Muneeza22
Pakistan
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I admit that the first major half of the series I was actually invested, and I wanted to continue, but there were so many little things that kept bugging me. I'm listing them as follows:1) The Characters and the Insufficient Backstory: I couldn't sympathize with most of the characters because there was just not enough depth in flashbacks to make me feel for them. For example the relationship between Seo Hui and Sang Hun seemed really empty to me, considering he had spent so much time abroad, and when he returned he didn't live with her. He kept some heavy, HEAVY secrets from her and she was basically clueless about everything. If their relationship was that bad, I can't see why she was so desperate to find him, especially if she even suspected that he was cheating on her. It just didn't add up. The relationship between Sang Hun and his step-father wasn't really explored in depth either. I don't know what made Sang Hun think that his stepdad would care much if he got kidnapped or mutilated. I mean the old man basically stopped caring after the eye was discovered at the news agency, and he was ready to shut down the investigation for the son. The relationship of Yeong Min and Seo Hyun (the reporter) was so out of the blue, unnecessary and superficial that I didn't know what to think. The relationship between Yeong Min and Sang Hun wasn't satisfactorily pursued either, since Yeong Min's feelings were actually very complex but not explored at all.
2) The Disbelief in the Storyline: I'm sorry but I just can't imagine that any human being, any sane person, even a dying man would willingly suggest that his limbs be cut off, and that other 'sane' human beings, especially a brother-like relation would agree to do it. I can't believe Sang Hun would do it thinking it would help stop his stepdad who clearly stopped caring at one point. I also can't believe he would make his own wife undergo this torture, keeping her in the dark about all of this, knowing how she would feel upon discovery of his severed foot, hand, eye and then the heart. That last organ was a bit too much. What friend/brother can take out his brother's heart? without the proper tools or the know-how? I mean, is it that easy to extract a human heart that any lay person can do it without going stark raving mad? I can't forgive that Sang Hun made Seo Hui undergo all of this just so that the bill would be stopped and there was no guarantee that it would be stopped. And that last minute 'oh Sang Hun is dying anyway so it's all good' was very offensive I mean it was just meant to make it all convenient.
3) The Cliche: Corrupt old men covering up their corruption, cruelties, and greed while using henchmen who would go to any length to serve them is getting really old. Also the corrupt insiders in the police, the erased CCTV footages, the insufficient evidence to convict the obvious killer. Please stop it.
Little things kept bothering me, like the fact that I just couldn't get how Seo Hui could be such a dumb clueless person, who never tried to investigate just what it was that was bothering Sang Hun, why he didn't want to work in the company, what he did in his secret time away from her, and what was on his mind. You're his wife! How can you be so disinterested? She did good acting, but the character wasn't very likeable. I mean, girl, your laptop got hacked once, why are you using it again to check out a secret USB which you know will have top-secret content?
It was an overall meh drama. Lee Min Ki is amazing in his acting though.
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This actually started out amazing. The story was very interesting, though not scary, and it quickly became clear who the main characters were up against. By the time that Jin Hee was kidnapped, the drama went downhill really fast, to the point that I didn't want to watch the rest of the episodes and was not curious about the ending at all. Jin Hee and her husband don't act like a married couple, but more like distant acquaintances who just happen to share an apartment. He wasn't losing his mind when he heard that his wife was kidnapped. The kidnappers had been doing this whole kidnap-beat-kill routine for a while, but they magically forgot to take away Jin Hee's bag which contained her cell-phone with the tracking app. That was so outrageous that it just put me off everything. The kidnappers kill everyone they kidnap but they let the private investigator go for some reason?? And didn't anticipate that he'd go and rat them out to the police?
Shaman Jin Kyung went down very easily, for a powerful shaman. The whole crumpled, twisted body thing was creepy the first time but it just made me bored the second time. Sung Dong Il did a good job in the first half of the show, but somehow I just couldn't continue to see him as an evil guy towards the end. And what is up with that end? All that So Jin can do is curse and kill folk, so how the heck did she manage to somehow unite the Inugami in her own body and drag it out of the Forest app? I don't even know what happened in the last episode and I am not the least bit curious.
I also wonder how Chairman could kill people after looking at their picture once, but he didn't do it immediately with So Jin? Why does he lose his energy when he does it? how come his power is different from So Jin's?
Too many potholes and such a lost potential. The acting was good though.
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What I loved:ACTING: Every single actor, either main, secondary or guest did an excellent job. I don't need to mention that the two main leads, Park Seo Joon, and Ahn Sung Ki were mindblowing. The emotions that they portrayed through their facial expressions, the feeling showing through the eyes, the warm budding relationship of these two characters and every single time they shared the screen, it was magic. I was completely floored by the child actor, Jung Ji Hoon, too.
What I didn't love:
PLOT: Park Seo Joon's character continues to rave and hate God throughout the movie, till the bit before the end where he rushes into the church to yell at God, and yet he is selected to become this harbringer of so-called divine fury because his dad said so? Really? He shows no particular religious feeling, no actual connection with God, and seems to have taken on the role of an exorcist's disciple simply because he somehow chanced upon an exorcism. I suppose the most that you can say about it is that he doesn't like ignoring people who are in pain or who need him, but honestly that wasn't well-developed and I wish the director had pursued that more.
THE HERO: Needed more character development! Everything is rushed; his relationship with his dad and with Father Ahn. He also seems to lack a clear motive, at least in my opinion. He's pretty much lost in his life during the pre-Father Ahn years, but afterwards, what motivates him to suddenly jump into exorcism? Is there a clear reconciliation between him and God? Would he have continued on this path had Father Ahn died? I think what the movie needed was a powerful moment where he witnesses people who lose loved ones and still continue to have faith in God, or who still smile. There was just something missing in this character that I can't seem to put exactly in words.
THE VILLAIN: My biggest disappointment is the fact that the villain is just this bland evil guy who is evil for the sake of it. There's no background, no motives, no depth at all. He just worships his Snake Lord for the sake of immortality but boy, what you gonna do with your eternal life? Party away in that club of yours? Heck, Doctor Faustus had a better motive than you, though he was pretty stupid too. There was just so much potential and room here and it was a big let-down.
THE ENDING: Everybody lives happily ever after. Ew.
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Romantiek is een bonusboek
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WHAT I LIKED: The acting was amazing. The characters are all lovable, especially all the ones excluding the main couple. The color palette was so pleasing to the eye, as well as the furnishings, the clothes, the ambience was all fitting to the story and a joy to look at. I loved everything involving books, as a book lover myself. I loved the interactions between the founding members of Gyeoroo, especially Eun Ho and the President. I also loved the sisterhood between Ms. Go, Ms. Seo and Kang Dan-i. That was my favorite part of the entire drama.WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: The plot weakened towards the second half of the drama. Gyeoroo allowed Kang Dan-i to resign for something that wasn't even her fault in the end, and was even on the verge of firing her, and then she was referred to a small, shady publishing company for who knows what reason (I can't believe Ms. Go would do that!) , then rehired to Gyeoroo when the President was reminded that they have a "special recruitment policy". I mean what?? Couldn't you think of that right after she'd resigned and y'all were missing her?
Kang Dan-i never speaks of her past life as married woman, and after one scene of her videocalling her daughter on the phone, there is no mention of the daughter again. I found it very disturbing, considering that she laments her divorcee and mom status when thinking about dating again. The story focuses solely on her struggles to reenter the workforce, and her experiences as a wife and mother do not factor in at all in her growth. I get that the husband was an utter jerk and deserved a nice beating, but a complete omission of that aspect of her life didn't sit well with me.
I found Eun Ho's character and his relationship with Kang Dan-i hard to swallow, and not just because of a meh chemistry. Eun Ho is that perfect man that shouldn't even exist in kdramaland; rich, handsome editor, professor and successful writer who is down-to-earth, responsible, friendly, kind, and sensitive, who has suffered a one-sided love for his noona for twenty years, is ready to buy expensive clothes for her, furnish a room in his house for her, will wash dishes for her and cook food for her, help her here and there at her job at Gyeoroo, is ready to stand up for her whenever possible, and will rush to her when she's hurting (Except when he didn't keep in touch with her enough to know she had been divorced a year ago and was pretty much homeless?) What's more is that Dan-i just seems to take and take and give back very little. Sure she saved him from an accident when he was little, and she helped him out with some problems involving his parents a long time ago, but for a woman who wants to write her own story and not be a Cinderella, she does get rescued by him in the first few episodes. She's older than him but at times he was the mature person between the two, especially when it came to expressing love.
Both Dan-i and Eun Ho (as individuals) seem too nice to be believable. I did like her interactions with Ji Seo Jun, and of course I loved the dog! I think that the Seo Jun - Hye Rin pair seemed just a tad forced in the last episode.
The only thing that kept me going was the support characters and their hilarious interactions.
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First of all, I did not expect this drama to turn out the way it did. I guess I expected more philosophical, light musings on human nature and less gore? But it still turned out pretty well. THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE:
I think what bothered me the most through every episode was this feeling that something was lacking. I can pinpoint it down to the cinematography and the camera angles at times, as well as this feeling that the producers didn't want us to take this drama too seriously.
For example, the scene where the camera revolves 360 degrees around Jong Woo and Mun Jo looked like bad CGI and just took out the enjoyment of it. This kind of revolving happened 2 or 3 times and was off putting. The scenes with the pervert confronting Jong Woo or vice versa were kinda disappointing after the first time.
The story itself felt outrageous at times, as if the writers had deliberately aimed at shattering any suspension of disbelief the viewers might entertain. I mean, the building owner Bok Soon has a history of odd deaths all around her and nobody found it suspicious except the lone local policewoman? A detective goes missing and nobody blinks an eye? People (like the reporter) get killed or kidnapped in broad daylight or in busy places and no witnesses? There are other buildings around Eden Studio, and no still no one sees anything? What about that church lady? What happened to her? What about that other lady who made predictions? Did she die? I was also surprised when Jong Woo didn't notice the other twin go missing (also dead). It really bothered me when no one asked after the other twin.
I wanted Mun Jo to have some real background, and the lone twin as well. All characters except Im Si Wan's felt one dimensional, perhaps because there's only ten episodes.
THINGS I LIKED:
The ACTING OH WOW! Im Si Wan has outdone himself, and Lee Dong Wook as well. I utterly fell in love with Im Si Wan's facial expressions and his inner struggle that one could see in his eyes. I loved the creepy smiles he threw in episodes and the times he would break down and look like a baby about to cry. I thoroughly enjoyed Lee Dong Wook's expressions, the curve of his lips, the death and mirth in his eyes. The creepy pervert guy and the sniggering twin were also portrayed extremely well.
The psychological and philosophical angle of the story was very good. The drama shows us various kinds of 'good' and 'bad' and how these often blend or tend to make little hierarchies in our minds. For example, the bullying that Jong Woo's girlfriend and Jong Woo himself faced at the office was done in these civilized, professional environments but caused a lot of emotional damage to the victims. How is it any better than physically hurting or killing people? Can emotional trauma be taken less seriously than physical trauma? Especially if the former leads to the latter? I liked how the drama showed that nobody took Jong Woo's distress seriously, and he never truly sought professional help for what went down in his army days. All the little things added up like dominos and led to the eventual end that the drama came to. I also liked the hints towards Kafka's Metamorphosis: a person dedicates his whole life working and working and working, and yet is treated like trash in the end. Jong Woo and his girlfriend are prime examples of modern Korean (in face the modern world's) condition. You work your way to death, and you remain poor, unhappy, unappreciated and unloved, yet you're supposed to smile and bow and say 'thank you'. Gregor Samsa laid down and died when nobody wanted him around, but Jong Woo retaliated and fought back. Is Jong Woo really the bad guy?
For me, these deeper messages of the drama trump the complaints I had with it, and so the 8.5 rating.
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De Heks: Deel 1. De Ondermijning
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If you've seen 'The Silenced' starring Park Bo Young, then you might find the synopsis similar, however this one is a more bloody, brutal version. If you don't like blood and gore, I suggest you don't watch it.
Kim Da Mi's acting in this movie was amazing, and I'm glad she's won so many awards for it.
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Few Scary Scenes, Story Disappointed
WHAT I LIKED:-> Acting: This is probably the best part of the movie. Sung Dong Il delivers horror very well in this film. His scene in Hyun Joo's bedroom scared me, not just because of the jump scare music but because he had this creepy expression on. Other actors did equally well. Choi Myung Goo is a seasoned actress and did her breakfast scene extremely well. She made my skin crawl. I've seen Jo Yi Hyun in Hospital Playlist and My Country, she's done well here though her character wasn't very demanding. Kim Kang Hoon is on a roll, with Mr. Sunshine, When the Camellia Blooms and this movie as well.
-> Cinematography: The scenes were shot very well. The CGI was not excellent, but not subpar either. The costumes and props were all on point.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
-> Plot: The story itself was a good idea for a horror film, but there were so many plot-holes and unexplained happenings that I was just turned off and this is the reason for my low rating. To think that the demon can *SPOILERS AHEAD* not only shapeshift into other humans, but can also possess them, levitate objects, hover, spew blood, make people turn onto each other and so much more. It's basically a variety of demons and poltergeists rolled into one. The demon can also handle crosses and can apparently mimic an exorcism, reciting Latin verses without flinching. But the later on he died on a cross.... huh. Our experienced priest, samchon a.k.a. Jong-Su thinks that the elder daughter is the demon, while in actuality he has been actively going round pretending to be each member of the family at will. I didn't get why he would make such a statement because obviously the demon could just go take someone else's shape. Which it did! The arrival of the other priests from Manila was such a stupid thing, since all they did was die like flies. The fact that Jong Su would end up doing the exorcism was predictable. The BIGGEST HOLE in this movie was the fact that the demon pretty much roasted a daughter alive in the basement and NO ONE CARED. No one looked for her, no one missed her, and when they discovered her they did not look much shocked. The final hug scene between the family was weird because the mom never asked 'hey where's my other daughter btw?'
-> CGI: There were a few moments where it was done badly, like the cracks on the car after the crows hit it, and Jong Su's weird mask-like face after he was possessed. It was just a turn off to look at.
->Beginning and Ending: The exorcism was predictable, down to the death. It was boring. There's a reason why everyone says 'show, not tell'. The reasons why the family decides to move into a new house are shoved into a few dialogues in the car. I wanted to be shown how Jung Su's actions had bothered each of the family member. It could have been just a few flashbacks and it would be enough. The last ten minutes of the movie were so disappointing. It was so predictable and boring. I wish they had stuck to the idea of a spirit that can change and mimic faces and carried that throughout, instead of having a possessed girl jumping around, vomiting blood, laughing like mad in your face. Please, enough with the cliches.
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I'm rather surprised that this drama did not have any boring bits for me, and that it was actually a solid watch. The drama focuses more on the plot and the mystery, rather than any character growth, though there is a certain complexity to some characters. I like that the drama did not delve deep into too many things, and only lightly touched issues like stalking, mental health, bullying, cheating, depression, dealing with death etc. The drama continued to keep its focus on the central mystery i.e. the fact that one by one, the people who have undergone 'reset' are dying.I think that the biggest flaw in the drama is the fact that it does not provide any plausible explanation for the 'reset', the very backbone of the drama itself. I find it rather stupid that you can just drive down a certain route, off a cliff and magically end up exactly one year in the past with your memories of the future intact. At one point the drama showed Miss Shin ingesting a mysterious liquid before reset but that never came up again. The main villains clearly lacked motive. They just seemed to be doing bad things because they were bored.
Despite these annoyances, I did like the drama. It isn't super amazing, but it's pretty good.
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Despite being the minority with this opinion, I will go ahead and say it: the show was a major disappointment. WHAT I LOVED:
ACTING:
I mean, it started out great, and I remember thinking that the plot was Robin Hood trope, but was at the same time unique when it came to kdramas. I love Ma Dong Seok, and right from the start I fell in love with Seo In Guk's acting. He really truly makes you believe that he is a con-artist, and a simple look at the various accents he pulls off in episode 2 while calling different people is a testament to his acting prowess. Ma Dong Seok too completely embodied his character, in voice, looks, and gestures.
This was my first time watching Lee Sun Bin act (all I knew about her was that she's Lee Kwang Soo's girlfriend and I saw her on that one episode of I Can Hear Your Voice 2019) , and I have to say I loved it. Of course many other actors were veterans and masters of the craft.
ACTION:
Despite not liking the way the drama turned out, I have to admit that at least for the first half, the episodes were not boring at all, there were cliffhangers and suspense, as well as the right balance of dialogue and action.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
PLOT:
There were loopholes and missing aspects in the plot which at first I had some difficulty pinpointing, and I got this vauge feeling that there was something missing from the drama. I've concluded that among the few things that bothered me were:
(1) the way the whole team got together. Initially, of course they were all in for the money that was promised to them for duping Ma Jin Seok, but what bothered me was that all the con-artists in the team were actually good guys. Wait... what? What are the odds of that? The plot got boiled down to good guys masquerading as bad guys (Robin Hoods), and these "respectable" so-called good guys who are actually bad guys (like the police, the businessmen, the higher ups, their families). I wanted there to be more grey areas, and I also wanted at least one con artist to be actually greedy and selfish. [Yes I know Hak Joo betrayed the team for a little bit but then he went back to being nice in the span of one episode]. I was also waiting for someone to elaborate on how Seo In Guk's character came to save the "Chairman"'s life twice. Idk what that was all about.
(2) how Sung Il's (Ma Jin Seok) family got left behind after the first few episodes and were never heard from again. This guy has joined all these conartists, he's meeting them secretly almost everyday, he's roaming around the entire city, he's been to the police station several times, and he got demoted, but we don't get to really see his relationship in depth with his wife and daughter. I also found his relationship with his brother-in-law in flashbacks to be kind of hollow, so the motive of ensuring that no one else dies like he did was a little flimsy for me.
(3) how the plot twists got redundant and tedious: the plan B's and the counter plans to the plans of the enemy, the feints and the always-one-step-aheads got really boring really fast, because they were really similar.
(4) the fact that Jeong Do was cheated by Sung Il when the latter agreed to give testimony against Jeong Do and send him to jail for ten years, and it wasn't made that much of a big deal? And somehow Jeong Do got let out in 2 years on parole despite having priors? and that he and Sung Il made up fairly quickly? and we don't even know how the other con artists reacted to that whole thing? I was so baffled. I did not know how to react.
(4) how there was one bad guy on top of the other, more powerful than the last, like a final boss in a game except there's a final final boss, and then a super boss, aand a mega-super-awesome boss. Boring? Boring.
(5) the nearly romantic plot line between Seong Hee and Jeong Do was not satisfactory at all. I wanted them to at least get together or have some sort of proper closure which I felt was missing. No, more than that, I wanted them to shake hands and start over to get to know each other. It was just underwhelming.
CHARACTERS:
(1) Let's face it, Seong Hee's character was irrelevant to the entire drama. I guess they wanted a girl in the taxation department, just for a change, but her character added nothing to the plot itself and contributed nothing to any sort of development except in the first 2 episodes. In the start she was really annoying because she kept butting in what wasn't her concern at all, but later on she just became this broken record, always calling her favorite chief and always worrying for him, trying to save him etc. Hers was a very flat character.
(2) Speaking of flat characters, Jeong Do despite being the main protagonist was astonishingly flat. I wanted him to learn something about human nature, about his own self, about this world, but he stayed a good guy throughout, one who is just trying to take revenge for what happened with his parents, who despite having a rough exterior actually cares for his team and for his ex-gf, who never realizes that Mi Joo loves him, and who takes the fall for the rest of them selflessly.
(3) With the exception of the mayor, the bad guys were all greedy politicians who had no driving force, no depth and were very flat.
CONCLUSION: I get that a lot of people love this drama, and I got into it with high expectations, but for the reasons stated above I was unable to join the majority, which is a bummer. Also, I keep wondering why the show is titled 38 Task Force. Hm.
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I only finished the last 3 episodes at 2X speed mainly because I was too in love with Yang Se Jong's acting in this drama. That, and the two main clone characters were the only reason I continued to watch a drama which rapidly deteriorated towards the second half, after a promising beginning. I don't know how he did it, but Yang Se Jong beautifully managed to play three roles with their distinct personalities and it was so majestic to watch. You could immediately tell which one was Sung Joon, which was Sung Hoon and Dr. Lee (and it's not because of the different hairstyles.) I could write so much on his acting skills here but I'll keep it short. Lee Sung Hoon's pain, anger, disappointment, fear and his loneliness were all palpable and moving. I felt for him right from the beginning, even when he was presented as a villain, because I could tell there was something more behind his anger and malice.
Let me highlight my main problems with this drama:
BLAND CHARACTERS:
The other characters aside from the clones were unfortunately too bland, annoying or unlikable. I could not stand Prosecutor Choi's creepy smile (which was the only expression she had by the way) and ended up speeding past her scenes. I couldn't feel anything for Detective Jang or Soo Yeon. The actually villains were just greedy, selfish people without any other side to them. It was boring to watch other characters except the clones.
GLARING PLOT HOLES:
I'm always after a well-developed plot so this was very painful. There were too many questions I was left with. The sheer amount of times a character got hit by a speeding vehicle was ridiculous!
Why was there a need to create two clones of Dr. Lee?
Why does one clone have all of Dr. Lee’s memories but not the other?
What exactly did Sung Hoon do to Sung Joon that he lost all of his memories? Why doesn't the latter even care about it?
What the heck is wrong with prosecutor Choi? She is heartless and imo the real villain in the drama.
Why didn’t the researchers try to retrieve Dr. Lee's organs right after they were stolen?
Why are human organs treated like candy you can just steal from one another?
Why wasn’t there better security at the lab (back in 92) considering it was illegal experimentation? How were they able to casually take out all the organs of a top doctor and walk out with them? No, but how is it that Dr. Lee’s organs did not reject the bodies of the new recipients?
The "vaccine" seems to be some all-purpose miracle cure that can cure all kinds of cancer, tumors, ageing organs and so forth.
Characters keep fake dying and returning back to life.
What kind of security team (at the research lab) doesn’t have guns or any other weapon?
Dr. Han Yu Ra always being overseas during critical times e.g. daughter’s death and husband’s death. She’s pretty clueless about a lot of things.
Mi Rae stopped being curious about her mother at one point and doesn’t seem much bothered that her mother was involved in illegal experiments on convicts or kept such huge secrets from her.
Mi Rae is a reporter but has also studied medicine, and doesn't look like she's playing the part of either? I mean, are reporters usually this naive, extremely trusting and kind?
The chairman is selfish and greedy, yet his surprised that his daughter is selfish too? That was messed up.
Detective Deuk Cheon got shot in the gut but is already up and walking in the next episode.
The last few episodes were so rushed that I feel angry Sung Hoon didn't get more time to work out his feelings. Dang.
Sung Joon is totally fine in the last episode and it's not even clear whether he got the bone marrow vaccine or not? At least insert a dialogue to make it clear.
In short, don't watch it if you're looking for an action thriller with a good plot. The drama had little to no cliffhangers in the second half and I had to drag myself to click the next episode.
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I started this drama only for the sake of D.O. because I love his acting (and singing), and having read reviews I already expected that this would not be an amazing story. Of course there are cliches and tropes, and there were some things I found problematic regarding the plot and story, but I was surprised I didn't drop this midway and ended up actually liking a few things about it. WHAT I LOVED:
A major plus point is naturally D.O.'s acting skills; his facial expressions, his voice, his gestures are all on point. He really became the character, and portrayed in the true spirit the amnesiac prince who is lousy and dumb at many things, tries to maintain an imperious carriage, but is kind-hearted on the inside. I also loved the costumes, the setting, the cinematography; it was all really well-done. The love-story itself is immensely adorable, and if you're going to watch this drama, watch it for the cute scenes between the main couple and for the sake of the masterpiece that is Do Kyungsoo. The humor is well-balanced, not too over the top, and well-placed. I found myself chuckling and smiling a goofy smile many times. The village life, the side-characters like Kim Soo Ji (crown princess's brother), Kkeut Nyeo and her husband, town officials, and others really brought the drama to life with their wholesomeness. I also felt bad for the crown princess, who was forced into a marriage she had no heart in, was the butt of her father's political intrigues and was essentially a prisoner in her own house.
WHAT I DIDN'T LOVE:
Major Plot-holes and weaknesses in story:
It really bothered me that Kim Cha Eon (Crown Prince's father-in-law) kept insisting that he had no son, yet we've got Kim Soo Ji wandering around claiming that he is Cha Eon's son. WHAT?? That's something no one can overlook. And you're telling me, Seok Hwan/Moo Yeon worked under the man who killed his father and threatens to kill his sister, for ten years, and didn't once try to find a way out of this deal?? And that he fell in love with this man's daughter, the crown princess, and even got her pregnant? And Kim Cha Eon didn't figure this out till much later?? I'm sorry but I just couldn't believe in absurdity like this. I also find it silly that both Moo Yeon and Yi Suh kept visiting the bridge on 15th of every month (okay maybe Moo Yeon didn't go there often) but they never once met up. Yi Yul had two sets of memories to retrieve, I found that bothersome. Jae Yoon rescued his eunuch after the latter's throat was slit, and didn't tell Yi Yul about it till much later. There are arrows flying everywhere, and too many flashbacks. Yi Suh seemed to have no purpose in life except to wait for her brother, and neither she nor her brother seemed to want to take revenge or at least seek some sort of justice. Yi Suh's adoptive father was really problematic; I found him really uncomfortable (heh). He should've realized that the man he was rescuing had a wound from an arrow, which would mean he was either a runaway convict or perhaps had been caught in some battle and it should've been a red flag. He also wanted to keep lying to Won Deuk/Yi Yul and Yi Suh. Jae Yoon's connection with the gisaeng was also weird. That was such a weird, unnecessary and random plot move that I don't even know what to say about it, except I wish they'd left it out.
Acting: This is the first drama I've watched with Nam Ji Hyun, and her acting left much to be desired. Her facial expressions are very limited, she didn't seem flustered when she should've, she often stared blankly back at Yi Yul when he would express his desire to stay with her or marry her. Compared to D.O's acting, she paled.
Characters: Most side-characters have little or no backstory and seem mere cardboard cutouts; I wanted to know more about Kim Soo Ji because he seemed like a very interesting guy. I also wanted at least once flashback to explain how the crown princess and Moo Yeon developed affection over the years. Theirs was such a strange love story that I felt nothing toward it. There was no chemistry and no backstory to prop it up. It felt so hollow I can't even begin to talk of it. That loan shark guy in the village was also very strange; is he a good guy or a bad guy? make up your mind.
In short, don't watch it for the story, just watch it for a light cute romance and for admiring D.O's acting.
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This actually turned out way better than my expectations. This is not a chase thriller, as some might be misled by the synopsis. This drama portrays what happens after a crime is committed, and what happens before it; how people live with the traumatizing experience of having a loved one murdered, and what leads people to commit such murders. This drama explores all kinds of relationships; the unusual and unexpected, the toxic and painful, as well as the healing and blossoming ones. It shows how human actions save us and doom us, and human choices make all the difference. I utterly loved the acting, the characters, the pacing and the story itself. I watched most of this without speeding it up, which is really saying something. There are no painful cliffhangers, but each episode still compels you to watch the next and keep watching. There are very few cliches and pretty much no product placement. I thoroughly enjoyed this drama and recommend it to everyone.
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Deze recentie kan spoilers bevatten
For the first 10 episodes or so, I was a little lukewarm toward the series, mainly because I found the pacing to be a bit slow, and I wasn't on board with the main ship yet. However, my decision to persist was the best decision yet. I grew to love not only Gu Dong Mae (I'm obsessed!), but also Kim Hui-Seong, Eugene Choi, Lady Ae-Sin, Kudo Hina, and all those side characters as well. This drama is so heavy, and at times so light and uplifting. It has left me with so many feelings with my heart. I'm overwhelmed and utterly impressed by this experience. Others have said so much about this drama, but I just have to say this:
Humor is 10/10, and this is coming from a person who is very skeptical of humor in k-dramas. But this was so well-done, everything from Interpreter Im and Do-Mi, to the bromance between Eugene, Dong Mae and Hui Seong, to Ae-Sin's struggle to learn English. I'm left wanting a special episode for each of the main characters that I wanted to learn more about; namely Gu Dong Mae and Kudo Hina. I really, really wanted to learn how Kudo Hina came to be who she is when the drama begins. If you're looking for complex characters, this is the series to watch.
Acting 10/10: All characters, main or secondary, completely owned their roles and became them.
Cinematography 10/10 ... need I say more? Every shot was breathtaking.
Plot 10/10 I freaking love historical narratives.
Romance 9/10 I didn't buy Hui Seong's love for Ae Sin (that was too abrupt and I don't believe in love at first sight), but the Ae Sin - Dong Mae interactions were full of tension, and the Ae Sin Eugene interactions always made me smile. It was adorable and heartbreaking.
Pacing 8/10 If you're like me, you'll get impatient with the drawn out scenes where a character just stares into the distant with a pretty background and a melodic OST blaring in all its glory. I just zoomed past those, but there were too many of such scenes and I hungered for more action ... which I got after episode 12 (so hang on!).
I really liked how the drama portrays class conflict between characters entangled with political/military conflict and nationality. Eugene Choi is a Korean-born American captain who seems to struggle with how he should approach his feelings toward Joseon, a country that failed to protect him and his family. Ae-Sin is a noblewoman who is deeply loyal to her country, but is stuck between the patriarchal restraints on women, the need to pick up a weapon and fight, and a complex relationship with lower class like Gu Dong Mae. "The hierarchical system is destroyed, but we can't change our roots. Once a slave, always a slave." The series doesn't merely portray the unfailing courage of Joseon in the face of Japanese imperialism, it also highlights some key problems of the Joseon society. In Joseon there are the lower class butchers and slaves who are so oppressed they can't even protect their own children, there are traitors who are keen to sell Joseon to Japan, there are those who turn against their own parents and choose to be loyal to their country, and there are those who leave their country to survive, only to come back and take revenge against those who oppressed them.
This drama truly deserves the high ratings and accolades it's gotten.
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