This review may contain spoilers
THIS HAS BECOME ONE OF MY FAVES OF ALL TIME!!!
This show was amazing. So entertaining, so romantic, and so well done. I will be doing a full review here and not splitting it up by parts btw.
Firstly, I was surprised to watch the whole show and not really see any big kdrama actors. Even the old usual side actors weren’t really present. They utilized a lot of fresh faces (at least to me anyways and I’ve been a kdrama fan for 6 years) and I appreciate that.
Secondly, the characters were amazing. Obviously the ml and fl were great and I really appreciate their performances. I knew Eunjin from Strangers From Hell and I feel like she was able to keep the same freshness and youthfulness to her character. Her performance is also one of my favorite fell characters of all time. The character, Gil Chae, is so inspiring because she has such a great self esteem and at the very core knows what she’s capable of and what she deserves. She also has an entrepreneurial spirit which I feel like is rarely shown in kdramas. She’s a total girl boss.
And Namkoong made me want to watch the show because as an nctzen, I can’t help but be drawn to him, he looks so much like Jaemin lol. Even his portrayal of the character reminded me of Jaemin and every scene Namkoong was in made me feel satisfied. The beginning scene of him on that beach still brings tears to my eyes. I could just see the exhaustion with the fight and life in general on his face and those tears slipping down was amazing.
The side characters killed it aswell. I was surprised to see how much second leads there were. Ryanguem really was so loyal and beautiful and to have a gay second lead was unconventional but I love it. It makes the perfect sense of his character’s actions and the show wasn’t afraid to show a person like him in Joseon Korea as well as not write his actions off as brotherly like most show wills do. Chungah I know from watching Heart Pairing this year but had never really seen her before. I really liked her performance as well but I still don’t understand why she was chasing down captives. She was a bit of a weird character. Yeongjun was annoying but surprisingly I cried for him on the last ep so I guess he wasn’t all that bad. He’s just one of those overly honorable characters that has no room for gray area which bores me. Eun Ae was sweet but I didn’t like how she kept downplaying Gil Chae’s feelings for Yeongjun as if that’s not her best friend smh.Will forever be a fan of Gu Jam cause he has a lot of aura and is so cute. Big Hyungnim was a cute character as well.
The progression of the show was pretty good to me but I did feel like the dialogue was kinda weird at point. Like when Jang Hyeon comes back and Gil Chae is getting married. I feel like neither of them actually expressed their feelings toward each other. And I watched all 21 episodes and I don’t recall ever seeing or hearing a “saranghe” from either of the characters. Also to use the memory loss trope 2x in one drama is kind of lazy but I’ll take it. I also felt rather let down with Janghyeon’s past and expected something more exciting.
The show is long but genuinely I watched every episode with eagerness and never ONCE got bored of it. I enjoyed the themes of chastity and nationalism. I also enjoyed the soundtrack. I do like the ost in Ryanguem’s voice the most cause it brings me to tears.
This show is a 10/10 and I’ll recommend it to everyone
Firstly, I was surprised to watch the whole show and not really see any big kdrama actors. Even the old usual side actors weren’t really present. They utilized a lot of fresh faces (at least to me anyways and I’ve been a kdrama fan for 6 years) and I appreciate that.
Secondly, the characters were amazing. Obviously the ml and fl were great and I really appreciate their performances. I knew Eunjin from Strangers From Hell and I feel like she was able to keep the same freshness and youthfulness to her character. Her performance is also one of my favorite fell characters of all time. The character, Gil Chae, is so inspiring because she has such a great self esteem and at the very core knows what she’s capable of and what she deserves. She also has an entrepreneurial spirit which I feel like is rarely shown in kdramas. She’s a total girl boss.
And Namkoong made me want to watch the show because as an nctzen, I can’t help but be drawn to him, he looks so much like Jaemin lol. Even his portrayal of the character reminded me of Jaemin and every scene Namkoong was in made me feel satisfied. The beginning scene of him on that beach still brings tears to my eyes. I could just see the exhaustion with the fight and life in general on his face and those tears slipping down was amazing.
The side characters killed it aswell. I was surprised to see how much second leads there were. Ryanguem really was so loyal and beautiful and to have a gay second lead was unconventional but I love it. It makes the perfect sense of his character’s actions and the show wasn’t afraid to show a person like him in Joseon Korea as well as not write his actions off as brotherly like most show wills do. Chungah I know from watching Heart Pairing this year but had never really seen her before. I really liked her performance as well but I still don’t understand why she was chasing down captives. She was a bit of a weird character. Yeongjun was annoying but surprisingly I cried for him on the last ep so I guess he wasn’t all that bad. He’s just one of those overly honorable characters that has no room for gray area which bores me. Eun Ae was sweet but I didn’t like how she kept downplaying Gil Chae’s feelings for Yeongjun as if that’s not her best friend smh.Will forever be a fan of Gu Jam cause he has a lot of aura and is so cute. Big Hyungnim was a cute character as well.
The progression of the show was pretty good to me but I did feel like the dialogue was kinda weird at point. Like when Jang Hyeon comes back and Gil Chae is getting married. I feel like neither of them actually expressed their feelings toward each other. And I watched all 21 episodes and I don’t recall ever seeing or hearing a “saranghe” from either of the characters. Also to use the memory loss trope 2x in one drama is kind of lazy but I’ll take it. I also felt rather let down with Janghyeon’s past and expected something more exciting.
The show is long but genuinely I watched every episode with eagerness and never ONCE got bored of it. I enjoyed the themes of chastity and nationalism. I also enjoyed the soundtrack. I do like the ost in Ryanguem’s voice the most cause it brings me to tears.
This show is a 10/10 and I’ll recommend it to everyone
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