Salva Mubarak Senior Features Writer

While you were sleeping, Netflix’s K-dramaThe King’s Affection made history by becoming the first Korean TV show to win an International Emmy. The Park Eun-bin and Rowoon-starrer won the Best Telenovela award by beating nominations from Brazil, China, and Spain.

The show is set in the Joseon Dynasty and follows the intriguing tale of a lost princess who has to assume the identity of her twin brother, who was going to be the next king of the land. She has to pretend to be her brother to secure the throne while trying to not fall for her new royal tutor.

In case you haven’t watched The King’s Affection already, here are all the good reasons why you should head over to Netflix and rectify this right now…

Gender-bending with a twist

While women pretending to be men is not a new theme in K-dramas (think Coffee Prince and Love in the Moonlight), this one presents it in a way we’ve never seen before. Here, the person in the position of power has to pretend to be another gender which is a dynamic we’ve never seen in K-dramas before.

Historical setting

If you love period romances and dramas, then this one is definitely for you. The show allows us to get a glimpse at the life of royals and their subjects of Korea’s Joseon Dynasty. Since we’ve grown up watching historical dramas set in European countries, it’s a refreshing change to learn something about East Asian cultures as well.

Impressive performances

While the leads are amazing in making us cry, laugh, and swoon (not necessarily in that order) with their performances, the supporting cast is great as well. Nam Yoon-su (as Yi-hyun), Byung-chan (as Kim Ga-on), Baek Hyun-joo (as Lady Kim), and Go Kyu-pil (as Eunuch Hong) stand out as the fake king’s closest supporters.

Swoonworthy romance

This Netflix drama has been directed by Song Hyun-wook, who has previously helmed romances like Marriage Not Dating and Another Miss Oh. So it’s no surprise that the romance in this one is also A+ and leaves you swooning more often than not.

Gorgeous sets and costumes

Based on Lee So-young’s manhwa (comic) Yeonmo, the show already had a richly illustrated world to refer to while converting the world from paper to screen. The television adaptation doesn’t disappoint on that count as the expensive production values are immediately apparent in the stunning, detailed sets and costumes.