Brogana Sunfrog

Graphic violence & overall solemn tone

this is reminiscent of the Movie "Dave" but alot less lighthearted. This Dramatic slice of court life intrigue has scenes of killings that are too graphic for me. beware of "happy" ending

Spoiler

male lead seems dead , the queen, steps away from the throne , grieves for over 2 years!!! Then he just suddenly shows up ( he’s been in a coma) and they have this cheesy long emotional moment. heartbreakingly, 2 main supporting male characters die & stay dead. it pretty much had to happen so that there were really 4 people left at the end who actually knew who the "clown" /king" really was. Too solemn for me to enjoy

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high action .rehashed scenes. Slight romance . More crying than warm fuzzies

This was 9 years old when I watched it, but I didn't feel like it was dated at all. Rain really impresses with his stunts & the way he rapidly switches from being goofy one minute to bad ass & then unexpectedly smoldering & then back to goofy. This high action series had SO much running, hand to hand fighting, people getting beat up, taking hits to the head & getting stabbed multiple times & still surviving. But the action sequences were too often too close up to really appreciate or it was in the dark . They went on much longer than was interesting. It would have been more satisfying if they had edited it to 16 episodes. The idiot Private eye from the other country was too stupid for this story & just makes you want to fast forward. Another negative was that things reoccurred too often. How many times does a person have to say :"I never want to see you again" to the same person ? To get caught once by the bad guys & get beat up is bad, but then to let yourself get caught, invite them to catch & then also walk onto their turf is just stupid. The happy ending is a little bland. Rewatch ? yeah but only for Rain & Henney. The romance is slight & there's more crying than heart moments.

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compelling, but heroes act just like the villains & drama loses steam

A well acted decent crime drama with some fun moments of romantic flirtation but overall it's a gritty, dark, sober with a mountain of political intrigue. I dropped it after 4 episodes, but then needed something in the back ground, so I watched another episode,( thinking that I wasn't invested, so it wouldn't keep me up.) Joke's on me ! I kept just watching an episode every so often & found that though it wasn't the kind of drama I normally like, the cast & the camaraderie of the cops , with thier tenacity for justice somehow drew me in.
Final thoughts :
Kang Do Chang's sister was so miserable, rude & selfish that I could not muster up any sympathy for her. Near the end, she did "evolve", but by then, I disliked her so much it was hard to accept the change as genuine.
The drama lost it's steam around episode 13 and from then on
I was sad to see that the 3 main characters compromised thier morals & took justice into thier own hands. I'm not saying that the bad guy didn't deserve his punishment, but in the fake world, I want heroes to get it right by not taking the same sort of actions that the villains do. So, ironically, all three ended up tainted by the desire for vengeance & so were not actually "Good". This ruined the series for me.

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Leads lack chemistry. Vague plot points

Kim Min Gue is not my ideal type of Male lead; he has a perpetually sincere face, which I actually don't find endearing because to me, he just looks concerned. And that's the look he had for most of this series. Female lead was good but they had her staring blankly alot. Chemistry was lacking between male & female lead & the kisses were lacking { I blame that on the director & photographer} I was expecting more from this drama and ended up frustrated because the whole drama was rather incohesive. They kept calling the deity Lord Redrin but they were referring to a woman. The "idol" group sang & danced for only milliseconds at a time and did alot of nothing . The Character building was awkward. So many things were important to the plot were just vague . A mish mash of religious things that did not mesh well { grim reaper, goblins, an untitled head person, deities that were only deities because of people trusting in them, and yet deities that got energy from people's unkind thoughts. Around ep. 8 & 9 it got tiresome, dark, draggy & repetitive. Happy endings for main characters and tidy ending but it just didn't work for me.

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Lead's romance was a fail. Boring workplace drama

This drama failed on multiple fronts. It started out a bit spastic & went at a frenetic pace for many episodes before alternating between dramatic & annoying. it didn't help at all that they overplayed songs like Tuesday & Blind for love until I had to use the mute button. I'm not a fan of Jung Ryeo Won, but I didn't hate her in this. Kim Myung Min's character was written badly for a romantic lead. it would have been better if they had paired the Female lead with another character (though none in this drama was fitting) . Choi Si Won (as endearing as he is) played the idiot clown & got way too much screen time doing so. (It's frustrating that they never have him play a less goofy, irritating character ) His character is too over the top. I found the work place drama to be boring- just too much of it. The romance did not really work. The male lead being all Tsundere was fine, but the writers did not sell him as a romantic lead. I found it annoying that there was hope given for a character's impossible diagnosis, but the character chose to not delegate & what was supposed to be a "grand gesture" of love & sacrifice came off anything but, (as other characters should have been able to step in & take care of the issue). This made the ending frustrating, seriously, it was Lame. While it is a "happy" ending for many characters, it came after a 1 year time skip and the leads are more like siblings or coworkers than anything else. The balance between serious & silly was strained. There was alot of tedious filler, that fleshed out the story, but honestly, I just didn't care about all the side characters.

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intense edge of your seat drama sprinkled with sweetness. Wounds heal super fast

My initial take was that it was similar to Shakespeare's 12th Night- struggling with gender attraction. the leads I have seen before & are worth watching". This has enough fear, gore & violence to keep you on the edge of your seat. The moments of sweetness provided a lull-that sometimes lasted so long you forgot you were not in a drama that was simply romance driven. There's alot to like about this but
I got half way through & took a break-there is alot of intense drama & it got tedious -losing it's plot momentum . It should have been a 16 episode drama. There was too much plot resolution that came unraveled & had to be rehashed. Other issues were that 4 main & secondary characters are repeatedly (REPEATEDLY) slashed, stabbed beaten up & generally abused. They recover within a miraculous time frame & are up & ready for altercations quicker than blood dries on a rock on a sunny day. We are to then ignore when a major character gets a minor slash wound to the arm & it takes them more than a week to recover.
A big negative for me was that so many characters had beards that I could not tell who was who. First you have the old guys, which is really important as one of them is the main villain ! Then you have the man of arms in the maroon, another guy in grey, blue & yet another one in red....but they all are important characters on a particular political side, so knowing who they are is vital! !!It doesn't help that more often than not they are in stealth mode-so you see them mainly at night. I'm guessing that if I was more fluent in Korean it would have been easier to identify them, but they don't exactly call out thier names as they enter the scene! nice tidy happy ending but I was irritated that they did not explain how they achieved everyone staying alive for the happy ending.
**spoiler of a sorts**
(how hard would it be to say :"ah, I figured out the antidote ?)
random rant : WHY did the King's bodyguard not have his hair in a top knot like literally every other man in the palace ?
I would not rewatch but I do think it is a decent drama-just too much violence , beards & needed to be shorter

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the only reason to watch: Joo Sang Wook (+there is a happy ending)

the only reason to watch: Joo Sang Wook. Lead female was unlikeable. We are given no reason other than Love at first sight for the male lead's unwavering devotion. Rather speaks to how many times he's been knocked upside the head I think. Lead female is given bad hair style and seems to have a closet full of black or checkered shirts. By the time she finally smiles at the male lead, you are already in mourning over the fact that the 2nd female lead has zero chance with the male lead. Some scenes seemed repeated- HOW many times does a person just walk into your house before you change the lock or key code ?? Tedious family drama bits and yes there is a happy ending but This would have been better with only 12 episodes.

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Extremely bland & boring

purchased on amazon & it was a waste of money & time. Just really bland.
Lee Seung Gi is usually fun to watch, but he really didn't shine here. It felt like they just were out to make money off his star power & had shrunk a series into a rice wafer that just melted on your tongue. Set looked great, costumes were decent. Over all acting was O.K. it just got boring fast. Badly written female lead was so boring. Some VERY cringy dialogue & scenes about lower body hair and Joseon era instructional books (with pictures) on intimacy . I wanted to like it,but would not recommend it , even if you're just showing up to see Lee Seung Gi i partially shirtless. His fight scenes were mostly so close up, it felt like he was doing nothing

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Alot of relationship drama. has happy ending

Length :16 episodes was stretching this plot line a little thin by the end. Lee Hyun-woo 's hairstyle gave him too much of an adorable puppy vibe, though maybe that's what they were going for as he He acts alot younger than his age in the series. Lee Seo-won : ( I almost thought he & Lee Hyun woo should have switched roles). Joy: did really well, it was nice that they had an actual singer play a singer! This series had more relationship drama than I liked. Credit should go to the cast & the director for making it so uncomfortable!OST :was very enjoyable & never got annoying from songs being overplayed !
Rewatch value: yes, but only because you can relax & enjoy the plot, acting & music, knowing alls well that ends well.(Be assured that there is a happy ending, but not all couples will be together at by the end). negatives: I found The lead female to be too naive, emotional & too earnest, but she WAS a highschool student who had never been in love so it's not that the character was flawed, rather that my preference is for more maturity, less whiny, & crying.

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tedious unromantic love quadrangle. Only IU shines brightly

Frustrating waste of time. The format made it hard to get into. I found 99% of this boring .The only reason to watch this is IU & Kim Soo-hyun. Sadly , Kim Soo-hyun's character is not written well & he does not shine as he does in his other works. IU is fun to watch & easily draws you in as you watch her character grow. Kim Soo-Hyun's character is very bland & directionless. He has joined the company because an older girl he had a crush on at school works there. He never pursues her, though because she is already dating someone else. Inexplicably he starts to crush on his brash & obnoxious older female boss: Kong Hyo Jin. WHY?? A love quadrangle ensues with Couples getting sorted out in the end, but it is a very tedious unromantic trip. This could have been more fun & more watchable if they had written it differently, but it's just inconceivable that Kim Soo-Hyun's character would be so fixated on older women who don't want him when IU is under his nose.

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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

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