This review may contain spoilers
A comedy worth its name
So to start, I want to say, do not take this one seriously. At least in the beginning, it is very clear that this is a comedy and the show doesn't even take itself seriously initially. But it is hilarious. I mean I probably missed a lot of the easter eggs, but the ones I caught, referencing other shows, had me cackling. It's essentially a commentary on all these other popular dramas, and what sells with the audience.Eventually, the show does get a bit more serious, and the vibe becomes less comedy and more drama, but I still enjoyed it because by then, I was fully invested in the characters.
Story:
The story surrounds the lead actress of the FL in a cringy/bad drama series. After reading the screenplay pages, she gets thrown into the story, and quickly determines that to navigate and survive in the story where her character is murdered and mutilated by the ML, that she needs to either marry the SML and/or kill the ML.
This unfortunately is very hard to do as she can't completely defy the story line, and she loses her free will in critical moments. But she's not the only one. The ML also realizes that he can't control himself around her, and believes she put some sort of spell on him, making him follow one of the main cardinal rules in the show : "The ML must always save the FML when she's in danger." He really puts himself through it as he tries multiple ways to kill her to free himself from the 'spell'.
Enter ML's alter ego LSL, which everyone in the audience knew was the ML except FML was oblivious, forgetting the one cardinal rule of dramas is that if there's a cool mysterious bada** character with a secret army and a mask, he's probably the ML in disguise. He saves her from his own assassination attempt, and quickly earns FML's trust. And in doing so, also her wish to hire him/cooperate with him to assassinate the ML. It's hilarious. One of my biggest regrets is that the alter ego LSL doesn't appear again after the reveal. He had strong aura in that costume.
ML despite his character origin, falls in love with FML and begins to defy the script and his fate to kill her and betray her and later mutuliate her. (Which wow what a concept screenwriter, like seriously how would that story line have been popular with an audience -- even the tsundere male leads are facing backlash these days and you just want to write this guy as a complete psycho). Eventually, as a result, it seems that all these horrible character traits of his are then passed onto the SML who needs to take up the mantle as the villain (which makes more sense, and was done quite well in my opinion).
FML and ML have a rollercoaster of a romance, mostly surrounding her inability to trust him because she knows his story line, and is biased against him, and his lack of communication about his plans, which to be honest, she wouldn't believe anyway because she doesn't trust him - which is valid, but still so frustrating.
But eventually they get it right and get together for a happy ending.
Characters/Acting:
FML: honestly she did amazing. I was very frustrated with her character sometimes, but I could still appreciate the nuances and her motivations. The actress did an amazing job portraying an actress pretending to be a character while also falling in love and caring about the people in the story. Honestly, in some scenes she gave a strong Bai Lu aura (and they do look pretty similar), and I thought she did a great job.
ML: basically. wow. Always a fan, no notes. Just watch him. I'm gonna watch it again later. Because wow. Appreciated. I think this is his best drama yet honestly.
Remaining actors and characters: the cast was great. They all did a wonderful job with their characters. I think they did great by way of chemistry and clearly appreciated their characters.
Music: beautiful, and hilarious. Those songs are so funny. Just read the lyrics to some of them, kills me.
Rewatch value: I can't decide to start another drama now and rewatch it later, or rewatch it now. It's so hard to decide. But yes 10/10 rewatch value.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
If you watched this then you should definitely read the novel. And if you haven't watched this yet, read the novel first and then maybe don't watch all of this. I'm going to be honest, I really wanted to like this, not only because of the novel but also because of ZWY who I think is doing fantastically well. But sadly, I was left a bit underwhelmed.
The show on it's own sits okay, and hits all the right spots. It has your boss lady lead and her simpy boyfriend. Which is fine and I watch a lot of and love. But the drama watered down some of my favorite character traits of the leads.
The novel itself is fantastic so maybe I shouldn't have watched the show right after reading it. It made the ML much softer, which is a shame because I think ZWY would have done an amazing job portraying how intimidating and powerful CXZ is in the book. My love for the FL in the novel was how cheerful and over the top her love for her husband was, especially in the beginning. She had heart shaped glasses on the entire time, and I loved it. And both of them were so funny; their internal monologues were so fun to read, that I had hoped they would somehow incorporate it in the show.
The show kept a lot of the humor, but it made ML a lot softer and FL a lot harder. It also got rid of a lot of the periodic aspects that show social cues and rules, hierarchy and power-structures, and how difficult it is to be a woman alone. While they kept the fact that the trade guild wouldn't include women, it removed how difficult and harassing being a single woman is, especially in that time period.
They also changed a lot about FL and ML's relationship as bandit v. prince. I liked that ML thought of LW as his equal and his friend. I think this was one of the more positive changes from the novel, where in the novel LW was portrayed more of a villain causing chaos to help ZY, and they didn't have an understanding with each other. But with this change, they also tried to give FL more power, but at the same time, they stripped some power from ML.
In the novel, ML was super powerful and intimidating - a prince with his own army that made the court nervous and everyone wanted him on their side during the coup, so much so that he decided a war with a 1% chance of survival was a better option that getting involved in that mess. The only reason, in the novel, he got involved was because they were threatening LMT and his family. Otherwise he liked to keep his cards close to his chest. Only a few other characters stood up to him.
But in show, even the FL's uncle talks back to him (when in the novel he was so terrified they would be imprisoned and killed). They were also very inconsistent about how much power he had - whether it was as a prince or as a lord. It sometimes felt like he was just being walked all over by characters.
My biggest gripe is the FL's character. I loved her in the book, so it was a bit of a let down when she came out so stereotypical and... bland. I think CWR is a good actress, but maybe it was that I didn't feel the chemistry between the leads or that she was just not a fun character compared to her written counterpart.
I hate that I'm bashing this. This was, despite what the above may imply about what I think, a good story. I just wasn't as invested as I was in the novel. As a stand-a-lone, it is good and watchable. As an adaptation, it is lackluster.
Was this review helpful to you?
One of my favorites
This drama has quickly become one of my favorites. I never wrote a review before for any drama that I watched, but I felt compelled to give The Tale of Nokdu a review for how outstanding I thought it was.First, and most importantly, the show was well cast. I had seen dramas with the leads So Hyun and Dong Yoon before and I loved them in those dramas, but this one really shows how great their acting is. The great plot really highlighted their potential and gave them room to broadcast their range. The tone shifted from comedic to tragic to romantic on a dime and it was so well done and felt so natural. And SHK and DYJ have great chemistry (and the bts footage is adorable as well) and I hope to see them together in another drama soon. The supporting characters were also superb and they didn't feel like scene fillers that were just there to drag out the time. They had purpose and engaging stories. Some people might disagree with me, but I thought little Aeng Do was a scene stealer. I was also very invested in Dan Oh and Yool Mu and I hope to see the actors thrive because they did a wonderful job.
I loved how the story didn't lag, there was always something to build up the plot and every scene had a purpose, even if it was just a little romantic moment to show the chemistry and why the main leads should end up together, or a political scene that showed what the underlying tension between characters suggested. A lot of dramas struggle to keep the momentum of the plot going but The Tale of Nokdu didn't. It was engaging from start to finish.
This show has gone to my list of shows that I could watch many times without getting bored of it. I highly recommend it.
Was this review helpful to you?
What was that ending!!! I need Season 2 ASAP!!
An absolute delight to watch. It hit all the right notes of comedy, drama, suspense, thriller, and romance.Story:
Above all, this show is a comedy, and shouldn't be taken too seriously. XXA is a simple guy in the beginning of the story, who slowly turns into a leader and great warrior. I love that initially, it is clear that while he is a good fighter, he is not the best by a mile, and gets beaten up a lot. But over time, his skill improves, and his character is usually what sets him apart from the rest.
The story doesn't shy away from drama either, or rather, trauma, and I love how they explored those arcs and how they impacted each character.
Characters:
Each character is important and has their own arc. While there are a lot of characters so some are just written off only to reappear ten episodes later, their arcs are still explained and explored.
Acting:
Amazing. DW's best show to date and the rest of the cast did an amazing job. Every character was played with so much depth and emotion. No one was stiff, everyone felt natural and it is clear they all had amazing chemistry with each other. It is just so apparent that this was a cast that got along and truly enjoyed the project because they put so much effort and care in their characters.
Production:
The cinematography was great, the sets were beautiful, the costumes were stunning, the CGI was very good. Everything brought together made this a perfect watch.
Overall:
I plan on reading the novel now because I'm dying for season 2 so I hope that the novel went beyond the show. 🫶
Was this review helpful to you?
