A Little Too Ridiculous But Likable Cast
My 4 categories are Acting/Cast, Writing, Direction/SFX/Music, Entertainment Value.
Disclaimer: I’m not big on sageuks nor the law genre. Every once in a while I’ll watch a sageuk and even more rarely, I’ll watch a law drama.
Acting/Cast: For the most part, I really like the cast of characters in this drama. I think that’s the biggest reason why I kept watching. Particularly, there were a bunch of side characters that I found to be very likable. However, there was one character that had a pretty big hand in ruining this drama for me. I think it may be more of a writing issue though. Choo Young Woo (추영우) plays two different characters in this drama. Usually, watching one actor play two different personalities in one drama is very interesting to me. However, his second character, Seong Yun Gyeom (Ok Tae-Young’s legal husband), is just really lame and unlikable. He’s kind of meant to be, I guess...but still, he’s so boring and devoid of any personality. 7/10
Writing: To continue what I was explaining about the second male lead, his character feels more like a plot device than an actual, authentic character. He just exists to be a problem and pops up whenever he’s needed for the story (which is hardly ever). Then, after all that time of him being useless and absent from the drama, he becomes essential to the plot in the end... I mean, at least he gets what he deserves. Ultimately, he’s a character that makes selfish decisions with the intention of protecting people, but ends up failing miserably every time. I’m glad the writers were at least on the same page as me about how I felt about this guy, but they’re still responsible for writing such a boring, one-dimensional character. His character as well as the whole House of Hearts plot line feels empty and meaningless. Now for the rest of the drama… the pacing is so weird. A lot of times, this drama was like watching a long trailer. So much happens – it’s just one thing after the other, after the other, after the other... It’s exhausting. It calms down a bit in the second half, but still, can I have, like, five minutes of peace? It took me a while to get through this drama. I would take a lot of breaks because bad things are constantly happening with no room to breathe. (This is the main reason why I don’t watch sageuks too often – they tend to be very depressing with a lot of torture and death.) However, despite all of the chaos, this sageuk isn’t as dark and depressing as others I’ve seen and it actually has a positive ending. The law aspect of the drama is well done. I typically dislike the law genre because the episodes tend to be very formulaic, but this drama used the law aspect as a way for the main character to earn support from the people as well as educating those of lower status. Unfortunately, the main plot of this drama (which brings me back to the poorly written second male lead) is too unrealistic for me. They’re not twins...they’re doppelgangers. Just have them be twins and save me the hassle and headache of having to suspend my belief to make this plot work. I feel like I’m watching Vanessa Hudgen’s made-for-TV movie series, The Princess Switch. 4/10
Direction/SFX/Music: Like I said previously, the pacing is too fast-paced for a good amount of the drama. Other than that, the music is not my cup of tea, but it didn’t bother me. No complaints about the SFX or cinematography. 6/10
Entertainment Value: The beginning of the drama is pretty gripping. The set up is interesting and the characters are enjoyable to watch. However, after the first couple episodes, it took me a while to get through the rest of the first half of the drama because I had to take breaks from the chaos. However, the pacing did slow down a bit in the second half to a more normal speed, so I was able to get through it without taking breaks. The second half was definitely more enjoyable for me and a big reason for that (besides the pacing) is that the second male lead is barely in it. The story line becomes more stabilized and easy to follow. 6.5/10
Overall, I gave this drama a 6/10. It just made my ‘would recommend’ zone (a score of 6 or higher). For a sageuk, I think I would recommend it because it is very different from others that I’ve seen. The plot is a bit too ridiculous, though, when it didn’t need to be. However, the characters are very likable and grow on you over the course of the drama (except for the second male lead).
Disclaimer: I’m not big on sageuks nor the law genre. Every once in a while I’ll watch a sageuk and even more rarely, I’ll watch a law drama.
Acting/Cast: For the most part, I really like the cast of characters in this drama. I think that’s the biggest reason why I kept watching. Particularly, there were a bunch of side characters that I found to be very likable. However, there was one character that had a pretty big hand in ruining this drama for me. I think it may be more of a writing issue though. Choo Young Woo (추영우) plays two different characters in this drama. Usually, watching one actor play two different personalities in one drama is very interesting to me. However, his second character, Seong Yun Gyeom (Ok Tae-Young’s legal husband), is just really lame and unlikable. He’s kind of meant to be, I guess...but still, he’s so boring and devoid of any personality. 7/10
Writing: To continue what I was explaining about the second male lead, his character feels more like a plot device than an actual, authentic character. He just exists to be a problem and pops up whenever he’s needed for the story (which is hardly ever). Then, after all that time of him being useless and absent from the drama, he becomes essential to the plot in the end... I mean, at least he gets what he deserves. Ultimately, he’s a character that makes selfish decisions with the intention of protecting people, but ends up failing miserably every time. I’m glad the writers were at least on the same page as me about how I felt about this guy, but they’re still responsible for writing such a boring, one-dimensional character. His character as well as the whole House of Hearts plot line feels empty and meaningless. Now for the rest of the drama… the pacing is so weird. A lot of times, this drama was like watching a long trailer. So much happens – it’s just one thing after the other, after the other, after the other... It’s exhausting. It calms down a bit in the second half, but still, can I have, like, five minutes of peace? It took me a while to get through this drama. I would take a lot of breaks because bad things are constantly happening with no room to breathe. (This is the main reason why I don’t watch sageuks too often – they tend to be very depressing with a lot of torture and death.) However, despite all of the chaos, this sageuk isn’t as dark and depressing as others I’ve seen and it actually has a positive ending. The law aspect of the drama is well done. I typically dislike the law genre because the episodes tend to be very formulaic, but this drama used the law aspect as a way for the main character to earn support from the people as well as educating those of lower status. Unfortunately, the main plot of this drama (which brings me back to the poorly written second male lead) is too unrealistic for me. They’re not twins...they’re doppelgangers. Just have them be twins and save me the hassle and headache of having to suspend my belief to make this plot work. I feel like I’m watching Vanessa Hudgen’s made-for-TV movie series, The Princess Switch. 4/10
Direction/SFX/Music: Like I said previously, the pacing is too fast-paced for a good amount of the drama. Other than that, the music is not my cup of tea, but it didn’t bother me. No complaints about the SFX or cinematography. 6/10
Entertainment Value: The beginning of the drama is pretty gripping. The set up is interesting and the characters are enjoyable to watch. However, after the first couple episodes, it took me a while to get through the rest of the first half of the drama because I had to take breaks from the chaos. However, the pacing did slow down a bit in the second half to a more normal speed, so I was able to get through it without taking breaks. The second half was definitely more enjoyable for me and a big reason for that (besides the pacing) is that the second male lead is barely in it. The story line becomes more stabilized and easy to follow. 6.5/10
Overall, I gave this drama a 6/10. It just made my ‘would recommend’ zone (a score of 6 or higher). For a sageuk, I think I would recommend it because it is very different from others that I’ve seen. The plot is a bit too ridiculous, though, when it didn’t need to be. However, the characters are very likable and grow on you over the course of the drama (except for the second male lead).
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