2
Miamoryhj
Middle Earth <3
This review may contain spoilers
this review contains a little bit spoilers at the end!!!
I do recommend the drama to people who like oh yeon seo, Lee Honey, Jang hyuk(or charismatic actors), who like logical political strategies. who like fighting scenes, who like historical dramas, romance, who like gender bender! If you like only happy endings (like me), if you hate rushed endings, bad endings and everything concerned with endings then hmmm more than telling you I don't recommend, I'd rather say be warned and prepare that the ending is bad. It's mosntly the last 20 minutes of the last episode i think. When you think about it, they actually do show some kind of "happy ending" but I didn't find it happy.
intro:
I watched this drama for Jang Hyuk, as I fell in love with him after Chuno (Slave hunters). I also watched this drama a long time ago so i don't remember it quite well. I just wrote a review for it on another website before so I wanted to move that review here. I have also watched this drama long before the Scarlet hearts.
Acting/Cast:
Well, acting in this drama is top notch! Jang Hyuk never disappoints. He is amazing actor and Oh Yeon Seo also did a great job as a female lead. Other actors were also great! I think Jang Hyuk really suits historical dramas! I totally like the way he talks, his beard, and long hair. He is amazing!! <3
Music and cinematography:
Music was okay, nothing that was left in my memory, but nothing bad that can keep one away from watching. It was normal. The cinematography is also normal, i included it just because the Scarlet Hearts which depicts the same period has an incredible cinematography! this one is normal, nothing fancy, but nothing bad either.
Characters:
As acting was great characters could really stand out! I really really like this version of Wang So. He is cool, strong, active, funny, with a scar in his heart from his childhood and all, as he is an exiled prince, but still he doesn't have inferiority complex because of that. Anyway I totally liked his version of Wang So much much much better than the one in Scarlet Hearts. Maybe because I love Jang Hyuk. He played the king as a beggar very well, at first you watch and think he is really a peasant or street gangster and all, but then later you slowly start to think that this guy is suited to be a king! that is is the True King of this nation!! (I didn't get that feeling from Scarlet hearts unfortunately, maybe because i'm biased :) apologies to scarlet hearts' fans^^)
among characters i can't leave out the women in this drama. Great female characters! very strong and not losing not men with their thoughts and strategies. Very smart! The female lead is a real business lady and the second female lead is a real politician.
I kinda like that there is no overwhelming amount of beautiful princes dying one after another. Though the real story was like that I think.
Story:
The whole idea of the story is awesome! If you have watched Scarlet hearts you will now that Wang So was an exiled prince who later is meant to become a king. Here the prophecies sound somehow more interesting for me. The male lead is a prince that was exiled because of the prophecy which foretells that he will turn the country into a river of blood. And the female lead is a princess of Balhea who nearly escaped death from her own people because of another prophecy which foretells that she will become a light of another country! The royal fortune teller tells the king that his son's curse can stop and he can become the greatest king despite the prophecy he he meets/marries a light! a woman that is born under a certain star. Unfortunately that woman is not our female lead as no one knows about her real self. I also enjoyed the gender bender here!
Other than those beautiful prophecies i totally liked that this drama is very very smart! sometimes you watch a drama and die to tell all the characters do or not to do something. Well in this drama people can take one information combine it with another and get a new answer which helps them build their moves! They are all smart and strong and I liked it a lot. the story goes on really well but then suddenly "Poof!!" and everything disappears ><
a little bit SPOLERS ahead.
What I didn't like and biggest flow of this drama:
one is that from the middle, near the end of the drama, the girl starts to cry a lot and i don't quite like it. Second is, as many people already told, it's of course the ending! it ruined the whole drama for me and for many i think. I can understand why the leads can't stay together. The female lead is a strong business woman she wouldn't be able to live happily as a royal concubine, closed inside the palace walls. I understand it, but still the ending was rushed and not well made. It seems as they just tried to wrap it up very quickly without thinking through it well. so the minus 2 points is for the ending.
The overall score for me is 8.5. It would have been 10 if not for the ending. And it would have been 3 if not the great plot (+jang hyuk) before the ending.
I do recommend the drama to people who like oh yeon seo, Lee Honey, Jang hyuk(or charismatic actors), who like logical political strategies. who like fighting scenes, who like historical dramas, romance, who like gender bender! If you like only happy endings (like me), if you hate rushed endings, bad endings and everything concerned with endings then hmmm more than telling you I don't recommend, I'd rather say be warned and prepare that the ending is bad. It's mosntly the last 20 minutes of the last episode i think. When you think about it, they actually do show some kind of "happy ending" but I didn't find it happy.
intro:
I watched this drama for Jang Hyuk, as I fell in love with him after Chuno (Slave hunters). I also watched this drama a long time ago so i don't remember it quite well. I just wrote a review for it on another website before so I wanted to move that review here. I have also watched this drama long before the Scarlet hearts.
Acting/Cast:
Well, acting in this drama is top notch! Jang Hyuk never disappoints. He is amazing actor and Oh Yeon Seo also did a great job as a female lead. Other actors were also great! I think Jang Hyuk really suits historical dramas! I totally like the way he talks, his beard, and long hair. He is amazing!! <3
Music and cinematography:
Music was okay, nothing that was left in my memory, but nothing bad that can keep one away from watching. It was normal. The cinematography is also normal, i included it just because the Scarlet Hearts which depicts the same period has an incredible cinematography! this one is normal, nothing fancy, but nothing bad either.
Characters:
As acting was great characters could really stand out! I really really like this version of Wang So. He is cool, strong, active, funny, with a scar in his heart from his childhood and all, as he is an exiled prince, but still he doesn't have inferiority complex because of that. Anyway I totally liked his version of Wang So much much much better than the one in Scarlet Hearts. Maybe because I love Jang Hyuk. He played the king as a beggar very well, at first you watch and think he is really a peasant or street gangster and all, but then later you slowly start to think that this guy is suited to be a king! that is is the True King of this nation!! (I didn't get that feeling from Scarlet hearts unfortunately, maybe because i'm biased :) apologies to scarlet hearts' fans^^)
among characters i can't leave out the women in this drama. Great female characters! very strong and not losing not men with their thoughts and strategies. Very smart! The female lead is a real business lady and the second female lead is a real politician.
I kinda like that there is no overwhelming amount of beautiful princes dying one after another. Though the real story was like that I think.
Story:
The whole idea of the story is awesome! If you have watched Scarlet hearts you will now that Wang So was an exiled prince who later is meant to become a king. Here the prophecies sound somehow more interesting for me. The male lead is a prince that was exiled because of the prophecy which foretells that he will turn the country into a river of blood. And the female lead is a princess of Balhea who nearly escaped death from her own people because of another prophecy which foretells that she will become a light of another country! The royal fortune teller tells the king that his son's curse can stop and he can become the greatest king despite the prophecy he he meets/marries a light! a woman that is born under a certain star. Unfortunately that woman is not our female lead as no one knows about her real self. I also enjoyed the gender bender here!
Other than those beautiful prophecies i totally liked that this drama is very very smart! sometimes you watch a drama and die to tell all the characters do or not to do something. Well in this drama people can take one information combine it with another and get a new answer which helps them build their moves! They are all smart and strong and I liked it a lot. the story goes on really well but then suddenly "Poof!!" and everything disappears ><
a little bit SPOLERS ahead.
What I didn't like and biggest flow of this drama:
one is that from the middle, near the end of the drama, the girl starts to cry a lot and i don't quite like it. Second is, as many people already told, it's of course the ending! it ruined the whole drama for me and for many i think. I can understand why the leads can't stay together. The female lead is a strong business woman she wouldn't be able to live happily as a royal concubine, closed inside the palace walls. I understand it, but still the ending was rushed and not well made. It seems as they just tried to wrap it up very quickly without thinking through it well. so the minus 2 points is for the ending.
The overall score for me is 8.5. It would have been 10 if not for the ending. And it would have been 3 if not the great plot (+jang hyuk) before the ending.
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