This review may contain spoilers
Seriously? An underrated masterpiece!
(and no, I'm not a Park Jihoon fangirl and I don't usually really like historical kdramas, so keep reading and you'll know why this kdrama is so good and has become my comfy kdrama (I'll probably rewatch it.Usually in historical kdramas, the plot is always the same, the king/father doesn't deserve the position or is manipulated blah blah blah impossible love blah blah blah and you can even tell me "oh but in the beginning of this kdrama the king is exactly this typical pattern that you're talking about" no my dear teddy bear, the king was an important part, since he started the trauma of our dear Sajo Hyun, but the kdrama is much more than that! I wanted Sajo Hyun to become a good king for his people, but more than that, I wanted him to take care of himself, for me, this kdrama deals with psychology and childhood trauma in a subtle way.
As much as it was ANNOYING, the brother became a good villain, the kind that makes your head boil with hate, the scoundrel was smart and full of schemes! So you root so hard for him to get screwed, but he always found a way to get back on his feet, and that made his downfall even more satisfying, I actually laughed out loud evilly!
And, rooting for an "evil spirit" was really an adventure, I hoped he would also find happiness people, don't blame me! (and talking about that, what an excellent performance, playing two characters and making them really different is not easy at all, I could tell by his voice, look and way of acting that Ak Hee had taken over Sajo Hyun's body and that was insane!) Seeing them fighting among themselves at first it broke my heart, because I wanted him to accept this part of himself, to stop being so afraid and putting Ak Hee on a pedestal, Sajo Hyun was already suffering too much from the people around him and still gave too much power to his trauma, becoming his own enemy.
And talking about Yeon Wol, I REALLY LOVE female leads who know how to fight and take care of themselves, her love was genuine but she was still a badass girl!! Most of her scenes was beautiful, I loved watching them, the fights, the dances and everything else, I ended up falling in love with the actress in the process.
And now, talking about the end, REAL SPOILER, and why it's a comfy kdrama to me
Dear Ak Hee, you're not real, you're just a trauma, a personality created to meet the needs that an extremely toxic father and a traumatic experience that occurred in childhood caused! Ak hee It was a version of Sajo Hyun that his father wanted so much, a strong version, who knew how to fight and was so confident! While Sajo Hyun, who loved sewing, was consumed by guilt and pressure, not to mention the loss of his mother by his own insane father. Who here doesn't want to be perfect to the point of meeting the needs that the world causes us? For me, the story was more than just evil spirits, it was about accepting yourself, understanding that you can have flaws, understanding that you can like certain things that aren't typical! Sajo Hyun was intelligent, he sought true solutions for his people and really sought to investigate corruption, but he limited himself too much, he couldn't talk to the ministers or even look them in the eye and at first he only heard them calling him an idiot, like, his own mind preached this vision to himself!
If you put aside the concept of evil spirits for a bit, you will understand how his fight is against himself, just like us in our daily lives, even though the context is different, we can identify with him a lot, I loved seeing him recover his own life and move forward, it really gave me hope of improving my mind and solving my psychological problems one step at a time.
And the ost... its just magical, im listening to that all day!
sorry if there are any mistakes, english is not my first language, but please give this drama a chance.
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