[REVIEW] MBC TV series "Royal Family" - 1st episode

MBC TV series "Royal Family" - 1st episode It was a fierce first episode which drove its story forth without hitting on the breaks, not even once. JK Group's second daughter-in-law, suffering from severe insomnia for various reasons including being called only by her initial 'K' instead of her name Kim In-sook (Yum Jung-ah), loses her only shield, her husband, through an accident. Then her mother-in-law Gong Soon-ho (Kim Young-ae) tries to make her incompetent and young son tells her, "Leave the brutal castle for now, I'll be a proper son to you later on," putting her in an even more stifling situation. Then in the midst of that, prosecutor Han Ji-hoon (Ji-sung), at the funeral, witnesses the miserable reality forced upon In-sook who is forever an 'angel' to him and a reliable supporter. Like so, the death of JK Group's second son in itself did enough to show what each character was like and it succeeded in drawing outsider Han into the JK Group.

But the strength of this drama lies not in its fast development but the interesting antagonistic relationship existent between Gong Soon-ho and Han Ji-hoon. Concurrently, one is the woman trying to kick In-sook out while the other is the man trying to protect her and one is the largest shareholder of JK Group while the other is the prosecutor with information on the investigation into JK Group's secret fund. This hints to how their utterly personal confrontation over one woman could possibly become a case large enough to shake up legal and financial circles. To top it off, Gong Soon-ho is heartless enough to spit out the words, "Remove that thing," toward her daughter-in-law who collapses at her husband's funeral and Han Ji-hoon is tenacious enough to uncover the truth to a murder he was suspected of committing, so the explosive power created when the two clash will be quite a sight to see. But what will be most important is the depth In-sook's character will hold being the one who is at the center of these conflicts. What are the weapons she will set forth other than her unfocused gaze and eyes that look like they are ready to spill out tears any moment?

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