Today I want to talk about a Korean drama that is considered to be a total flop. Yet, many reviews from people I know consider this drama to be one of their personal favorites from 2016. With an abundant amount of mixed reviews surrounding this historical drama, I wanted to go back to 2016 and watch it for myself. "Scarlet Heart: Reyo" is a 2016 South Korean Historical drama that starred many talented and well-known actors and actresses. The main characters were played by one of the nation's sisters' IU and heartthrob actor Lee Jung Ki. With such an array of actors and actresses and a plethora of artists jumping in to make the OST, this drama should have been considered a major hit in South Korea. Yet, many criticized it for its writing, original soundtrack, and performances. I do, however, want to say that I am a huge fan of many Historical dramas. From the settings to the political turmoil, to the romance and music put into many historical dramas, I find them to sometimes be the most interesting types of story telling in the South Korean drama world. When hearing many mixed reviews about this drama, and seeing the average rating in South Korea, I wanted to dive into it with an open mind and open heart. Many times I have found myself loving dramas that seem to be disliked or not as appreciated as others. However, on the other hand, I have found myself disliking many beloved dramas out there. I wanted to go in with no expectations with this drama so that I could give my honest opinion to you all. This drama had a lot of things going for it and you can see that it was on the cusp of being a truly amazing drama, but there were some things that held it back. I believe that even though there were some flaws in this drama, that the reason in which it is considered a commercial failure is due to poor timing when it was released. The dramas out there may have had more compelling storylines than this one did, which is a reason that it had such low viewer ratings. Watching this drama on it's on, and not comparing it to others at the same time, I found that I enjoyed the show. THe plot to the drama, may not be the most compelling, however, there were sub-stories that truly had me in my feelings. I found that the stories of both Court Lady Oh and Madam Hae were ones that truly had me in tears. Their storylines that intertwined with our main character really shook me to the core and I will admit I was in an ocean of tears during their screen time. The end story between our main character played by IU and Wang Jung also had me feeling quite emotional at the end, and the story of Wang Eun towards the end also came to an emotional end, I can not deny that. Our main story had many ups and downs, at times I was truly invested in it and at others I wanted it to really give me a little more. The romance that was between our main characters and our secondary lead, I found myself rooting for the secondary lead until his character development kicked in. After the changes that the character went through I found myself more on the main male leads side, however, the writing in this drama has me conflicted. The way the writers developed the characters was confusing, I think there were truly no "good" main leads, many of them made choices that are questionable. Even IU's character had choices she did that made me question whether or not she should be doing things she was doing. I would say things about the ending, and how it wrapped up the story from being a not happy ever after ending, which I enjoy those because not everything needs a happy ending, into an oh well if you look at it this way its sort of happy ever after kind of threw me off. I think that perhaps they were planning on this drama to be a huge success and planning for another season of it, which I wouldn't mind but considering its rating its is most likely not ever going to happen. ans but the ending left you to guess, and mostly was due to over thinking that the drama would truly be a hit and another season would unfold from it. I don't blame them for thinking it would be a hit because there were many elements of this drama that were outstanding, the cast was huge and had many amazing actors and actresses and the music was filled with artists that you could recognize with songs that would get stuck in your head. However, at the end of the day I think this drama just did not get released at the right time, and if it was airing right now (as of 9/11/2017) I think it would be doing pretty well, much better than when it aired. Overall, I liked the drama. I see why some think it was a flop and why some love it. Myself, I'm in between, there are many elements in which I enjoyed and many where the drama was questionable. It is far from a bad drama I will say that, is it a master piece? No. Obviously not. But in the end Scarlet Heart: Reyo took me on a journey of love and time travel that I enjoyed and I did become emotionally invested in, so I can't knock it for that. It was a good time, and I would recommend it to anyone.d could take away from the moments. However, I still really enjoyed the music. I am torn between loving the music and disliking its usage in this drama. I cant decide how I truly feel all together but I do know that I did enjoy the music for what it is.Many criticized the acting in this drama. I, however, don't see a real problem with it. Yes there were times I was unimpressed by IU's acting or sometimes some of the princes weren't strong, such as the idol Baekhyun and Seohyun, but as an overall package, I felt that most of the actors and actresses most of the time did a pretty great job. They allowed me into their world and I believed their pain, sadness, anger and every other emotion they felt. So when it comes to the criticism for their acting, I can see why some people found it to be poor but I personally am okay with it and some of the actors really did a great job in my opinion. There is a large cast so I can't really go into who did well and who did not and if I wanted to I couldn't help but spoil some of the scenes for those who have not seen the drama yet, which I won't do. Another criticism people had for the drama was the original sound track or OST for short. Now I am on board with this opinion, to be honest, but not in a way many may think. I loved the soundtrack. I found myself singing to all the songs and there were many well produced and catchy songs through out the drama. The problem I had with it was, it did not fit the setting on the drama. I felt like many of the songs were too poppy to fit into a historical drama. I enjoy my historical dramas OSTs to have more of an authentic sounding song to the time frame and these did not. I felt like they were out of place, d could take away from the moments. However, I still really enjoyed the music. I am torn between loving the music and disliking its usage in this drama. I cant decide how I truly feel all together but I do know that I did enjoy the music for what it is. This drama had beautiful sets, makeup, and costumes. The music for what it was, was beautiful and had many catchy songs through out. For the most part, the acting in this drama was great. The plot was a tad bit weak, with an ending that satisfied you for the first 3/4s but the ending left you to guess, and mostly was due to over thinking that the drama would truly be a hit and another season would unfold from it. I don't blame them for thinking it would be a hit because there were many elements of this drama that were outstanding, the cast was huge and had many amazing actors and actresses and the music was filled with artists that you could recognize with songs that would get stuck in your head. However, at the end of the day I think this drama just did not get released at the right time, and if it was airing right now (as of 9/11/2017) I think it would be doing pretty well, much better than when it aired. Overall, I liked the drama. I see why some think it was a flop and why some love it. Myself, I'm in between, there are many elements in which I enjoyed and many where the drama was questionable. It is far from a bad drama I will say that, is it a master piece? No. Obviously not. But in the end Scarlet Heart: Reyo took me on a journey of love and time travel that I enjoyed and I did become emotionally invested in, so I can't knock it for that. It was a good time, and I would recommend it to anyone.