riri89
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First of all, I love sageuk dramas, whether it is Joseon/Goryeo era. I enjoy a good sageuk that portrays all the political drama of those times, the gorgeous outfits and love stories. When it comes to the Princess' Man, I feel like the plot was weak, very much so, and it failed to engage me.First I will go through the main characters. Moon Chae Won does a good job for me in the first stretch of the story, but afterwards her character loses all purpose (she is just a love interest) and all charm. There is one point in the story when Seungyu asks her "where has the girl that used a man's back to get on a horse gone?" and I couldn't agree more. Of course some would say her character went through so many ordeals that she had to change from her more innocent and playful self, but change into something else than a clingy block of wood pls.
Seungyu played by Park Shihoo is complete eye candy, which helps until some point. When he stubbornly tries to keep torturing emotionally a girl that had taken an arrow for him and told him she knew where his sister-in-law and niece were, he lost me. There can be a push and pull, it is necessary for a series running for 24 episodes, but his character seemed to lack reasoning and a backbone.
Shinmyeon, the man that was supposed to act as the third member of this love triangle, was doing fine at the beginning, and I saw some potential in how the relationship with Seryung could develop and make everyone even root for him. Actually, his initial betrayal could have been justified better (like him being forced and coerced by his father more strongly, or the threat of his father being killed if he didn't obey), but like many other characters in this story he lacked any depth. He soon became just annoying and I couldn't wait for him to get off screen. His dialogues were monotonous and repetitive. A potential bromance with Seungyu that could bring tears to anyone's eyes also failed miserably.
The remaining characters were (to my opinion) very uninteresting. The original princess and her husband (who doesn't stop plotting treason and gets surprised when they want to kill him for it), Seryung's family (her siblings are terribly underused in the story), the bunch from the Gisaeng house (they never grew in me), the servants around the main cast (specially Seryung's) were used as tools for the story but had no personality or intimate relationships with their masters, and ultimately Seryung's father (who also didn't display properly the duality of his greed for the throne vs his loving side for his family).
The story focused heavily on the political plots which lacked lots of imagination. Every dodgy and badly planned coup to remove Seryung's dad from the throne was easily squashed and was very basic. For a series centering so much around this, I would expect better twists, but there were barely any. I found myself not caring which side would win.
The action scenes were badly shot and choreographed. A very important part of sageuk dramas is the martial arts, and who doesn't enjoy handsome leads going head to head with swords? In this drama, the scenes felt long and meaningless, they could have just written "action scene" and kept the screen black for 5 minutes and it would have had the same effect for me.
One of the things that bothered me the most of this drama was the selection of the scenes that made it into the episodes. Why did we have to spend a long time seeing Shimyeon burying his underling after he sacrificed his life to safe him (when we barely saw him and could not care for him) but for characters like Jeong Jong we just got to see a short clip of his pregnant wife crying? Why were all executions left out? And I would appreciate less flashbacks and less repetitive conversations and having 16 episodes instead of 24.
Lastly, the love story. I did feel it at first, but then it degenerated quickly into something too unpleasant to come back from. Like I said earlier, characters can have misunderstandings, but eventually love does make them want to believe in each other. It wasn't this way here. Seryung basically had to become clingy and lose all her pride, act cute with his niece, safe his life, and be a complete masochist to win him back. Still, the love story was the best thing in the drama and they should have focused more on that and have less basic political plots and coups.
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This is a drama that had me grinning often. I warn you, it isn't all happy go lucky, all characters have gone through traumatic events and the story can feel heavy at times, but the human interactions are very heart warming. It is a journey of healing and acceptance, about fighting and forgiving. Most characters succeed, others are too rotten to do so.Our main character, Boksoo (which literally means revenge) is played by Yoo Seungho who completely kills it. He makes Boksoo so likeable and multi-dimensional that you don't wonder why people around him are so attracted to him, you will soon be one of them! One thing I always enjoy about Yoo Seungho is how much emotion he pours through his eyes, whether it is pain for the wrongs and betrayals in his past, or love and devotion towards Soojung, he is just perfect.
The female lead, Soojung does a very good job also. It is my first drama seeing this actress and I look forward watching more of her in the future. Like Boksoo, she also has to portray an array of emotions and both leads felt so organic and bounced off each other perfectly.
Although this is a story about revenge and righting wrongs, the love story is at the front all the time. When most other dramas throw one or two scenes of the leads being intimate and then move on to other plots, here you will get continuous attention to their romance and transformation. Also I love how once passed their initial misunderstanding, they have complete faith in each other and no minor character can put them apart. You can anticipate lots of forbidden love scenes in school which will make your heart flutter, without the guilt of a real teacher-student relationship (come on, they were high school sweethearts). One of my favourites will have to be the kiss behind the classroom door ;P
At the end of episode one I kind of laughed at Boksoo coming back to school for revenge, thinking it didn't quite make sense, but later Boksoo himself is lost and wondering how exactly he will manage. That made me buy into the plot a bit more.
The drama also deals with bullying, underage working conditions, absent parents, and many issues that young viewers will appreciate, yet it is also appealing to older audiences as the leads are in their late 20s. I found Boksoo's classmates surprisingly charming, and found myself caring for them. Even the kids from the Ivy class ended up becoming just victims of the system and finding some redemption. Boksoo's former homeroom teacher played by Chun Hojin was so likeable he almost stole the show. As for Oh Seho, the betrayer, his redeeming act came a little too late, and I am glad that they didn't try to make him be good friends with Boksoo again, it would have felt too forced and honestly unpleasant. The problem with Oh Seho is that he only decided to help Boksoo when his mother completely abandoned him, which makes one wonder, if he had still had some options left, would he have tried to amend anything? It was literally like, one day he gives the order to transfer the kids, the next his mother tries to make him take all the blame so he turns on her.
Kudos to Kwang Dongyeon though, Oh seho was great. I'm also looking forward seeing him in more dramas!
Lastly, I want to add that this drama is very beautifully shot. Korean dramas are raising the bar recently but his one tries its best to have nice visuals from beginning till end.
All in all, I highly recommend this show!
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This is one of those shows that I didn't feel too enthusiastic to watch after reading the synopsis, but I'm glad I did. The first episode starts like a silly romcom, guy meets girl, they have a misunderstanding and an embarrassing situation ensues. By a weird twist of fate they end up at the same place, and 2PM's Chanseong is an asshole to the girl so guy saves girl. Girl keeps embarrassing herself and ... what? Spends the night at his place lol .This is all typical romcom until the female lead, Bonghee, gets charged with murdering 2PM's Chanseong. I can't emphasize enough how this is actually a good show, the events that quickly unfold in the first episodes will keep you glued to the screen, and Ji Chanwook and Nam Jihyun play their characters beautifully. In no moment I find Bonghee annoying, even though her personality is strong and loud, and in no moment Jiwook's quirkiness goes away or disappoints.
I was surprised to find interesting the serial murder part of the story, some shows fail to do so and with 40 episodes following the same guy, you would think it would get tiring. The drama gets slow at points, but the pace picks up and it isn't disappointing at all.
The love story between the two is quite meaningful because it spans over years and it grows and evolves. From the moment she realizes she's fallen for him, then follows him from afar after he tells her to stay away, to when she ponders whether she is in love or if it has become an obsession and decides to quit. I love the moment she tells herself it is unhealthy and unwanted and cries on her couch, wondering why she is in so much pain when they were never anything.
I love how he deals with his love from the past and this doesn't become an obstacle between them, but rather what stops him are his reservations to start something. How he knows he is being a coward but says he was afraid he wouldn't be good enough. All those feelings are very real and I can relate to them, and specially as both have been hurt in the past, how they eventually find support and love in each other is really uplifting.
Also this drama doesn't deal with love in a shy way (like is common to see in korean dramas), when they are both ready, they jump in each other's arms. It is a very nice relationship to see grow and both actors do a splendid job making it believable.
The side characters are funny but the most memorable is Ji Eunhyuk, No Jiwook's childhood friend who betrayed him in the past. From his high IQ gags, to his awkward laughter, then to his melancholic real face and his yearning to gain his good old friend back. It is truly moving to see.
The law side of the story isn't that important or realistic, which was a let down as I particularly enjoy legal dramas, but the show has enough of other good points to make up for that.
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Tale of Nokdu is a show that I found very easy to watch and quite engaging. Although I didn't find the humor as hilarious as other people did, the first part of the series when Nokdu dresses as widow Kim is entertaining to watch. Pretty early on (I actually thought they would drag it for longer) Dongjoo finds out he is a man though, and her feelings for him grow during the time they are forced to cohabit.This show follows the characters as they go through many phases, from finding out the truth about their pasts, to plotting revenge all the way to giving up and freeing themselves from it all. I found it refreshing yet somewhat bittersweet how they didn't accomplish any type of closure, specially Nokdu. He finds out he is the king's son, then that the king tried to have him killed as a baby, he tries to find out the reason why (and is crashed to realise it is only because of the throne), he wants revenge but then he tries his best to stop prince neungyang from becoming king. Eventually, he fails at everything, and the actual king (his father) never for one second wavers in his decision to have him killed. Makes me wonder, why did he have to go through so much for?
That part of the story is pretty heartbreaking. I expected that after spending time together as guard and king, the king obviously having grown affectionate feelings towards Nokdu, that in the end he would regret everything he did to his son. But the king is despicable until his last breath. I saw glimpses of him being a good guy and had hope, but by the end of the story even his last words to prince Neungyang feel like a pointless effort at self-justifying his life. He warns Neungyang that when he claims the throne he will be very lonely... man, you are a psychopath, no excuses!
As for prince Neungyang, I don't see why Dongjoo hates him so much. He is plotting treason against the king, but overall he is a very mellow baddie. He rarely kills and he has been kind to her all his life. Even the way he acts towards Nokdu isn't that terrible, I have seen worst in other dramas from second MLs. Burning the village of the widows was pretty bad, but Dongjoo never truly confronts him about it, making me wonder if she is even aware he was 100% behind it.
The soundtrack is good, the fighting scenes are well done, the side characters are not given much time so they didn't grow much on me (I was extreme surprised how much I ended up disliking the kid Aengdo, I mean kids are normally impossible to dislike).
It is an easy drama to watch and the love story is cute and refreshing.
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I was looking forward to this drama as it was Ji Changwook's first since he got discharged from the military service, but I was pretty disappointed. This show lacked substance, wit and failed to engage with me. As much as I have enjoyed other of his shows, here he just looked handsome and nothing more.The first episodes were really promising, I liked how the show was shot and enjoyed the part about 1999 (Hongki's role was really cute) and how they dealt with waking up 20 years later. This part, which should have been the hardest to pull of the show, got me emotionally engaged. I liked a lot the relationship Miran had with her little brother, and it was refreshing to see a character with special needs portrayed so tenderly. I also felt for Ma Dongchan's family as I learned about how they suffered for years looking for him and never giving up (and losing their fortune). Also, how he tries to reconnect with his girlfriend from 20 years ago is really sweet, not caring about her aged appearance.
I also enjoyed how they start falling in love, how they actually need to keep away from each other not to raise their heartbeat and body temperature and... omg, the shower scene!
But after that the show became predictable and boring, leaning too much on the plot of the evil twin which was not very well carried out. Also, the scientist, even after regaining his memory didn't know how to raise their body temperatures to 36 degrees?! That part puzzled me... It means he froze them 20 years ago without already having the injection ready, meaning he was reckless to carry out the experiment and basically lied to Ma Dongchan saying everything was fine. That didn't make sense and I think it was the only way the writers had to make the story longer and make viewers more interested, but they lost me.
Now, I am all in for female empowerment, but when the female lead postpones taking the life saving injection to shoot a stupid teaser for a reality tv show? (which they didn't need her at all to shoot) They lost me again. When she finally wakes up after all the ordeals and tells him she wants to study abroad? They lost me yet again. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to see women prioritising their careers, but not actively disregarding the feelings of people around her!
By the end of the show Miran was acting like a spoiled princess that knew she had the guy wrapped around her finger, but to be honest, I never quite understood what he saw in her to be so madly in love. She stole his dream of becoming a PD, she stole the motivation he had to be a PD, her personality turned annoying, and she became completely self-absorbed.
It was a promising show but just when I thought it began to melt, someone turned on the A/C
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Let's put one thing straight, yes there is a female interest, but this story is all about the bromance between Baek Dongsoo and Yeon Woo! I'm not particularly fond of bromances, but this one kept me talking to the screen and grinning when I saw hope.Based on a webtoon, this sageuk isn't really historically accurate. Yes, Baek Dongsoo existed, but you should look elsewhere if you like less fantasy and more fact. This show follows dongsoo from childhood (where he is played by a super cute mini Yeo Jingoo, who must have been born able to act) all the way until he becomes the best martial artist in Joseon (or the world?) and saves the day.
The story will follow various characters, those who belong to an older generation and carry their own skeletons in their closets, and the young ones. Of the older ones, I must must must highlight what a cool and amazing job Choi Minsoo did as Chun, I feel like I could have watched a whole series based on this character. Being the leader of the assassins group, Chun is in love with a fellow assassin who in turn is in love with Chun's nemesis: the sword angel. I only cared about this love triangle because of Chun, who although could be considered one of the biggest baddies in the story, is so three dimensional that you'll end up cheering for him.
The biggest let down for me was actually the love triangle of the young ones. There was potential there for so much more, but Jisun is the plainest character I have ever seen. Basically, the boys could have fallen in love with a chair and fought over it with the same outcome. It is clear the focus was more on the boys, but I still felt the story was lacking here.
One of the big points of the story was overcoming your own fate. Unfortunately, Yeon Woo's character doesn't in the end. I felt like the writers were trying to pull the viewers' heartstrings with that ending, even having their childhood friend Cho Rip being the one to betray him for the "greater" good. All in all, a battle Baeksoo vs Yeon woo was expected, but it was an unfair ending for a character who had only known pain and suffering all his life yet risked it all to protect his loved ones.
One scene that made me laugh was when Baek Soo is drinking and he envisions Yeon Woo sitting next to him, then he dispels and we see his gf there instead. This is how deep the bromance was, and how shallow the romance was, all Baeksoo needed was yeon woo lol
The action scenes were good and I felt like both Ji Changwook and Yoo Seungho did a good job. The show felt long, and I lost interest at times, but it is worthwhile. I would definitely not watch it again as I am not a masochist
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First of all I'd like to say that I normally watch a drama when it has fully aired, but with the Memorist I watched it as it aired. It is a different experience and to be honest, I don't think this is a drama you should binge through. I enjoyed watching two episodes back to back and then coming to this site and read everyone's comments and join the discussions... it somehow became a special drama maybe because of it.If you are expecting a drama that shows you where it's heading and hints heavily on the culprit from the first episodes, you will be sorely disappointed! This drama is a rollercoaster and for the most part, a very thrilling one.
Analysing the main characters of the show, I will start from Dongbaek, the memorist detective. He is a little firecraker who ends up more times than I can count in the hospital, he's cocky and comes across as arrogant but hides a painful past. What I liked about how the show approached his powers, was when they spoke about how scanning people's minds can actually be violating someone's human rights... and honestly it is a valid point. Therefore, for his scans to be considered as evidence, like with any other type of evidence, they have to be collected legally and with a warrant.
Han Sunmi is the female lead and a great profiler. She is cold and smart and determined to find the culprit for her father's murder. I found at the beginning of the show that her personality was a bit inconsistent but eventually the writers seemed to have found the balance and made her a more solid and likable character.
Both main characters are surrounded by various side characters who don't have much space in the story, but are well written. My favourite characters being DB's team members who, as the story progresses, grew in me a lot.
The story also features plenty of evil characters, but by far the most important is Jaegyu. Mysterious at first, you eventually get to know his whole life story, and to be honest, I ended up sympathising with him. His character was by far more interesting than the eraser, which brings me to what I DIDN'T like of the show
The Eraser:
Few times a show introduces a character that truly terrifies me, but in the memorist they did a great job with the eraser. This evasive character full of hatred and insight. I had never thought before that erasing people's memories could be such a strong weapon until I watched this show. From beginning until the final episode, his identity is never revealed, and once we find out it is Dongbaek's sister, it kind of makes sense... it couldn't really be someone else and yet... it left me feeling really disappointed. I'm sure if I re-watched the series all over again, I would find a million reasons why it doesn't quite fit right, and the series had been so good until then that my expectations were maybe too high.
All in all, I was going to give the show 10 points, but the last two episodes dropped it to 9. It is a VERY different and enjoyable drama whether you like crime shows or not, and it does make you think much more than I am used to.
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I know this is fantasy so I should overlook details such as him converting into a fully dressed human each time (who seems to switch between two different trousers btw) or being able to speak and understand all human language, but I can't stand when he does incoherent things. He seems to know what everything is already, knows what drink he wants from a vending machine, knows how to find his way home from her office, when her dad collapses he knows what's going on and takes him out, knows how to lower a fever, he doesn't get into any accidents while walking around, etc... but the worst part is how it makes no sense whatsoever the argument that she, her presence, her stuff, makes him become human! The first time he converted into a human, she found him... So, he converted BEFORE meeting her.
And his existential crisis and how he is figuring it all out is again deviating from a more realistic approach: it happens that he converts and he (being a CAT) doesn't think much of it, whereas when she finds out (her being a HUMAN) she will start to dig into the reasons why he transforms.
Ultimately this topic has to be very well written or it can make people uncomfortable. We love our pets a lot, and they do adore us, but the love we share is more like a parent-child relationship. To make it evolve into a romantic relationship takes lots of careful and talented writing. Cats are not protective of their owners unlike some dogs can be, so I don't see how can they will fit the typical male Korean possessive behaviour here, but I'm sure they will.
I hope the webtoon writer sat two seconds with a cat before coming up with a story, and that is more coherent than this drama adaptation.
I love Infinite so I always check out Myungsoo's dramas, but I wish he could do something again like Miss Hammurabi. We all know he is super cute, he knows how to work his dimples, but roles like this will not get his acting career anywhere.
Ultimately, I'll end my rant by saying that the FL and the second ML are highly unlikable and her dad doesn't behave like a cat, rather he is a rotten cactus. The only good thing of the whole show is the cat (or cats) they use, super cute, but I hope they don't abuse them like giving them drugs to do the sleeping scenes (one time the FL puts the cat on her bed after his vet visit and he looks knocked out cold)
Won't waste more time on this show, but I have seen many positive comments, so maybe this is just not my cup of tea.
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