My initial thoughts on SOTB

May contain Spoilers:

Binge-watched it a few days back. I am actually liking this new move by Netflix to drop all episodes at one-go.

Captivating drama with excellent cinematography and fantastic action sequences and great acting from everyone. TBH it was more movie-like and less of a drama. Backed by great background score and sharp editing for Season 1. The story reminded true to its Wild Wild West theme and the Japanese occupation of Korea. Very raw and realistic. So kindly don't expect any candy-floss romance or fantasy. They showed things as they are. But in between all that there were some good character building and humour and most importantly the need to carry on the fight to re-claim the land from the Japanese.

There were only three important woman characters and all three of them had a specific purpose within the story. Also I am very impressed that all of them had their parts within the action sequences.

Special mention of the character Eon Nyeon (and Lee Ho-jung - the actress who played it). It was a brilliant idea to develop that character as the perfect foil to the ML and the actress did a splendid job. TBH the amount of action this girl did in this drama is either on par or more than what Woo do-hwan did in Bloodhounds or Kim Nam Gil himself did in this drama. (these are the only 2023 dramas that I have watched so far to compare with).

The ending is being criticised in online forums but I get the feeling that there is definitely a season 2. So for those of you planning to watch - be prepared for the open-ending and even if there is no season 2 I am still ok with the ending as it is realistic given the historical context. But hopefully there is a season 2 to satisfy all of us.

And finally the review is incomplete without mentioning Kim Nam Gil. He totally rocked in this drama and was cool/suave with all those guns/rifles handling and the action sequences. I am personally very happy with his drama choices. Also kudos to him for giving woman characters in his dramas equal space/more prominence in the sense that they all come across as strong characters and hold themselves up very well on their own. I have noticed this from his 2017 drama - Live Up to Your Name up until this 2023 drama.

Only thing to add is - Romance and KNG is not meant to be I guess. After this drama - I am giving up even the remotest idea that he will in future do a reasonable romance role. (I personally think even in LUTYN they added in that possible happy ending as an after-thought).

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