143. My Royal Nemesis

 KDrama no. 143 - My Royal Nemesis ***

SPOILER

I usually follow some groups of kdramas fans on Facebook and as soon as the new one featured in Netflix the buzz started: My Royal Nemesis. Much was said about the male actor, almost nothing about the story. Polemics were raised around him being beautiful or not, or rather, being ugly or not. According to my appraisal he is ugly, but his presence and interpretation of the powerful CEO and scarred prince made beauty be irrelevant. Also, he loved intensely and was not easily abated by the obstacles in his way to tame the lady who was always in distress, but fought like a lioness before surrendering to her fate. His character smiled scarcely and made us crave to see his face relax. Mostly dressed in dark colours, the last scene shows him at ease and wearing white, playing around with his loved one. Although I applaud his performance, much has to be said about the writers who gave him an excellent text and tempo. A note about onscreen positioning: I abhor Korean actors who are constantly with their hands in their pockets irrespectively of the situation. Heo Nam-Jun commits a terrible mistake while sitting with his hands in his pockets: it is such a terrible pose, so ridiculous!

The story is about a comet that is crossing the sky in the Joseon era and the present time. Some freak happening of nature sends a condemned lady from the palace where she lives to the street smack into the CEO’s life. They hate each other immediately but he is the only one she can turn to for help in this strange place and he slowly feels sorry for the mad woman. A big mistake/fault in the story line is that, at first, she is a concubine being punished for cheating. However, the rest of the time, she is just a lady of the palace who falls in love for a retired prince.