This review may contain spoilers
Balmy, intense love
This is one korean drama where the hero really beats the heroine in terms of beauty. This is one kdrama replete with both witty and soulful dialogues, moments, events, scenes. The mood/ tone of the drama dramatically swings to and fro from hilarious to epic.This is one of the very few kdramas in which the hero is presented as a perfectly balanced all-rounder, romantic, mature, decent, daring, adventurous person who is cute and naive as a little boy at the same time! This is one korean drama where the main leads though placed in an ancient era have quite modern minds, attitudes & approach to handling things.The story puts the audience in a light-hearted mood because it has the right combination of gravity and humour. There are two twists in this fast-paced tale.
The only annoying thing is the way the female lead keeps pushing back the male lead( initially) without telling him the full truth. Yet, her attitude takes an about turn in the latter half of the series. She even ingeniously saves his life and the way she does it makes one moved to tears. The last two episodes are epic. In fact, all episodes equally engage the viewer because something gripping or humerous is presented in each one. The ending is perfectly happy with no unnecessary glitches.
One of the osts, "scar" is really worth listening to, as it captures the essence (main theme) of this drama.
There are no unnecessary tragedies, complications that usually drags the plot development of a drama mid-way. Even side characters are given room for possibilities. Actually, "tale of Nokdu" can be viewed more as a tale of positive possibilities. Humour is one of the top wow factors of this drama.
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Entertaining
*The story was captivating and truly touched my heart. What drew me in the most was the male actor's outstanding performance. He portrayed two sides of his character effortlessly: one, a stubborn, restless, curious, and determined man, and the other, a soft, gentle, and kind lover. The female character complemented him perfectly, and their bond felt natural and deep. At some point, I found myself emotionally connected to the male character, wondering how much one person can endure. I really wished to see their complete family, perhaps even their children.I also admired the actor who played Cha Yool Mu / Grand Prince Neungyang—his portrayal was flawless.*
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Never get tired of watching kdramas like this.The setting and the plot of this drama was really awesome.I'm gonna watch the full episode until the end. Though I finished only episodes 1 to 9 and I'm still waiting for the rest of the episodes.Hope that you could watch this too! You will never regret watching this kdrama.
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This review may contain spoilers
I don't think I have ever watched a drama that went from something light to full on Game of Thrones, but still kept a very sweet and silly romance between the two main characters.When I saw previews for this drama, I was extremely excited for the whole thing to come out so I could binge it, and I was honestly not disappointed whatsoever. I loved how to was sweet and silly, but also very dark. This also goes for the characters.
If I could describe this drama in a few words, I would say that it was about two young people, Nok Du and Dong Joo, who come from completely different backgrounds, but are brought together with some kind of relationship with the King. I was told before watching this drama that the two mains had such amazing chemistry, and I am happy that this wasn't over-hyped. They both did an amazing job, and it was cute seeing how they were with one another vs the person they were trying to hide from people in order to get their "revenge." Without giving anything away though, I think it was also one of the things I didn't enjoy about this drama - how the audience knew that we were getting that classic kdrama troupe where even though the mains looked completely in love and happy, the fact that they never truly opened up about their "alter-egos" that were seeking revenge, that this wasn't their "final stop." That there would be a conflict and breakup coming soon because they didn't want to let the other person know who they really were. But I can say that I did love how when they both found out (same time or different times, I'm not telling), they were shocked, but ultimately decided that their love for one another was greater than their revenge, and the only real reason why they thought about breaking up, was because they didn't wan't to hurt the other in their revenge plot (where they could potentially loose their lives.)
Also, this might be a very unpopular opinion, but I was in love with Cha Yool Mu . His smile, demeanor, and his desire to ultimately carry out Dong Joo's revenge (as well as his own) and take care of her for the rest of his life. Yes, I completely ship Nok Du and Dong Joo, but if Cha Yool Mu didn't go for a "non-traditional" approach with his plans, then he would have been a great contender.
I loved how everything played out and absolutely loved the twists and turns in this drama as well as the villain. I was never bored while watching this, and only skipped some days because I got busy this past week that took me away. But I ultimately gave this drama a 9/10 because it annoyed me so much that it took until episode 20 for them to finally fully commit, or really for Dong Joo to, but even after "fully" committing, she still kept things from him. Keeping her revenge plot is whatever, you can wait a little down the road for that one, but she never told him her family history, even if she had to keep a little detail away. I love how they were in love with the person they were in that moment, but Dong Joo never opened up about her past or upbringing to Nok Du, which came off extremely suspicious. At least Nok Du opened up a little about his island life and at some point they were both living with his master and daughter, but Nok Du was completely in love with this girl who never wanted to share a single detail about her past with him. I also was so confused of what we were supposed to think of the King. I get we are supposed to hate him, but there are some intimate moments between him and Nok Du and Dong Joo, where I almost thought that he might have a change of heart and become a good king. And we kind of got that, but it was so hard when he obviously had an anger management issue where he would kill whoever got him mad, like he was straight out of Game of Thrones. His ultimate downfall was not realizing who to trust, but also (hand in hand) identifying when people he was close to started to go against him. He knew that he fell of course as being the King he wanted to be 20 years ago, but he was blinded thinking that they would always be by his side, even when he was become a terrible dictator. I thought his ending was very predictable, and I think he also thought so as well where he accepted his fate long ago. Plus, homie was so wrapped up in the prophecy's fate that he did ZERO researched and pinned his downfall to one person. He was extremely narrow-minded and stubborn that even though he knew that he was in the wrong, he was too stubborn to change his ways, and was like, "well...we are already at this point...let's just continue." I thought it was rather annoying. Also, even though I am happy with the ending we got, it was a little anti-climatic. I don't think that the characters knew what would happen after they got their revenge because if the King's son didn't want to rule when the King died, who would have stepped up?
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One of the best shows I have ever seen!!
STORY: Alright, I'll get to my main point right off the bat on why this is a 9.5 and not a straight up 10. I found the story really interesting and fun to follow along with. The main problem I found was that the romance didn't add anything to the plot what so ever. If the romance wasn't there, the plot would have stayed the same. Or who knows, I am one of those people that likes action more than romance. Don't get me wrong the romance was fine and someone who likes it would probably love it, I just didn't. Don't let this deter you from watching this amazing show! I am not giving any spoilers (or will try not to) but I really liked how the story was in 2 parts. It wasn't just the same thing throughout the whole show. One half of the show focused on one thing and the second half focused on another.
ACTING/CAST: This got a 10 because of the awesome acting and awesome casting!! There were some roles in this story where it would be quite the difficult character to pull off yet was performed extremely well!! Great acting!
MUSIC: 11/10 would recommend - If I could give this an 11 I would. Just the background music was amazing! It really fit well with the scenes and provided so many extra emotions.
REWATCH: Really fun show, now that I know all of the plot twists it would definitely be an interesting rewatch ;)
OVERALL: I this has got to be one of the best shows I have seen! I have given this a 9.5 out of 10 really just because of the romance and I didn't get the ending I wanted. I really wish it ended differently but sometimes it's for the best. It's not like it was a bad ending, I just wish it went a different direction...
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This review may contain spoilers
STORY: Gender-bender dramas are not exactly new but what's different with this is it is the male that is dressing up as a girl instead of the opposite. I thought it would look weird but it wasn't! Not at all! Jang Doo Yon was soo freakin' beautiful as a Lady. Anyways, I liked the pacing of this drama it wasn't too slow and not boring at all. It got me hooked all the way to the finale. Also I liked that the ending wasn't perfect. Where usually whenever there is good vs evil guys the good guys usually won. But here that wasn't the case at all. The villain even ended up becoming King. It wasn't a perfect ending but it was the best ending for this show! CAST: Well! At first I was like, Kim Soo Hyun??? Nah! Its not that I don't like her as an actress it's just I don't really feel that she had any chemistry with her partners just from watching her previous drama and Jang Do Yoon wasn't really familiar to me. But I watched it because I was curious with the plot and I do love some gender-bender. But when I started watching I was pleasantly surprised. I really liked Kim Soo Hyun in this drama and that's not all, her chemistry with the male lead was off the charts! I would love to see them again pair up in another drama! And Kim Soo Hyun's kisses I would say got a little bit better than before.
MUSIC: The OSTs was great! deserving of 10/10 score! I even had them on spotify.
REWATCH VALUE: As soon as I finished the drama I started rewatching it again because of nostalgia, like I can't believe it is already finished.
OVERALL: 10/10
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This review may contain spoilers
Tried watching this drama bec of the main leads, who will not love those two? (Kim so hyun and dong yoon) i watched a lot of so hyun’s dramas eversince she was young and this is my second time watching dong yoon In a drama (first, was in school 2017)•the chemistry of the two is very overflowing
• i love the main leads visuals
• i love that this is actually diff from dramas where the main lead pretends to be a grl/boy and that where the drama revolves
• i love the plot, i love almost everything about this drama
WHAT I HATE?
THE ENDING.
I felt like it wasnt the right ending, i actually wanted nokdu to claim the throne (which was really belong to him) and wanted so hyun to be a queen. Idk, i felt like yes, it was a happy ending but i was looking for something more. I also hate the fact that prince yul mu didnt get the punishment that he deserves he was so selfish and wanted the throne that was never his to begin with.
Anyway, if you’ll ask me if i want to rewatch this again? Probably yes, but im not gonna watch the ending anymore and i was kind of hoping that the king would start loving nokdu bec the story kinda gave me hope that that will happen but it never did.
PS: DONG YOON IS A REVELATION HERE. I WILL LOOK FORWARD TO HIS DRAMAS IN THE FUTURE. HE IS SO GOODLOOKING!!!
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This review may contain spoilers
This is one the the kdramas that I really found it hard to wait for the next episode. It was so great! I love everything in it - the casts, the plot, and the execution of the script ??The first two episodes made me so hooked in this drama, but the rest episodes are even more so. I have never felt bored, not even for 1 episode. It was very funny, very entertaining, and also exciting. I love the flow of the story, and the ending twist is unexpected.
Like Kim So Hyun (Dong Joo) said, Jang Dong Yoon (Nokdu) is very handsome and also very beautiful ??? That was actually the first time I saw him. His first appearance is a bit funny for me, it was like "Woooh! Does it really have to be like that?" However, it gave me an impression that it will be a fun drama. His action scenes are quite short but looked realistic. I loved it when he was at the vilage of the widows, especially his scenes with Go Geon Han (Vice Curator).
As expected from her, Kim So Hyun (Dong Joo) is really the best. Her acting skills improve more and more. I really love to watch more of her drama. Her eyes are very expressive, and she's so cute when she smiles. The long kissing scene was unexpected though, but it was good.
Kang Tae Oh (Yool Mu) is very appealing. He looked really passionate in his acting. I can feel his emotions. Villain role suited him, but I guess him as a leading man would make me excited too. He has a very strong sex appeal. In his role, I love the part that he has love for his assistant. In most of the dramas I've watched, villains never care even something would happen to their assistant, but not in this drama. Even with a greed to the throne, he had always cared for his assistant.
I really loved every scene of Go Geon Han (Vice Curator). Though some of his act is a bit exaggerated, it was still nicely done that I find them the most entertaining. I really laughed out loud. I love the part that he still can't move on from his feelings towards Nokdu even after finding that he's really a man, however, I loved it even more so when he was able to move on and find a new love.
Another best drama of Lee Moon Sik. You never failed to amaze me. Truly, every drama that you are in is very entertaining. I love that you were in this drama.
Though it seemed that I can grasped all the things that will happen in the last episode, I was still awed by how things turned out in the end. It was a good ending though - for all of the characters. This drama is great from beginning to ending, and the story is really great. One of the best drama of 2019.
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As I watched the first episode I know that this series will be worth of my time and I was right. Got hooked already since the first episode, but we all know that every dramas has some flaws and should be criticized. First one was the story of the king and it's officials. It was too late for me to understand who's with who. Who are the ally and what are their motives. Next was the women from Muwoldan Corps who got injured in her leg. What really happened to her and why did she suddenly disappeared? There were no clear story of her sudden disappearance from the series. I can say that there where some parts of the story that was skip and remained unclear for me. As for the ending, one of the MOST SATISFYING ENDING so far.
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A healing drama
I watched this drama twice with only 2 weeks gap... somehow it has a healing effect!!! something that is veeerryyy important for a re watch valueThe wounds :
A girl that wants to take a revenge
A boy that wants to know his birth's secret
A king with a severe insomnia
A prince that wants to be the king
The wounds are painful yet addictive. Only by getting rid of it, people can be truly healed.
That is the moral of the story ❤❤❤
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