Profile
- Drama: 100 Days My Prince (English title) / Hundred Days’ Husband (literal title)
- Revised romanization: Baekilui Nanggoonnim
- Hangul: 백일의 낭군님
- Director: Lee Jong-Jae
- Writer: No Ji-Sul
- Network: tvN
- Episodes: 16
- Release Date: September 10 – October 30, 2018
- Runtime: Mondays & Tuesdays 21:30
- Language: Korean
- Country: South Korea
Plot Synopsis by Snap2Live
Lee Yool is the charming crown prince of the kingdom but he suddenly disappears and nobody knows nothing about it. And then he came back to the palace after hundred days later now the question what happened to the prince from the past one hundred days?
Meanwhile there is another story of Hong-Sim is super smart and runs his private agency of detective in Joseon.
Review:
First, a fundamental timeline question: what is the age of the main characters? How much time has passed between the present day and their childhood? The child actors seemed between the ages of 9-12, the boy looking like the younger one. Are they supposed to be the same age? Several references are made to “that day 10 years ago” when the assassination happened. At the same time, the female protagonist is said to be 28. Is her age a lie, to better conceal her identity? Or was the girl 14 at the time, and 14 years have passed? By no stretch of the imagination was the boy 14, so there’s an age difference here. Is it important to the plot?
And that amnesiac thing… Let’s recap: girl is pressured into marriage—to avoid it, it she makes up a Won Deuk, man from another village who is away serving in the army—to save daughter from punishment, dad gaslights a man with memory loss to believe he is Won Deuk—girl is aware of the scam, and initially fears being caught in a lie. Now, with this basic premise, how come she tries to take the amnesiac to his home to collect his clothes or the money owed by the nobles of the “Northern village”? When did she start believing her dad’s story that this guy is Won Deuk, a soldier from the North. SHE made up the man. SHE made up the name. Is she daft? Why is she so bloody surprised that the wounded stranger does not identify with that name? (BTW, did the wound miraculously heal the minute he opened his eyes?) Is she acting? If she is, her surface earnestness is so convincing, it actually makes her a rather evil manipulator. And when she spins a story about his love for her by using fragments of her childhood memories, it seems like she is believing her own fiction. Is she a shameless liar? Is she sincere? Is this supposed to clue us in that her heart has recognized him? Well, all it does is confuse us about who is more confused – the male character, the female character, the writer(s) or the actress?
The comedy element is enjoyable, but why-oh-why all these hints of spousal abuse? Is it considered to be funny that the potential abuser is the woman? Role-switching, flipping the traditional dynamic, haha, funny – NOT. Maybe this interpretation is lacking the appropriate cultural lens, but still – coercion and intimidation are not humorous, no matter the gender of the one receiving the aggression.
On the plus side, there’s at least one example of character consistency: the male protagonist is an overall pompous jerk capable of occasional decency, both as a child and as an adult. Thank the gods of dramaland for small graces.
Credit review: Latetotheparty
Main
- Do Kyung-soo as Lee Yool / Wondeuk
- Jung Ji-hoon as young Lee Yool
- Nam Ji-hyun as Hong-sim / Yoon I-seo
- Heo Jung-eun as young Hong-sim
- Jo Sung-ha as Kim Cha-eon
