MsKoo

I wish I could write a show like this :D But I do think a lot of it was clear from the actions of the characters. Like that young bandit being eager to prove himself and picking a fight with an older (much weaker) opponent in the bandit hierarchy right in the first meeting we see them in. And then also later seeking out trouble when his ego was hurt by Siyul stopping him so he goes to beat him up and doesn't even know to let it go when all his men are already beat by Siyul who gives him a lot of ways out. It's those overconfident foolish actions that make him brash. Contrast that with the big boss who initially tries to give Mudeok a way out by asking him if he really wants to accept the challenge from the younger guy. And then later invites him over and tries to get him to go back home because he's not cut out for the bandit life. And also stops his henchman from punishing him too severely. Mudeok also mentions something to Siyul about how he and the boss got their start together (in his mind, they built the whole bandit business from scratch) and that also comes up in the conversation when the boss tries to get him to leave because Mudeok's an old comrade who never climbed the ranks while he (the boss) made it to the top. They're not really friends but you can see the difficult dynamic with that whole "can I pour you a drink" back and forth (and when Mudeok declines the offer to go home, the boss doesn't take the drink he pours him).

Anyway there's a lot of that in all the interactions and also the way things are filmed that tells you a lot about who these people are, who they are to each other and so on. I saw your other comment about the main characters and I get what you mean in the sense that the show isn't about centering the personal journeys of the main leads so much as it is about embedding them in a broader network of injustice that they chafe against. So for Siyul, for example, his emotional arc for me isn't so much rooted in his backstory (which just explains something about why he has so much quiet rage in him and why he has a connection with the new official in town). Rather, his emotional arc started right from the moment we first see him reacting to the scenes around him. So much is told through his eyes, his acquiescence, his discomfort. Is he going to give up his spot for the old man? Is he going to intervene? And so on. And we see him being shaped by what's happening. When he does go to the old man to share his food, that's when we start to see that all unfold (and it did hit me pretty hard). The show is much more interested in showing how and why people take action in (and what their reaction is to) the society they live in. The storytelling mirrors the fact that their individual lives don't matter (to their superiors, the society) by slowly empowering them and shifting more attention to them. It's really about the question: At what point do you take control over your own actions? And what will the consequences of that be?

But that's just what I'm getting out of it so far. I am admittedly someone who likes sageuks and history dramas in general though and I totally like that macro-focus.

I think there's pretty big differences between the villains and their attitudes: brash like the young bandit picking fights, measured and careful like the boss of the bandits who has to balance caring for his men and keeping them all under his thumb while also navigating the pressures put on him by the corrupt official who doesn't tolerate overreach, boastful and careless like said corrupt captain, wily (or quietly predatory) and violent like the Jurchen trader (or rather invader)... Sure, they probably all share some qualities that helped them into the positions of power that they have (ruthlessness, disregard for others, opportunism) and the system of subjugation where there is always someone higher up the food chain by design but there's nuance in how the writing unravels this in order to explain why and how our main leads encounter these types of figures and their role in the upholding of injustice. Now whether 9 episodes (only 6 remaining) will be enough to capitalize on that groundwork is another matter.

I can agree that Mudeok (the lower tier bandit "boss") got maybe a scene or two too much screentime in these early episodes but I think it's important for the world-building. All scenes involving him (and the other secondary characters) have introduced us to different aspects of the socio-economic order and hierarchy that our main characters and especially Jang Siyul are now entering into. Mudeok is not a great guy, he's rather scummy, but that's the point. It'll be so interesting to see Siyul (probably) eventually replace him in all those dynamics with the other bandits. It's a shame this is only 9 episodes because it really feels like we're only just getting started. But ignoring the total episode count and just going by the three episodes that have aired, I think they have been paced very well and are cleverly written to do a lot of "show, don't tell".

They're different genres but the fact that Frankly Speaking currently has a better rating than this truly boggles the mind.

FL couldn't have told the police where she was going, given that she was on probation (so they would have stopped/disciplined her). I also get her not telling her parents in order not to worry them because realistically there was nothing they could done to help her either. For her it was really all or nothing, do or die, that's how gung-ho she was about it (yes, somewhat recklessly, a trait she shares with the ML lol). And the evidence she collected like the fingerprints actually progressed the case a lot. Also, while she had reason to be cautious, I don't think even she could have known just how unscrupulous the villains would be about killing cops. She took a calculated risk because she didn't see any other way, the official investigation was being tampered with because of corruption and she didn't bring any of her team into it because she clearly didn't want any of them to take the risk on her behalf (see her reaction to Yi Soo being there). She wasn't planning on blowing the whole thing up, she was mainly in it to collect evidence and it's the presence of the reporter that actually ended up forcing her hand. It's unclear if she'd left behind anything in case something should happen to her (like the guy did who swallowed the USB). Anyway, all's well that ends well and everyone came together to contribute to solving this 🫶