This review may contain spoilers
JWC is approaching perfection. Drama is good but could have been better
What I liked:
1. JCW acting. His dedication to each and every line of each and every scene is simply a joy for everybody's eyes. Every year that passes he becomes even better in the matter of precision of delivery.
2. The casting choices, very much on point.
3. Costumes and settings.
4. The director's view of the tale as a Joseon "pansori" folktale, narrated by a storyteller throughout the 8 episodes. It really put me in a "Chunhyang" mood, and I was expecting Cho Seung-woo to pop up on screen... too bad he didn't!
What I didn't like:
1. I know that adaptations are, in fact, ways to adapt the original source to the view of the screenplayers and director and thus, nobody can really complain. But I think that, since the story is very well known (since 1782!) the authors felt that the plot had to be scrambled a little bit. A little bit too much, in my opinion: nobody gets punished for the cruelty of their manipulations and everyboody lives as if nothing had happened, except for poor JCW's character, who had been nothing but a pawn in the hands of his cousin and of his king all of his life.
2. The horrible, horrible cinematography. Everything is orangy brown, for some reasons I couldn't really understand.
A note for those who expected a chaste and nudity-free kdrama, in which fully grown-up lovers kiss without touching each other with their mouth closed and their eyes wide open... well... this is the wrong 2026 drama, go watch that awful mess named Our sticky love.
1. JCW acting. His dedication to each and every line of each and every scene is simply a joy for everybody's eyes. Every year that passes he becomes even better in the matter of precision of delivery.
2. The casting choices, very much on point.
3. Costumes and settings.
4. The director's view of the tale as a Joseon "pansori" folktale, narrated by a storyteller throughout the 8 episodes. It really put me in a "Chunhyang" mood, and I was expecting Cho Seung-woo to pop up on screen... too bad he didn't!
What I didn't like:
1. I know that adaptations are, in fact, ways to adapt the original source to the view of the screenplayers and director and thus, nobody can really complain. But I think that, since the story is very well known (since 1782!) the authors felt that the plot had to be scrambled a little bit. A little bit too much, in my opinion: nobody gets punished for the cruelty of their manipulations and everyboody lives as if nothing had happened, except for poor JCW's character, who had been nothing but a pawn in the hands of his cousin and of his king all of his life.
2. The horrible, horrible cinematography. Everything is orangy brown, for some reasons I couldn't really understand.
A note for those who expected a chaste and nudity-free kdrama, in which fully grown-up lovers kiss without touching each other with their mouth closed and their eyes wide open... well... this is the wrong 2026 drama, go watch that awful mess named Our sticky love.
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