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| Eh, happy first 4 episodes, I shall treasure you^^ |
It's the first time I dropped a sageuk. I never did that before, I mustered all my willpower in the past and somehow went through all idiocies that always appear in this kind of drama. The Princess' Man and Deep-rooted Tree now set the bar for period dramas really high lately.
Dongsu disappointed me for the first time when they saved Prince Sado and made him killed by assassins and not from starving in a rice box. I was not pleased by such distortion, but found my leniency and forgave that.
But just when I thought they would go with their logic of killing off characters - they made a move that enraged everyone in the Western world.
The wooden log, the robo-samini... Actress was extremely bad. You can be stiff in your first role, but later on with the drama you just loosen up. Yucheon overcame this, she shone by the end of SKKS, and he was stiff in the first 4 episodes as well. What this says to us? (owner of this blog loves Yucheon?) When you have even a tiny grain of talent, you can make it. This girl doesn't. She ruined the drama, and writers as well, because it's not entirely her fault. She couldn't act, but it was for the writers that they put her in the constant focus.
Official bio of Dongsu states he had one spouse named Jinju (called Lady Yu) and one kid with her. What drama did? Ended with a happy pair of Idiot and Wood...
I realized something was wrong with me and this drama when I didn't watch episode 20 for 2 weeks. But I was immersed too much into The Revenge's Man so I couldn't find time and will. Somehow episodes after 18 weren't as involving as before. I just watched them, I didn't enjoy them, and that's a huge sin in my concept of watching. When I don't care for characters anymore, that's the end. I tricked myself until episode 26 (truth be told, I skipped episode 24, and just like I thought - I didn't lose anything), but then I realized I just can't. Plus, I couldn't turn the blind eye on the way they treated Jinju in this story. They have given her so much time screen and importance - it was her that saved Dongsu few times risking her own life. It was her that protected The Log and her oh-so-important ginsaeng trade (that had no impact on the story whatsoever). It was her that went into gambling house for money to provide for the trade and spy on the place. What The Log was doing? Mostly standing and trying to smile. And Dongsu? Let me not flame more...
It's not "breaking Kdrama rules" at all. It's just going against the history. Unless Wooden lady took later the name of Jinju, which is very, very unlikely. I wouldn't mind that if nothing was really known about Dongsu, but hell, we have exact dates of his birth and death, we have his name in official documents, he left big legacy in martial arts. So, just like in the case of Prince Sado, distorting truth and history for drama sake, is a crime.
I'm disappointed and angry I invested so much time into this show that could have compete with TPM over the title best sageuk of 2011. I didn't watch 3 last episodes and I know I will not. What's the point?
Partially I could understand the pairing if in the last episode they showed the real one. Everyone makes mistakes when it comes to falling in love, so yes, I wouldn't mind if Dongsu's first love interest was robo-samini. But hell, seeing him as he had eyes only for the Totem pole that did absolutely nothing in the whole story, and didn't even comforted him properly, enraged me even more. They could be lovey-dovey for all I care, but they should have made Dongsu aknowledge Jinju's existence.
Oh well, I had such high hopes for this drama, I enjoyed it up to the episode 18/20 around. But then the story took a weird turn and I wasn't pleased at all. Writers and PD made such decision, fine. But me, as a viewer and ardent sageuk fan was hoping for a great show. Now we got one of the most screwed up series of 2011. I have the right to say that.
