Jo Jung-suk plays Lee In, the brother of the king and is drawn into the intrigue of who will succeed the king who is ill and mistrusts everybody. Shin Se-kyung plays Kang Hee-soo who disguises herself as a man and is an expert in the game of baduk (go) and uses this to gain the trust of Lee In who is unbeaten at the game. It is a story of court intrigue and initially Kang Hee-soo plans to avenge the treatment of her father but as she gets to know him over games of baduk her feelings begin to change. It is a well acted story which starts a little slow and took me a little time to stop imagining Jo Jung-suk in a hospital gown as he did such a good job in hospital playlist. Overall an entertaining watch which just falls short and I get frustrated at how badly some of the side characters are treated, mainly Court lady Doing and the queen. The trope of a beautiful girl dressing as a man has been done many times before but this is overall worth a watch mainly for the acting.
Review of Captivating the King
