The East Palace (동궁) Season 1 Review

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STRANGER THINGS are happening in the Korean kingdom. The king's son is on his deathbed - and only Gu Cheon, a professional spirit hunter, can dispel the demonic illness. He is assigned the disgraced princess Saeng Gan, returned from exile, and now the strange pair of a lazy exorcist and a conscientious girl (one can see, while the other can hear unclean creatures) will try to unravel the mystery of the vengeful ghost's curse and stay alive in the process, because what happens in Vegas the East Palace stays in the East Palace.

A dynamic, dark, and expensive miniseries in a Korean setting, but with an American presentation. The key concept is quite interesting: a desperate hero who hates his trade but is forced to constantly remain a hair's breadth from death in order to move between the world of the living and the Upside Down. I deliberately don't put this word in quotation marks, because there are so many visual parallels with the most famous “Netflix” series here that it borders on deliberate plagiarism. The world of gwui (“magwi” in Korean - “demon”) is painted in orange tones, with constant fog and twilight, everything is entwined with musty vegetation and oily tentacles, which of course have their own owner, who simply sits and waits for his moment to reveal himself. There are only no teenagers on bicycles and Kate Bush's music, otherwise it's one-to-one “Stranger Things” (with a dash of “Resident Evil”).
And that's disappointing.

 

 

Although there are several interesting things here, - for example, the scene with the maids in the second episode or the epic battle in two dimensions with the guardian spirit (a tall old man with a ceremonial-mask smile - absolutely cursed design). But there is just as much outright cringe, like the final battle in the style of Naruto mixed with Shaman and Marilyn Manson. And all of it in dusty orange sets with diffused light… is Millie Bobby Brown really not here?

“The East Palace” starts off briskly, but then the pace only accelerates, while the genres change at the speed of ritual drumbeats. First it's a detective thriller, then a political drama, then a horror story, then a bit of comedy, then horror again. The characters (and viewers) aren't given a chance to breathe, and the scenes crumble into disconnected episodes. Many things happen only because the plot needs them to, with no logical explanation for some of the events. For example, when Gu Cheon and Saeng Gan realize that they have been hunting the wrong demon all along, we are never shown what led them to conclude that this is the actual main villain. Literally “Something's wrong… It's not A. It's B!” - and that's it. It reaches absurdity when a fatal injury is forgotten five minutes later, while an unsolvable problem that would have changed an entire life in the real world is resolved almost without difficulty in a single episode - and it barely matters at all. Even in the finale, which is supposed to be heartbreaking. There's no point even talking about the characters' motivations: the villain simply takes revenge, the schemer simply schemes. The heroes grow closer almost mechanically, hints of depth exist only in the acting, while the actors have almost nothing to play (but they try).

 

 

And that's the most frustrating part: “The East Palace” could have turned out much better in the format of a traditional, long-running series rather than an eight-episode marathon for "binge-watching". The story is multi-layered, the viewer's expectations are successfully subverted, there is some intrigue (and the music is stylish and beautiful, too). The story has the ambitions of “Alchemy of Souls”, while the screen time is four times shorter. In the end, everything turns out to be too predictable and, honestly, by the middle of the story you'll already be able to figure everything out. The stakes for the characters are high, but you can immediately feel the plot armor. What second season without a happy ending?

“The East Palace” is “The Witcher”. Over two seasons, the interesting characters, complex world of Andrzej Sapkowski, and gray morality degraded into schematic storytelling, nonfunctional plot arcs, and a general dreariness on such a scale that even Henry Cavill couldn't take it anymore.“The East Palace” is exactly like that: cool production, good direction, wild momentum — but inside there's nothing, and the characters are as thin as paper East walls. Practically impossible to watch.

 

 

It's strange that this has become so normalized in big-budget cinema. As if a huge budget and high-end graphics give a story the right to be the weakest part. Yes, perhaps the limited number of episodes played a role here, and Korean-school screenwriters are more accustomed to working with a sixteen-episode format, but still. That doesn't excuse what “The East Palace” turned out to be.

It's an impressive special-effects showreel with interruptions in the form of ridiculously dramatic scenes and constantly stoked bombast. Not a cohesive (or at least interesting) story.

Rating: 4/10: derivative, empty, rushed, broken. Unfortunately, not worth your time. Even the finale of “Stranger Things” left me with better feelings - and you understand what that says.

 

 

What to watch instead of “The East Palace”: “Alchemy of Souls” (carefully crafted world, likable characters, heartfelt humor), “Exhuma” (occult practices, pure horror, immersion in Korea's history and traumas), “If Wishes Could Kill” (teenagers and school, strong horror, excellent and consistent atmosphere).

Автор: Updated at Aug 29th 2026