This drama stirred me up and left me with such an overwhelming and strange feeling - I’m not quite sure I’ve ever felt this way about a kdrama before which just makes it even more difficult to let go of the story and the characters.

I never would have thought that I was going to enjoy Bridal Mask this much since I’m not a big fan of action dramas (or even historical dramas, with a few exceptions) but Bridal Mask turned out to be a very nice surprise. It kept me entertained and excited all throughout these 28 episodes without ever feeling bored or tired of it. Most of the time I even forgot to breath that’s how deeply immersed I was in the story. The writing is great, the timing of the events and plot twists are very well calculated (although, tbh the identity of the original Gaksital was quite obvious even in the first episode lol) and the OST is one of the bests I’ve ever heard. I, the one who mainly gets bored when it comes to action scenes, was always eagerly looking forward to them since they were so awesome and well structured. Plus I got to learn some more about the history of SK at that time.

And yet, the characters (each and every one of them with their own background and side stories) and the character development itself got me the most. No one has remained the same, everyone went through great changes (positive or negative) from the beginning to the end. I loved how the bromance changed and faded away, until Kang To and Shunji became enemies. I loved Kang To’s relationship with his brother, I just wish there were more scenes with them since they had a great dynamic and were so interesting together both in the past and in the present. And even though there wasn’t that much focus on the romance aspect, I still enjoyed those rare fluffy moments between Kang To and Mok Dan. But mostly I just loved Gaksital, his story, his personality, his feelings, his hardships.
The cast just made it all so interesting and entertaining - and not just the main cast but the supporting characters, the villains, everyone did. There wasn’t one person I felt neutral about.

Shin Hyun Joon was great at the beginning, again, I just felt sorry that I couldn’t see more of him/his character. I’ve seen Park Ki Woong in Secretly Greatly before but I still wasn’t very familiar with him. Props to him for being a cool antagonist and a very convincing one at that. He portrayed Shunji’s feelings nicely, the process he went through from being a seemingly innocent teacher everyone liked to the monster he slowly became.

Han Chae Ah was honestly better than Jin Se Yeon - the latter had moments when her acting was pretty good but otherwise she didn’t quite live up to the rest of the cast. She’s not that bad imo as people make her out to be, but Han Chae Ah’s acting was definitely more interesting to watch.

And finally, Joo Won. A million words wouldn’t be enough to describe how I feel about him. He’s one of the best and most versatile actors I’ve ever seen. Good Doctor was my first drama with him as the lead, so I already knew that he was going to be great, but man, his acting was MIND BLOWING. Everything about him is outstanding - how he uses his voice, his expressions, the way he can convey literally ANY EMOTION, how he acts even with his eyes, how utterly charismatic he is, how much chemistry he has with everyone he does a scene with. He completely pulled of the anti hero - he’s equally great at being the villain and the protagonist as well. And he would have totally deserved that Top Excellence Award for what he did in Bridal Mask through those 28 episodes. Although I enjoyed everyone’s acting Joo Won really killed it as Gaksital/Kang To. Heck I would give 100/100 for only his acting if it was possible.
Honestly there’s really nothing about this drama that I disliked. It was intense, action packed, emotional and jaw dropping all at thr same time. And that last scene... that was honestly one of the best endings ever. I had chills and have been feeling overwhelmed by it ever since I finished the entire drama.

It’ll take me awhile to get over Bridal Mask but a part of me already wants to re-watch it. I most certainly will. It is now one of my favorites and honestly one of the best dramas I’ve ever seen for sure.