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Love Song for Illusion korean drama review
Completed
Love Song for Illusion
3 people found this review helpful
by raquelle b
Mar 7, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 2
Overall 7.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 5.0
This review may contain spoilers

Has potential in the beginning, unfortunately was a let down (webtoon spoilers)

The show started off with potential, especially with the amazing webtoon material but the plot derailed for the worst TT. As someone who read the webtoon I find the plot of the show even more disappointing. The webtoon already has great premise enough for 16 episodes so I really don't know why the script writers fumbled this hard. My favorite part about the webtoon was the fact that it touched on mental disorders and how Sajo Hyeon and Akhee are ultimately the same person, just different aspects of his personalities. The show 'kind of' tapped onto this, but also ruined it in the same breath with Akhee being very much his own entity (the "spirit" entering Hyeon's body when he was a child right after his father committing the Yeon massacre) and many unnecessary fantasy elements with Cheongta and Akhee as well.
I also dislike the changing of Sajo Yoong's fate from the webtoon, where he was Gyera's twin and a Yeon descendent. Him ending up inheriting the throne and fulfilling the prophecy makes for a satisfying irony to Jin Mudal's and the late king's evil plans. The show took away the Shakespearean in it by making Sajo Yoong your stereotypical boring illegitimate heir, evil and villain hungry for a position he does not deserve. The beauty of the webtoon is how even though the main villain was Jin Mudal, ultimately it was Hyeon’s own trauma, aka what Akhee represents, that destroyed him from inside.
Also, their romance was so much more poetic with the enemies to lovers plot in the webtoon, where they both resent but still love each other. The show took away this tension and dynamic by making their ‘enemies’ arc end too quickly, with Hyeon not much involved in the Yeon massacre and having his father take all the blame instead. With little to do for their romance arc, the show started adding so many random plots, like why did we have so many attacks and deaths for NO REASON!! This kind of side plots would work better in a longer drama like 20-30 eps, with more time to get to know the side characters, but with only 16 eps, there was no need to cram as many side plots as this show did! The many cliché plots and the DOUBLE amnesia tropes were just terrible writing choices. Made no sense and served no storyline purpose other than to prolong the plot to fit 16 eps!!

Furthermore, why did Sajo Yoong live for as long as he did while we can all very well end him with his many crimes and him being illegitimate as well??? Poor logic there, writers! Finally, with Cheongta’s tricks and Gyera entering Hyeon’s mind realm, the many rituals, and the shaman association, like these uncoordinated fantasy plots are poorly written and leave viewers more confused than answered! They should’ve just kept to the webtoon’s plot if they wanted to add fantasy, aka MINIMAL!! Production was also a letdown. The saving grace was Park Jihoon and Hong Yeji's acting which I can appreciate, but the main villain was very meh for me.
In the end, I rated this show 3.75/5. Since I read the webtoon already, my feelings towards the show is even poorer, but the show itself was a recipe for a plot disaster, even if you haven’t read the original webtoon!
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