Premiere Watch: To My Beloved Thief
by stroopwafel
Time slot: Saturday & Sunday
Broadcaster: KBS
Genre: Rom-com, sageuk
Episode count: 16
Global streamer: Viki
Reasons to watch: Romance meets secret identities in the new KBS sageuk, To My Beloved Thief, starring Nam Ji-hyun and Moon Sang-min.
The pair are from opposite sides of the Joseon social strata, with Nam Ji-hyun a lowly commoner physician and Moon Sang-min a prince of the realm. Their different class backgrounds are no barrier for Moon Sang-min, and when he meets Nam Ji-hyun being her plucky and resourceful self he’s immediately attracted to her.
While Nam Ji-hyun has her reservations about being romanced by a prince, class differences are the least of her worries, since she’s hiding a secret that could put her life at risk. The prince moonlights as a detective under the pretense of wanting a way to stave off his boredom, yet his real motivation is to do all he can to protect the citizens of Joseon. It’s how he gets set onto the trail of a thief who’s become infamous from raiding the estates of the wealthy and redistributing those gains to the poor. That thief? None other than Nam Ji-hyun. (I’m digging this potential alternate origin story for Hong Gil-dong, Korea’s Robin Hood.)
Beyond the prince’s mission to catch the thief, there’s a bigger political threat and dark times brewing against the backdrop of our main pair’s romance. So, of course, Fate decides it’s the perfect time to complicate their lives even more by switching their souls as they face danger and romantic rivalry in the form of Hong Min-ki and Han So-eun.
It’s slightly perplexing for KBS to launch their own sageuk body swap drama right on the heels of Moon River, but even if you feel a little swapped out, the drama is packed with elements that could make for a highly entertaining watch. There’s adventure and a star-crossed romance, and Nam Ji-hyun is always particularly strong in these roles that let her be a strong, yet vulnerable heroine.
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