Then why am I still writing this, you ask? Because I think this drama is underrated and people need to know about it. And so, as any good fan would do, I'm here to spread word about this drama so all of you who haven't already watched it, would watch it, and fall in love with Queen In Hyun's Man! (And Queen In Hyun herself too, of course ;) )
The story was perfect! It had suspense, action, romance, cuteness, sexiness, seriousness, drama, humour... and gosh, it was just perfect! I'll be honest, I don't like historical dramas much. Neither do I like action. So I went into this drama with very little hopes of liking it. To my surprise, I loved the historical aspects of it! I even enjoyed the action scenes! The whole time-travelling thing was dealt with very wisely and wasn't confusing or absurd. There is enough suspense to keep you interested. Enough romance to make you go 'Awww!' This drama had everything I look for in a drama!
The acting was amazing! I loved seeing Yoo In Na in a lead role! I've seen her playing supporting roles in a couple of dramas (Secret Garden, You Who Came From The Stars) and I liked her but I didn't know she was this good! She was cute and sassy and I loved her from the very first scene! I also saw that she was very much like me...
I've never seen Ji Hyun Woo before. In fact, I didn't even know about him. Either way, he was brilliant in his role as Kim Boong Doo! And gosh his smile! And the way he looks at Yoo In Na, oh I mean Choi Hee Jin ;) And his double-eyed wink!
One thing I really really liked was that the drama centered more on Kim Boong Doo. That he was the main protagonist. Usually the drama revolves around the girl, but this drama was about the guy. Which was very refreshing to see.
I loved the music in this drama! From the instrumentals to the songs, I loved each and every track on the OST! I especially love how each song holds special meaning. The music is beautiful!
The romance is no less than epic! Everything about this couple is epic! The best part is that they turned into a real-life couple after the drama! My new favourite OTP!
All the other characters were great too! Not much attention was given to the side characters and they were only used to build the story. Some people might not like this but I'm glad they did this because our main characters had much going on in their lives, the last thing the viewers would need is another side story to catch up on.
As I said before, this drama was perfect. And you NEED to watch it! NOW!
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I can tell that the writer in a way was inspired by QIHM for W because some of the twists felt familiar, execution wise. The magical time travel element felt very realistic to me-the rules were established and the drama stayed consistent, both with the characters and the plot.
I'm admittedly a softie when it comes to an epic romance and QIHM had that in spades. It was realistic and genuine, so much so that the palpable longing could be felt across a humongous gap of 300 years. I just loved the soft yet passionate chemistry between Ji Hyun Woo and Yoo In Na. Their relationship was built slowly but truthfully and didn't have any trivial misunderstandings. After all, their biggest obstacle was time itself! Thus, I was sold by the second episode. And can we please give some love to our male lead Boong Do? He's honestly one of the best male leads I have ever seen. He doesn't do noble idiocy, he isn't a jerk at first-he's just honest, kind, intelligent, and logical. He's like a typical second male lead but instead he's a male lead here.
I didn't like Yoo In Ha in The Greatest Love because she was the annoying second lead. Here, however, she was bubbly and wore her heart on her sleeve- very endearing. As I said, JHW and YIN have a great chemistry and In Na's sobbing scenes were so on point for me that I cried along with her.
The drama never slowed down for me; from beginning to end, it was a rollercoaster of emotions and twists. The transitions between modern and sageuk were seamlessly done and the stylistic directing completely added to the overall drama feels. The angst didn't feel draggy. If anything, it felt authentic and the payoff was just oh so gratifying.
So much love for this fabulous fusion drama that I wish I found it earlier! The OST tugged on my heartstrings, especially when the sageuk traditional song came on, played by the Erhu.
However, I can see that supporting characters weren't as important, or weren't used well enough and that's the only tiny complaint that I had while watching this drama. The heart and soul of this drama is carried by the lovely romance between the star-crossed lovers and the obstacles they overcome together. Everything else kind of blurred into the sidelines for me.
I recommend wholeheartedly for those that are suckers for a great romance, as I am. I heart you, show.
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It's about the details
I first watched this drama back in 2015. The only reason I'm finally leaving a review is because I wanted to express how much I love Ji Hyun Woo and Yoo In Na in this drama. The story itself is very easy to understand, in my opinion, others may disagree. I loved the flow of the storyline. The two leads together have the kind of chemistry that's super hard to find in other dramas. I haven't loved a drama's music this much since watching this show. I love the background music, and the OST is refreshing. These days people tend to overdo OSTs way too much. A link that I love, that they show, is her ringtone. I think small details like that are honestly the biggest attraction to rating a drama as a good one. The rewatch value is off the charts for me. I haven't wanted to rewatch a drama this much until I watched Because This Is My First Life. I somehow find the leads' relationship unproblematic and loveable.Whilst this wasn't extremely inventive or showstopping, by the terms of the industry, it truly was a breath of fresh air for me. I had watched several dramas that have toxic and overly dramatic relationships, whilst there are a lot of elements of drama in this show, there were none in the leads' relationship, by itself.
Lastly, Ji Hyun Woo doesn't get enough credit, never has. I love his acting in every thing that I watch him in. He truly is a gifted actor. I had watched this drama long after starting KDramas but lord, I didn't know how this would change me.
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Story (10.0):
This story... I'm personally a fan of both historical and modern day dramas and everything in-between, and while I generally am NOT a fan of time-travel, this plot just fused historical, time-travel, and modern in together in such a way that I couldn't deny the genius. There was a bit of stuff with the time travel and devices used that I felt uneasy with, but it all made perfect sense and couldn't be argued with. I believe this is one of those dramas where everything was planned out ahead of time and it definitely shows.
The only part that I felt dragged a bit was the very first episode when everything was being set up, but after that it was a pleasure to watch. I still get goosebumps from the scene with a time overlay... You'll know what I'm talking about once you watch it.
Acting/Cast (10.0):
Wow. One of my all time favorite couples! They even dated in real life afterward, though they've broken up since. Used to be my favorite drama couple ever, though there are some close runner ups now. The supporting cast is all decent, and play their parts well, even if the characters themselves can be annoying.
Music (8.0):
It's not extremely memorable music by any chance, but it fits the drama very well, often using that dramatic orchestral element that you might find in a historical drama. The songs were also very decent and didn't make me want to cringe, so that's a plus. Nothing I'd download to play back, but I'm giving it an optimistic rating because it fits well enough.
Rewatch Value (9.0):
I have yet to rewatch it. That is ever since I finished it, because as soon as I finished the drama I went back and watched all my favorite parts, which coincidentally happened to include both Yoo In Ah and Ji Hyun Woo... I will definitely enjoy rewatching this one.
Overall (9.5):
After I finished this drama, I probably would have told you that it was my favorite drama ever. Anymore I'm not so certain, but it's at least a contender... Go watch it, and if by episode 8 you don't like it, I'm sorry for you.
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Story: The story is amazing!! They presented each scene with great emotion and they merged the genres of comedy, romance and history so well that it became a masterpiece. There is a reason why this drama is ranked in the top 10.
Acting/Cast: I need not say anything for the cast. As most drama addicts will know, the main cast here is actually going out in real life, so that just adds to the chemistry. You'll know from the conversations and interactions they have with each other that they already had feelings for each other. Their acting will make you so emotionally attached that you'll find yourself feeling the exact same emotions they wanted you to feel.
Music: The OST for this drama was absolutely amazing. The lyrics fit exactly with the story. It will let you feel the emotions of the characters as if you were them. They let you feel the emotions of having to go through the hardships of loving someone who doesn't belong in your world. I may not know all the lyrics to the song, but you don't need to, to know the feelings behind it. Music is after all an international language.
Rewatch Value: Like I said, before you even finish watching it the first time, you will have an urge to watch it again and again. When the series finish, you will wish that the episodes were longer and that there were more episodes to follow. I just finished watching it yesterday after holding it for so long, I regret not watching it sooner. So will you if you keep it on hold.
So overall, this has become one of my top 10 dramas of all time. You will not regret watching it!!! So watch it!!!
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I like the fact that this drama had the setting of modern day and sageuk at the same time. It was such a good drama and the story line was very much my cup of tea. I love how it began and I love how it ended. I'm not going to dwell much into the story since I don't want to go spoiling people around... but what I would like to share regarding the drama is that it has a very unlikely ending. You rarely find this kind of ending in a time loop kind of drama. Maybe in a movie, yes... but not much in dramas. They usually end up weird and unsatisfying.
But this drama has deviated from the unsatisfying ending for me.
The characters where solid and the actors/actresses in it were really good in portraying them. The main actress was initially annoying but I did find her cute at some extent. Then there is the main actor from Joseon era who can skip time from present to future. He had this aristocratic aura around him and I find it weird that he was able to fit into the modern day time instead of freaking out. It was so logical of him. I usually ask myself why do I like such men from sageuk compared to the modern day? I think it's the hanbok or something. Heh.
As for the music, it wasn't something that grabbed my interest but it was able to convey the feelings on each characters emotion which was good enough for me. As for re-watch value, I'm not sure I would re-watch it due that the mystery was already over for me but I would definitely recommend it to people who are into time jumping themes and all those lovey-dovey shiznits. I'm sure this drama will hook them up.
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1) great chemistry between leads. ji hyun woo and yoo in na are PERFECT. not short of kissing scenes or cute scenes, yet not cheesy at all. no 2nd lead syndrome here.
2) ridiculously funny. especially since ji hyun woo's character's from the joseon period and doesn't know how to do many things e.g fastening a seatbelt, which leads to many laughable antics...
3) the seamless transition between the joseon period and 2012 modern korea made it easy to watch. very understandable, maybe except the first episode, but dont let that deter you from watching!!
4) unexpected! a few middle finger-pointing scenes from the actress herself. HAHAHA
please give it more love, it isn't very popular since it's a cable drama, but it's reallyyyy worth it! ?
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1) The plot is amazing. I haven't seen another plot like it. It's snappy, thorough, fast paced, funny and leaves you with no lingering questions.
2) The leads - All I can say is woah...the amount of chemistry the leads have between them comes right across the screen. It's like an atomic bomb - I felt the need to explode because of the chemistry, it just comes out from the screen.
When you watch this drama (I marathoned both times) time goes by so quickly and the plot keeps you interested every minute so there was no urge to skip bits.
p.s. this is my first review so bare with me :) I just had to write a review because this drama is daebak
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