yoonthethicc

'dear hongrang' has a haunting setting with dark themes and brutal reality of how abusive evil people are. additionally, there is a heart-breaking element shown in jae-yi's character as she struggled as her heart yearned to see her little brother again.

as a drama that also has politics in it, it was intriguing to watch the rivalry between hongrang and mu jin plus how yeon-ui's cruelty comes to play. while it does make my blood boil how yeon-ui is as a character, she does work well as an antagonist. speaking of antagonists, the villain was portrayed as this person in the shadows at first, yet we are also given hints of just how his presence is not pleasant. he craves power. bound to be obsessed by his creations. he looms over you and will drain your very existence. deeply eerie and sends chill to your bones when you find out the things he did.

however, despite how interesting the concept is and how the drama started, i can't help but feel frustration halfway through. i felt the romance between the leads to be lackluster and it was so sudden. in addition, the story seemed to have fast-forwarded itself. there was this rushed feel to the pacing that even though the scenes were very much impactful and heavy, it felt as though i was jumping from one episode to another. the start was slow and stable then ended like a whirlpool of things all at once.