Original, heartwarming, thoughtful, hilarious with quiet a few really amazing characters

I absolutely adored this saeguk. I binged it in almost 3 days. The concept is fascinatingly original, the characters and plot deliciously mature, I'd say there's almost no part of this show that was unnecessary (something very rare in Kdramas). I practically started watching bcz everyone was hating it despite the unusual plot summary (I have no idea why'd people not admire a well-made project like this). It has some veteran actors in their best forms playing some of the best developed characters. The king and the mother-in-law of the Jo family were flawless.
In fact, it has one of the finest negative characters I've seen in a while. And she's a smart, wise, plotting woman who is infinitely complex as a character to simply be a villain. I loved that dialogue when she said, "Must you disappoint me till the end?" She literally savored the death of her husband! And Rowoon's character improved with every episode. I loved how frank Jung Woo is. He confessed multiple times, and with such heart! It's a beautiful, thoughtful drama. The exaggerated comedy complemented the dark assassination plots. I actually enjoyed how childlike our hero is, his innocence never undermined his courage. And Sun Duk is such a mature character, I loved how she listened to the encounter of the princess and Jung Woo, I don't think the expression of love can get any more profound. I loved how Jung Woo mentioned his remark to his father as cruel. Those are bits of life. The matchmaking of lady Yoeju too was fine in its deductive finesse, it was a display of strategy at its finest. Lady Sam Soon was a literal delight. I wasn't fond of all the pairings (I'd have liked the farmer to fall for Doo Ri, it was so predetermined I wished they'd show that people don't always fall in love with who they're supposed to be with. The 14-year-old prince and 24-year-old lady Ha Na was another daring move. I don't know if 14-year-old kids actually fall for older women like this or vice versa especially considering how grown-up Ha Na is and how mature her taste is) but at this point I'd rather not complain (and it all worked out in the end like pieces coming together in a puzzle).
Could not find a single plot hole in the drama till the end. And I have to mention the playful music and stunning visuals. The interiors were especially detailed. The pingfengs (folding screens) in every room were so pretty and distinct (I especially liked the mother-in-law's minimalist and the princess's maximalist flower-patterned screens). In a way they reflected the personality of the inhabitants. There were also indicative cinematography, pretty visuals and nice locations (probably common in every high budget saeguk, so I digress).
The ending was fitting, wise, not shocking but reassuring and very proper. I loved it. I think the last I contemplated rating a Kdrama 9 was 'Flower of Evil' and even that didn't have a perfect ending. This was a well written, well-acted and well executed drama, which managed to strike the right balance between light and dark and remained warm till the end.

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Could've been better but if you like Saeguk genre visuals...not bad.

For the first 8 episodes as I watched and probed for fallacies, I wasn't sure what the viewers found problematic. It was really entertaining, true to the period-vampire genre, manageably melodramatic, okayishly romantic and the melodious music completely complemented the tone of the show. After that though, the melodrama heightens and believe me it's so hard to swallow. The scholar dude gets hurt so easily, stumbles around and falls in the arms of his lover way too often at the detriment of the show. I cringed hard at the bathtub scene. It was supposed to be romantic but it's so obviously wattpad romance, I'm not sure why he was 'in' the tub, he could just cut his wrist sitting outside? And a little overacting from Joon Gi, I mean I understand the pressure to bring out the beast and the pain together but still...his pining for Yung Sun wasn't really my cup of tea.
About the plot; it's meticulous in its own way and the period Korea felt like a perfect place to harbour one or two vampires. But from the context of vampire literature the show offers nothing new, it has all been done before. Which is why as a viewer I wanted them to at least get the well-worn story right. If it's not original, it can at least be good among the knock offs...but it falters. I grew tired of the book seller girl and her unwavering love? And everyone is too willing to give up their lives, lets say the heroes are like that, but so many people just blatantly talk back to Gwi as if they have no will to live-_- And I needed a little more background for Gwi, they could've cut down on the 'Scholar-Book seller walk in the woods' a little to give the villain some body. And anyone would know that an obvious way to kill a vampire is to trap him in the sunlight...it's odd that no one could found a way to do that or even think about it.
But it wasn't bad, the costumes are good, the first half is really enjoyable and the romance had its ground when the scholar wasn't so willing to feel so much. The rain scene in the forest is my favorite. I think there was scope of more internalised complexities. The prime minister's daughter and the scholar could have a better arc and the prince and the book seller too to counter the obvious romantic leads. Crown prince totally liked the book seller girl but then his interest just suddenly transformed? It was weird.
And the ending needed to be tragic. I was hoping the prince would marry Yung Sun and they both would miss their lovers and still love each other in their grief. Anyways, this show has 20 long episodes but the end doesn't give you that giddy feeling you want after such a long ride. So, 7.5 from me. Even though the parts are not good on their own, the show holds its ground and the logic of the story keeps you around. There are some nice acting too - the double role of the queen/scholar's past lover was nice. Gwi delivers some nice expressions of loneliness and arrogance while looking really pretty. I ended up liking the gisaeng Hyun Soo, she was elegant and always aware of her priorities. And even though the music is blaring at times, ruining subtle scenes, the OSTs aren't bad on their own. So, not all that bad, I guess.

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Fun, energetic, tense. And despite itself, the show somehow succeeds.

The plot isn't the deal. The deal is the acting and the pulpable tension. So, our hero Bong Sang Pil is an outgoing, fun-loving, secretly revenge-seeking (or maybe that's not so secret?) and a Batman level martial artist lawyer. After receiving a notebook full of incriminating details, he's back to his hometown Kisung from Seoul after 18 years, to tie some loose ends and finally meet the girl he was stalking for all these years?. I think I've established that I'm not a fan of the plot which kept unwinding in an incrementally poor way as the series went on. So many of the actions of so many characters don't make sense and can be put to questions that you have to turn a blind eye to those plot aspects. Which is why I won't go towards that route.
Instead, lets talk about the things I found absolutely unforgivable.
1. Lee Joon Gi is an amazing actor and I'm here partially for him and if he came off as anything close to cool, cute or even redeemable that's only because he's freaking good at his job; the script didn't help him at all. His character is this mix of two opposite spectrums, a flashy, quirky, charming guy and also a tortured, deeply vengeful and intensely driven man who was internally grooming himself for 18 years for revenge. Yet somehow his dialogues are the least powerful. There's no fun, punch or riveting sensation in the words he utters, especially later in the show. Joon Gi is still very good and he nails the 'fooling around charming guy ritual' and comes off as both cute and crazy at the same time but as the lead, he needed all the help from the script.
2. The romance needed work. Ha Jae Yi is a strong woman, understanding and smart too, but with attorney Bong her attitude needed to be established with care. Does she understand him better? Sees some parts of him others don't? Does she feel the same drive for a similar kind of revenge? We didn't get that. Their brief 'alone moments' had impact but they had no buildup and so felt out-of-place at times and ultimately did not amount to much. It was a little sad because I felt they could do better with more time or a better script.
3. The employees at the law firm: to be honest I'm not sure why they were needed. As the series progressed, they started to appear more to nibble at my brain?. Most of the romance was hijacked because they kept interrupting, and they are so absolutely unfunny that it's awful on a new level.
4. The dialogues: God did they need a complete makeover! Both our leads suffer because of it and at times the entire story.
All these complaints, but I still loved this show. Rated it 8 when the average suggested 7.5. Why?
1. Ahn Oh Joo played by Choi Min Soo. This dude knocked it out of the park. He got better every episode. He had amazing chemistry with both Bong Sang Pil and Cha Moon Sook. Just when I thought his face-off with Judge Cha would be the thing to look forward to, he had that fun battle alongside Sang Pil, he was like those fun Marvel villains that you end up rooting for, but this is a guy who doesn't flinch from killing a kid. He was so tremendously good at being larger than life with his attitude, outlaw swag, cool stares, quirky noises and believe it or not, fitting dialogues that he's literally my highlight of this show. The MVP without a doubt.
2. The music: I liked the music for the tense scenes. They conveyed more than the crappy dialogues. There was tension, loss, grief, haziness from the end of a long-running game in the tunes. Especially towards the final episodes I appreciated the music.
3. Suk Kwan Dong. I didn't give much credit to the guy at first, but man did he deliver! He was funnier than that 'gag reel group' and yet had a weight to him. I couldn't believe it when his character ended up being the best the show offered. His character had real growth marked by a very real end. And the actor, Choi Dae Hoon - I've seen him in Flower of Evil where he plays a completely different role - I'd say he's pretty phenomenal.
4. With all the bad af writing the show still somehow brings up a sense of giddy excitement that have you at the edge of your seat until the end. I read somewhere that the ending was hasty, but it wasn't. I liked how the plot stretched to the very end. On the reflective side of the good guys this show was miserable, so I was glad they did not focus on that.
All in all, a fun ride. Lee Joon Gi, Choi Min Soo and to some degree Lee Hye Young are the real heart of this show, at their best they show what this drama could have been, and I was sort of content with that.

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Disappointment: The story has no purpose or point

I was excited because Tori Matsuzaka was starring in it, a versatile actor who have made a point of choosing diverse and compelling scripts. The first couple of episodes I was hoping that there will be some character growth, that the story has a destination in mind but it simply got lost among its thick humour and constant gag reels. The dialogues are weak and except for the decidedly comedic deliveries, none hit me with any significance. Taishi's speeches were tailor made for second hand embarrassment which they could've easily dialed down a little. It felt like it's not just Taishi at a loss for words but also the screen writers.
I had this false expectation that maybe this show is a grounded reflection on marriage, even if not completely sober or mature. I was absolutely wrong. The story just goes on being relentlessly redundant and pointless and finally turns annoying. The ninth episode was completely unnecessary. Except for Matsuzaka's gigantic effort in being a complete airhead with a whiff of sensitivity, there is practically nothing of value in this show. I like Naka Riisa too but her presence is just too loud and the plot doesn't help in establishing the chemistry she could've had (or needed to have) with Matsuzaka at all. The show just never finds a common ground between being a satire, a emotional drama and a plain comedy. It looks down on modern values while simultaneously pushing for them which just doesn't work. Nine hours of my life were just lost.
I wouldn't have minded much if I watched it with my usual sceptical hesitancy but for some reasons I was too hopeful of the show...the trailer looked interesting and the cast seemed promising...but god was I in for a massive disappointment! It's hard to watch someone as talented as Matsuzaka being wasted in a series like this-_-

PS: except for a slightly husky voice, I just couldn't see what it is that people find so charming in Nishikido.

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Watch if you want to be surprised by Takei

Emi Takei was phenomenal in the role of Hikari. After her initial psychotic behavior it would seem impossible to root for such a character but she acted with such nuance, balance and heart it was nothing short of amazing. The emotions of being deeply troubled, traumatized, being hopelessly yet intensely in love, the immaturity with a hint of wise beyond her age aspects of Hikari were expressed brilliantly. Compared to the character of Natsumi, Hikari felt layered, complex and emotionally vulnerable in the most compelling way. I was shocked to realize that she had much more chemistry with Shuji and would have made a better couple which would also deliver an unique and fitting ending to the show (after all this show covered all sorts of social taboos).
PS: the student teacher interactions presented in the show were weird and I can bet far from being real, but a forced suspension of disbelief would do the charm-_-

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Seo Yea Ji and the plots within the plot

I liked two things about this show. The soulful side plots and how brilliant Seo Yea Ji is in it. The whole animated cuteness, innovative camera work, comedy to both heighten and lighten the serious tone and a journey of a few troubled soul to find happiness in a goth fairytale package is mostly fun and moving at its peak. But it's way simpler than I expected, more melodramatic than I prefer and a little short of deserving all the hype imo. The acting was superb. Characters are fun. The tonal transitions from comedy to drama are really smooth. The hospital director, Juri, Mu Young's publisher are such good supporting characters, so good that this drama feels full of good things, but as you can imagine, there's a 'but'. Despite the good parts, the melodrama sometimes cheapens the story. And the one character I was constantly annoyed with is Gang Tae. He is really important to the plot and offers many emotional scenes and it's not that the actor failed to deliver but his self-pity is colossal?. Half the drama he spends feeling sorry for himself, running and pretending. I just couldn't like him. I read that many found Mu Young rude and psychotic in an unlikable way, but she was perfect, she is larger than life by design and contrary to her character detail shows more emotions, maturity (especially when it matters) and longing to connect. Gang Tae keeps rejecting. I'd call her unrestrained interest in Gang Tae unacceptable obsession if he didn't reciprocate her madness in his passive regressive style. The melodrama too ruins the show, Gang Tae is shocked to find out the culprit (even though we viewers are not?), his face is displayed from all directions for 5 minutes?. And in what age are we living to hold children responsible for the crimes of their parents? Their emotional excessiveness was about such a futile point that it lost gravity. This drama could've been 12 episodes imo. But let's applaud Seo Yea Ji again, for bringing an imposing, soul seeing, lonely yet liberatingly free goth figurine together with a childish, thirsty for love, 'easy' to please comedic rendition of someone so abused. Sang Tae too was a very complimentary counterpart to her, and the actor is really enmeshed brilliantly with the character. It's okay, but the ending did not sweep me off my feet or the message; the harmony, the theme, the tune - I really appreciated but the sum of it - not so much. It's still really good for the amazing parts it's made of. A solid 8.

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Chaotic humour; silly fantasy; cute, laid-back, quirky plotline that delivers more than it lets on.

So, a professor and his young TA goes to a remote area (TA's home province) and stumbles upon a fairy cafe and meets, yeah, a fairy, very much in flesh and blood, who's waiting for her human husband's reincarnation for 699 years. The story is pretty playful and have a very quirky and sometimes childlike sense of humour. A triad of fairies in tacky clothes only exist for constant gag reels. At first, I was a bit annoyed, but Geon Han is really good, and they are kind of ridiculously funny sometimes. But as I said, Shin Seon is my fave and I won't lie - out of annoyance I did skip a few scenes of the other two. The heart of the story though initially comes off as a romance triangle, and believe me when I say, without any of the bitterness you'd associate with the genre. I was surprised that some viewers didn't like the pairing, because the show pretty much one sidedly kept hinting at who this mystery husband could be. Now, about the three central characters - it's surprisingly refreshing to see someone so young (and gawd so sweet!) put into this mix with such a firm footing. Moon Chae Won has to be at least 10 years older than Seo Ji Hoon (and he was probably 21 when he filmed this drama) and oddly it never felt particularly problematic considering how she first appeared as a granny. What I loved is how Kim Geum is so boyish and cute and doesn't act like a grown up to counter the maturity of the other characters. He looks young and acts young. It works because despite her 699 years of age, fairy Ok Nam is also a bit childish and liberatingly frank. I had to laugh at the absolute cuteness when she started crying 'kingkongi!?' at the movie theatre and Kim Geum just joined her in the sobbing?. He also looked mighty cute with that flower in his hair. It was fun to see something so different work so smoothly. His professor has the angst and also a sweet brotherly bond with him, but I was never convinced of something special between him and the fairy, the plot was adamant about that part. Then this romance triangle sneakily transformed into a much mysterious story of lost memories and past lives. This drama didn't skimp on the same-sex nods and one of these is crucial to the plot. The ending is surprisingly deeper than the rest of the story, the tension they built for the first half was efficiently used to reveal something deep about the human nature, the desire for revenge and redemption and salvation from resentment. Izy of Mizar was really elegant and captured the pain of a multifaceted and 'faced?' character with heart (I think MDL doesn't have her in the actors list. Odd?). The ending on a whole wasn't bad but Professor Jung received more of a rounded ending than say, Geom. All through the story, in all his forms he has been incredibly good and still suffered greatly. In the end he and the fairy needed to have their alone moment where they finally get to have each other forever.
PS: #Spoon worm Jeom Dol was so cute with those little beady eyes!?
#One of my best comedic moments is how the fairy receives Jeom Dol's egg with a sticky note like 100 years ago from now and I was like 'wth was that?' and then they actually tied this plot up! With a little time-loop! Which made me want to know. from where those towels landed out of nowhere for Kim Geom to take that bath in the fairy falls. But they never said?
#One plot hole: I still don't understand how Izy burned that village. Did she go into the past? Exactly what happened there?
#I'm not a fan of the final scene, but I guess I already said that.
So, all in all, I was surprised that I liked this drama, more so in case of the romance. The drama is too goofy, and the CGI is so bad I have to conclude that it was somehow intentional. Because of this playfulness I was annoyed at times but conversely also laughed quiet a lot (especially later). There is this scene where Ok Nam suddenly starts dancing with the Nigerian exchange coffee fairy (yeah he exists-_-) and that's the spirit of this drama. All the serious moments are often broken by silly comedic tones and despite the silliness the seriousness doesn't falter. I liked that about the drama. So, even though my average score should be 7, I awarded it an extra .5 for the unexpected pleasures.
(Also, I think I watched 2 end credit scenes; I wonder if all the episodes have one?).

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Simply Good

This is a good show. I am at a stage where I never have high expectations from k-dramas and that serves! And I certainly don't trust these high ass ratings in mdl. I never watched Lee Joon Gi act, and tbh this was me trying him out. I recently watched something easy and felt ready to dive into something so famous and judge it for myself and for once, I'm not disappointed. It was a really easy and addictive binge. Both the leads are very convincing in their roles and Lee Joon Gi was simply phenomenal as Do Hyun Su (I don't dig the loud sobs but still...). The story was okay, I think it had more impact emotionally than as a logical mind-blowing thriller. I loved that the 14 years of marriage between the leads held a proportional significance in the plot, that Ji Won trusted Hyun Su and actually did some police work to build that trust. The serial killing aspect had its allotted amount of horror and I have to say Kim Ji Hoon was positively brilliant in acting uncanny. Mostly the story is pretty plot hole free imo, but leave it to me to point out a few oddities.
1. The big ass coincidence of the actual identity of the accomplice. I usually hate these out of the blue completely random coincidences (bcz these are signs of weak screenplays) though in this one I did not mind bcz they carried the rest with precision.
2. The last part where they have Hyun Su and the accomplice cornered, for some reason they were more scared of Hyun Su. It was weird af. At least Ji Won should've ran towards him, imo.
3. The memory loss, it offered some nice insight into Hyun Su but it still felt so unnecessary at times. For someone who lost an entire life, Hyun Su seemed oddly pretty chill to me.
4. They could've dialed down the sobbing, not a fan of loud outbursts and it just kept happening. You want to give something impact, you reduce the frequency of it.
Despite these, I loved the show, remedy those points and it would've been perfect by all measures but does perfection really exist? This drama is meticulous and none of what happens are quote unquote unrealistic in a logical sense. I cared about the detective unit, the cases that built Cha Ji Won as a character, Hyun Su's sister but though he brought some comedic relief I'm not sure about how good Kim Moo Jin was. Hyun Su was really abused and suffered way too much and I feel like only Ji Won and his sister conveys enough sympathy.
The romance was intense and on spot. I would've loved a little more attention on Hyun Su as an individual rather than being defined by his love for Ji Won. I think a tragedy would've fit this story, those kind of 'missing the happy ending by a singular moment'...'an end to a lifetime of suffering lost bcz of just one stray bullet'...but I guess I'm a masochist.
In any case, I liked this series and enjoyed the complimentary music (especially the classical tunes), the superb acting and the gripping tension which persisted for a considerable amount of time. This is truly something to recommend.

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Great potential but wasted as usual-_- Still lovable if watched with limited expectation.

I fell in love with the drama after watching the first episode...it had that genre-bending feeling. 2nd and 3rd episode retained that horror, mystery element. And though things changed afterward, I still enjoyed it till the 8th episode. Then it faltered. I admire that they tried to stretch the story to the end but so not effectively that it hurts! Unlike many, I was waiting for the romance and Lee Jin-uk and Kown Nara have a really nice chemistry in my opinion and that is despite the vague writing that they got.
The idea of reincarnation is tricky and if not dealt with tact, feels stupid. Without their memories, none of the characters are what they were in their past lives. The 1000-year timeline is so long that it minimizes the connections in between. The relationship between Dan Hawl and Sol could have been explored more. The romance of Hawl and Sangun could have been more mature and direct, after all, they are grownups and the fatalistic outlook towards their relationship felt weird to me. I don't know if Lee Joon worked too hard for a character that is written in such a lackluster fashion, but he created a buzz that the story couldn't justify, so all his eccentricity gets reduced to a certain sort of nuttiness! No motive just wishful thinking and an unbelievably adamant belief in his victimhood. The monsters had no underlying plot, they just exist and Hawl just kills them...for episodes of running from them, this is disappointingly underwhelming. By episode 12 I sort of lost hope about how they'd wrap it in only 4 episodes and rightfully so.
But they did provide some nice moments- especially Hawl's revisiting of Ms. Lee's life and Sangun's following comforting scene is a highlight of mine from the later episodes. What I don't like in many k dramas is how the story ends long before its runtime (maybe I haven't watched many) so, I liked how they were keeping the plot tight but who knew that would be a double-edged sword?-_- The only redeeming quality is the performance of the cast which I thoroughly enjoyed. Even in the most childish scenes Nara and Jinuk had a gravity, their 1000 year past selves weren't even given any time, they just stand and stare at each other and it still worked!
It started off with such a promise and went on with this gusto that I hoped they have something decent for us in the end but that was a misplaced hope. 50 years from now is stretching it so far that it literally doesn't make any impact. The ideal ending would have been in the present. Everything turned so flimsy in the end, I feel like if 1000 years ago Sangun told Hawl that she's leaving him for 20 something years and would come back later- none of this would have happened...or if Hawl tasted a drop of blood somewhere he could have remembered everything much easier and early. And now that I'm thinking I don't know why Ok Eul Tae couldn't kill this version of Sangun, what was the catch?
I guess the victory of the show is in the fact that after this myriad of complaints, I'm still going to say that I mostly liked it. I liked the initial suspense, the pretty visuals, the amazing OST and mostly, the acting. I wish they had done justice to all these great elements by writing a decent plot that in the end wouldn't just fall flat like this.

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