The First Night with the Duke is a 2025 K-drama starring Seohyun and Ok Taecyeon. This historical romance had a fun idea - a college student gets stuck in her favorite romance novel and tries to fix the story she messed up. The first few episodes were really entertaining, but the kdrama quickly went downhill with legal problems for damaging a UNESCO site during filming, and the later episodes just dragged on forever. What could have been a smart and funny show turned into another boring historical romance.
The Plot
The drama is about a modern college student named "K" who finds herself trapped inside the body of Cha Seon-chaek, a small character in her favorite historical romance novel. In the original story, Seon-chaek was supposed to be just a background character - the daughter of a prime minister who barely gets mentioned.
The real story was supposed to be about Lee Beon (played by Ok Taecyeon), a cold prince who's the king's favorite nephew, falling in love with Jo Eun-ae (Kwon Han-sol), the true female lead of the novel. But everything goes wrong from the very first night, when K, now in Seon-chaek's body, gets drunk and accidentally spends the night with Lee Beon instead. In the novel's world, if a noble lady and a royal prince share a "first night," it implies intimacy. Lee Beon takes it very seriously and believes they must take responsibility and marry.
This one mistake completely ruins the original plot. Lee Beon becomes obsessed with Seon-chaek and demands to marry her, even though he was supposed to fall for Eun-ae. K desperately tries to fix the story by pushing Lee Beon toward Eun-ae, but no matter what she does, his attention keeps coming back to her.
The drama also has Jung Soo-gyeom (Seo Bum-jun), who's Lee Beon's only friend and works as a government scholar. There's also Do Hwa-seon (Ji Hye-won), a villain who wants to marry Lee Beon herself and become part of the royal family.
As the kdrama progress, things get more complicated. There are palace politics, family drama with Seon-chaek's loving parents and three protective brothers, and various schemes by the Queen Dowager who doesn't want Lee Beon to marry someone she can't control. The drama introduces new characters that weren't in the original novel, like Lee Gyu, another prince who creates more problems.
K tries everything to get the story back on track - she makes lists of plans (Plan A through E) that all fail hilariously. She tries to set up Eun-ae with Lee Beon, she even considers running away, but nothing works. Lee Beon is completely smitten and won't listen to reason.
The drama gets darker with kidnapping plots, political conspiracies, and family conflicts. There's a mysterious figure called "the Westerner" who causes trouble, and various schemes that threaten both the main characters and the kingdom itself.
By the end, K has to accept that she can't return the story to its original path. She genuinely falls in love with Lee Beon, and they end up together, while the supporting characters find their own happiness in ways that were never part of the original novel.
My Review
I really wanted to love this drama. The first two episodes were soo good. Seohyun was charming and funny as the confused modern girl trying to navigate historical Korean society. Her attempts to teach noblewomen how to make cocktails and her modern sensibilities clashing with Joseon-era customs were genuinely hilarious.
The humor in the early episodes was spot-on. Watching K try to fix the plot while everything kept going wrong was entertaining. Her plans failing one by one, her internal monologue about the novel, and her reactions to suddenly being in a historical setting were well-written and funny.
Ok Taecyeon looked great as the brooding prince, and while he didn't have many lines in the first episode, his presence was strong. The chemistry between him and Seohyun seemed promising, even though it wasn't strong enough.
But here's where things started falling apart for me, after those promising first episodes, the drama began to lose its way. The pacing became uneven, and what started as a light, funny romantic comedy gradually became bogged down in unnecessary plot complications.
The Major Problems I Noticed
One of the biggest issues I had was how the drama seemed to forget what made it special in the beginning. The early episodes were full of clever humor about a modern person adapting to historical times, but this gradually disappeared in favor of typical palace intrigue and political drama that we've seen in dozens of other historical K-dramas.
The character development also felt lacking. While Seohyun did her best with what she was given, K/Seon-chaek never felt like she grew much as a character. She remained somewhat reactive throughout the kdrama rather than becoming a strong, proactive protagonist. Her acting felt artificial and lacked emotional depth, which I started to notice more as the episodes went on.
Ok Taecyeon's Lee Beon was supposed to be this compelling, complex character, but he came across as rather one-note for much of the kdrama. The "cold prince who only shows emotion to the female lead" trope has been done so many times, and this version didn't bring anything particularly fresh to it.
The supporting characters were underutilized too. Jung Soo-gyeom and Jo Eun-ae's romance felt rushed and underdeveloped, while Do Hwa-seon as the villain was fairly predictable. The family members, despite being played by good actors, didn't get enough screen time to really make an impact.
Technical and Production Issues
The drama also faced some real-world controversies during production. The filming team was sued for damaging a UNESCO World Heritage site (Byeongsan Seowon) by hammering nails into historic structures to hang lights and decorations. This led to legal consequences and public apologies, and some scenes had to be cut from the final broadcast.
Additionally, Seohyun was injured during filming and had to use a cane for a while, which may have affected the production schedule and quality.
The Adaptation Problem
One of the most mentioned criticisms was about the adaptation choices. The original webtoon was set in a Western fantasy world with European-inspired clothing, architecture, and customs. The drama moved everything to historical Korea, which changed the fundamental feel of the story. The female lead's red hair, which was important to her character identity in the webtoon, was completely ignored too. The tone of the story also shifted significantly.
While I understand that budget and practical considerations might have influenced this decision (historical Korean sets and costumes are readily available for Korean productions), it did seem to remove a lot of what made the original story unique. The cultural clash between a modern Korean woman and Western historical society would have been different and potentially more interesting than the version we got.
If the production team was going to change so much, they should have just created an original story instead of calling it an adaptation.
Final Thoughts
"The First Night with the Duke" is ultimately a frustrating viewing experience because it had so much potential that it never fully realized. The premise was interesting, the cast was capable, and the early episodes showed real promise. But somewhere along the way, it lost its focus and became just another generic historical romance drama.
If you're looking for a light, easy watch and you don't have high expectations, you might enjoy it. The early episodes are genuinely funny, and if you can overlook the later problems, there are some sweet romantic moments.
If you're a fan of the original webtoon, you'll probably be disappointed. The drama never quite figures out what it wants to be and suffers from trying to be too many things at once.
My recommendation would be to watch the first few episodes if you're curious, but don't feel bad about dropping it if it stops working for you as many people stopped watching the kdrama after the first 2 episodes. Sometimes a drama that starts strong just can't maintain that energy throughout its run, and unfortunately, "The First Night with the Duke" seems to be one of those cases.
For those who are interested in the story concept, I'd actually recommend checking out the original webtoon instead. It executes the premise more successfully and with more depth than this adaptation managed to achieve.
The drama serves as a reminder that adaptation is an art, and simply having good source and talented actors isn't enough if the execution doesn't honor what made the original story special in the first place.