‘Captivating the King’ Netflix Series Review - Neither Captivating Nor Enjoyable

Captivating the King looks clean, colorful, and beautiful, but it feels pretty cold. The plotting, the backstabbing, the cunning schemes are far from interesting. It takes a while to wrap your head around the names and the various faces, though once you get a clear picture, the show only becomes a bit tolerable. Maybe the series will become better in the future. For now, the first two episodes leave you drowsy. I am not eagerly waiting for the upcoming episodes.

I admired the costumes, the pleasing locations, and the pretty pictures. But apart from these features, Captivating the King doesn't offer many pleasures. Episodes 1 and 2 demand almost two hours of your time, leaving you feeling drained, and exhausted. I really don't have much to say about this show. The actors pose in their costumes like models in a fashion commercial. They always look neat and presentable. I never for a second believed that the characters knew each other. They seem distant, probably because the actors deliver their lines on cue instead of listening and responding to one another.

There is no chemistry between Grand Prince Jinhan (Jo Jung-suk) and Kang Hee-soo (Shin Se-kyung). Their gazes are sanitized - their eyes are passionless. Hee-soo's shyness and Jinhan's smiles are carefully manufactured. You feel as if they are aware of the camera's presence and are putting their best face forward. Every expression is calculatedly dispensed so their faces don't become...unattractive.

The polished frames, and the good-looking faces soon become wearisome. On top of that, I was unconvinced by the fact that everybody saw Hee-soo as a boy when she disguised herself as a baduk player. Her so-called disguise is very ineffectual. The moment I saw her, I understood she was a girl. This is why the subtitles gave me a shock when they referred to her as "him." I really thought the subtitler had made a mistake. Nevertheless, let me return to my earlier statement to reiterate that the show could get better in the future. Maybe the schemes will become interesting. Maybe the chemistry will catch fire. But for now, Captivating the King is neither captivating nor enjoyable.

Final Score- [4/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times