[Review] The Last Empress

Politic, thriller, crime, comedy

Lee Hyuk has been well respected by the public. Oh Sunny has been invited to have a luncheon with the Emperor. She was his fans. She was really happy about it. She invited the Emperor to attend her musical performance. His personal assistance, Min Yu Ra, redecorated the emperor room. She found out that the Empress Dowager was watching every move of the emperor. She reported to the emperor about it. He was not happy and not believing it. He did a test to see whether what she meant is true. He realised that Empress Dowager was actually watching him. Lee Hyuk was frustrated. He went to disco to release stress. Yu Ra met the emperor and had an affair with him. Yu Ra seduces the emperor in order to gain power in the palace. Lee Hyuk and Yu Ra went for a vacation at Bicheno.

Bicheno was Yu Ra’s hometown. She has a boyfriend named Na Wang Shik. She stayed with her boyfriend and his mother. She has a child with another man but in order to protect her reputation, Wang Shik’s mother took this child as her son. Therefore, this child became Wang Shik’s brother, named Dong Shik. Wang Shik helped Yu Ra to take care of Dong Shik over the years, while she focuses on her career in palace. Wang Shik mother saw Yu Ra has an affair with the emperor. She wanted to inform Wang Shik about it. However, she has been stabbed by Yu Ra. Later, she was being hit by a car drove by Lee Hyuk (when he was looking for Yu Ra after awake). Yu Ra witnessed about it. He quickly brought her into his car when he heard Wang Shik was looking for his mother. When Wang Shik was about it catches up the car, he saw the blood on the floor and a broken logo. He followed the car until he reached the vacation house. He realised that that was the car belongs to the Emperor. He was certain about it. He lodged a police report about the incident. However, the CCTV footage has been erased by the Ma Pil Joo (instructed by the emperor). Pil Joo threatened Yu Ra for stabbing Wang Shik mother before the emperor hit her by the car. Yu Ra offered Pil Joo handsome money for erasing her footage too.

Emperor told Yu Ra about what had happened. Yu Ra pretended that she did not know what was going on earlier. She told the emperor to visit Oh Sunny at the musical theatre in order to create alibi to cover up his present in Bicheno.  Yu Ra also overheard what the emperor told Pil Joo to get rid of her. She wrote her will and made a record (she admitted that she was the one who involved in hit-and-run incident). She tried to make a scene to kill herself as to gain trust from Emperor to believe her. Emperor came to the scene and rescued her.

Empress Dowager received a call from the police station about what had happened in Bicheno. She asked the emperor about it. He denied. Wang Shik tried to get as much evidences as possible but the police ignored him. Lee Hyuk asked Pil Joo to approach Wang Shik and get the only evident from him. He also instructed Pil Joon to get rid of Wang Shik. He shot him on his head and fell into the ocean.  Wang Shik has been rescued by Byun Baek-ho (Empress So Hyun’s father). He trained him for becoming the palace guard so that he can get his revenge. Baek Ho created a new identity for Wang Shik. He was now named as Chun Woo Bin. He passed the test and interview from the Emperor. Lee Hyuk trusted him and wanted him to become his personal trainer. He treasured him a lot. He also promoted him to be the Chief Guard in a short period of time.

Empress Dowager dislikes Yu Ra because she felt that this woman is not an ordinary person, she has an evil intention for the imperial family. She tried to stop Yu Ra from becoming the Empress. She found the evidence that Yu Ra admitted about her involvement in hit-and-run incident. She threatened the Emperor to make Oh Sunny as his empress in order to let go of Yu Ra. Due to the affection for Yu Ra, Emperor accepted the deal. During their wedding day, Lee Hyuk instructed Pil Joo to loosen the crane in order to kill Oh Sunny. Luckily, she has been rescued by Woo Bin.

The Emperor always ignored Sunny. He spent most of his time with Yu Ra. Grand Empress Dowager was curious about Yu Ra and Emperor. She went to his chamber. She was shocked about their relationship. Empress Dowager warned Sunny to be aware of her surrounding and tried to gain affection from the Emperor. Sunny relied on Yu Ra a lot. She asked her what the Emperor likes. Yu Ra told her about it. She followed what she said. The Emperor was anger. He scolded Sunny for copying someone. Sunny has no idea about it. She asked around the court lady and found out that Yu Ra was trying to frame her. Sunny asked Empress Dowager and Grand Empress Dowager for help. She used her power to prison Yu Ra for her wrongdoings.  Lee Hyuk knew about it and released Yu Ra at once. Sunny and Woo Bin also saw Yu Ra seduced the Emperor when she saw them at the cruise. She was sad about it. She rescued a woman who tried to jump off the bridge to end her life. The woman told her that she wanted to suicide because her husband betrayed her. She consoled the woman and advised her to trust her husband one more time. The next morning, Sunny went to emperor’s chamber and asked him his whereabouts. Emperor deceived her. Sunny was anger but in order to maintain her dignity, she has to remain calm.

Yu Ra and Pil Joo cannot find Wang Shik’s corpse. They believed that he was still alive. Pil Joo found out that Woo Bin was actually Wang Shik.  Before Woo Bin killed him, he told him the whole incident happened in Bicheno.  Woo Bin created a scene to show that Wang Shik has been killed during the car accident when he was trying to kill the emperor. Yu Ra confirmed the accident and relieved that Wang Shik was dead.

Lee Hyuk and Yu Ra framed Sunny for having affair with Woo Bin. They took pictures of them.  Sunny felt betrayed. She was also being pushed off the cliff by Woo Bin (instructed by emperor) in order to end her life. Sunny was being rescued by Baek-ho. Baek Ho told her about Empress So Hyun’s death. Sunny was surprised and she started to investigate the case as it was similar to what she went through. She asked everyone in the palace regarding the Empress So Hyun’s death. Grand Empress Dowager listened to Sunny. She wrote a letter to the imperial auditor to investigate the case. She also kept the evident in the envelope and passed it to Ms Hong. Sunny was being accused for murdering Grand Empress Dowager.  It was the idea of Lee Hyuk, Empress Dowager and Yu Ra. Ms Hong, Woo Bin and Baek Ho helped Sunny to clear her name. Sunny also managed to collect the evidence that against Lee Hyuk.  It recorded the secret that Princess Ari was the daughter of Emperor (mother was the court lady, Kang Hee).  The Emperor decided to divorce Sunny, but Sunny returned to the palace again. She wanted to collect more evidences regarding the death of Empress So Hyun and Grand Empress Dowager.

Kang Hee took the envelope from Ms Hong and handed to Empress Dowager in order to gain her trust. Yu Ra was jealous about Kang Hee. She learnt that the Emperor spent time with Kang Hee instead of her. She had a fight with Kang Hee, but being stopped by Empress Dowager. Since the news regarding Princess Ari has been spread nationwide, the imperial family hold an installation ceremony for Princess Ari. Sunny was then become the mother of Princess Ari. Sunny started a live channel every day for recording her daily life in palace. As to clear Sunny’s name for murdering, Ms Hong admitted to the prosecutor that she was the one who kill the Grand Empress Dowager.

Yu Ra kept checking on Woo Bin because she suspected his identity. She wanted to confirm that whether he was Wang Shik. He asked someone to hit Woo Bin’s head. He was seriously injured. He was sent to the hospital for treatment. Sunny contacted Baek Ho. He told Sunny that Woo Bin was actually Wang Shik. He has a bullet in his brain. She looked for him as he saved her life when she was drowned in the pond. She wanted to thank him. At the same time, she was sorry to him because she was the alibi for Emperor when he killed his mother. She asked the doctor (one of the gangs of Baek Ho) to remove the bullet for him.  Woo Bin did not want to. Yu Ra has taken Dong Shik away. He went out and looked for Dong Shik. Luckily, nothing serious was happened. Dong Shik was then taken care by Sunny’s family for the sake of his safety.

Woo Bin sent the voice recording to the emperor to show that Yu Ra deceived him about Wang Shik. He felt being fooled by Yu Ra. He took her into the car and burnt it. However, he changed his mind. He tortured her in the mental hospital. Thanks to the advice from Woo Bin. Yu Ra was then being expelled from the palace.

Kang Hee was happy that Yu Ra has been expelled. Her intention was to make the Princess Ari reinstated as Emperor’s daughter so that she can inheritance the assets of Emperor. She cooperated with the Prime Minister in order to pass the law for allowing female to be the King of the nation.

Lee Yoon was the Crown Prince. He was also a writer named Vincent Lee.  He came back to South Korea. Empress Dowager was looking for him. He worked part time at Sunny’s father chicken shop. Sunny’s sister Oh Hel Ro was looking for Vincent Lee to hold a book signature event in order to celebrate the anniversary of the shopping mall (Shopping mall was run by the Princess So Jin – elder sister of Lee Hyuk). Lee Yoon revealed to Hel Ro that he was Vincent Lee and asked her to go for the signature event in his place.  Hel Ro was curious about him. Lee Hyuk was afraid of him that Lee Yoon might steal the throne from him. Lee Yoon witnessed the incident happened to Empress So Hyun. He kept Empress So Hyun dairy for 7 years. He knew that there was something fishy in the dairy, but it was all pictures. He has no idea what is the message that she was trying to convey.  He let Baek Ho read through in order to find the evident. Later, he passed it to Sunny to find out what Empress So Hyun dairy about.

Lee Hyuk and Empress Dowager heard the will of Grand Empress Dowager. Most of her assets were under the name of Sunny instead of them.  Lee Hyuk and Empress Dowager do not have any allocation of assets in the will. They fabricated the will. Sunny received paint from Grand Empress Dowager. She was surprised that it was the same drawing as the Empress So Hyun’s dairy painting. She looked the surrounding of the palace and finally found a secret room in Empress Dowager’s garden. A court lady was kept in there. She was the witness who saw the real murder for Grand Empress Dowager. Woo Bin and Sunny quickly brought her to a safe place. Lee Hyuk asked Woo Bin to get closer to Sunny so that they can expel Sunny from the palace.

Lee Hyuk started to grow more affection toward Sunny. He was jealous when Woo Bin hugged her. With the presence of all the family member of Imperial family, Sunny revealed the evident happened during the death of Grand Empress Dowager. They were surprised that Yu Ra also came by and pointed out that Emperor Dowager was the murder. Sunny asked Woo Bin why Yu Ra was there to help her. He told her that the Emperor was trying to drag the Empress Dowager down by using Yu Ra. Empress Dowager asked the Emperor was has happened during the day Grand Empress Dowager passed away. She told him that she witnessed him for trying to kill his grandmother. Empress Dowager threatened the Emperor to work together with her in order to expel Sunny from the palace.

Kang Hee complains to the Emperor that Sunny hit her daughter. The Emperor ignored her and told her that he regretted for touching her 7 years ago and she will never be his woman. Kang Hee was unhappy about it. She also witnessed the Emperor who was trying to kill Grand Empress Dowager with a hairpin. Emperor received a voice call from Wang Shik. He asked the Emperor about his mother corpse whereabouts. Emperor told him that Yu Ra was the one who get rid of the corpse. Yu Ra at first did not reveal where the corpse is because she did not want to become unworthy for the Emperor. Under the pressure of Woo Bin, Yu Ra finally told Woo Bin about where is his mother’s corpse is.

Lee Hyuk was jealous about Woo Bin and Sunny. He tried his best to gain Sunny attention. Lee Yoon coincidently knew about the death of Sunny’s mother. Her mother’s blood type is rare and she has the same blood type with Emperor. 10 years ago, the Emperor met an accident and needed this type of blood. At that time, only 1 bag of blood available. It was meant for Sunny’s mother. However, the Empress Dowager insisted to have that blood for her son. Thus, Sunny’s mother was passed away. Lee Yoon told Empress Dowager and Emperor about it. The Emperor felt sorry for Sunny.

Sunny found the secret in the Empress Dowager’s garden. She suspected that something is going on with the Chungeum island that the Empress Dowager want it badly. Empress Dowager wanted to expel her from the palace. She and Kang Hee worked together and planed for something. They put a bomb in an antic clock while Sunny was holding an auction event. Luckily Woo Bin managed to saved her from getting hurt. Sunny’s father against the relationship between Hel Ro and Lee Yoon. He felt that his daughter did not match with him. Empress Dowager was investigating the novel that Hel Ro wrote about the life in palace.

Sunny’s dad punched the Lee Hyuk and Hel Ro throw garbage in the Empress Dowager’s chamber as a warning not to hurt Sunny. Empress Dowager locked them up in the cell. Emperor asked to release them in order to avoid further complication. Kang Hee reported to the Imperial Auditor regarding Sunny for whipping Princess Ari. Lee Yoon hold a press conference for the doctor to reveal the truth regarding the blood transfusion for the Emperor and the cause of the death of Sunny’s mother. Empress Dowager ordered the doctor to kill himself before he attended the press conference. Lee Yoon knew that it was his mother’s doing. He told Sunny about it. She was very sad to hear that. She swore on the Emperor that he will deserve a punishment. Lee Hyuk has been mentally tortured by Woo Bin due to the case of Wang Shik. He kept appearing and caused troubles for Emperor. Chief Joon was alive, thanks to Yu Ra. Yu Ra asked to look for Empress Dowager and offered a deal to catch Na Wang Shik.

Empress Dowager arranged a study mate for Princess Ari. She disliked them. She witnessed their bad attitude and disapproved them for being her study mate. Sunny baked cookies for Princess Ari. The cookies have been exchange with peanut on it. Princess Ari was allergic to peanut. She ate a little and then passed out. Kang Hee was anger because Empress Dowager was using Princess Ari to expel Sunny. She threatened her to reveal the truth about Empress So Hyun’s death. She told the Emperor about it. He was sad and angrily about what his mother has done. He tried his best to protect Sunny. Kang Hee knew that Sunny is innocent because she met her in the kitchen while Sunny was baking the cookies. It was in the shape of bear and not in the shape of kitty. Lee Hyuk apologised to Sunny about the blood transfusion for him instead of her mother.

Kang Joo Seong was Yu Ra first lover. She was pregnant with his son (Dong Shik). Joon Seong was a palace guard and who was also a good friend for Empress So Hyun. Lee Hyuk kept him in mental hospital hoping that he can recall what is happening in the past. Yu Ra has been escaped from the mental hospital with the help of Chief Joon.  Woo Bin tried his best to trace them down.  Empress Dowager held a reader event for Hel Ro in order to make her look bad for pretending to be Vincent Lee. Luckily with the help of Lee Yoon and Sunny, they managed to turn the focus on the incident happened on Empress So Hyun. The Emperor and Empress Dowager were shocked about it when Sunny asked the Emperor to read part of the novel in front of the reporters.

Baek Ho and Lee Yoon came to the scene and questioned Lee Hyuk and Empress Dowager regarding the truth behind the death of Empress So Hyun. Hel Ro was surprised to know about Lee Yoon true identity. She was frustrated and wanted to break up with him. After listening to Lee Yoon explanation, she accepted his apologies and got back to him.

Imperial Auditor began to investigate the case. Empress Dowager decided to take down the Emperor. She allowed Yu Ra to enter the palace and become her court lady. Everyone was shocked to see Yu Ra back in palace. Sunny asked Lee Hyuk many times regarding the death of Empress So Hyun. He blamed Empress Dowager for making a fuss between him and Empress So Hyun. Sunny asked Lee Hyuk to read up the novel written by Lee Yoon. Lee Hyuk thought that the corpse of Empress So Hyun has been cremated. But, according to Lee Yoon, the corpse has been buried in the palace with the blue sapphire jewellery on it. The Imperial Auditor dig one of the palace and found the corpse.

Empress Dowager gave a false statement that Empress So Hyun had an affair with a palace guard Kang Joo Seong. Yu Ra did not believe it. She was curious about what the imperial family had done to him. Empress Dowager met Kang Hee. She offered her to give a false statement to the prosecutor about Lee Hyuk killed Empress So Hyun. In return, she is going to give princess Ari to become the Empress Regnant. Kang Hee was happy about it and told Princess Ari this good news. Sunny found out that Woo Bin and her pictures was in Kang Hee’s room. Sunny lied to her that Yu Ra found them for her. Kang Hee was then had a fight with Yu Ra.

Yu Ra found Dong Shik and brought him into the palace. Dong Shik was afraid of her. Baek Ho was once told him that he has to pretend not to know Wang Shik when they were outside. Dong Shik saw Wang Shik in the palace, but he pretended that he did not know him when Yu Ra asked him who was Wang Shik in the palace. Yu Ra kept him in the room and did not allow anyone to enter the room. Sunny helped Wang Shik by causing a scene for the Yu Ra to lose focus. Wang Shik managed to sneaked into Dong Shik’s room. Wang Shik was nearly being caught by Yu Ra. Yu Ra noticed that Dong Shik has a badge that was meant for Chief Palace Guard. She suspected that Woo Bin was actually Wang Shik. She asked Chief Joon to investigate Woo Bin’s background.

Woo Bin had a nose bleed. He was informed by the doctor that his condition is bad. He only can live up to 3 month or less. Woo Bin was worried about Sunny. He therefore taught Sunny self-defence technique so that she can protect herself even when he is not around.

Princess Ari told Sunny about the good news. She was told her about the change of will. Sunny suspected something fishy is going on. She met Empress Dowager and warned her about the fabricated will. Empress Dowager was anger. She met Woo Bin and asked him to create a scandal to run away with Sunny. Woo Bin told Sunny about it. Sunny asked Woo Bin to informed Lee Hyuk. Three of them worked together to fool Empress Dowager. Empress Dowager was embarrassed when she realised that she was in a live broadcast that she was planning on scheming Sunny for running away with palace guard.

Empress Dowager has to do community service for 200hours as a punishment for her wrongdoings. Sunny’s dad, Hel Ro and public monitored her to ensure that she has done the job. Lee Yoon has been attacked by Kang Hee when he found out that Kang Hee was the culprit for killing Empress So Hyun. He has been hospitalised. Sunny at first suspected that Lee Hyuk was the one who attacked Lee Hyuk because she found the evident that belongs to him. But she suspected Kang Hee more. She went to her chamber to look for her. Princess Ari lied to Sunny that she has been nursing Kang Hee all day.

Lee Hyuk and Empress Dowager caught Woo Bin for deceiving his identity. They threatened him with Dong Shik’s safety. Woo Bin’s colleague helped him to escape from the palace together with Dong Shik. Lee Hyuk later has been captured by Woo Bin. He taught him a lesson. Lee Hyuk jumped off the cliff. He has been founded by public. He went back to the palace safe and sound.

Due to the missing Emperor and coma Crown Prince, Princess Ari has been installed as the Crown Princess. However, she needed a legal guardian proxy due to her young age. The Imperial auditor appointed Empress Eun (who was the deposed Empress for Lee Hyuk’s dad) to assist the process of choosing the right guardian for Princess Ari. Empress Dowager did not want her to involve in imperial family. She ordered someone to get rid of Empress Eun. Luckily, Woo Bin rescued her. Empress Eun brought Woo Bin back to palace as special auditor. Everyone was shocked about the news. Empress Dowager and Kang Hee argued with one another regarding giving up the opportunity to become the guardian proxy for Princess Ari. Princess Ari was upset and she did not want both of them to become her guardian. Empress Eun decided to choose Sunny as her guardian after considering all the related issue.

Sunny set a trap for Kang Hee so that she can revealled her identity for trying to kill Lee Yoon. Sunny asked a court lady to inform Kang Hee that they had found his handphone with the evident that regarding culprit who kill Empress So Hyun. Empress Dowager protected Kang Hee when Sunny and Emperor interrogated her. It was Empress Dowager who ordered Kang Hee to stop Lee Yoon from entering Imperial record room. Princess Ari could not dare to see Sunny taken away by Empress Dowager to the cell. She informed Emperor about it. Emperor asked the guard to release her at once. Princess Ari also told the truth about the day when Lee Yoon has been attacked.

Emperor found out that Sunny has secretly collected the evidences for the death of Grand Empress Dowager and Empress So Hyun. He destroyed all the evidences in front of Sunny. He did that in order to protect Sunny because he did not want her to follow the path of Empress So Hyun who went against Empress Dowager. However, Sunny did not give up.

Sunny found out that the hairpin in Grand Empress Dowager’s chamber was belongs to Empress Dowager. She entered the imperial record room. She looked into Grand Empress Dowager’s belongings. She found a letter left by her. She read the letter. It was the last will from Grand Empress Dowager. Grand Empress Dowager killed herself with poison and hairpin.

Sunny was curious about Chungeum Island because Empress Dowager was obsessed with it. Joo Seong has been captured by Kang Hee. After Joo Seong told her about Chungeum Island she tried to poison him. Fortunately, Sunny, Yu Ra and Woo Bin found his whereabouts. They rescued him. Joo Seung told them about the island. They went to the island for a look. They found out that there are many poppies plants there. Since Sunny was the legal proxy for Princess Ari, she ordered Kang Hee to be in the prison. She also wants to reveal the truth during the 10 anniversaries of Emperor Regine. Lee Hyuk locked her up in the room. He wanted to protect Sunny from being hurt by his mother.

Lee Hyuk and Lee Yoon caught Kang Hee for trying to murder Crown Prince and also Joo Seung. Kang Hee denied that. She told them that she was being ordered by the Empress Dowager. Empress Dowager threatened Lee Hyuk for murdering Empress So Hyun. Lee Hyuk gave his mother a chance to destroy the poppies field. His mother insisted not to shut down the poppies field.

During the 10^th anniversaries event, Yu Ra and Baek Ho rescued Sunny from locked up. She managed to reach the event. Sunny, Joo Seung, Lee Yoon, Hel Ro and Sunny’s dad revealed the ugly side of the Imperial family to the media. Everyone was shocked about it. However, Yu Ra found something amiss. She saw the man who sexually abused her 7 years ago. She informed Baek Ho about it.  The man worked for the Empress Dowager, has set bombs during the event. Woo Bin has been attacked and captured by the man. He was then died from bomb during the event. They were too late to realise it. When Sunny was trying to take Lee Hyuk out from the event, she has been hit by the object hardly. Lee Hyuk gained his conscientious and took her out from the scene. He brought her to the hospital for treatment. Lee Hyuk was so touched that Wang Shik hugged the bomb to avoid bigger explosion happened. He is willing to sacrifice himself for the people. Lee Hyuk decided to pretend to be Wang Shik. He covered himself with bandage and penetrated into Chungeum Island. He saw the clinical lab has been carried out. He has been noticed by one of the man. The man informed Empress Dowager about it.

Empress Dowager decided to go to Chungeum Island herself to resolve the issue. Sunny was confused to hear that Wang Shik as passed away from Baek Ho. She thought Wang Shik took his own revenge by his own way. She quickly went to Chungeum Island with Baek Ho. She was unable to stop the tragic that Empress Dowager killed her own son. Empress Dowager did not know until she opened up the bandage. She was shocked. Her bodyguard escorted her out from the island. Lee Hyuk thanked and apologised to Sunny for what he had done for her before he passed away.

Empress Dowager gathered all her valuable items and asked Princess to flee with them. Kang Hee escaped from the prison and went to Empress Dowager’s chamber. They blamed each other fault. When they came out from the chamber, they were shocked to see all the reporters surround them. Sunny brought the detective as well. Kang Hee, Empress Dowager were caught at the scene. They were convicted to execute.

After a year, the imperial family has been abolished. Everyone was no longer holding the authority as the imperial family. They live an ordinary life as a people in the nation. Sunny takes care of Princess Ari. Princess Ari forgot about Kang Hee due to high fever and fainted frequently after hearing the bad news about the imperial family. Yu Ra became insane after the man hit her head when she destroyed the only antidote. She was reunited with Joo Seung and Dong Shik.

This drama is very fascinating because it creates a lot of climaxes for the viewers. There is also many suspense to guess who is the real murderer for Empress So Hyun and Great Empress Dowager. I like the overall drama. I can say that it was the best best drama that I ever watched for 2018. It consists of many elements, such as romance, comedy, investigation, politics and so on.  I also like the spirit of Sunny who are determined to find out the truth even though she faced a lot of challenges.

source: https://www.layar.id/tv/the-last-empress-konspirasi-cinta-balas-dendam-dan-keserakahan/