This review may contain spoilers
The world they built was too good for this
The best way I can describe how this drama felt to me is a shoujo reverse harem manga type of thing. I don’t know if that’s explanation enough but that’s the best I can do. I did have a lot of reservations about part 1, some of them carried out to this second part others didn’t but then new issues emerged in this one.
Let me explain, one of my biggest issue with this show (both parts). Whenever you’re watching this sort of stories there are always key scenes that are meant to draw you in and make you root for the Lead/s and make you go “WOW this character is super cool”.
This drama had -IN MY OPINION- too many. It was specially bizarre to me in the first part how Jang Uk was supposedly an underdog but then there was always -insert convenient plot hole here- and it allowed him to show off his out of the ordinary abilities. I get it he was supposed to have super abilities compared to the rest because of his horoscope but sometimes they stretched it too thin for my liking. With this second part I got it the first couple of times. it was needed to understand how powerful Jang Uk had become but then every other scene they are showing off his abilities and it got boring very fast.
Now one thing that I liked about the first part that didn’t carry into the second part was the ensemble cast. I know we only had 10 eps for this part but it amazes me how much talent and chemistry this ensamble cast HAD and they let it GO TO WASTE LIKE THAT. Part 1 & 2 feel WORLDS APART in that sense.
The focus was the main couple and I know this sounds ridiculous but the way it was presented to me in the first part was an ensemble cast rather than just the main leads and the rest acting as background which is what part 2 became (except maybe for Park Jin and his new wife). Why introduce so many characters in the first part that ended up amounting to nothing but a couple of sidelined sub level plot lines at most or not used at all.
One thing I liked about this second part though (even if the story felt a little rushed and nonsensical) was that I could finally root for Naksu and Jang Uk to be together. And that’s mostly because they greatly reduced Seo Yul’s presence here but mostly because Jang Uk had infinite amount of romantic chemistry with THIS actress. I was mostly team Seo Yul in the first part because I felt Minhyun had better romantic chemistry with Mudeok than Jang Uk (Besides Yul was given more of the date like romantic scenes than Uk)
Naksu was done WRONG in so many levels they turned her into nothing more than a damsel in distress for this 2nd part. Jang Uk literally had to rescue her up until the very end. Like yes she learned to rely and depend on someone else which is nice but let’s not pretend Naksu wouldn’t have relied on her strength and ability to fight even more so now that she had someone to protect. The shift was too sudden and in my opinion out of character that it felt like we had an entirely new and different female lead.
Because of the way the characters and this world was richly built and shown to us the ending was a little disappointing because it could’ve delivered something more. The OSTs and the cinematography was top notch and it does feel like I could watch another season of this with the newly appointed King and/or Seo Yul stories as the main focus because they are interesting characters by their own right.
There’s so much more Id like to add like how they made me cry so much for no reason because nobody ended up dying (it would’ve been better if they had it would’ve set how high the stakes were and the severity of the fight at hand) or the way they recycled Jin Mu one too many times BUT overall this was an enjoyable watch though nonsensical at times.
Let me explain, one of my biggest issue with this show (both parts). Whenever you’re watching this sort of stories there are always key scenes that are meant to draw you in and make you root for the Lead/s and make you go “WOW this character is super cool”.
This drama had -IN MY OPINION- too many. It was specially bizarre to me in the first part how Jang Uk was supposedly an underdog but then there was always -insert convenient plot hole here- and it allowed him to show off his out of the ordinary abilities. I get it he was supposed to have super abilities compared to the rest because of his horoscope but sometimes they stretched it too thin for my liking. With this second part I got it the first couple of times. it was needed to understand how powerful Jang Uk had become but then every other scene they are showing off his abilities and it got boring very fast.
Now one thing that I liked about the first part that didn’t carry into the second part was the ensemble cast. I know we only had 10 eps for this part but it amazes me how much talent and chemistry this ensamble cast HAD and they let it GO TO WASTE LIKE THAT. Part 1 & 2 feel WORLDS APART in that sense.
The focus was the main couple and I know this sounds ridiculous but the way it was presented to me in the first part was an ensemble cast rather than just the main leads and the rest acting as background which is what part 2 became (except maybe for Park Jin and his new wife). Why introduce so many characters in the first part that ended up amounting to nothing but a couple of sidelined sub level plot lines at most or not used at all.
One thing I liked about this second part though (even if the story felt a little rushed and nonsensical) was that I could finally root for Naksu and Jang Uk to be together. And that’s mostly because they greatly reduced Seo Yul’s presence here but mostly because Jang Uk had infinite amount of romantic chemistry with THIS actress. I was mostly team Seo Yul in the first part because I felt Minhyun had better romantic chemistry with Mudeok than Jang Uk (Besides Yul was given more of the date like romantic scenes than Uk)
Naksu was done WRONG in so many levels they turned her into nothing more than a damsel in distress for this 2nd part. Jang Uk literally had to rescue her up until the very end. Like yes she learned to rely and depend on someone else which is nice but let’s not pretend Naksu wouldn’t have relied on her strength and ability to fight even more so now that she had someone to protect. The shift was too sudden and in my opinion out of character that it felt like we had an entirely new and different female lead.
Because of the way the characters and this world was richly built and shown to us the ending was a little disappointing because it could’ve delivered something more. The OSTs and the cinematography was top notch and it does feel like I could watch another season of this with the newly appointed King and/or Seo Yul stories as the main focus because they are interesting characters by their own right.
There’s so much more Id like to add like how they made me cry so much for no reason because nobody ended up dying (it would’ve been better if they had it would’ve set how high the stakes were and the severity of the fight at hand) or the way they recycled Jin Mu one too many times BUT overall this was an enjoyable watch though nonsensical at times.
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