King Gwanggaeto the Great Review

Title: King Gwanggaeto the Great

AKA: Gwanggaeto, The Great Conqueror

Genre: Historical

Episodes: 92

Broadcast period: 2011-Jun to 2012-Apr

Cast: Lee Tae Gon, Kim Seung Soo, Im Ho, Park Jung Chul, Oh Ji Eun and Lee In Hye.

This story is about King Gwanggaeto, who conquered much land, and made his kingdom Gogouryo spread and occupied most of the peninsula, making it the biggest kingdom, of the Three Kingdoms of Korea.

Go Damdeok (Lee Tae Gon) is the second son of the royal family, but this has not strained the relationship with his brother, Crown prince Dammang (Jung Tae Woo), however Damdeok has the same qualities, if not better. Though the royal household is loving and caring, the politics of the court act otherwise. Since Damdeok has been in battles, and on the front line for many victories, the court start seeing Damdeok as a possible threat, especially the prime minister Gae Yeon Su (Choi Dong Joon). Unsatisfied with the royal house, Gae Yeon Su has been working behind the curtains, to remove the king from his post, and make himself that title, but Damdeok, compared to the others, defies both strategies and advances made by Yeon Su. Though not completely aware of Yeon Su’s intentions, Damdeok doesn’t trust him, and soon enough Yeon Su plans an assassination on Damdeoks life. This attempt forces Damdeok into hiding, and soon enough he experiences the real Gogoryeo; away from the royal lifestyle, and military life…

So, this is another historical day drama, which spans over 92 episodes. It caught my attention due to the lead character, which is a very famous hero of Korean history. And though I expected it to be a bit draggy, the last 15-10 episodes were fillers of you ask me. I guess it was quite popular, and they decided to drag it on, which is very annoying when you’ve been watching a decent story for the past 60 episodes. I’ve now watched my fair share, so I can say with certainty that this drama has the most action I’ve seen in a day drama, for a very long time. I mean I was stuck to my screen for the first 20 episodes, and it just got better while it went on. Of course, as the usual historical dramas, the female leads were left out a bit - the love stories were halfhearted, sort of - and they didn’t show much progress, or at least I felt the typical ‘vibe’. That said, the drama is good, and has good side characters. I was pleasantly surprised by their depth, and this is more than just the ‘right hand man’. This goes for almost all the supporting cast!

To sum up: a good historical drama with a good plot, decent actions scenes, and great character storylines.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

Jumong Review

Title: Jumong
AKA: Prince of the Legend
Genre: Period, Historical, Romance, Melodrama
Episodes: 81
Broadcast period: 2006-May to 2008-Mar
Cast: Song Il Kook, Han Hye Jin, Kim Seung Soo, Jeon Kwang Leol, Oh Yeon Su and Song Ji Hyo.

This is the story about the creation of Kogoryeo, and the people who started it.
While trying to fight the corrupt noblemen, Hae Mo Soo (Heo Jun Ho) and the crown prince Kum Wa (Jeon Kwang Leol) get caught up in political turmoil. The king saves the crown prince, but Hae Mo Soo is caught and tortured. Yoo Hwa (Oh Yeon Su), the only survivor of her clan had always admired Hae Mo Soo, thus the two had become lovers, but after Hae Mo Soo gets caught, the crown prince saves Yoo Hwa, by making her his concubine, while carrying the child of Hae Mo Soo.
Several years later, the son of Hae Mo Soo and Yoo Hwa, Ju Mong (Song Il Gook), now all grown up, was raised as the concubine’s son. Earning the utter contempt from his two older brothers, who believe that the now king prefers Ju Mong, rather than the two older sons. Though a brat, and quite useless, Ju Mong tries his best to be seen at “a piece of trash” so that he won’t get attention, but the jealous brothers try to kill him numerous times. After being thrown out of the royal house, Ju Mong ends up on the streets and meets So Seo No (Han Hye Jin), daughter of a merchant, again, where the first time she had saved him, after his brothers had attempted to kill him.
He starts working for the So family and becomes familiar with the world. At the same time the two princes desperately want Ju Mong dead, though fate has other plans for him…

This drama has been one of those that I watched the beginning of, with interest, but accidently read about the evolvement of the story, so I had it put on hold. As time had passed, I’d forgotten about the evolvement, and I decided to watch it again, so when the “thing” I wasn’t interested in seeing appeared, I remembered it, but had an easier time sitting through it. After watching the entire thing, I had mixed emotions, mostly frustration due to the love story, but as many of the “older” dramas, the romance is usually the subplot, so it isn’t given the same amount of “care” as the main story. That said, I didn’t care for the romance aspect, as it made me annoyed, and I ended up going: whoever, just save the wife please.
The main story is very interesting, and one of the better Korean period pieces, as it is action packed most of the way through - though it has moments where I was bored. But it tries to keep you invested.
It was funny seeing Song Il Kook so young, but honestly, I didn’t see much of a difference. The rest was alright, though there is something annoying about the female lead, even if she was the most bad-ass female lead I’ve seen in a long while, but I can’t really put my finger on it.
To sum up: a great and interesting drama with a frustrating love-triangle, but still decent storyline.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

Moonlight Drawn By Clouds Review

Title: Moonlight Drawn by Clouds

AKA: Love in The Moonlight

Genre: Historical, Comedy, Romance

Episodes: 18

Broadcast Period: Aug-2016 to Oct-2016

Cast: Park Bo Gum, Kim Yoo Jung, Jin Young, Chae Soo Bin, Kwak Dong Yun, Kim Seung Soo, Jun Mi Sun, 

Hong Ra On (Kim Yoo Jung) is a young woman during the Joseon Dynasty who disguises herself as a man named Sam Nom to support herself by ghostwriting and giving relationship advice to lovelorn men. A love letter that Ra On writes for a client brings her in contact with Lee Yeong, who is the Crown Prince Hyo Myeong (Park Bo Gum), the first son of King Sunjo (Kim Seung Soo) and heir to the throne, as well as his trusted guard Kim Byung Yeon (Kwak Dong Yeon). Through a series of events, Ra On gets sold into the Royal Palace as a eunuch and is assigned to work for Royal Consort Soo Ki (Jun Mi Sun) and Princess Young Geun (Heo Jung Eun). Ra On becomes embroiled in a political power struggle with Queen Kim (Han Soo Yeon) and her father, Prime Minister Kim Hun (Chun Ho Jin), who somehow manage to keep King Sunjo in a perpetually weakened, hallucinogenic state. Prime Minister Kim is grooming his grandson, Kim Yoon Sung (Jinyoung), to take over the throne but that would put the young scholar in direct competition with his childhood friend, Lee Yeong, to become the next king. With Ra On and Byung Yeon by his side, can Lee Yeong fight the power-hungry ministers to claim his rightful place in history? 

This just became one of my favorite drama this year. 2016 has really brought alot of different kdramas, and i’m lovin’ it! And with those dramas, a lot of young, new and talented actors/actress’ are coming to the spotlight. The personal acting chemistry between Kim Yoo Jung as young, fearless and joyful Hong Ra On and Park Bo Gum as Crown Prince Lee Yeong is the heart of the drama. The youthfulness and impressive acting skills of Kim Yoo Jung ( who is only 17) interacting with equally talented Park Bo Gum (who is only 23) is a marvel that lingers in the mind long after we have turned off our computers. One thing this drama has teached me is that politics is a dirty dirty game, but our crown prince knew how to play it! I seriously loved everything about this drama, the acting, storyline, the directing and of course the OST! This is a drama I highly recommend, saeguk fan or not, this appeals to your every need ;)

☆☆☆☆☆ / 5 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥♥ / 5 out of 5 hearts