tiacosas

I agree. This is the first time I'm seeing him and I was excited to watch his talent since he's considered one of the better idol-actors, but his performance leaves a lot to be desired.

btw i'm happy abt the ending idc if it's unrealistic, i agree with the pd. the last year has been extremely hard on most of us, a happy ending can give us some warmth and comfort. since they fell for each other, all i wanted was for ondal and gajin to be able to retire away from the mess and they did.

the cast made a rather unimpressive sageuk work, just for that i gave it a 7 when it would probably deserve not more than a 5 haha i watched from the beginning but it's incredible how much more attached i grew to inwoo almost immediately than the previous male lead. ksh amazing as always, and the supporting cast brought it home. it's a pity they couldn't show the quality they wanted, but personally i'm annoyed at the ost lol i love sageuk osts and i think this one lacked the epic instrumentals. in any case, i'm satisfied ^^

the only reason i managed to make it thru to the end of this show is kim byung chul, he's amazing and i was rooting for him D:

imo the biggest pro that jisoo had was that he looked rougher, probably better for the character since he's supposed to be a guy raised in the forest gathering wood, doing heavy work etc etc. na in woo looks more on the cute, refined side. but that's all for me, i was never a fan of jisoo as an actor, he's very inexpressive and wooden. it's hard for my brain to get used to the new ondal face tho, but i trust that after niw has more scenes, this will change hahaha

it could also be that they're buying time without stopping the show from airing. it's just a few scenes so the audience will know they changed the actor already, get articles abt it on naver to get the audience's good opinion going, and in the meantime film the heavier content for the future episodes. in a way, plot wise as lonelyflower mentioned, it's a "good" moment for the actor transition since there are many palace scenes and he's not needed as much. episode 7 was just a teaser for him and a presentation of na in woo as ondal.

I understand, and I agree up to a point. It's just that he's the main male lead, so eyes are more on him than on the supporting cast. If he was, for example, in a family drama as one of the sons then sure, he can experiment and find his groove. However, in this kind of show where the plot is paper thin and everything relies on chemistry and charisma, if he fails at delivery then everything falls apart. Criticism is not hatred, I have nothing against him personally or against idol actors in general, and I hope he can take some classes or smaller roles in the future if he wants to continue acting.

I'm not sure who Kim Yo Han is, as I have only met him in this show, but his lack of range as an actor and his overall stiffness is kind of blocking me from fully enjoying this show >.< Such a shame, because during these times all I want are brain candy shows to just relax and enjoy without thinking too much about them but I need the cast to have the necessary charisma to carry silly/superficial plotlines...

Agreed. Everyone keeps praising the brotherhood but Kim Bum's smirking kind of acting is too distractiong for me and I can't focus on their scenes.

the king's robes are too big for jung il woo, he could never convince me as a character or as a leader. lost steam towards the end, mediocre but still somewhat enjoyable for stretches sageuk.

OMG my man! Thanks for writing the article hehe

'textual' references >> ????????

who said i'm in a critical writing class sis it's just kdramas lmao i tried over and over again to explain myself but you lack reading comprehension so it's useless. if my opinions trigger you this much, then ignore them and move on instead of projecting your upset feelings on me ^^

have a great day!

hahaha how can i be upset over an opinion sjskjsn please make sense. this is fun for me otherwise i would've ignored your accusatory and inflamatory replies since the beginning. it's really easy to disregard a comment on a forum and move on to other stuff. if i'm here entertaining your rants at me is because for some reason i find it an interesting debate so far. only things with real consequences in real life make me upset, not a mediocre teenage show.

objective criticism is a contradiction in itself, all of us as humans have personal concepts, standards, and biases we use to judge people, objects, everything. a show can never be "objectively" good or bad, we all just give personal opinions, and that's exactly what i did. you just really dislike my point of view, which is fair! you don't have to agree with me. i don't care if you don't like my opinion, just as you shouldn't care if i didn't like yours. we just disagree.

it's obvious (or should be?) that on a discussion board we are leaving personal opinions. this drama is terrible, of course //to me//. and it should be clear to anyone who has ever used a tv/movie critic platform that every user's comments are personal opinion, and of course not irrefutable fact. taste ain't a science. someone lurking here and seeing my opinion can choose to follow it or not, maybe checking my profile to see if our taste is similar. same thing with all the other opinions and reviews. to me, a 6-7 drama needs to have way more than below par acting, unremarkable directing, inconsistent storytelling, mediocre ost. 6-7 is pushing a passing mark, and this one doesn't fit that.

"that none of the acting had merit, that even the production values were low. Based on what, pray tell?" this is redundant btw. i did not like the drama because of those, and because of those i didn't like the drama. you are really close to understanding what i'm telling you but consistently refuse to do it djndkjndjkdn (consider i used the word "understand" not "agree", before you get upset at me again). see, you hyperfocus on joy's character, when to me the 4 main leads were vapid and nonsensical, plus the veteran plot line was reused, conveniently contrieved, and badly acted (which shocked me because the actors are generally good in other shows). i don't know what else i can tell you, i'm explaining all the points of the show i don't like and which took me to give it a 1/10 but yet you will probably consider it insufficient.

i will choose to ignore your commentary about my persona, my age, or whatever ridiculous fallacy and tone policing you're trying to use to discredit my argument. i've given you multiple detailed explanations of my argument and you choose to ignore each and every one of them because they don't align with yours. that's cool though, you seem passionate which i respect.

i see you feel the criticism towards this show pretty personally, which makes a rational discussion about it quite hard. to me, it is total garbage, and it has no redeeming points at all. once again, the fact that other shows might be bad or terrible is irrelevant to the discussion and doesn't make this one better.

you asked me why i don't like it, i gave you a lengthy explanation and you're still not satisfied - that's because you're looking for me to change my opinion, and i won't. i NEVER said NO ONE should be able to find anything decent since i've clearly stated multiple times that people are free to like it for whatever reasons they want. however that same freedom for other people to like it, means i have the freedom to say why, within MY OWN STANDARDS, it's absolute, total, complete trash. yes, not even a decent ost (i'm an ost fan so this is an important point for me). joy is definitely not the only one weak here, and actors who did a good job in other shows, underperformed here. that's not only the writers' fault but the direction as well.

saying that i've insulted actors or whatever just shows how poorly you can take a different opinion. the actors don't even know or care that i exist, and in fact i never insulted them personally. if the team behind the show did a poor job, then well... they did. this being trash means the final product is trash. the people might be amazing on a personal basis, nice and wonderful, but their product didn't work out at all. THAT is what i react to, the drama. if i do a poor job at my workplace, i'll get criticism. unless it's personal, vicious, or violent, taking criticism is a vital part of growing up and getting better. i don't see how, if criticism comes from an honest place, it should be taken as insulting. it might hurt, sure, but a mature person knows how to deal with it and make sure their job is better next time.

please, reconsider how upset you are about other people's difering opinions. it makes it impossible to exchange ideas.

as i am an international viewer, my choices in kdramas have no impact in domestic ratings so this or that being a failure isn't even relevant for me.

interesting enough, you are completely wrong about the reasons you predict to be why i dont like this. i face every drama i choose to watch with the same expectations, which are none (with a very few exceptions if they come from a specific writer or pd i particularly like - noh hee kyung, ahn pan seok, etc), and i let the drama take me through its journey for better or worse.

joy got unfair hate for this show, as it wasn't her fault that the script quality was so bad. she was serviceable and did her best with the trash she got, and i even defended her on social media against the wdh fangirls who seemed to be blind to his clear limitations in this drama and dropped their frustrations for oppa's flop on joy.

the acting across the board was below standards in general, the script made no sense whatsoever, it relied on contrieved plots to carry the show, cliches galore, unremarkable directing, inconsistent storytelling, no real point to anything that happened, and none of the characters' developments were smooth or sensical. i watched as i would watch a trashy teenage show on the cw, some braincandy for when im tired after a day at work. non demanding, easy, predictable fare. as for quality? none.

once again, if you liked it, that's great and i'm happy for you! everyone has their own reasons and taste and all of it is valid. we are all fans, and we all enjoy different things. i'm more than willing to continue a conversations about this show but please drop the preconceptions you have against people who express their distaste. generalizations will only generate conflict.

i never said this is the worst drama ever. the fact that there are other dramas that are garbage as well doesn't mean this one isn't. that's a fallacy. it's cool if you enjoyed it of course since everyone is entitled to their opinion and personal taste, and yes i watched it even though it's garbage so that's on me, but let's not pretend like there was anything of value in this show. not even a decent ost. nothing.

i can't even remember the last time i gave a drama a 1. i guess that's some sort of achievement in itself? anyways, this drama is garbage, only watch if you're a huge fan of any of the leads and feel like being a completist of their work. otherwise, skip!

I only watched ep1 too, but in general mercenaries are people who do whatever job for money. The mercenaries in ARGON got hired through special admission/bribing and replaced valued sunbaes who had been working and had experience, etc. So naturally, their colleagues hate the batch of mercenaries that got their jobs that way at the expense of real journalists.

Wow I felt like my braincells were dying while watching this. Thankfully it's just 12-14 minutes per episode so I didn't waste too much time. The only good thing is that the cast is cute.

Hi! It's 널 사랑하겠어 (Neol saranghagesseo - I choose to love you) by 동물원 (Dong Mul-won).