100 Days My Prince (also known as Hundred Days Husband) is about a Joseon prince (D.O.) who loses his memory, goes missing, and ends up living as a commoner. He meets a woman (Nam Ji Hyun) who is the oldest unmarried woman in the village at 28 years old, and the pair is forced to marry because of a decree he made as prince.
100 Days My Prince was one of the few historicals we’ve been given this year, so I was going to be watching it no matter what. Then hearing other fans delight in it week after week definitely upped my anticipation even more. And thankfully, it turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable and solid drama!
D.O. plays Crown Prince Lee Yul/Won Deuk. He’s an unhappy man who has always been miserable because of how his father rose to throne by overthrowing the previous king. He also longed for the girl he connected with as a child. An assassination attempt gone wrong gives him amnesia and reunites him with the girl, but he has no idea who he is let alone her.
Nam Ji Hyun is Hong Shim. She’s the girl that Yul liked as a child. She’s a smart, kind, and independent woman with a good head on her shoulders. When she gets in a bind, she ends up having to marry the amnesiac Yul. But she had no idea how difficult he would be and how much trouble he would cause her. Until of course she begins to develop feelings for him.
Then we’ve got Kim Sun Ho as Jung Jae Yoon. He’s an upright man who is right in the middle of the palace happenings as well as trying to figure out what happened to the prince. I really liked this role for Kim Sun Ho and very much enjoyed this character.
100 Days My Prince started strong and pulled me in right from the beginning. The childhood portion of our story reeled me in and had me completely engaged. The kids were adorable, and it was heartbreaking as tragic circumstances altered their lives and set things up for what was to come.
Then we move to the adult portion of the drama. This is what takes us to the main part of our story where an assassination attempt on Yul lands him with amnesia and suddenly having to marry Hong Shim.
A lot of us had made early comparisons of the premise of 100 Days My Prince to the romantic comedy Shopping King Louie which also starred Nam Ji Hyun alongside Seo In Guk. There are some similarities for sure as Nam Ji Hyun seems to attract rich amnesiacs who like to get in trouble and spend money as well as losing her brother who she needs to reunite with. Of course, there was the time difference, but I would also say Louie was a whole lot more lovable in Shopping King Louie.
Yul is not like that at all. He may have lost his memory, but he retains all of his mannerisms and completely seems like a fish out of water around all of the commoners. I found him to be pretty obnoxious after he lost his memory since he definitely seemed to think of himself as higher than others, wouldn’t do anything at all to help, and got into a lot of trouble spending money he didn’t have.
Luckily, much of this is played for comedy as he is so out of place. So at least the situation was humorous. And of course, he does slowly start to fall for Hong Shim. A little smile finally starts to make an appearance on his face here and there, he starts to help her out a bit, and then he’s ready to jump in and help if she is ever in danger. This is where I really started getting into the romance.
It’s definitely nice watching him warm up to her. Now he still stays a bit more stiff and demanding than I would like, but at least we can see that he does genuinely care for her and wants to be with her. They have some very sweet moments and a difficult road ahead of them in order to be together.
And I just adored Nam Ji Hyun! She has this way of being so down to earth and approachable yet having this little bit of sass that makes her so lively. I loved the character of Hong Shim and much of that is because Nam Ji Hyun played her so well.
100 Days My Prince also has a plethora of nice supporting characters. We’ve got scheming bad guys, conflicted assassins, long lost brothers, and a village full of fun and colorful characters. The drama spends a lot of time in the village and on their problems, and this was a good thing since those portions of the story were always fun and had lots of heart.
While all of the amnesia shenanigans are going on at the village, a power struggle is happening inthe palace. This is where we get a bit of politics, betrayals, and tension as one side works to find the prince and the other is trying to take down the king. It nicely balanced things out to make the story all around pretty solid.
So as one of our few historical offerings this year, 100 Days My Prince more than satisfied what I like about the genre. It had action and excitement as well as being humorous and fun. The pacing was great, and it kept me thoroughly entertained all the way through.
My Rating: 8/10
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