Origin and release year: South Korea (2022)

Korean title: 디 엠파이어: 법의 제국

Cast: Kim Sun Ah, Ahn Jae Wook, Lee Mi Sook, Song Young Chang, Shin Goo, Oh Hyun Kyung, Joo Se Bin, Kim Jung, Kwon Ji Woo, Choi Jung Won, Jung Jae Oh, Lee Ka Eun, Im Se Mi, Kwon So Yi, Han Joon Woo, Bang Joo Hwan, Kim Kyun Ha, Kim Ga Ran

Synopsis: Depicts the vulgar scandals of Korea’s nobles of the robe (whose rank came from holding judicial or administrative posts) who dream of hereditary succession. Han Hye Ryul is the chief of the special division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office. Han Hye Ryul is from a family of judicial workers who has had wealth and power for three generations. She is an ambitious figure who is not satisfied with her current position and aims to become a prosecutor general or someone higher up the ladder. (Soompi)

The Empire was a decent drama. Nothing too special but not boring either. It was a typical politically-charged and business-centric drama with a dysfunctional family at the center of it. It started with a revenge plot that got lost in the plot and provided mystery at all the right moments.

All of the cast members pulled off their characters to a tee, except for Na Geun Woo (played by Ahn Jae Wook). Granted he acted his character probably the way it was intended, but it still felt lackluster. It’s not really clear if his performance was underwhelming because of his acting or simply because of the way his character was written. However, he is an industry veteran. So, the blame probably falls on his character development. The script was written in such a way that made his main character presence extremely underwhelming. It felt like he was at the will of everyone but himself right ‘til the end.

This drama felt like it had no protagonist.

Most of the characters felt like antagonists and like they had no redeeming qualities.

It was especially hard to tell what prosecutor Han Hye Ryul (played by Kim Sun Ah)’s intentions were besides protecting a farce and being the victim. Na Geun Woo was a revolting character with a superiority and sometimes inferiority complex and a victim mentality. Kang Baek (played by Kwon Ji Woo) was somehow portrayed to be pitiful but showed no sympathy for his own mother – the poor and misunderstood black sheep of the family trope did nothing to evoke empathy in the viewer when thinking about the injustice he did his mother with his assumptions.

Hong Nan Hee (Joo Se Bin) had a noble cause but her storyline was so underplayed that it was hard to redeem her actions.

Even the female reporter, Yoo Eun Mi (Im Se Mi) who was supposedly on the side of justice was a giant hypocrite with minimal impact on the storyline despite having the potential to do more for the plot.

Honestly, this rant about how flawed the characters were could go on forever. It was truly difficult to find a completely likable character in the plot. If there was a remotely likable character, their role was either too small or insignificant to make a difference. Regardless of the genre, an audience deserves to at least have a character that relieves them from the dramatic plot. This drama had little to no comic relief. For heavy subject matter, that’s fairly important.

To give credit where it’s due, the scene where Kang Baek was buying the rings was so heartwarming. The way the employee handled the transaction without making him feel embarrassed was the kind of positive LGBTQI+ representation and treatment that we need to see more of in K-Dramas. Especially to break the taboo still surrounding the matter in Korea.

Of course, the result after that flashback was heartbreaking but the scene itself was excellent. Huge props to actress Kim Ji Su.

Overall, it was a drama with a solid plot but average delivery.