1
Herman
USA
Warning: do not watch if you have any heart problems. This is one large roller-coaster ride.
Story (9.0):
This show... It will make you question everything and change your way of thinking throughout.
First you will laugh when the good guys laugh, and sneer or cry when the bad guys laugh, and then you will cry when a good person dies, and cheer when a bad person meets their fate. But then you will cry when a neutral character suddenly dies offscreen, and even worse, start to question the good players motives and think how unfair it is and start crying when a villain meets their untimely fate. You will cry when an evil turncoat can't have his happy ending, and then you will laugh and cry some more and wonder how the protagonist suddenly became this person, realize what happened along the way to make her this way, and wonder how you didn't see it all coming, and why, why, why... And then you will bite into a lime covered in sweet, sweet sugar and wonder: why did I even watch this! And so you will have to go back to Episode 1 from the 18:30 mark just to assure yourself you didn't waste 50 hours of your miserable life and when you watch it you realize exactly what has happened in all those hours between episode 1 and the final episode and you are shocked just by how much this was NOT a waste of your life and it hits you like a slap in the face how amazingly sweeping, agonizing, beautiful, unfair, and awesome this drama story all was. And you don't regret a thing, while laughing and crying.
TL;DR: The story is brutally honest and amazing and mostly believable besides the fact that at one point multiple archers can't hit two people stretched out literally a single jumps distance away, and you may tire of scared and shocked and crying and dying faces, but all the happy stuffed in between was too good to give up.
Acting/Cast (9.5):
I'll admit, I can sometimes get fed up with Ha Ji Won's shocked/unbelieving face that she always seems to make, but she is a great actress and I've seen her in many, many other things and can hardly discredit her at all. The Emperor (Ji Chang-Wook) himself was an amazing cast for a likable cowardly nincompoop turned possessive feral puppy, and Wang Yoo (Joo Jin Moo) was great throughout.
But I'd also like to give special props to the Empress Danashiri (Baek Jin Hee) who perfectly portrays a perfectly justified "villain" who is completely understandable, easy to hate, and makes you pity her even in her downfall; also props to her brother Dang Ki Se (Kim Jung Hyun) and to Tal Tal. Frankly, I don't think there wasn't a good actor in this drama.
Music (8.5):
I'd love to give this music a higher rating because I thoroughly enjoyed the orchestral aspect of things and even some of the songs, but when you are at the very final episode in the very climax, the scene that LITERALLY finished off the drama, HOW DARE YOU make such a music change when I was expecting this one melody! I might exaggerate a little bit since it fit okay I guess, but I was supremely disappointed.
Rewatch Value (8.5):
Immediately after I finished episode 51, I went back and rewatched part of the first episode just to calm my racing heart. I've rewatched some of my favorite scenes since then, and while it's such a grand scope that it might not be easily rewatchable, it's not not rewatchable...
Overall (9.0):
Sweeping, romantic, utterly heartwarming and heartbreaking, actions that you can't stand and can't stand not to watch, if you enjoy historical dramas, then this is one that you can not pass up in good conscience. If you don't enjoy historical dramas or just can't do the 51 episodes, I don't blame you, but I'll say this (at the time of writing): it is the longest drama, almost by multiple of 2, that I've ever stuck with.
Story (9.0):
This show... It will make you question everything and change your way of thinking throughout.
First you will laugh when the good guys laugh, and sneer or cry when the bad guys laugh, and then you will cry when a good person dies, and cheer when a bad person meets their fate. But then you will cry when a neutral character suddenly dies offscreen, and even worse, start to question the good players motives and think how unfair it is and start crying when a villain meets their untimely fate. You will cry when an evil turncoat can't have his happy ending, and then you will laugh and cry some more and wonder how the protagonist suddenly became this person, realize what happened along the way to make her this way, and wonder how you didn't see it all coming, and why, why, why... And then you will bite into a lime covered in sweet, sweet sugar and wonder: why did I even watch this! And so you will have to go back to Episode 1 from the 18:30 mark just to assure yourself you didn't waste 50 hours of your miserable life and when you watch it you realize exactly what has happened in all those hours between episode 1 and the final episode and you are shocked just by how much this was NOT a waste of your life and it hits you like a slap in the face how amazingly sweeping, agonizing, beautiful, unfair, and awesome this drama story all was. And you don't regret a thing, while laughing and crying.
TL;DR: The story is brutally honest and amazing and mostly believable besides the fact that at one point multiple archers can't hit two people stretched out literally a single jumps distance away, and you may tire of scared and shocked and crying and dying faces, but all the happy stuffed in between was too good to give up.
Acting/Cast (9.5):
I'll admit, I can sometimes get fed up with Ha Ji Won's shocked/unbelieving face that she always seems to make, but she is a great actress and I've seen her in many, many other things and can hardly discredit her at all. The Emperor (Ji Chang-Wook) himself was an amazing cast for a likable cowardly nincompoop turned possessive feral puppy, and Wang Yoo (Joo Jin Moo) was great throughout.
But I'd also like to give special props to the Empress Danashiri (Baek Jin Hee) who perfectly portrays a perfectly justified "villain" who is completely understandable, easy to hate, and makes you pity her even in her downfall; also props to her brother Dang Ki Se (Kim Jung Hyun) and to Tal Tal. Frankly, I don't think there wasn't a good actor in this drama.
Music (8.5):
I'd love to give this music a higher rating because I thoroughly enjoyed the orchestral aspect of things and even some of the songs, but when you are at the very final episode in the very climax, the scene that LITERALLY finished off the drama, HOW DARE YOU make such a music change when I was expecting this one melody! I might exaggerate a little bit since it fit okay I guess, but I was supremely disappointed.
Rewatch Value (8.5):
Immediately after I finished episode 51, I went back and rewatched part of the first episode just to calm my racing heart. I've rewatched some of my favorite scenes since then, and while it's such a grand scope that it might not be easily rewatchable, it's not not rewatchable...
Overall (9.0):
Sweeping, romantic, utterly heartwarming and heartbreaking, actions that you can't stand and can't stand not to watch, if you enjoy historical dramas, then this is one that you can not pass up in good conscience. If you don't enjoy historical dramas or just can't do the 51 episodes, I don't blame you, but I'll say this (at the time of writing): it is the longest drama, almost by multiple of 2, that I've ever stuck with.
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