marieljanina
skip the romance and stay for the bromance
I came to watch Hwarang for the star studded cast and only really stayed 'til the end to watch the bromance chemistry between the Hwarang boys.
STORY:
Hwarang started off well with its promising storyline. Episode 1 was pretty good and got me interested straight away. The chemistry between Sun Woo (Park Seo Joon) and Mak Moon (Kwang Soo) was amazing and the episode instantly got me emotional. The next few episodes were fairly good as well as we find out the main reason for the Hwarang. The introduction of the rest of the cast as the Hwarang boys did make the first few episodes interesting enough. Unfortunately as the drama progressed, the less interesting it got since most of the plot actually revolved around the romance side of the story. In the end it became tedious to watch because of this.
The romance side of the story kept going back and forth between Ah Ro and Sun Woo. When she's not getting mad at Sun Woo then it's Sun Woo trying to avoid her. And the worst parts were when Ah Ro somehow always needed rescuing by either Sun Woo or Ji Dwi. The romantic scenes became very monotonous to watch.
On the other hand, Sun Woo and Ji Dwi's background storylines and bromance were interesting enough to warrant watching through the terrible romantic scenes. The side stories of the Hwarang boys (Ban Ryu, Soo Ho and Han Sung) did also help to keep me watching to the very end. Ban Ryu's love story/romantic scenes were actually more interesting than the main leads which says a lot about how substandard the main leads love story really was.
I did think the last few episodes also dragged on and it would've been better if the director made it a 16 episode drama instead of 20. Since the extra 4 episodes were filled with problem after problem and it got a bit tiring and boring to watch towards the end.
CHARACTERS:
Ah Ro was a damsel in deep distress since she seems to be always crying like seriously 80% of the time she's crying. If she's not crying, then she had a grumpy face on. She became annoying to watch most of the time. That's not to say the actress (Go Ah Ra) who plays her is a bad actress, it just so happens the character she played was not the best.
Ji Dwi had the greatest story arc overall in terms of how he was in the 1st episode; being cowardly, scared and still child-like needing protection from his mum. In the end becoming what he was really born and destined to be: The King. Park Hyung-sik exuded the aura of being a secret king really well. You will feel sorry for his character but also get annoyed at his coward-ness but then still root for him to be the king in the end. He played this character really well.
Sun Woo (Park Seo Joon) was also great in this drama. From the very first episode to the last, he played a great pauper with that classic 'for-the-people' attitude. He exuded great leadership skills and towards the last episode he really did make me so anxious as to what decision he was going to make. The overall chemistry between the Hwarang boys was excellent too especially Sun Woo and Ji Dwi. It's really what got me through this drama.
The supporting casts were also good, especially Kwang Soo even though he was only on a couple of episodes. Kim Jee So as the Queen Mother Ji So did a fantastic job, I disliked her the more episodes I watched which just goes to show how well she played her character.
OST:
I loved the OST of this drama. I especially appreciate Park Hyung-sik and Park Seo Joon taking part in the OST as well. And of course, V of BTS with the main OST 'It's Definitely You' along with Jin from BTS. I had this song saved on my playlist before even watching the drama as it's just so good.
OVERALL:
The drama had a decent storyline that if the romance side of the story was done better or there was less of it and more of the Hwarang then I probably would've given it a higher rating. The chemistry of the Hwarang boys especially Ji Dwi's and Sun Woo's along with their own background stories are the main reasons to stay for this drama. You may want to skip the romantic scenes between Ah Ro and Sun Woo, I sure did, but it's worth sticking until the end to see Ji Dwi finally sit on the throne as he should.
STORY:
Hwarang started off well with its promising storyline. Episode 1 was pretty good and got me interested straight away. The chemistry between Sun Woo (Park Seo Joon) and Mak Moon (Kwang Soo) was amazing and the episode instantly got me emotional. The next few episodes were fairly good as well as we find out the main reason for the Hwarang. The introduction of the rest of the cast as the Hwarang boys did make the first few episodes interesting enough. Unfortunately as the drama progressed, the less interesting it got since most of the plot actually revolved around the romance side of the story. In the end it became tedious to watch because of this.
The romance side of the story kept going back and forth between Ah Ro and Sun Woo. When she's not getting mad at Sun Woo then it's Sun Woo trying to avoid her. And the worst parts were when Ah Ro somehow always needed rescuing by either Sun Woo or Ji Dwi. The romantic scenes became very monotonous to watch.
On the other hand, Sun Woo and Ji Dwi's background storylines and bromance were interesting enough to warrant watching through the terrible romantic scenes. The side stories of the Hwarang boys (Ban Ryu, Soo Ho and Han Sung) did also help to keep me watching to the very end. Ban Ryu's love story/romantic scenes were actually more interesting than the main leads which says a lot about how substandard the main leads love story really was.
I did think the last few episodes also dragged on and it would've been better if the director made it a 16 episode drama instead of 20. Since the extra 4 episodes were filled with problem after problem and it got a bit tiring and boring to watch towards the end.
CHARACTERS:
Ah Ro was a damsel in deep distress since she seems to be always crying like seriously 80% of the time she's crying. If she's not crying, then she had a grumpy face on. She became annoying to watch most of the time. That's not to say the actress (Go Ah Ra) who plays her is a bad actress, it just so happens the character she played was not the best.
Ji Dwi had the greatest story arc overall in terms of how he was in the 1st episode; being cowardly, scared and still child-like needing protection from his mum. In the end becoming what he was really born and destined to be: The King. Park Hyung-sik exuded the aura of being a secret king really well. You will feel sorry for his character but also get annoyed at his coward-ness but then still root for him to be the king in the end. He played this character really well.
Sun Woo (Park Seo Joon) was also great in this drama. From the very first episode to the last, he played a great pauper with that classic 'for-the-people' attitude. He exuded great leadership skills and towards the last episode he really did make me so anxious as to what decision he was going to make. The overall chemistry between the Hwarang boys was excellent too especially Sun Woo and Ji Dwi. It's really what got me through this drama.
The supporting casts were also good, especially Kwang Soo even though he was only on a couple of episodes. Kim Jee So as the Queen Mother Ji So did a fantastic job, I disliked her the more episodes I watched which just goes to show how well she played her character.
OST:
I loved the OST of this drama. I especially appreciate Park Hyung-sik and Park Seo Joon taking part in the OST as well. And of course, V of BTS with the main OST 'It's Definitely You' along with Jin from BTS. I had this song saved on my playlist before even watching the drama as it's just so good.
OVERALL:
The drama had a decent storyline that if the romance side of the story was done better or there was less of it and more of the Hwarang then I probably would've given it a higher rating. The chemistry of the Hwarang boys especially Ji Dwi's and Sun Woo's along with their own background stories are the main reasons to stay for this drama. You may want to skip the romantic scenes between Ah Ro and Sun Woo, I sure did, but it's worth sticking until the end to see Ji Dwi finally sit on the throne as he should.
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