Overdramatized convoluted mess

A murderer husband and his detective wife.

What has he really done in the past? Who is he? How about his parents? Is he a psychopath? How long will he be able to keep this from his wife? Will he end up killing her? Will she kill him?

Maybe the show will answer all these questions or not. I’m only 5 episodes in and I’m beginning to not care. As usual, the show started out well but this is just another unfortunate case of the writer falling in love with his own cleverness and didn’t know when to stop. The story gets more and more absurd and convoluted with bait and switch tactics and red herrings.

The FL does a good job playing her role. I’ve never seen her but she’s good at expressing her emotions. The ML often overplays his character like he’s giving a performance instead of playing a character.

The relationship between the ML and his frenemy, the reporter, is probably the dumbest thing so far. The ML kidnaps the reporter for recognizing him and keeps him in his basement for days and threatened to kill him. Well, after all that, they sort of work together because the ML has a video of some sort? Er…

I also have to point out how terrible of an actress that plays the ML’s mom is. She’s beyond terrible.

Also, there are so many names to keep track of and it gets harder to track because you don’t really see these characters but they get mentioned a lot.

We’ll see how it goes from here but not expecting much. I’m beginning to think that a lot of people just give 9s and 10s no matter what.

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Cross dressing prince and his understanding mother

I typically enjoy historical dramas as I find them fascinating. I prefer the traditional ones where characters act and talk like they belong in that time period. I guess this one is called fusion drama (?) where it’s a mix of old and modern ways of doing things. I did enjoy the first couple of episodes because even though these historical shows are all about palace politics, I found this angle to be fresh and intriguing. The queen trying to save her own princes from certain death while trying to hide the crown prince’s seemingly incurable illness. This premise was fascinating and I loved Kim Hye Su’s performance as the queen.

Well, that was until I watch the third episode where we find out one of the queen’s own sons is a cross dresser who likes to wear make up. The palace people find out about it including the queen grandmother who seems to have no love for these princes. I guess all that is certainly a possibility and the queen trying to hide the fact is also a possibility. What I have a hard time believing is that the queen not only empathized with the prince, she took the prince out of the palace in the middle of the night (without even trying to cover themselves) and took him to some guy who painted the prince dressed up as a woman? What? Wouldn’t this artist tell others? What was he told in the first place? Completely ridiculous. I don’t know where this is going but it’s completely out of the question in this time period. If you wan to insert your 2022 PC stuff, at least use the appropriate time period. I have no idea why they thought a plot line like this was even necessary but hopefully, they’ll move on from this arc.

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Good show but meanders a lot

Update during the final episode.

As predicted, they ruined the show at the end. They gave themselves a little over 40 minutes to wrap up Nak-su/Mu-duk/Jin bu-yeon story thread. Nobody received any consequences of their actions including Lady Jin and her husband. How did Jin Mu escape and went missing when he was literally surrounded by the entire assembly of sorcerers? The prince just casually runs into Jin Mu in the “secret” room everyone knew about? Worst yet, the prince basically listens to Jin Mu and gets manipulated? Jin Mu had a bell that he can use to control Nak-Su? Now that Nak-Su resurfaces, everyone forgot what Jin -Mu did? What?

I haven’t see many Hong sisters’ work but I guess this is their MO and they couldn’t help themselves.

Update after Ep. 17.

I’m lowering this show to 7.

I’m a little shocked after the latest episode where the king wanted to kill a person just to see the ice stone’s power. What’s more shocking is that people actually went along with it. This is so nuts.

Basically, this episode is the culmination of how this show meandered the entire time. They knew who the bad guys were but they were busy doing stupid stuff to justify 20 episodes. Now, here we are…

Review after 15 episodes.

I’ve watched 15 episodes so far. I’m enjoying it quite a lot so far.

A few points.

1. It’s not as action packed as I thought it would be. Mostly just drama. Lots of talking but done fairly well.
2. It meanders quite a bit. We find out who the bad guys are fairly early on along with the main characters. But they don’t do a whole lot with it for a long time. They do mention it and do some digging around here and there. But the good guys spend a lot of time doing trivial stuff in between. I guess they need enough filler for 20 episodes.
3. Main character Jang Uk is pretty unlikeable. He had a chip on his shoulder for not having the power first. Then when he actually gets it, he wastes his time refusing to train. He knows that a lot depends on him getting strong including Nak-su getting her power back. It’s frustrating watching him wasting his time. But of course, him being the main character, he continues to get strong without putting a lot of effort. He’s also petty and cocky. Hard to like this guy.
4. Mu deuk is great. Love the character herself, her story and acting were all great. Jung So Min is great as usual.
5. Four heirs to the four great families were advertised to be the elites of the elites. But they mostly turned out to be major duds. Incompetent and goofy except Yul. Huge let down.
6. This show has no shortage of great supporting characters. Maid servant Kim, Master Lee, Songrim’s leader, and the prince. So much fun watching them. Love the prince!
7. Jin Mu, the main bad guy so far is done well. He seems sinister and dark. Well done.
8. Not a big fan of how the story unfolds. They show you something and then go back to show what really happened. It gets tiring after a while.
9. Looks like they spent a lot of money and effort creating the world. CG looks pretty good for the most part. Wire-fu… not so much.

I’m looking forward to see how this ends. Just found out that there will be a part 2. Interesting.

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