this is my first review but as I was watching this I knew I had to write one for the first time lol

I should note before I begin that 1. Although I've watched a fair few amount of historical dramas, I don't have anything to compare My Country to because I've never watched any historical dramas quite like this one (e.g six flying dragons). 2. Like many other people I'm sure, I put this drama on my list because of Woo Dohwan so I may show some bias (?) I only realised when I started watching it that Yang Sejong played the main character which was a very pleasant surprise :)

STORY: As I've said just above, I have not watched any historical drama quite as political, action-packed and violent as this one so my opinion on the story is based purely on my first viewing with no comparison. To put it simply, I absolutely loved almost every single aspect of the plot. The politics were a bit hard to follow because I know close to nothing about actual Korean history, but I still enjoyed what I understood of it and found it all pretty interesting.
This story is very heavily centred around the friendship between our two main leads, Seo Hwi and Nam SeonHo. I was a bit worried towards the beginning that this would just be about the two close friends drifting apart and Nam SeonHo's (played by my bby boy Woo Dohwan) gradual transition to villainy. But I couldn't be more wrong..I truly underestimated how close they were and how loyal they were to each other from the very beginning. I think this one thing said by Munbok (Hwi's friend) summarises their relationship pretty well: "I think Hwi and SeonHo were the sun and the moon in their past lives. That's why they seem so inseparable". The bromance is sTRONG in this one (and I mean like possibly one of the strongest I've ever watched which is quite the feat because I feast on bromance all day every day) which brings me onto my next point. The Romantic interest.
Hee jae is established to be Seo Hwi's love interest pretty early on. Personally I didn't really see much chemistry before they unofficially got together but that's beside the point. Although I really admired Hee Jae's independence, strength and smarts, I feel like the romance aspect of this show was a tad lacking. I was never invested in their relationship but I'm pretty sure the writers intended it to be like that because the bromance over shined them completely. Honestly I felt like Heejae's character was established so that the writers could go ham with Hwi and Seonho's relationship and avoid getting shit on by conservatives for making Hwi and SeonHo's relationship too close to romantic. She's like a "These two main leads are closest friends and they both care about each other most in the entire world but don't worry they're both straight" insurance.

ACTING: The entire cast did absolutely amazing. Jang Hyuk's portrayal of his character gave me chills on more than one occasion and Yang Sejong's own personality translated perfectly into Seo Hwi's. For an idol-actress, Seolhyun also did pretty well over the course of the show, but I can't really help but wonder if she could've had better chemistry with Yang Sejong. Woo Dohwan did not disappoint at all either and I can proudly say that Nam Seonho is one of my favourite characters and I caNNOT WAIT for him to complete his military service omfg.

MUSIC: THE SOUNDTRACK IS BEAUTIFUL. THE OPENING THEME IS BEAUTIFUL I COULD LISTEN TO IT ALL DAY EVERY DAY IM NOT EXAGGERATING.

THE CHARACTERS: Honestly I could go on about this for days but I think I'll just cut it down (because Im getting tired) and say that every single character has so much depth and was so well-written. I've probably rooted for every single character at some point in the show.

The high production value for this show is probably one of the best parts about this drama. Literally ten minutes into it, after watching that killer opening sword fight war scene I knew I was going to enjoy the drama just because of how engaging that fight scene was. From beginning to end I can say that I never once skipped any fight scene even though they happened at least once every episode.
I think I can say that My Country The New Age is probably my favourite saeguk drama and I'll be thinking about this one for weeks.

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