What Happened? Absolutely Riveting Love Story And More
Crikey!! What happened? Namkoong Min (Jang Hyun) really knows how to choose the most ideal script for himself and Ahn Eun Jin (Gil Chae), hot from The Good Bad Mother, both are absolutely meant to be in My Dearest.A simple beginning in the first 2 episodes, of a man who is not interested in devoting himself to anything nor anyone, suddenly finds himself interested in a spoil brat of a lady who only has eyes on another man. Everything increases in momentum from Episode 3 as their King and Land is threatened by the Mongols, he suddenly finds himself volunteering to go outright to war, in order to not defend the King, but the woman he sets his heart on. How much more romantic can this get?
How about watching Jang Hyun as unfolds his ingenuity, intelligence and strength to overcome all obscurity and calamity around him to protect Gil Chae. And watching Gil Chae transform from a pampered and charming appearance, to a stronger and more mature demeanor during the war is mesmerizing to me. She is seen to be growing in depth to a woman and in this episode 8, her feelings for Jang Hyun is yet to be acknowledged.
The pace, the fighting scenes, the chase makes one await the next episode in great anticipation.
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Fluffy? Yes. Horrifying? Also yes. A GRIPPLING HISTORICALLY ACCURATE GEM.
From the first second I could tell how much detail and effort they put into making this drama historically accurate. From the way the actors spoke ancient Korean, to the raw and cruel realities of war, this drama made my jaw drop over and over.For the first three episodes, it felt kind of slow. But I promise when you reach the start of the war, you will be blown away by its intensity.
Likes:
- PLOT went from 0 to 100 real quick. I really appreciated the intensity of the plot, especially showing the realities behind war.
- One of the more realistic and historically accurate Sageuk.
- Really compelling character depth and dynamicism. I loved the journey of FL's extreme immaturity to maturity as she faces adversity, it was both powerful and heartbreaking.
- Acting was just phenomenal.
- A masterpiece full of horror and beauty. I don't think I can find another historical drama as well done and intense as this.
- Great chemistry between the actors.
Dislikes:
- The interactions and love fights between FL and ML got too repetitive and annoying. The writing for developing their love and passion felt lazy and insufferable because of how immature it is. They kept making the same mistakes over and over and acted selfishly and toxicly to each other. The world gave them multiple chances to make it up to each other, and they both took it and stomped and spat on it with their blind eyes. Honestly, I don't understand why ML even fell for the girl cus every time they meet they just hate and lie to each other.
- Hard to get a sense of the timeline, so I often fell out of the immersion when I didn't understand how long things had passed.
I speak quite strongly about my critisms of the show only because I loved it so much and wished for its perfection. It was frustrating to see how much the romance pales to the rest of the fast paced, beautiful, and grippling parts of the drama.
If you love Sageuk and thriller, this opened a door of hunger to watch another show of similar historical accuracy and intensity for me, and I am scavenging with no success. My Dearest is truly a rare gem that makes most other Sageuk you watch coming after feel unsatisfying and superficial.
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Fantastic Romance Drama That Could Have Been More
Be prepared to embark on Rollercoaster Journey of Emotions with My Dearest. It has been a long time since The Red Sleeve that I truly enjoyed a Romance Saeguk drama. I felt that the Writer really spent the time to develop and flesh out the Lead Couple & the Supporting cast through many different trails and tribulations. I felt the Pacing of these developments were acceptable and really aided in creating strong attachments between the viewer and the characters. Of course, this is also due to the amazing acting from Nam Goong Min & Ahn Eun Jin. Every crying or kissing scene really roped me in and I found myself hoping for a Happy Ending.On the flip side, while the Romance part of the story was developed really well, I felt that improvements could have been had on the Political side of things. I did yearn to see LJH develop more into a "Strategist" kind of role, after the early glimpses of his genius in tactics. The Writer also spent quite some time fleshing out GC's business sense but she slowly got relagated to a waiting wife towards the end. I also felt that many characters were "killed" abruptly and did not had the endings they deserve (Big Hyungnim & the Captive lady, Ryang Eun, JongJong/Gu Jam, Gil Chae's family etc.). Overall, it had the feeling of over-development in Part 1 & a rushed ending in Part 2.
Despite the above, in the end, I still massively enjoyed My Dearest and strong encourage viewers to pick it up if you enjoy Romance Saeguk such as Red Sleeve & Mr Sunshine.
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This review may contain spoilers
I could already feel my heart being pierced and broken before I getting deep into it.
I can’t stop crying😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
INCREDIBLE, Magnificent, Captivating, Amazing work of ART. Well done for breaking my heart! 🥹😭
tbh. I want more more, I’ve never been a fan of a storyline with a sad ending and not with the HVA. but I want more, more of this story, more of whatever I’ve just been fed, getting to the ending I was hope there’s more episodes or even a season 2 cos thou I know it was gonna end like this I don’t want to believe nor accept it’s ended.
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This review may contain spoilers
A real gem and absolute masterpiece!!
First of all, I've never thought that I'd feel so bad cause I haven't discovered such a k-drama sooner, plus that i've never been an historical k-drama fan, but this is beyond the good i had expected! I knew the actress but I think i didn't know her enough to watch her portray "Gil Chae" in such an outstanding way, and about Namkoong Min? i was chocked, I was blown away 'cause there was no way it was just an acting, I remember me saying during the first 4 episodes "Ahhh! so that's ACTING!"the cast was just perfect, it felt like watching a real life movie where every character means something to us, and yes! i still remember their name, because what do you mean forgetting "gak hwa" and "Ryang eum" ? without them there would not be any extra fire and plots...
I've watched this k-drama more than four times and everytime i rewatch it i discover something, A new OST i didn't catch while focusing on the acting, Or the haunting cinematography i couldn't enjoy while savouring every melody of its OSTs, and the one underrated original soundtrack is called With My Heart (다만 마음으로만) .
the chemistry speaks to me everytime, i can't imagine ahn eunjin now acting with some other male actor because of her chemistry with namkoon min, and if that means something it means how good they looked together and how great their acting was! I loved the outfits as well, i loved how professional and perfectionist the acting was that they paid attention to the pschological state of gil chae in the second season and how she clearly lost weight to portray the traumatised went through a lot gil chae, and that was just so professional, the characters personalities were perfectly chosen, gak hwa which is the qing princess vs gil chae the nungunri noblewoman, jang hyun the mysterious who appears in her village oneday, they were studied well, the misogamist who still wants to win gilchae who believe marriage as a part of their traditions, dignity and nobleness, these contradictions created that chemistery, that hesitation, that longing and yearning, which made the drama even more powerful, this k-drama made me cry, i have to confess that i had stopped watching it especially during the episode 12 because it felt too hard, but after only two days i continued and instantly regretted stopping it, i've watched it twice at the same year, listened to its osts everyday, had its posters on my laptop, and sang its covers, but the most important part? the quote... the magical quote! the iconic confession! i would have rated it 11 if i could, but that's because i wished we had an even clearer ending, even more chemistry and time together, even more fight scenes... and still, my dearest k-drama will always be my dearest!!
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Different from anything I've watched before
I think I may have said this before in another review but my all-time favourite Korean drama genre is historical. I'm a huge fan of Korean dramas of any kind but there's something about historical dramas. This one was different in the best way possible!First of all, the story. It is basically about the war between Joseon and the Qing dynasty. There are many bloody and ruthless scenes which give authenticity to the plot. There are some sad moments too. The war is presented so realistically! Of course, you have the love story: even though you might not see the chemistry between the leads, as episodes pass, everything is natural. Unfortunately, the ending was really sad to me but I'm getting high hopes since there's season 2.
Acting was very good, to be honest, Nam Goong Min is so good in everything I've seen him play. The other actors did a great job too!
Pretty OST. Hoping for a happy ending although I quite doubt it.
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It's a good thing there's a Season 2 ...
Season 1 ending where it did would have really made me angry, so I'm glad there was a Season 2 ready to go right away. I haven't finished S2 yet, but Season 1 was terrific. The prickly relationship between the two main characters is funny, infuriating, sad, and beautiful ... engaging at every turn.But the story is so much more than that. It's historically engaging, and emotive, too.
Images you can't unsee make you think about the incredibly difficult lives of Korea's ancestors.
It is an honest, well told story I will probably watch again in the future.
Highly recommended. Namkoong Min is incredible. Just superb in this role.
Choi Moo Sung also brings a moving character to the story.
I hope Season 2 ends well. In any case, I will not regret having watched it.
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MASTERPIECE PAINFUL AND HISTORICALLY REALISTIC
PLOT: FL, a very beautiful girl, attracts the attention of every man in her village, except that of the man she loves, engaged to her best friend. A mysterious man arrives, the ML, a little jaded, but who is intrigued by the FL. Nevertheless, war comes (king besieged in his fortress) and barbarians invade the territory...PROS:
+ great actors: Namkoong Min as ML, accompanied by his 2 friends, and Ahn Eun Jin as FL.
+ the characters are complex, divided between their desires and their responsibilities, tossed around by events.
+ The OSTs are now on my playlist (I particularly like “With you” by Kai).
+ The production is excellent: credible and bloody war scenes ; the tensed, heavy atmosphere of these times of war is well rendered; the cinematography is exceptional.
+ The storyline is solid and the historical aspect seems respected. It is a period which has never or rarely (to my knowledge) been brought to the screen.
=> Don't miss this gem !! ╰(✿´⌣`✿)╯♡
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PLOT: La FL, une très belle fille, fait tourner toutes les têtes dans son village, sauf celle de celui qu'elle aime, fiancé à sa meilleure amie. Arrive un homme mystérieux, le ML, un peu blasé, mais qui est intrigué par la FL. Mais la guerre arrive (roi assiégé dans sa forteresse) et les barbares envahissent le territoire ...
PROS:
+ des acteurs géniaux : Namkoong Min en ML, accompagné de ses 2 potes, et Ahn Eun Jin en FL.
+ les personnages sont complexes, partagés entre leurs désirs et leurs responsabilités, ballotés par les évènements.
+ Les OST sont désormais sur ma playlist (j'aime particulièrement "With with you" de Kai).
+ La réalisation est excellente : des scènes de guerre crédibles et sanglantes : l'atmosphère lourde, pesante de ces temps de guerre est bien rendue; la cinématographie est exceptionnelle.
+ La storyline est solide et l'aspect historique semble respecté et c'est une période qui n'a jamais ou peu (à ma connaissance), été porté à l'écran.
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Just an amazing acting and story
It's rare that I can rewatch a Kdrama many times. This drama is one of them. It's meant to be a Korean version of Gone with the Wind. The writing, the acting, the chemistry all work for this drama.The actress performs well for her role. She has the arrogance and innocence of Scarlett O'hara. She's not as beautiful as some Korean actresses who had cosmetic surgeries, but she made up for her presence in the story.
Anyways, if you are debating whether to watch it or not, I highly recommend. I am surprised that I love it even better than gone with the wind!
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GIL CHAE IS HERE!!!
If you want to be attached to a drama then you need to watch this! I was looking for something that could change my life, some kdrama that would be one of my favorites since I couldn’t find anything new and My Dearest really showed its potential, it’s an incredible experience watching this. All the episodes had their own meaning, all of them changed the way we see every character and empathize with them. To be honest I even rethought my purpose as a woman because of Gil Chae’s development and how she was just a futile and immature girl who wanted a luxurious life with the man of her dreams and then turned into a woman who just wanted to survive (and she gave all she had to protect those she loved and to keep her head up even in times of despair). And then we have the Male lead who we thought was a jerk bc he didn’t wanted to live a married life and enjoyed flirting with other girls turned to be one of the greenest flags ever, a man who gave up all he believed to love the girl that showed him the sound of flowers. He fought a whole was he couldn’t care less to protect her from getting hurt, he was against all prejudice concerning women to make gil chae feel protected. This was definitely amazing and a 10/10 overall, people can’t miss on this no matter how slow or boring the first episodes seem to be. Everyone should know their story.Was this review helpful to you?
Tense fight or flight scenes to yearning romance
This brought me back to those historical kdramas I used to watch around 2016. Those ones that you get invested in the characters and story and it flows so well.I think it has an interesting angle on war during this era from perspectives of royalty, invaders, civilians, women, scholars, soldiers. It can get so tense on some episodes and I love it lol. The fight and flight scenes are gripping to watch in themselves (forget the romance for a second).
The ML is such a cool guy and he knows many things with an unclear backstory (I guess we will see in season 2). FL comes off a bit arrogant to begin with but when the war comes she really proves herself, I guess she just needs to mature in terms of love and romance. Either way they have great chemistry. I would definitely recommend this drama for the action and the romance and everything in between.
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A 10/10 drama .. Literally
This Drama is one of the best i’ve watched since years. Lately, everything is repeating it self almost. K dramas are becoming alike somehow and it feels like we’ve hit a wall and ran out of ideas . unlike how it used to be. This Drama is honestly a breath of fresh air.. itss different .. the production .. the quality.. the story.. the depth.. THE CASST… everything about this is just chef’s kiss . it is a sorrowful story that will not feel like it in the first couple of episodes i really like the development of characters.. the male lead was someone who is playful and never took anyone seriously.. but once the u progress through the episodes another side of him reveals by how much he cares about the female lead and how much he is ready to give for her. The female lead on the other hand, the spoiled girl.. goes through horrible unexpected experience and becomes a literal badass .. she also said she will never fall for the main lead at first but welp .. they all lied . honestly this show is great just watch itWas this review helpful to you?
