 6 - Dongsaeng's review:
oKay, I juSt finiShed watching.  It's almost midnight and I am a busy momma with a cold on top, but I just couldn't wait until morning to review this one.  Oh me oh my oh boy!  That was AWESOME!  First he was all mean to her because he was upset by her turning him down and embarrassing him in front of everybody (sure, that's his excuse, embarrassment, but we all know the real reason he was upset *wink wink*).  She fell hard for his crafty little tricks.  The piano?  Come on!  Tell me you didn't swoon too?!?!  Then he breaks her heart (after almost kissing her - how mean!) and it was so sad.  But she bounces back - that's one tough assassin cookie there after all - and shows just how awesome she is by not taking his crap.  At the press conference where they were supposed to announce that, despite the love they share, they just can't make it work politically and culturally, she announces that she loves him and plans to proceed with the engagement.  Hahaha!  You go girl!  You showed him!  I loved his face as he was speechless in that moment!  Bwahahahaha!  That's good tv right there!  And then the best part, the part that makes me so happy that I get to be the one reviewing this episode...THE KISS!  Sure they were drunk, but YUMM-O!  That was an awesome K-drama kiss scene right there.  Maybe I'm just a little biased because I am so rooting for this couple - I ADORE them together! - but seriously, that kiss!  Thank you thank you thank you writers!  You done good there my friends, real good.  I just can't say enough about those two - Ha Ji Won is a spectacular actress, I have to totally agree with Unnie on that one.  I love her in this even more than in Secret Garden.  I think her character is a perfect blend of tough and sweet.  I admire her when she's strong and want to hug her when she's all cute and girly.  It's refreshing to see a character so diverse in personality.  And Lee Seung Gi?  He is the perfect immature but noble Prince.  Sorry to gush, but I am simply in love with it all.  The actors, the characters, the writing, the everything.  If they keep this up this one is well on it's way to making it to the top tier of my all-time favorites.

Oh, and as a side note, I thought I'd share a funny thing I realized while watching this show tonight.  Earlier today I was watching IRIS and saw Yoon Je Moon as Park Sang Hyun, NSS Chief.  I was so confused!  I was trying to figure out how the psychopathic super villain had ended up in the NSS (uber-secret government agency).  I just couldn't remember how he got there.  Obviously he was planning something nefarious (he is a psychopathic super villain after all), but I couldn't remember when or how he had wormed his way on the team.  Of course then tonight watching K2H my confusion was cleared.  Duh.  Same actor in both shows (slaps forehead and shakes head in embarrassment).  And this is why I normally don't watch more than one drama at a time.  I'm easily confused.  Three at a time, especially two currently airing?  I am really in for it here.  My brain cells can't handle the overload and keep it all straight.  I just can't stand to give any of them up though.  IRIS helps fill the time between K2H and RTP airings.  I didn't mean to get into two currently airing shows at once.  I couldn't decide between the two which I should watch so I watched them both, assuming that I'd like one more than the other and just go with it.  We all see how well that turned out.  At least it provided me with a wonderful opportunity to laugh at myself and that's important to do once in a while, right?  So, I'll do my very best to keep them all straight and remember each one (sooo hard to do when you have to wait a week between episodes!), but, you know, no promises there.  ;)

Unnie's Two Cents on K2H ep 6: 
Well said, Dongsaeng!   Watching him romance her on purpose, just setting her up was painful, but I could totally see it was going to backfire.  Just like his previous 'mischievous' plans this one was not thought all the way through.  Totally loved the piano scene.  I,too, was non-plussed when he stood up & walked away just prior to a good kiss.  All I could think was, "uh what just happened here?  We were about to get a kiss, right?"  Oh wait!  That would just be Kim Hang Ah getting the kiss.  Oops.  That is a sign of a good drama right there.  When you get so pulled in you empathize not just sympathize with the character(s).  

I just have one criticism...they couldn't find an actual American girl to play the reporter from Boston? You know one that might actually have an actual American accent, instead of an obviously Eastern European accent, speaking slower does not make an American accent guys.  If that chick was from Boston then I am the Queen of England!   If they are in need of an American actress I'm not "Union" of course, but I am available.  And unlike some other girls I have the right accent!

And I agree w/ Dongsaeng, again, THAT end kiss was awesome!!  Totally predictable, of course, once alcohol is added to the mix, & the girl's dad is on his way from North Korea to South Korea, to see the Crown Prince, you know they are going to interrupt a big kiss scene & therefore the marriage would have to go through.  Ha Ji Won is indeed spectacular in this drama!  She is the perfect blend of kick butt assassin & sweet, innocent girlie girl.  They have perfect chemistry & the writing is off the hook awesome.  And how much do I love, Princess Lee Jae Shin?!?!  So much.  Does anyone else see a little sideline love story between Eun Shi Kyung & Lee Jae Shin???    Two thumbs way, way up.  

Anxiously awaiting next week's episodes!!

Until then...

Sarang,