6
The First Attempt
At first glance, the cast was stacked but that alone wasn't enough. The drama was obviously some kind of a parody on the genre but it didn't embrace its nature. It made me realized the complete lack of parodies in Kdrama in general which is really unfortunate. Hyper intense, extreme overreactions, deranged morals, illogical by design, fueled by insanity, and unhinged characters. However, for this formula to work, the drama needed one of two things, either add more self-awareness, commit to the theme and double down or create a structure amidst this entire madness. Both of which the drama didn't do. Which left us with a half-arsed attempt to what could have been a unique experience. It would have benefited greatly if it had been cut down to 12 episodes. Will remember it for the potentials it might have had.Was this review helpful to you?
The Drama Queen
While it may have had a gripping introduction and an attractive selection of cast, however, it couldn't maintain its momentum later on. It started off as a fully fledged political drama then added a mix of other genres and cliches with an overpowering flavor of Netflix-esque type of production. Within a few episodes, it quickly lost its creative edge and began to recycle and re-skin the same attacks and counter-attacks between the involved parties. It made the scoop of the drama quite limited for its +11 hours runtime. It's a female centered plot so naturally the spotlight was on them. Each received decent characterization, good introductions, showcased interesting dynamics, and donned fashionable attire. However, by the end of the drama, all of them blended into a bland and vexing mix, losing their initial allure. The drama may have been alright but it's not quite there. At least it didn't stretch for the typical 16 episodes so that's a small win. On another note, the superheroes slo-mo walking shots were cringe. And the brief teaser at the end for a potential 2nd season was tasteless.Was this review helpful to you?
Peasants
I despise, with every atom in my being, the loathsome trope of interrupted intimacy upon any physical approximation in a semi-romantic setting—of which this drama kept repeating endlessly and shamelessly for 14+ episodes before committing to what it was trying to do. Cringey levels of cringe! Despite attempting to address important themes of justice and societal issues, the drama struggled to properly address these subjects and instead turned them into a background noise to service their jokes. Why bother then? While the cast may have been fine but their characters remained uninteresting throughout the drama. Basic characterization, none of them stood out.Was this review helpful to you?
Young Blood
The drama had all the makings of a captivating drama—a stunning setting, charming characters, and a dash of romance. At first glance, the vibrant cinematography and the chemistry between the leads were apparent. But as the story unfolded, it didn't quite live up to its appeal, dare I say, it flopped. It would have been fine if it had retained only the slice of life fluff but it resulted to cheap melodrama antics to build tension and climax which always have had its toll on the viewing experience. The other 2 male leads Yoon Sung & Byung Yeon were treated poorly by the writers, half-arsed development and even a worse conclusion. The ending also faced something similar with it being unclean, unrefined and loose.Was this review helpful to you?
Polymonogamy: The Prequel
The way they handled things was just all over the place. This loathsome love triangle infested its core amidst everything else. Forcefully pushing it in our throats around every single detour. It got trashier the longer it kept going. The drama was covered with palace politics, as always, but it was impossible to care about anything because they just obsessed over who's in love with whom, overshadowing anything the drama tried to offer. The pacing followed through in that regard—slow moments that dragged on forever for what could have been a quick tale. The drama fell way short of establishing a watchable narrative. It was like biting into a cookie and finding out it's all crumbs.Was this review helpful to you?
Hong Gil Dong - Take 2
The drama started off promisingly but took a nosedive after a pivotal moment around episode 7 when the plot took an unfortunate turn with the very conveniently timed amnesia break. This narrative choice not only broke the momentum built up until that point but also shattered the drama's coherence. After this abrupt twist, the series struggled to regain its footing, and the attempts to recover its initial momentum proved futile, leading to a disjointed narrative and a noticeable decline in quality. While attempting to portray the struggles of the oppressed, the series fell into repetitive cycles, as expected. The romantic elements felt forced and superficial. Rather than enhancing the storyline, the romantic subplot felt out of place and failed to integrate seamlessly into the overarching plot. It felt like they had to give the lead a girl, any girl. Would have been better if his siblings occupied that gap instead of being wasted on the love interest. At least the drama didn't end like Hong Gil Dong (2008).Was this review helpful to you?
Flowers Over Boys
What might have seemed an interesting premise on the surface turned out to be the farthest thing from that, it crashed and burned in flames. The cast? They might as well have been cardboard cutouts. Pretty faces without a soul. Do Joon gave nothing but extremely uncomfortable creepy vibes made my skin crawl! The characters were like shape-shifters, their motivations changing faster than the weather. I couldn't latch onto them or the storyline. The drama also featured one of the worst love triangles with the highlight being the abomination of this female lead character.Was this review helpful to you?
An awful half drama ½
To say I'm frustrated with this drama is an understatement. From reading the synopsis and from watching the first batch of episodes, it became quite clear that the prominent characters are Prince Kwang Hae and his sister, but alas, this was barely the case. Cha Seung Won left the drama half way through making the plot irrelevant later on for everything that was established earlier. His departure didn't leave an impact either for what's to come. Subsequently, Princess Jeong Myeong became a side piece to roam around the plot with little to no meaningful contribution. The second half in general was a significant downgrade in all regards. It was almost incomparable to the first half. It became as dull as you can imagine without much "character" left in these characters. It reminded of The Great Seer (2012) how there was a massive shift in every regard with the second half.Was this review helpful to you?
Mask off
I found the main cast to be quite dislikable. Heo Joon Ho was the only one who had a decent performance. Yoo Seung Ho was overexaggerating with every breath and Kim So Hyun was a plank of wood. Their characters were equally as bad and underdelivering. The most important plot device in the drama was the mask, however, although its introduction was okay, but how they handled it later on was disappointing and its conclusion and reveal made the whole journey worthless to care about the mask. At the beginning, I thought they would do something clever with the mask play but it turned out it was just some random element to kick-start the story and give the drama its title.Was this review helpful to you?
Swordless
I found the beginning to be quite poor, it took a handful of episodes before the drama started going. By then, most viewers would have dropped it already. A good initial hook is necessary, especially for a longer drama. The storytelling was as shallow as a kiddie pool. It felt like they were trying to cram an unedited history book into it. The drama really needed to be shorter with a better structure because the potential was already there. The characters were as two-dimensional as stick figures, most of them were unable to convey the necessary emotions to the viewer. It would've been awesome to bring Japanese cast to play the Japanese. One thing the was missing was its own signature OST to match the atmosphere.Was this review helpful to you?
Maid to Order
Despite the intriguing setup focusing on the lives of servants, the drama missed the mark when it came to delivering a good dynamic storytelling between maids and nobles. It felt like a jigsaw puzzle scattered all over the place with no clear picture, just random bits and pieces all jumbled up from the typical lens of servants and maids back then. I don't think they did a good job with their portrayal that servants/maids are equal as people. Honestly, I was left hanging, craving some real depth and a solid story from what could've been something different and unique.Was this review helpful to you?
Lee Je Hoon but at what cost?
The drama just didn't hit the spot for me. It had all these grand plans to dive deep into history and stir up political intrigue, but somehow, it lost its way in keeping things engaging. There were these bits here and there that had me hooked, they were pretty intriguing. But the storytelling was all over the place, and the characters barely had time to develop. That lack of consistency seriously put a damper on my enjoyment. I was left feeling like there was this untapped potential, they could've given us more depth and made everything gel together better. Anyway, the ending felt like it was missing some scenes before the credits; not smooth.Was this review helpful to you?
Couldn't shine, remained mad and crazy!
Ignore the ending, the prologue itself was appalling and distasteful enough to eliminate my expectations despite the drama having Jang Hyuk on deck. Speaking of which, once again, Jang Hyuk is playing the same character from The Slave Hunters (2010), if you've seen that one then you know what's up. Characters, while initially intriguing, suffered from inconsistent development. The pacing felt uneven, with moments of rushed storytelling followed by prolonged and uneventful sequences, disrupting the overall momentum of the show. The whole poison plot was painful to tolerate and sit through. The story was so terrible it just kept getting worse with every episode. The last 4 episodes in particular were poorly planed, marking them as the worst part of the drama. Once again, Jang Hyuk wasn't enough to save this drama although he was the only highlight.Was this review helpful to you?
Dog of war
They shouldn't have had made Wol Ah / An Shim be played by the same actress regardless of their intent to have have them share resemblance to one another. Wol Ah had her own role and was a turning point in the story. Since An Shim came to the picture, up until the end she was nothing but Wol Ah's replacement and had no real character. The drama, unsurprisingly, shared a common problem with others of the same genre. The drama started with the backstory and the hero journey but later on it striped the personal attachments and turned it into a battlefield between nations instead of mixing both elements together. It got turned around the other way back and forth 4 more times, making each transition more jarring than the last. This is why there was a massive disconnect after the timeskip in the early second 1/3. In addition, the last 15 episodes were too long to endure.Was this review helpful to you?
The great bore
The first paragraph of the synopsis felt like and turned out to be a big copium moment to whoever wrote it. The first couple of episodes started with a big bang, big sets, big budgets, a few sex scenes here and there, a casual killing for the sake of it, and a god awful laughable open mouth kissing scene. It was obvious they were trying to pull all the strings to attract viewers because none of that lasted shortly after. The cast performance was attractive at first before they turned into generic soulless zombies right after the first half. In fact, the second half in general was a significant downgrade in all regards. It was almost incomparable to the first half. It became as dull as you can imagine without any "character" left in these characters. They stripped every ounce of character from Ji Sung.The trend continued towards the end since it ended abruptly, I refuse to believe this was planned. When zooming out and looking into the drama as a whole, nothing seems to be properly planned from the beginning.Was this review helpful to you?
