Netflix's New R-Rated Dark Fantasy Series Debuts To Rare Rotten Tomatoes Score
Netflix's new fantasy series is a hit with critics.
There's long been an argument that the streamer has never found its footing with fantasy shows that lean all the way into the genre's potential for massive scope and scale. While competitors have House of the Dragon, which is a big hit for HBO, and Prime Video has its flagship Rings of Power saga, Netflix's most successful example has to be The Witcher.
Although it began on a promising note, featuring Henry Cavill in the lead role of Geralt of Rivia, the most recent installment premiered with a notable decline in viewership and divided opinions on Liam Hemsworth taking over the Geralt role. The Witcher season 5 is nonetheless reviewed and planned to serve as the show's farewell.
The key to Netflix's fantasy success may be in looking outside the streamer's English-language offerings, as proven by The East Palace. The eight-episode series, which combines the supernatural and the historical, has debuted to a rare perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The score is based on seven reviews, with the average at 7.30 out of 10. This indicates that most reviews are strongly positive. Still, the series only premiered on July 17, and it's possible that the score could fluctuate as more reviews are added.
Described as a supernatural version of Joseon-era Korea, the show's name comes from the crown prince of the East Palace, who is found dead in a nearby pond. It's not long before speculation starts to spread that the death was caused by the pond spirit. Three decades earlier, it's said, the pond spirit cursed the palace and vowed to end the royal bloodline.
This causes the royal court to panic. The king (played by Cho Seung-woo) even secretly summons a spirit slayer. Nam Joo-hyuk, known for his work in Twenty Five Twenty One and Start-Up, portrays Gu-cheon. He is the hired supernatural expert and begins to investigate what's actually going on in the palace. He's joined by Saeng-gang, played by Crash Course in Romance star Roh Yoon-seo, who can hear the voices of those spirits.
The duo has to repel the pond spirit and protect the last of the royal bloodline, giving The East Palace an urgency that ScreenRant's Shealyn Scott calls an “effortless fuse of horror and folklore.” Rendy Jones of RogerEbert.com is likewise complimentary, underlining that the Netflix Original, from writers Kwon So-ra and Seo Jea-won and director Choi Jung-kyu, is a good time.
All episodes of The East Palace are on Netflix.