The captain had been a little boy who’d caught the king’s eye/special attentions….. and had accepted what he couldn’t change (they all feared the king), then used his position to protect his brothers in arms, but any sense of loyalty or feelings he’d once had for the mad king ended when the king castrated him, killed his friends & he thought the queen… and stuck their heads on pikes over the city walls. Like he told the king in their death duel…”I’ve been cut to the root, there is nothing for me to fear anymore” then he said” you led me to feel love and I couldn’t be more grateful”. Meaning under the king’s orders to sleep w/ the queen & never being allowed to know any better/different then the king’s warped palace existence… he’d finally felt a natural attraction and love for someone… the queen.

Turning his head toward the king at the end, was a director’s whimsy, not realistic/nor believable…. as many critics pointed out. At least that was my take.

About the movie, hmmm….I love the story, but the love scenes was too much for me. Focusing on the relationship that developed between Hong Lim and the queen was a part of story, but it was..too detailed, when I think it doesn’t really need.

Sometimes I get confused by Jo In-Sung’s expression, did he felt guilty, joyful, or really fell in love with the queen…hahaha.
Anyway thanks for d recaps ^^

and yeo jin goo is amazing!
even now, early teens (13?14?) he is so bloody talented…i dunno wat to say
let’s wait a couple more years when he can star in his own drama/movie (*excited*)

anyways, nothing to say bout this movie
besides the fact its damn unforgettable
of course when i watched it the first time i nearly threw my slipper at hong lim…that should explain enough…
and like with many “good” movies/dramas i’ve watched, watching once is enough, not gonna rewatch…

I just watched the movie a few hours ago and spent a bit time reading all the comments. First of all, I really appreciate this comprehensive review of Sevenses. I came across this when I was searching for the movie’s info. I have made some points. You might agree or you might not; but it took me couple of times to push backward in order to catch the meaning between the lines of the characters’ conversations. Here are the few points!

Firstly, I totally agree to all who were saying the Hong Lim had been raised amongst men and gotten accustomed to the King pretty much the entire of his life; thus, it’s understandable why he is so loyal and willing to obey all the King’s command (including sex desire). It’s hard though to conclude whether a man is gay back then. Probably, HL found out he had been straight all along after the first sex encounter with the Queen, which I found pretty normal (even nowadays, some might think one’s self is gay or les only to find out at the end that they’re not by sensibility with the opposite sex). So, it is fair for HL. When the King sought him out in the beginning of the movie, HL was surprised and felt guilty so much to be aware of the King’s affection for him. The scene that HL hugged the King when they were sleeping next to each other could bring so much meaning to the audience since HL is a very self-conscious man. At the end, when he looked back at the King with his last tear-drop. I think he realized how foolish he had been thinking that the King could be so merciless to kill the Queen along with his companions.

Next, the King (I praised the actor’s acting skills) was a tragic character. He might be disgusted so much in trying to conceive the Queen. Perhaps, he took the feminine role in his built-up relationship with HL giving him the distaste in making love with another woman for himself feeling like one of his kind. He needs love from HL. And, obviously, he knows too well HL’s performance in bed as well for being too close (duh). The desire to have HL’s child to raise up together as a couple is not something too confusing. In the present time, many homosexual couple try to adopt. Back then, with all the power that he has, plus the limited acceptance from the whole monarchy regarding this issue (let alone it would be a pretty bad insult if anybody figure out). HL was very close and trust-worthy to the King. Besides, people use to say: to love is to take a risk of trusting someone 200% (or rather, infinitively). The King has done nothing but to love HL in a very true way. He must die not only as for the plot to revolve but also for his own sake. He would never reach happiness in real life with that heavy view from the public about being a gay. Happiness and true bliss only come when he liberates himself from the burden of a superpower, whom people look up and paint out more like a figure, not as a human being with flaws.

Finally, the Queen herself, in my opinion, is very fickle. She showed loyalty towards the King at the beginning, which gives a plus to her characteristic. But, at the end, she asked the vice-captain to ‘free the king’ and if the distant relative would take hold of the throne, she would let the vice-captain to live. Was her love for HL too strong that all of sudden, she saw no potential from her husband anymore and wanted to eliminate him for good? I don’t think the sex scene was introduced too much in this movie. It added up for the Queen’s character as well, serving as a physical bearance of the monarchy’s future heir. Also, her desire for a ‘true’ relationship with a man was portrayed fully.

The movie was a successful movie. All of the actors and actresses were very talented in what they were doing!

I think it is possible to love two people differently and to have loyalty to both. That’s the nature of human conflict, a gray zone of being instead of black and white.

The Queen was awaken and was terrible, scary in her pursuit. The Queen and the King both abused and used HL, to the point of chopping of his bits.

It is pretty awful to think that the King groomed HL to love him, although it was the usual practice in royal houses.

Ooo, nice point. I think it also reflects upon the reversal of power in their relationship. Despite his position, the king is under Hong Lim’s power because of his love for HL.

I think part of the reason why he refused to say he loved the king at the end was because (1) he mistakenly believe his king was bad and had killed the queen with his child and (2) knew that the king was asking about “in love” type of love.

Perhaps the film didn’t emphasize this aspect of HL enough or in the right way, but he is indeed fiercely and blindly loyal (and when those loyalties clash as they did with the Queen, he becomes wretchedly lost). So when the Queen begged to elope, Hong Lim chose to sacrifice himself and answered that he was afraid and would remain the “the king’s subject”.