Some great messages and themes, delivered poorly in an overall lukewarm experience

This show just didn’t do anything for me, kind of all over the place. Around episode 10ish I felt no tension at all about what was going to happen, bored, but I was already so far in so I trudged until the end. I liked some of the concepts and issues the show tried to look at (school bullying, transgenderism, racism, abuse of power) but the presentation was quite over the top and cartoonish, and undoubtedly a bit too corny to take seriously. Everything was a bit too shallow and skimming the surface, nothing and no-one was explored in enough detail and even if it was, it was presented in such an unexciting way I managed to forget it or it blew past me. It’s also one of those shows where the ‘epic slow-mo moments’ drag way too long and you become aware of them, making them super ineffective and not cool at all.

Annoying tropes which put me off at the very start of the show:
-The villain characters are extremely over the top and in no way redeemable, they EEEVIL
-'Oh look one of the main character did something bad/something the other main wouldn't like ( one ep later ) no worries it was just a misunderstanding they're still perfect (AKA Soo Ah never called the police it was the 'totally how real humans act' evil catty girls who hate Yi Seo, even though it was later established Sae Ro Yi wouldn't even see it as a terrible act nor was it that bad)
-Setting up a parent/parent figure as extremely lovely, wholesome and wonderful angel with no flaws and then killing them off super early
-Whenever in doubt just slap someone it's totally great ... slap slap slap slap slap

‘Romance’: Any romantic parts in this show are incredibly wooden, no chemistry or excitement between anyone involved, I was convinced halfway through that Yi Seo and Sae Ro Yi were going to end up as a brother-sister relationship as it seemed Sae Ro Yi did not and was not going to see her romantically at all, but props to surprising me at the end I guess? At the same time it made Soo Ah into a completely useless character since all that there was to her was her childhood romance with Sae Ro Yi and it ended up not meaning much so… what was the point of building them up at all, it was boring and really dragged. It was just so weird how these characters went 5 year timeskips after 5 year timeskips still pining quietly after each other and expecting the audience to care about their nonexistent romance after the fact… bruh… they should have moved on(Yi Seo from Sae Ro Yi, Geun Soo from Yi Seo) long ago instead of waiting on people that on multiple occasions stated flat out they don’t like the other. It felt unrealistic and just plain dull. I’ve had a huge crush before and if the other person clearly doesn’t care at all it just goes away and you find someone or something else to obsess about, you don’t just sit still and structure your life around someone who doesn’t give a fk about you.

Thoughts on some of the characters:

Sae Ro Yi: Ok since he’s the main lead I’m supposed to be enamored with him and I did like him at the start but overall he wasn’t all that charming?? All he really did is every few episodes suddenly shout and then once everyone was staring at him in awe because ‘wow he raised his voice!’ he delivered his speech. That’s literally the first thing I remember about him besides his not so great haircut. Not very expressive nor interesting, but I appreciated his values and care for people.

Yi Seo: Again a good first impression and interesting with her ‘psycho’ persona, but predictably got annoying later on with being petty and clingy, but overall one of the best characters in terms of having charisma.

Soo Ah: Not a bad back-story and good in the first half of the show but becomes incredibly forgettable and unnecessary later into the show – all she does is keep working at Jangga and there’s absolutely nothing else to her except going to work and occasionally staring at Sae Ro Yi. Written lazily past the first few episodes.

Geun Soo: Was actually the most likeable character to me personally, early on, he was kinda sweet kid and his acting was expressive. It made no sense he would suddenly work at Jangga but I guess since Geun Won was at prison they needed a new ‘villain’ since the old man wasn’t enough apparently. That kid who worked at DanBam and who was treated like nothing by his ‘family’ would never have gone to work there and hurt one of his close friends. He only seemed to because of the convoluted romance plot – again, as if you would structure your whole life around the person you have a ‘crush’ on(which isn’t even explained why besides he still ‘likes’ her even tho she has a terrible psycho personality) and become an asshole like your brother who you hated your whole life and had to live with. As if you’d go and help your shitty fathers company, after having worked in a wholesome place like DanBam with your friends.

Geun Won: It’s funny how in a weird way I liked seeing him on screen more than the main characters purely because his performance wasn’t so wooden and boring, this dirtbag had more charisma and expression in one scene than Sae Ro Yi had in the whole show. Sure, it was just Sae Ro Yi’s character personality but that doesn’t mean he isn’t sleep inducingly boring to watch as the main character. You can have a stoic main character all you want but if there’s nothing interesting besides virtue and justice to him he isn’t all that great of a character. Anyway, Geun Won was quite the cartoonish villain in many ways, could have been much more toned down to get the point across, almost thought he’d get some sort of redemption or twist down the line but sadly not, would have been more compelling.

Big Boss Dae Hee: One of the better written characters since he didn’t flip-flop around, it was clear what he stood for and what kind of person he was, yet still he could surprise. He was given enough back-story and depth so he didn’t feel as one dimensional like many of the other characters. The easily best in the show acting performance helped.

Overall I just feel, well, I don’t really feel much about the show. It just wasn’t great.

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To watch a 50 episode show in less than a week

How to even begin? I find it so easy to write a review about a show I had many problems with and didn’t enjoy a lot, I guess in those cases when I’m bored watching my brain is working on why is it that I don’t enjoy this to occupy itself. For a show like this however my brain is just turned off because I’m so along with the ride and just enjoying every minute fully. Basically the only thing I want to say about shows I loved is JUST WATCH IT COME ON ITS JUST GOOD I DON’T CARE WHY, but I’ll try to find out a bit about why I loved it so much nevertheless.

Setting and atmosphere: When I try to sell this show to someone else I’d always mention it’s almost meditative at times because of the beautiful nature and buildings and interior – simply breathtaking and detailed. I can watch so many scenes of characters sitting down, slowly drinking tea from tiny cups and bowing to each other without even thinking of getting bored, it’s just so tranquil yet very specific in what is going on, there’s rules and proper ways to do everything but it still feels so relaxed and just right. The ancient rural landscapes and villages feel so real that I can forget for hours our current world exists.

Characters: This is a show where every character has some sort of purpose and everyone gets a part to play, so no-one jumps out as completely underdeveloped or useless.

Wei Wu Xian is simply fun to watch, his personality is perfect for a main character since you know if you are following along with him it’s impossible to get bored. He’s easygoing and brave, and also has enough vulnerability to him that you are just holding your breath when he gets into trouble and hope nothing bad happens to him. I can relate to his outlook on life as people around him tend to be more serious and down to earth, he knows that life is a game which doesn’t have to be so bogged down in rules and seriousness.
Lan Wang Ji could have been the boring stoic character, but there was enough quirks and endearing qualities to him that he turned out so much better than I could imagine. His contrasting personality with Wei Wu Xian was fun to watch, even more so seeing how much their relationship changed by the end and how much emotion he ended up showing. Their relationship was a huge, huge drive of this show and I can't get over after a whole year of watching just how enjoyable it was to watch them develop, I'd watch another 50 episodes of them just doing whatever.
The supporting cast had arcs of their own and it would take forever to recount all of them, needless to say I thoroughly enjoyed their stories nearly as much as our main characters own.

Story: Spanning a whopping 50 episodes I never felt any huge lull or huge slowing down of the story, it was always going in a clear direction. The fantasy and mythological elements were constantly fascinating to follow and were always integrated deeply into the storyline. For a small minus, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the way the show was set up with the first episode what was going to happen in many many years, making it a bit of a waiting game sometimes ‘so when have we finally arrived at that spot from the start of the show?’, but I didn’t mind it too much.
There were humor and fun moments littered throughout the show in just the right times and were thoroughly enjoyable every time.
The show was packed with exciting moments, twists, and the plot armor only existed for the main leads, there were some characters that died that I never thought would and it was a very good, tragic kind of shocking.

Some cons:
- The story had great drama, but some of the dramatic moments could have been executed better, it almost felt too much at times – was it the way it was directed/acted, I’m not sure, but not all of the moments hit right
- There were particular music pieces throughout the show that were breathtakingly amazing, with traditional instruments and beautiful melodies. Sadly the piece playing during some of the most dramatic moments was not that good and felt a bit overused, it feels like those moments would have hit much harder for me if the song there was different so it’s a shame
- Some of the villain characters were definitely a bit stereotypical evil, there could have been a bit more nuance there. Though the show managed to surprise me at the end where I felt sympathy for one of he main baddies Xue Yang, albeit briefly.
- The special effects: While this problem got better later, early on some of the effects were not good at all, straight up comical and would ruin the immersion a bit. It's such a shame since I really want to watch this with other people but I will end up being embarrassed early in the show because of how goofy the effects look lol, not a huge deal as it gets a lot better but it's definitely something that could have been improved

Besides the nitpicks, I would never have imagined I'd binge a 50 episode show and right after its end I'd want to watch it all over again, like, moments after. Truly excellent

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I could go a whole lifetime without seeing someone eating chicken and beer ever again

The sets, the action, the ideas and scenes looked beautiful and exciting… but those can’t carry a weakly written story.

Identity crisis:
So this show had somewhat of an identity crisis. The first episode was really epic and things were set up in an exciting way, the direction and action showed a lot of promise – I was sure I was in for a legendary ride, the budget was through the roof(not without consequences). Then some time later as the king arrived at Korea the tone suddenly shifted into ‘quirky romance s shenanigans’ for a bit, and tone shift was way too jarring as compared to what I had seen earlier. Then over time it meanders into like a police/detective (?) show, then some more fantasy, time travel, then slow dramatic romance all over again, history and even politics with naval combat? Like just pick one or two overarching themes and focus. You can’t just jam in romance, detective, history, fantasy, revenge, politics, monarchy, war and expect them all to gel and make sense nor expect to properly explore any of them when you have literally no time in just 16 episodes to deal with all those themes.

Product placement:
I’m sure this has been talked about a lot but I’ve never cared about product placement in any show I’ve seen before, but Jesus H Christ was it way too distracting in this show. Halfway into it or so there was up to 3 blatant adverts every single episode, to the point that the camera would obviously zoom into the product so you can read the name while the characters were CONSTANTLY eating and snacking and drinking the same shit all the damn time. They even made Lee Min Ho actually say a line about the coffee how it was ‘just as good as the coffee served at the palace woow it’s so good’ like damn that’s just too much. Not to mention how many times these people were eating chicken and beer it must have been almost ten times over 16 eps – at that point I had it at the back of my mind that if the ‘parallel universe stuff’ doesn’t kill them then their eating habits will anyway. When I’m watching a show what the characters eat kinda matters, it shows a lot about them, but if they’re forced to eat unhealthy snacks and massive bottles of coffe and plain chicken with beer constantly, I start feeling a bit sick despite myself and am taken out of the show every time. It’s understandable that a show like this would cost a ton, but at what point is it worth it when the product placement breaks your immersion so much that the beautiful sets and locations isn’t enough to get you immersed anymore.

Characters:
I liked the dynamic between Lee Gon and Tae Eul initially since I find it fun to see dislike to friends to lovers develop, but for some reason Tae Eul went from dislike towards Lee Gon to suddenly in love with him very abruptly, I was really really confused about what had she found out or what even happened?? Why does she suddenly like him so much? Even in the first place we weren’t given enough reasons why Lee Gon even liked Tae Eul all that much besides him thinking she saved him, she proceeded to treat him badly all the time but it didn’t deter Lee Gon at all, which was boring and a missed chance for more drama down the line, at some point in the first half of the show I started wondering why does Lee Gon still like her so much again? As for Tae Eul, she found out that Lee Gon had not lied to her and had been truthful about who he was the whole time and then she was in love with him… wait… why?? If she didn’t like him in the first place, it didn’t mean she would suddenly fall in love with him just because he wasn’t lying about being a king from a parallel universe unless him being truly rich and famous is all it took, yikes.

Tae Eul herself was a cool character if they managed to keep her that way the whole show, once she was for whatever reason in love with Lee Gon she would be constantly crying or super affectionate with him, and the writers had her stare vacantly into the distance with her mouth open or at Lee Gon way too many times - it just didn’t feel like the same no-nonsense, independent character anymore. Not to mention, sadly the chemistry just wasn’t there, likely because of how as explained their relationship wasn’t developed properly. Honestly, not joking when I felt more chemistry between Lee Gon and Jo Yeong in some of the initial episodes, would have been interesting to see that play out instead lol.. the way Lee Gon looked at him.

Jo Yeong/Eun Sup were definitely the best characters to see on screen, Woo Do Hwan managed to out charm and charisma everyone else few times over and the acting performance was great. Best part in this drag of a show.

I had an ok time, but any show that’s just 16 episodes long and makes me think ‘gosh is it over soon? I do want to move onto something else’ halfway through will get less than 5 stars from me.

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