Forgotten_Soul

With how highly this drama was praised and the genres listed, I might have had the wrong expectations going into this.

But let's start with the good parts first:
🟢 Lee Dong Wok as Jeong Jinman was so good. Love his acting, love the characters he plays and love how he's never stupid but still human in his mistakes.
Oddly enough, this is the drama where I finally understand why people consider Lee Dong Wok a good actor. Despite this probably being his most stone-face role I have seen him in, his eyes speak volumes. And I love acting that's heavy on tiny expressions, especially around the eyes.
The very good acting also had a huge effect on my investment into the characters. I genuinely cared for them and hoped for them to either die or make it.
The story itself isn't overly complex, but not too simple either, with multiple strings coming together in one place.
Considering the genre, there's very few plot armor, plotholes or stupid mistakes.
Lastly, I should mention the great OST. Listening to it as a standalone, some tracks made me feel physically uncomfortable while others felt warm and homey. Someone really did their job in setting mood and atmosphere.

🟠 Now here's the things where opinions might differ:
First and foremost: Why did I have to wait for rainy days to watch this in order to actually see what's happening on my screen? Why is everything so damn dark?
Regarding the characters, Jeong Jian was well-crafted, considering she didn't know what she got into. A tad more badassery would have been neat at times though. Some more connections between what her uncle taught her and how she employed it would have helped in that regard while also emphasising the drama's main theme.
Side characters were very stringently written and had clear roles, but their impact on what was happening never went beyond their scope for the plot.

🔴 My biggest issue with this drama though was the patience it needed and the in comparison low payoff. There's very few action scenes in the first couple episodes and while as the viewer I knew what was going on very quickly, I was forced to wait for the characters to figure it out at their own pace.
Througout the drama, scenes are presented from different perspectives which often felt like stalling. Some add-ons were nice and contributed to context and suspension, often enhancing emotional investment in side characters, while others didn't add enough to be worth my time. For an action drama this had a whole lot of talking, plotting and waiting.
The whole anachronical way of storytelling was totally not my cup of tea. Ending the episodes on a thrilling cliffhanger and then starting off the next in an entirely different timeline works wonders in unengaging me over and over again.
Once I got immersed into the new scenery, it was easily engaging and I did binge this in just a couple days. But being thrown off over and over when I was impatiently waiting for things to go sideways was painful to watch. I love my plot to be in order.

The final slightly off aftertaste was enhanced by the ending. Not only was it rushed, the only reason why I kept watching got totally left untouched. Very dissatisfying. I had rather not watched scenes on repeat and get a more detailed ending than spending so much time on things I could easily figure out myself. Although plot over characters might be a personal preference, just ten more minutes would have worked wonders in making the ending less abrupt and actually providing emotional satisfaction.

Overall, my expectations were a tad off which didn't help the watching experience. This mixture of action, gore and plot was strange and unexpected. I don't recommend eating while watching though, you'll end up glued to your screen forgetting about food anyways.
It's a good drama. If you have good patience. I think I ordered mine from Wish.