I watched episode 1 and I liked it. I'm just curious how this story will develop. For now, I don't rate the acting or any other aspects. I'm curious what will happen to these characters.

My curiosity won over. So, here I am. I am still midway into episode 2 but came because I had something to say.
I love the idea of strong-willed heroines who try to beat the societal constrictions of that patriarchal era, but here the female lead is both stereotypical and annoying. Case in point: how she lifted her skirt to fight off the thugs and kept cursing at the patient who didn't stop drinking felt off-putting and over the top.
Now, when she sobered up and found out about her father's plot, she didn't stop for a second to think about what might happen to her family if she ran away from home in this situation.
Granted, she didn't know he was the crown prince yet. But changing into her servant's clothes and fleeing without a plan might not be the most reasonable thing to do. To me, she isn't brave, but reckless.
Will be back after finishing ep 2.

No acting skills can overcome this heavy handed, clumpy, un-nuanced writing, especially for the FL character. A young girl out-drinking a group of older man, well used to alcohol - this is a farce too far. I may watch ep2, but it is likely a drop for me.

I'm really liking this so far, although I'm somewhat skeptical that it's sustainable over 20 episodes. My take is that they're going for an off-center style that is deliberately trying to create viewer dissonance "Is it a drama? Is it a comedy? Is it a romance? Is it fusion? What IS it?" The vibe overall is a bit campy, a bit tongue-in-cheek, a bit daring. The cinematography takes cues from old Hollywood and there are nods and winks a-plenty to other k-dramas. Most of the time it works, but sometimes it's clunky. Characters aren't likely to conform to preconceived ideas we have about them or their counterparts in other sageuk. Without watching for a bit longer, it's hard to say whether the choice of greener leads was a good one. Perhaps the director wanted actors he could mold into a specific style. Bottom line is that this production is not likely to satisfy sageuk purists nor fusion sageuk romcom lovers. Very risky indeed, but my curiosity has been piqued and I'm definitely interested in watching more.

I agree with others that as a historical drama there are a lot of fairly implausible elements, most notably in the female leads activities. For a starter, I can't imagine a royal physician's daughter ever actually marrying a CP; doctors, even royal physicians, were not considered nobles, and even though while some were promoted quite high in the system, it was invariably highly controversial. But let's assume that he really was a high ranking noble who had somehow managed to survive the social stigma for his class of taking a technical job, his daughter's behaviour would clearly have been regarded as utterly scandalous, and there is no way she could ever have passed the selection process for a CP.

So its kind of odd that they seem to be going for some authenticity in speech modes etc.

But despite all that, have to say that so far at least I'm enjoying it nonetheless.

The leads are all given quite interesting characters, and the plot looks to have some interesting twists (and I'm not sure how implausible some of the court context is - while its all a bit exaggerated, there were some Joseon kings who were pretty much prisoners of elements of the court, and some dowagers who controlled everything).

Worth giving a few more episodes to at least.

I've given Missing Crown Prince the 4-episode trial and the verdict is in: I'm going to keep going. It's not perfect, it definitely doesn't seem to appeal to most people, but I'm entertained, amused, and appreciating all the little details that make this an unusual sageuk watch. I really hope this doesn't go the way of Love Song for Illusion. 😵‍💫

Just watched ep 3-4, the writing is addictive, and the story keeps me interested enough to turn my eye away from the green cast. Best of all is the fast pace, I didn't think the royal physician would admit to the affair this fast. But I am glad it is out of the way. Excited about next week's episodes.