Summary
Captivating the King gets off to a good start, introducing the leads and laying out the groundwork for a political drama with a hefty helping of romance.
Confusing everyone, Netflix elected to release the first two episodes of the new period drama Captivating the King at once – and on a Sunday, no less. Episodes 1 and 2 of Season 1, which was directed by Jo Nam-Kook and written by Kim Sun-Deok, do a decent job of laying out the plot particulars and allowing viewers to sample the very eye-catching cinematography, but the hefty runtimes are a pain when viewed back-to-back.
Nevertheless, these first two episodes lay out the groundwork for what does seem to be shaping up as quite the dramatic affair, some necessary suspension of disbelief notwithstanding.
The historical context is vital here, since the show’s set against the backdrop of the Joseon Dynasty with fractious political squabbling forming a good chunk of the drama. Grand Prince Lee-in is sent to the Qing Dynasty as a political hostage and befriends the Emperor’s brother through a board game they both play, but he returns to Joseon within half an episode to find the dynasty a real mess.
The new King of Joseon is Lee-in’s elder brother, Lee-sun, but he’s constantly isolated thanks to illness, manipulation, and mistrust. Lee-sun is compelled to believe that everyone is out to capitalize on his poor health to seize power, including his own brother, and his paranoia finds Lee-in expelled from the palace and forced to stay outside, being tailed by a spy appointed by the Minister of War.
In a broad sense, the Queen Dowager wants Lee-in to seize the throne, while the Queen wants the Grand Prince to ascend to the throne for the usual reasons of concentrating power and maintaining control of internal politics despite the threat of an external invasion.
Lee-in simply wants to stay by his brother’s side, but in the meantime, he’s distracted by a Baduk player – this is the board game he played while he was away – who fascinates him. He attempts to follow the player, who has no idea who he is until a scuffle reveals his identity as the Grand Prince, with whom she has always dreamed of playing.
As it turns out, the baduk player disguised as a man is Hee-soo, the female lead, who disguises her name and identity so she can accumulate winnings from hustling people at the game with the ultimate intention of buying back the hostages from the Qing dynasty. This is politically troublesome since the Queen’s nephew Myung-ha has a thing for Hee-soo, and wants to force her to marry him.
The main thrust of these first two episodes is Lee-in’s burgeoning relationship with Hee-soo, though he has no idea that she’s a woman. He doesn’t even know her real name, so he gives her a nickname. Naturally, she begins to fall for Lee-in in standard historical K-Drama fashion.
How does Captivating the King Season 1 Episode 2 end?
The second episode ends with Myung-ha happening on Hee-soo in her disguise, spotting her with Lee-in and rushing to confront her. This teases us with the cliffhanger that Hee-soo’s real identity might be revealed so early in the season.
As mentioned above, there’s some suspension of disbelief required here – the idea that Lee-in hasn’t already realized that Hee-soo is a woman is a bit of a stretch at the best of times, but we can overlook such matters in the interest of entertainment. For a while, anyway.
What did you think of Captivating the King Season 1 Episodes 1 & 2? Let us know in the comments.
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