Kumud Raj
The misunderstood prince
Just finished watching this drama today. I must say I'm quite surprised to see all the hate directed towards the prince by the viewers. I expected a wicked man after reading all the reviews but all I saw was a young man of twenty whose mother had been killed when he was born, who was brought up by the empress to be used as a pawn in her power games, who was used by his brother in the war against the empire's arch enemy so that he became the villain/hero of the piece depending on which way one viewed the episode, who had the misfortune to fall in love with the beloved granddaughter of the said enemy, who was hated by the girl he loved because he had killed her grandfather, who fell into the river of oblivion trying to save her, who lost his memory and had people he trusted lie to him and keep him in the dark, and above all, who fell in love with the same girl all over again having no memory of having loved her before.Though the general tendency of the viewer is to love and sympathise with the princess, it is the prince's life that is truly tragic. She slowly recovers her memory - that is her tragedy. But he doesn't recover his - that is his tragedy. He succeeds so well in concealing his love for the princess and covertly protecting her from the machinations of the court and the threats from the inner court, that viewers are tempted to think of him as an arrogant and vile man.
I would have loved this story to have ended with some well-deserved happiness for the two of them, but it was not to be. But it was heartwarming that he kept his love for her alive in his heart, never married again, lived to be a good emperor and abdicated his throne to his nephew when the time came. The writer of this drama had never meant to show the prince in a poor light ; I wonder why the viewers did.
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Nirvana in Fire 2: The Wind Blows in Chang Lin
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The best thing here was the family, the love, trust and loyalty which gave me such a warm fuzzy feeling. The emperor and Tisheng , the father and his sons, Pingzhang and his wife - there were such heartwarming scenes between them.
And then the battle plans, the brilliant strategy, and the sword play were all stunning. I liked the fact that though there were a series of plots instead of a single one, the action flowed seamlessly from one plot to the next. And towards the end, the canvas grows broader and the scope widens before the story draws to a conclusion. The various threads are tied up satisfactorily and the end is as it should be.
I would unhesitatingly recommend this to everyone who loves period drama
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Everyone of the five main characters touched my heart in different ways. The acting was on point. The humour was delightful especially as the relationship of the three men moved to a different level of empathy and understanding. The scenes in which Ae Shin learns English and Eugene learns Korean were delicious!
And most beautiful of all was the love story of the American Joseon soldier who didn't belong anywhere and the plucky young Go Ae Shin who fought to protect her motherland. He loved her but he hated Joseon and yet he helped her in every way he could. This is the best love story I have ever watched in a kdrama and I find myself going back to their scenes together again and again.
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The acting is beyond perfect. Watching Ji Sung play the role of Judge Kang Yo Han, I had my heart in my throat most of the time. This actor gets better as the years go by and he always chooses to play unusual and powerful roles. After watching him, you cannot imagine anyone else in this role. The other actors do not disappoint either. But I would specially like to mention the one who played the President. He was such a repugnant character and his rabble rousing tactics were so reminiscent of certain politicians in history and at present.
The music enhanced the play and I would encourage anyone who enjoys a serious issue-based story, to watch this one.
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