Excellent story, could have better execution

I just finished binging so the feelings are raw. Wow, I'm going to think about this drama for a long while.

Where do I start? Firstly, I was hooked right from the beginning. Based very loosely on the Chinese legend 'Journey to the West', a story I grew up with due to my Chinese heritage, I was immediately intrigued. Also, the romance was a huge plus point.

The plot. It had many things going, don't get me wrong. From the start where it followed many parts of the legend while adding romance to the mix, I was very excited for this drama. However the plot gradually dragged on, for I think 20 episodes were too long. 15-16 would be perfect. The cast was huge, so that means that there were many sub-stories for our secondary characters, which were all interesting, but they diluted the storyline for our main leads. Seriously, the chemistry and romance had so much wasted potential, I felt like I didn't see enough. Also, as the drama progressed, we got to see less and less of our female lead. Like seriously? I was mildly infuriated, if you ask me. However, when we got to see our main couple, the romance was so cute (and sometimes heartbreaking, prepare yourselves), I learned to treasure those moments. The CGI- seriously, what the heck was that? Not the worst, but could have been so much better, sometimes I feel sorry for our actors, if they knew they acted their hearts out only for lousy CGI.

The ending. Too unsatisfactory. After all our leads been through, we only get that ending? Seriously. And our secondary characters were not given justice too. However all in all this drama was great, the romance, the plot, the fantasy aspect, the ending- unsatisfactory, but I'll live.

Now the actors. Lee Seung Gi as Son Oh Gong- fantastic acting- he really brought the character to life- and it followed the Chinese legend closely too: he was cheeky, mischievous, arrogant, and had his strong morals. The chemistry with our female lead was strong too- so overall, his acting was one of the best in the show.

Cha Seung Won as Ma Wang- acting was also superb by our actor- but the character seemed at times to only provide comedic relief for our male lead, which means: wasted potential. His backstory could have been given more attention too- I didn't feel as much for him as I wanted to. However, CSW was great, and his acting was fantastic.

Oh Yeon Seo as Samjang. I've read many complaints, however, if you guys knew about the original character she was based on (Tang San Zang)- it would explain a lot more: the original character was passive, powerless, and meant to guide Son Oh Gong (Sun Wu Kong). He was Ohgong's mentor or shifu in fact. However, this could make her character seem very one-dimensional, which I agree, but she also had many points going for her- she was strong-headed and stood her ground, and very independent and mature. OYS's eyes are beautiful and I wished she used them more to her advantage- her acting definitely falls from LSG's or CSW's. But not horrible to that extent, for I still enjoyed her character and her romance with LSG was fantastic.

Lee Se Young as Bu Ja/ Ah Sa Nyeo. Loved her- my favourite character in fact. When she was Bu Ja, she brought out the lifeless zombie character, when she was Ah Sa Nyeo, she was bolder and more charismatic, and I could see the difference. Of course she fell to our more seasoned male actors, however she was impressive for someone building experience. My favourite character because she had so many layers- when she was Bu Ja, she was finding her place and identity, when she was Ah San Nyeo, a supposed antagonist, she displayed many signs of humanity, that made me feel for her. Sometimes she was confused too because she didn't know if it was Ah Sa Nyeo or Bu Ja that made her act/feel this way. Ahhh, the layers. Seriously, just watch the drama to see what I'm talking about.

I'm only going to talk about my favourite characters/actors haha. As I mentioned above, the cast is huge, so i'm not going to bore you guys any further.

The OSTs: 'Let me Out' by Nu'est has been stuck in my head ever since. Music was definitely done well in this drama.

Lastly, the rewatch value: Maybe if the feels get too great I would open this drama again. However I would skip some of the secondary leads' stories because all I want is our main lead's haha. Their moments were simply not enough.

Overall: watch if you have the time, for you are bound to get drawn into this mystical world and and the feels that our main leads are going to bring to you. Great show that left me thinking and wishing that there'll be a season 2.

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