iheartsageuks
This review may contain spoilers
A Fairly Lighthearted Romp
I'm deliberately avoiding going into much detail because I don't want to ruin this for anyone. ;)
This was one of the shows that I was really looking forward to being released this year. I hadn't read the manhwa/webtoon before watching it so I didn't have any expectations of what the story was supposed to be like. After watching it I'll say that it makes me feel like it's a not-too-distant-relative of My Only Love Song. Like MOLS The Forbidden Marriage isn't strict on historical accuracy or realism. That's Ok with me, since it's really a fantasy more than anything else.
The story can be boiled down to this: Depressed King gets conned by "Commoner", they fall in love and then have to overcome the trials and roadblocks that get thrown in the way etc.
It's not the most original combination of plot ideas but they work together to tell an entertaining story.
It hits the points of having competent actors/esses, good sets, and clear cinematography. To be completely honest the supporting cast characters are quite engaging and I'm glad that they got a fair amount of screen time/plot time.
There is a lot of romance going around (almost all of it is telegraphed early on so there are no surprises about who ends up paired off).
The "Villains" of the piece are meh.
I'll agree that they do work (albeit not near as well as they could have with a little more exposition of the WHYs of their motivations). I'm not sure if this is a byproduct of the 12 episode format (which if it had gone to 16 would surely have given the writers enough time to actually make their motivations have some teeth!) Or if they'd been given the extra episodes they'd have wasted them...
As someone who really enjoys the meat of political scheming that you often find in sageuks, I can say this is definitely lightweight--verging on featherweight--as far as that goes. It's very common in sageuks that there are murders, poisonings, and bent Ministers who want to control the dynasty or at the very least the King. But somehow, even with those elements in The Forbidden Marriage it still manages to keep the floaty, fairly up-beat tone for the series.
Would I watch it again?
Yes.
Should YOU watch it?
Yes. Just bear in mind it's a bit of fluff. Enjoyable, but probably not something that's going to burn itself into your heart.
This was one of the shows that I was really looking forward to being released this year. I hadn't read the manhwa/webtoon before watching it so I didn't have any expectations of what the story was supposed to be like. After watching it I'll say that it makes me feel like it's a not-too-distant-relative of My Only Love Song. Like MOLS The Forbidden Marriage isn't strict on historical accuracy or realism. That's Ok with me, since it's really a fantasy more than anything else.
The story can be boiled down to this: Depressed King gets conned by "Commoner", they fall in love and then have to overcome the trials and roadblocks that get thrown in the way etc.
It's not the most original combination of plot ideas but they work together to tell an entertaining story.
It hits the points of having competent actors/esses, good sets, and clear cinematography. To be completely honest the supporting cast characters are quite engaging and I'm glad that they got a fair amount of screen time/plot time.
There is a lot of romance going around (almost all of it is telegraphed early on so there are no surprises about who ends up paired off).
The "Villains" of the piece are meh.
I'll agree that they do work (albeit not near as well as they could have with a little more exposition of the WHYs of their motivations). I'm not sure if this is a byproduct of the 12 episode format (which if it had gone to 16 would surely have given the writers enough time to actually make their motivations have some teeth!) Or if they'd been given the extra episodes they'd have wasted them...
As someone who really enjoys the meat of political scheming that you often find in sageuks, I can say this is definitely lightweight--verging on featherweight--as far as that goes. It's very common in sageuks that there are murders, poisonings, and bent Ministers who want to control the dynasty or at the very least the King. But somehow, even with those elements in The Forbidden Marriage it still manages to keep the floaty, fairly up-beat tone for the series.
Would I watch it again?
Yes.
Should YOU watch it?
Yes. Just bear in mind it's a bit of fluff. Enjoyable, but probably not something that's going to burn itself into your heart.
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