6
Park Min
(ノ °益°)ノ 彡 (\ .o.)\
Peasants
I despise, with every atom in my being, the loathsome trope of interrupted intimacy upon any physical approximation in a semi-romantic setting—of which this drama kept repeating endlessly and shamelessly for 14+ episodes before committing to what it was trying to do. Cringey levels of cringe! Despite attempting to address important themes of justice and societal issues, the drama struggled to properly address these subjects and instead turned them into a background noise to service their jokes. Why bother then? While the cast may have been fine but their characters remained uninteresting throughout the drama. Basic characterization, none of them stood out.Was this review helpful to you?
Young Blood
The drama had all the makings of a captivating drama—a stunning setting, charming characters, and a dash of romance. At first glance, the vibrant cinematography and the chemistry between the leads were apparent. But as the story unfolded, it didn't quite live up to its appeal, dare I say, it flopped. It would have been fine if it had retained only the slice of life fluff but it resulted to cheap melodrama antics to build tension and climax which always have had its toll on the viewing experience. The other 2 male leads Yoon Sung & Byung Yeon were treated poorly by the writers, half-arsed development and even a worse conclusion. The ending also faced something similar with it being unclean, unrefined and loose.Was this review helpful to you?
Mask off
I found the main cast to be quite dislikable. Heo Joon Ho was the only one who had a decent performance. Yoo Seung Ho was overexaggerating with every breath and Kim So Hyun was a plank of wood. Their characters were equally as bad and underdelivering. The most important plot device in the drama was the mask, however, although its introduction was okay, but how they handled it later on was disappointing and its conclusion and reveal made the whole journey worthless to care about the mask. At the beginning, I thought they would do something clever with the mask play but it turned out it was just some random element to kick-start the story and give the drama its title.Was this review helpful to you?
Swordless
I found the beginning to be quite poor, it took a handful of episodes before the drama started going. By then, most viewers would have dropped it already. A good initial hook is necessary, especially for a longer drama. The storytelling was as shallow as a kiddie pool. It felt like they were trying to cram an unedited history book into it. The drama really needed to be shorter with a better structure because the potential was already there. The characters were as two-dimensional as stick figures, most of them were unable to convey the necessary emotions to the viewer. It would've been awesome to bring Japanese cast to play the Japanese. One thing the was missing was its own signature OST to match the atmosphere.Was this review helpful to you?
Couldn't shine, remained mad and crazy!
Ignore the ending, the prologue itself was appalling and distasteful enough to eliminate my expectations despite the drama having Jang Hyuk on deck. Speaking of which, once again, Jang Hyuk is playing the same character from The Slave Hunters (2010), if you've seen that one then you know what's up. Characters, while initially intriguing, suffered from inconsistent development. The pacing felt uneven, with moments of rushed storytelling followed by prolonged and uneventful sequences, disrupting the overall momentum of the show. The whole poison plot was painful to tolerate and sit through. The story was so terrible it just kept getting worse with every episode. The last 4 episodes in particular were poorly planed, marking them as the worst part of the drama. Once again, Jang Hyuk wasn't enough to save this drama although he was the only highlight.Was this review helpful to you?
Dog of war
They shouldn't have had made Wol Ah / An Shim be played by the same actress regardless of their intent to have have them share resemblance to one another. Wol Ah had her own role and was a turning point in the story. Since An Shim came to the picture, up until the end she was nothing but Wol Ah's replacement and had no real character. The drama, unsurprisingly, shared a common problem with others of the same genre. The drama started with the backstory and the hero journey but later on it striped the personal attachments and turned it into a battlefield between nations instead of mixing both elements together. It got turned around the other way back and forth 4 more times, making each transition more jarring than the last. This is why there was a massive disconnect after the timeskip in the early second 1/3. In addition, the last 15 episodes were too long to endure.Was this review helpful to you?
The great bore
The first paragraph of the synopsis felt like and turned out to be a big copium moment to whoever wrote it. The first couple of episodes started with a big bang, big sets, big budgets, a few sex scenes here and there, a casual killing for the sake of it, and a god awful laughable open mouth kissing scene. It was obvious they were trying to pull all the strings to attract viewers because none of that lasted shortly after. The cast performance was attractive at first before they turned into generic soulless zombies right after the first half. In fact, the second half in general was a significant downgrade in all regards. It was almost incomparable to the first half. It became as dull as you can imagine without any "character" left in these characters. They stripped every ounce of character from Ji Sung.The trend continued towards the end since it ended abruptly, I refuse to believe this was planned. When zooming out and looking into the drama as a whole, nothing seems to be properly planned from the beginning.Was this review helpful to you?
Not good
This is when the genre lost its direction and was going through a transitional period trying to figure out how to be modern. This drama went through a similar downhill pace as Gye Baek (2011) which both were airing at the same time in July 2011. They also both shared similar problems except this one was edger, cringer and worse.Was this review helpful to you?
A surprise
We almost never see a historical drama led by the commoners. This drama came out in 1996 but it has such a fresh and interesting take on the entire genre to this very day! However, it's not perfect, its biggest problem is that it's bloated with too many side stories carried by less interesting characters which delayed getting to good parts. The drama didn't fully focus on Im Kkeok Jung until the 2nd half. The set design was decent for 1996. The set was reasonably lit at night while taking into consideration they used to use candles instead of high beam studio lights back then!Was this review helpful to you?
A clone!
The drama had a weak and uninteresting start but it managed to pick itself back up after some time. Some patients' stories didn't blend well with what was going on and it passed off as an interruption. It shares a lot of similarities with Jewel in the Palace (2003) but with a less attractive cast. Not only that but it also shares the same problems Jewel in the Palace (2003) had had. You may refer to my comment there. The drama is a remake of the original back in 1999. There was no specific fundamental issues with the base story to prompt a remake. There were too many identical copy-pasted scenes and jokes, they don't take any creative freedom with the core story/scenes to make the remake worthwhile. Although the remake is longer but this came at the expense of its pace since the extended content was poorly utilized and made it a worse experience overall. A lot of over exaggeration/dramatization and a lot less human. I hoped the remake would have a better written ending but no, it was identical frame by frame to the original. I prefer the original over the remake for its roughness, rawness and concise cut, it makes for a better watch.Was this review helpful to you?
Decent enough
The drama had a weak and uninteresting start but it managed to pick itself back up after some time. Some patients' stories didn't blend well with what was going on and it passed off as an interruption. It shares a lot of similarities with Jewel in the Palace (2003) but with a less attractive cast. Not only that but it also shares the same problems Jewel in the Palace (2003) had had. You may refer to my comment there. In comparison, I would nudge this one slightly higher since it had a more raw feeling to it. The drama also had a modern remake back in 2013. There was no specific fundamental issues with the base story to prompt a remake. There were too many identical copy-pasted scenes and jokes, they don't take any creative freedom with the core story/scenes to make the remake worthwhile. Although the remake is longer but this came at the expense of its pace since the extended content was poorly utilized and made it a worse experience overall. A lot of over exaggeration/dramatization and a lot less human. I hoped the remake would have a better written ending but no, it was identical frame by frame to the original. I prefer this version over the remake for its roughness, rawness and concise cut, it makes for a better watch.Was this review helpful to you?
Very low rewatching value...
Although there were good moments but the pacing was unbearable. Too many episodes were completely useless and insanely boring. I guarantee your favorite characters won't be getting enough screen time. They had all the time they would need but random scenes of random soldiers were more important, i guess. Some high moments didn't quite deliver after a very long build up which made waiting for the next big moment more tiring. I can't say the time investment is worth it with this drama. The production seems to be acceptable for 2003 Korean TV production. But I wish for something higher than 480p would make it to the internet.Was this review helpful to you?
Coffee innit....
A decent concept but the drama didn't hit well with me. I didn't like either of the main leads nor was I interested in their boring sappy personal story. The support characters and their stories were slightly better. You better off just drink a cup of coffee anyway.Was this review helpful to you?
What even is this....
Shamelessly copy-pasting their homework from Police University (2021). Nonetheless, the drama had the worst combination of anything and everything which ruined any appeal for it. It would have been a tiny bit better if the drama didn't have any romance. Aside from the first 2 minutes and 42 seconds of the introduction scene of the first episode, this drama was a waste of carbon emissions.Was this review helpful to you?
It's 20 stories mashed into one...
The drama was a one big tournament of who had it the worst. Whose misery is worse than the next person? Who should be the saddest? Who is the least fortunate? It was a constant competition where everyone was competing for these misery points. This is the drama's biggest downfall, having a handful of "sad" stories competing against the main story of the trio. It misses up with the emotional direction the characters were meant to carry and shifts the focus outside the scoop of the drama. It was nothing but laughable and disingenuous when a certain character had to react to 2 sad events at once. The problem also extends to the casual relationships of everyone around them. There was simply just too much interference with the main story to make the drama work. Outside of the misery, there were a few romantic plot-lines that didn't have a place but was forced anyway. Mi Jo & Seon Woo had a full romance story along side all of the sadness going around. It wouldn't be much of a problem if it was good but their story and romance was tasteless, uncomfortable, tacky and most importantly, lacking the chemistry, easily the worst part of the drama. The drama was also leaning a bit too much onto throwing in a handful of plot conveniences when it really didn't need to. These instances could've been written naturally and it wouldn't stick out as much. The most obvious example was Seon Woo's introduction and his initial connection to other characters. The drama sure does look pretty and attractive but lacks a defining identity. The main trio were good while the rest of the support cast were okay.Was this review helpful to you?
