welcome to another episode of i-almost-missed-out-on-such-a-great-drama-because-of-it-being-criminally-underscored-WTF.

damn. i think this is THE drama that convinced me hereforth that any other dramas rated below 8.0 on MDL may simply be a case of preference bias instead of a story that genuinely lacked (well sometimes it's a peasant's gamble indeed, God forbid i watch another of such Record of Youth, blerghh). i mean, before this drama i have always felt reluctant to start anything scoring below 8.0 because i don't like to drop dramas, and anything i started, i always strive to finish. and there are so many other higher-scoring ones to choose from.

if i may present my case with regards to the story, i shall first cite some other reviews i read that get upvoted a lot citing that the second half went haywire, and that it seemed to have lost its direction. did i feel the exact same way? ABSOLUTELY FCKIN NOT. in fact what i noticed was that the quality of the storytelling has been kept consistent throughout the drama, except in the second half, (not in terms of quality, rather a deliberate choice of the screenplay), the villain kept winning times and again which may frustrate some people.

to which i am at a whole loss of words for what does it justify saying "the story became a mess, eh"?!

in fact i was kept engaged throughout the time watching this, simply because i find the main villain as fascinating and central to the story as much as the two male leads, Yeo Jin Goo and Jang Keun Suk. in fact when i first heard about this drama sometime back, i thought of giving it a chance for Yeo Jin Goo (he's the only one i knew of the two), but i feel the show stealers are actually Jang Keun Suk who plays Baek Dae Gil and Jeon Kwang Ryul who plays Lee In Jwa. Yeo Jin Goo was great too, but maybe it's the storytelling that made me feel conflicted about, and burdened by his character later on.

the show at least for me successfully established the shades of the main villain that you then started to question whether he truly is a beast/monster/satan, or was he slightly more than that. i mean, the kind of complex i feel that i started to question myself whether i have gone insane for pitying him and wanting to understand his reasons/insanity. Baek Dae Gil's character is phenomenal, seeing him grow from the weak man who was easily bullied and stepped on, towards a strong warrior was such an incredible joy to watch, especially since when i started this drama, i admittedly was already hugely biased for the actor. on the other hand, Prince Yeoning did questionable things in the latter half that made me dislike him by a mile.

therefore, in terms of giving us complex and layered villains, i found that this drama was phenomenal at delivering just that, and i thoroughly enjoyed the story because of it.

i have not watched that many sageuks at all, but this is definitely one of those that hooked me line and sinker to watch more from this genre. i believe that this drama offers everything that a traditional sageuk fan loves, and they would be fully satisfied watching it, i truly could not recommend it enough.