This review may contain spoilers
heavy court drama, leads lack romantic chemistry, but Lee Soo Hyuk steals every scene
With a trio of handsome leads (Lee Joon Gi, Lee Soo Hyuk, Shim Chang Min) This should be a 10/10 , but it fell short .The story should have centered around the male leads, making it a bromance drama- because none of the romances are worth the screen time they are given (no shade thrown at the male leads for this, as they hold up thier end adequately ).
As the villain ,Lee Soo Hyuk's charisma is off the charts & is immensely fascinating to watch every sneer, grunt, smirk. He completely sells his character & the way he takes control of his scenes is mesmerizing. Lee Joon Gi spends too much time in "Clark Kent" mode, lazily half awake until he goes into beast mode & that's when you remember how skilled an actor he is. The fight scenes between Lee Joon Gi & Lee Soo Hyuk are a great deal of fun to watch. But the drama as a whole was not a winner for me
because:
1) too much political court drama- boring & scenes & issues felt recycled
2)female lead; Lee Yoo Bi -is not written well & poorly directed as she looks & acts & has the mentality of a puppy in a 12 year old girls' body . Her supposedly romantic scenes are all weird because even though they are careful with how Lee Joon Gi shows affection for her,(he IS 120 years old) she's so young & innocent that it feels just a tad bit creepy & wrong as she is too wide eyed & a bit brain vacant. (but really, imagine the male lead gazing into the face of a golden retriever puppy-yup weird, right !?)
The real romance killer : Lee Joon Gi frequently refering to her as the "child" [English subtitles]
3) plot cycling: they keep revisiting the same issues
4) 1 year time skip at end, before the end
5) idiot side character told multiple times to watch & take care of female lead & he does absolutely nothing
6) 2nd female lead wears a literal weapon (holding up her hair) but 3/4 times forgets that
7) the handsome deer in the headlights king is a bad friend & easily deceived. he waffles in his loyalties.
8)Bland happy ending-yes main couple they end up together- but
**spoilers*
(in what capacity it's not clear. seemed he was still a vampire, so the obstacles of disproportionate life spans & needing blood to sustain his life still apply)
Problem with "great love" as a plot device motivator for a character is that as of ep. 6 I had to ask: WHY is Sung Yeol not pursuing Choi Hye-ryung, ( Myung-hee's present-day doppelgänger that he's been pining for )if he loved her so much & so was in misery for SO long missing her-how is it that he gives up so easily - like he must have had very shallow feelings in the first place. Yet he forms this attachment to Lee Yoo Bi's character super fast. It makes sense that he would want to protect her (as he is naturally very protective of all humans) but beyond that, does he find her clumsy, bumbling, childish clownish actions endearing ? you would think his affection would be that of an uncle then. so no, the romance does not create warm fuzzies, nor are there any swoon worthy moments
but just watching Lee Soo Hyuk emote with every fiber of his being was kinda worth watching this drama at least once :P
As the villain ,Lee Soo Hyuk's charisma is off the charts & is immensely fascinating to watch every sneer, grunt, smirk. He completely sells his character & the way he takes control of his scenes is mesmerizing. Lee Joon Gi spends too much time in "Clark Kent" mode, lazily half awake until he goes into beast mode & that's when you remember how skilled an actor he is. The fight scenes between Lee Joon Gi & Lee Soo Hyuk are a great deal of fun to watch. But the drama as a whole was not a winner for me
because:
1) too much political court drama- boring & scenes & issues felt recycled
2)female lead; Lee Yoo Bi -is not written well & poorly directed as she looks & acts & has the mentality of a puppy in a 12 year old girls' body . Her supposedly romantic scenes are all weird because even though they are careful with how Lee Joon Gi shows affection for her,(he IS 120 years old) she's so young & innocent that it feels just a tad bit creepy & wrong as she is too wide eyed & a bit brain vacant. (but really, imagine the male lead gazing into the face of a golden retriever puppy-yup weird, right !?)
The real romance killer : Lee Joon Gi frequently refering to her as the "child" [English subtitles]
3) plot cycling: they keep revisiting the same issues
4) 1 year time skip at end, before the end
5) idiot side character told multiple times to watch & take care of female lead & he does absolutely nothing
6) 2nd female lead wears a literal weapon (holding up her hair) but 3/4 times forgets that
7) the handsome deer in the headlights king is a bad friend & easily deceived. he waffles in his loyalties.
8)Bland happy ending-yes main couple they end up together- but
**spoilers*
(in what capacity it's not clear. seemed he was still a vampire, so the obstacles of disproportionate life spans & needing blood to sustain his life still apply)
Problem with "great love" as a plot device motivator for a character is that as of ep. 6 I had to ask: WHY is Sung Yeol not pursuing Choi Hye-ryung, ( Myung-hee's present-day doppelgänger that he's been pining for )if he loved her so much & so was in misery for SO long missing her-how is it that he gives up so easily - like he must have had very shallow feelings in the first place. Yet he forms this attachment to Lee Yoo Bi's character super fast. It makes sense that he would want to protect her (as he is naturally very protective of all humans) but beyond that, does he find her clumsy, bumbling, childish clownish actions endearing ? you would think his affection would be that of an uncle then. so no, the romance does not create warm fuzzies, nor are there any swoon worthy moments
but just watching Lee Soo Hyuk emote with every fiber of his being was kinda worth watching this drama at least once :P
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