Bullet Point Review: Grand Prince
Published in
4 min readDec 11, 2018
- Before even you start watching any saguek, you know what is going to be the central focus; someones gotta sit on the throne, and someones gotta get off it. But nevertheless, each drama is still different, in regards to the dynasty it is set in, the pivotal characters, and how the plot unfurls through the various schemes, conspiracies, and ploys.
Grand Prince sets itself apart by paying a lot of attention to the tension caused in a royal household, owing to all these attempts that are deployed to make sure that only the firstborn gets to ascend the throne. In one of the early episodes, Lee Hwi (a remarkable Yoon Si Yoon), tells his mother, the Queen Dowager (Yang Mi Kyung), that the only thing being taught to him since he was young, was to never eye the throne, and how harmful the consequences of nurturing this desire is for the royal family. This lesson though isn’t followed by his older brother, Lee Kang (a brilliant Joo Sang Wook), who believes that it is his right to sit on the throne. This difference in opinion causes a rift in the palace, but every time there is a face-off, they do remind each other that they are brothers, before they are princes. In a similar drama like Scarlet Heart Ryeo, where brothers turn on each other’s back without even a blink of an eye, these confrontations were a refreshment, especially when knowing that the fight for the throne is inevitable in the end. - Joo Sang Wook’s empathic portrayal of Lee Kang draws parallel to Lee Joon Ki’s Wang So from Scarlet Heart Ryeo. Both the characters are brought up outside of the palace, away from the family, to prevent them from abducting the throne from their elder sibling. Both princes crave for affection, love and some sort of acknowledgment, but in Scarlet Heart Ryeo, we never understand why Queen So hates Wang So so much, whereas in Grand Prince, we see some sort of resentment in the Queen on her decision to raise one son away from her, and she says that it was the decision of a Queen, and not of a mother.
Throughout the show too, we watch Lee Kang approach the Queen over and over again, asking her why she can’t let him sit on the throne because after all, he is her son too, and it breaks your heart, on watching his repeated attempts to receive some sort of acceptance and love from his mother. Even when he finds out that Lee Hwi is dead, he grieves for him, which is ironic, because it was his ploy that got Lee Hwi killed. This conflicted nature of the character makes Lee Kang an excellent villain, or more of an anti-hero, who is just a victim of circumstances and feels what he is doing is the right thing. We actually do spend more time with him than with the protagonist Lee Hwi, and hence pity him more, than hating him. After all, the throne is taken by his elder brother and the woman he loves by his younger brother, so he is bound to feel angry and wronged. - Yoon Si Yoon’s innocent Lee Hwi is also a victim of circumstances. He tries to stay as far away as possible, from all the politics, yet becomes a disposable pawn in Lee Kang’s plan to ascend to the throne, and has no choice but to grow up really fast.
- The steady development of the plot, along with the gradual growth of characters, helps this drama stay afloat in its second half.
We watch Lee Hwi transform from a boy to a man, and accept his responsibilities as a Grand Prince, we watch Ja Hyun (an exceptional Jin Se Yun) grow from a young, demure girl to a smart, brave women, ready to risk anything for her love, and we watch Na Gyeom (Ryu Ho Young), clamber up her way to royalty, only to slip back down again. - The characters are all smart, all aware of the conspiracies, rumours that surround them all the time, hence keeping them alert for any suspicious activity. This makes them feel like they belong to such an era and you are constantly questioning if they suspect one another, or know something the other person doesn’t.
The plotting, planning also goes on side by side, each time something different, which makes it extremely exciting to watch. Hence when the rebellion is on the roll, it becomes interesting to know how much each one knows and doesn’t know. - The women are excellently written. From Ja Hyeon, to Na Gyeom, to Roo Shi Gae, to Cho Yo Kyung, to the Queen, to Ja Hyeon’s mother, all are extremely well-rounded characters and flawlessly portrayed. Even the palace maids, or Kkeut Dan, Ja Hyeon’s maid, could have ended up as mere stereotypes, but they all play a pivotal role in the story.
- Cho So Hyun and Bang Jae Ho play similar characters to the one they played in The King in Love, but I loved that we could see a wider range of their talent in this show.
