[First Impression] Alice

 

Time travel is notoriously hard to get right and to present in a form without many plot holes and inconsistencies. There is not even one work of fiction that gets it right, and the one that was closest to it was SyFy series 12 Monkeys. And only because they invented their own mythology of time. 

Friends and Foes

   George Michael sang in Star People 97: "It's a dream with a nightmare stuck in the middle" and this one sentence perfectly describes the latest mess in Gaksital. I want to say it loud and clear - I don't like the love line there. I just don't. And it's not because I don't like love story in a drama/movie/book in general. I do like it. But a proper one, when I actually can see it. If I don't feel those knots you (or maybe just me) feel while looking at some love on screen, it means I don't care about characters, and I usually have no interest in drama either.
I don't feel "love" there between Kangto and Oh "Pansy" Mokdan. This is why it's this "nightmare" in the middle of an overall great series.
With few ladies we devised even a plot for her - self-sacrifice for her "wuuv", for her country and people. Just, please, disappear. In Capital Scandal we also had a main love interest of our own Seon Woowan (Kang Jihwan), but the girl was brave and had guts! Mokdan is just lukewarm, overcooked noodles.
Enough of this, back to politics...

Shunji = Kangto

-To him while yet an infant Pallas gave- (…)

-Two drops of blood that from the Gorgon fell.

-And on the human frame what power have these?

-The one works death, the other heals disease.

(Ion by Euripides)

The last time any drama made me think of and dissect so much every second scene was The Princess’ Man. Both series are set in tumultuous and bloody times in Korean history, the former when Prince Suyang deposed his nephew and had hundreds of people slaughtered and the latter during Japanese occupation. Both series are tense and heavy. And both deal with treason.

Gaksital

   I had my reasons I didn't want to start this drama. Park Giwung scares the living crap out of me and I knew they casted him for a reason. A good, scary reason. Nevertheless, since it's a period drama, I had to check even the first episode, and I sinked. Sinked so deep that I can say hello to Satan himself through his roof.

There is one distinctive trait that separates certain dramas from the rest, some are based on written text preceding the screenplay. This way, a drama usually avoids plotholes, sudden losing of substance or sudden changes that disrupt the flow. I wrote "usually", because sometimes this happens also to said series. And some original works can keep pace and idea clear.