kura2ninja

Yes, please don't give up. I was confused, too, in the beginning, but reading the reviews on Dramabeans and the historical notes on bodashiri's Tumblr blog helped me a lot in understanding the story.

Have fun watching! I've seen people on MDL and Tumblr who claimed to enjoy this drama immensely, even though they're not fans of saeguks in general.

Wow, thanks for this. I'm looking forward to the next part. Some addition if you're looking for books adapted to movies (or movies based on books):

- Bocchan by Natsume Soseki (recently adapted to a TV movie, starring Ninomiya Kazunari)

- Rashomon by Akutagawa Ryunosuke (a short story adapted to a movie by Kurosawa Akira; Akutagawa's short stories collections are available in English)

-Spring Snow/Haru no Yuki by Mishima Yukio (the first book of The Sea of Fertility tetralogy, widely considered as Mishima's magnum opus; adapted to a movie starring Tsumabuki Satoshi & Takeuchi Yuko)

- Villain/Akunin by Yoshida Shuichi (adapted to a movie, starring Tsumabuki Satoshi & Fukatsu Eri)

- No Longer Human/Ningen Shikkaku by Dazai Osamu (there's a recent adaptation, "The Fallen Angel", with Ikuta Toma playing the lead)

-The Library Wars/Toshokan Sensou light novel series by Arikawa Hiro. (I love the movies because Okada Junichi!--but the novels are really something; they actually try to address some serious issues, like pacifism, freedom of the press, federalism vs centralism, in an accessible way)

This is great. I'll be sure to check them out. My personal favorite from 2015 are "Rose of Sharon" and "Variegated" from Ex-Girlfriends Club. (Dropped it after four or five episodes, but the soundtrack is amazing)

A Placebo song in the opening scene! I was bowled over.

According to Wikipedia, the last king of Goryeo died two years after Joseon was established. (Yeah, I know, history is a spoiler and all, but I had to look it up since you guys are talking about wanting him to die! ;p) I actually like Cheok Sa-gwang and the former king individually, but as a couple, I'm not interested in them at all.

I do wonder how the cute, puppyish Moo-hyul becomes the stoic character that he is in A Tree with Deep Roots. I'm sure the screenwriters will give him a big dose of character development in the last episodes.

I agree with you. I love seeing Bang-won and Boon-yi together, but the power imbalance between them are too great. In contrast, Bang-won and his wife has a relatively equal footing in their relationship. Hopefully we'll get to see more of Lady Min as Bang-won distances himself even more from Jeong Do-jeon, but we only have twelve episodes left! I don't know how the screenwriters and director will cram Joseon's consolidation, the murder of Jeong Do-jeon, the strife of the princes, Bang-won's becoming the crown prince and everything else in just twelve episodes!

Great recs! I love them all, except Akumu-chan, which I haven't watched but will after reading this. As for another Japanese school dramas on par with these, I'd recommend Jyoou no Kyoushitsu (The Queen's Classroom). It's kind of remind me of Suzuki-sensei, since the titular character also encouraged her students to think for themselves, but her approach is way more extreme than Suzuki-sensei's.

Spot on, sister! :)

Thanks for the recommendation! I've only watched Antique Bakery and My Little Bride and enjoyed them both. Will check out the rest of them.

His acting is good in this. I'd say that Jang Hyuk is a decent enough actor. He did overact in "Fated to Love You" and "Shine or Go Crazy", but admittedly, he's playing goofy characters in both dramas. I'm only on episode 6, but as far as acting goes, everyone seemed to be doing a good job.

Oh, is that so? I assume they're catching up because the actor who played Jung Mong-joo tweeted about shooting his death scene (http://bodashiri.tumblr.com/post/138162174616/poeun-jung-mong-joos-tweets) on January 27, which means about a week before they aired episode 35 and 36.

It's more likely that they haven't finished shooting episode 37, what's with live shooting and all.

I don't know about the real history, so I won't comment about how certain historical facts are whitewashed, but if I remember correctly, Sambong once said he knew he had “a worm” in his heart. Not wanting to be blinded by the lust to power and his vision of a new country as to think that the ends justify the means, Sambong wanted Poeun to be his moral compass, because he believed in his friend’s integrity as a Confucian scholar. That's why Sambong was so reluctant to eliminate Poeun, even when he became a threat to their plan. However, in the end of ep.36, Sambong said to Lee Seong-gye that they had to take responsibility. I think that's his way of acknowledging that Poeun's murder was inevitable.

As for Lee Seong-gye, I think he’s angry with Bang-won for having Poeun assassinated because a) Bang-won acted without his permission, b) he didn’t like the idea of killing a (former) ally since it would further taint his image. I guess it all boils down to Lee Seong-gye’s character. He’s obsessed with doing the right thing, and he recoiled from being disliked. Admittedly, those tendencies made him ill-suited as a political leader. He knew it, and he knew Bang-won simply did what he thought was necessary, which--I think--made him even angrier with his son (and maybe with himself?).

Anyway, I agree with riiniimeanie that it’s great story-telling. I love it that in this show, no main character is portrayed as evil incarnate or as pure as snow.

For a more thorough historical perspective, check out bodashiri's blog on Tumblr: http://bodashiri.tumblr.com/post/138685077511/six-flying-dragons-ep-35-36

If you want a drama with poor guy/rich girl, maybe you can try Ruler of Your Own World. The guy is a pickpocket and an ex-con, while the girl is the daughter of a wealthy property owner.

Princess Jellyfish! It's a movie, though.

My sentiments exactly. At least I haven't watched A Tree with Deep Roots, so I'll have something to ease the loss that I will surely feel when this drama is over!

Thanks for the info! :)

This sounds so weird and hilarious that I feel that I have to watch this. Problem is, will anyone want to sub this?

The first time I saw him was in Old Boy, and yes, he really is a good actor, but afterwards, I couldn't shake off my mental image of his character from that movie, whenever and wherever I saw him! Anyway, thanks for the article :)