What a view | Netflix K-drama The King’s Affection, bloody, gender-bending historical romance, could do with some edits
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Boys will be boys, the old saying goes. Except when they’re girls.
In The King’s Affection (Netflix) a gender swap cursed from the start (you can tell because of the thunderstorm during the royal birth) leads to mayhem, murder and other monstrous behaviour. There is enough of it to fill swathes of the 20-episode series, available now.
Although infanticide is avoided thanks to some quick thinking, it isn’t long before the blood of anyone who witnessed the arrival of identical twins is used to decorate the palace. This is followed by the blood of children.
Why the slaughter and deception in the first place? Because of the inherent sexism that allows the king, from the Joseon dynasty that ruled the Korean peninsula between 1392 and 1897, to ask: “Who will accept a prince that shared a womb with a girl?”
That the girl should survive the superstitious nonsense that decrees twins are a “bad sign” is fine from our modern perspective. But in this Korea of old, pretending boy is girl and vice versa will inevitably result in the cover of the crown “prince” being blown: dressing up as a boy is all very well, but eventually you have to do a man’s job.