SSK defence squad

Writing this "review" mainly to defend Shin Sae Kyeong because wow, girl cannot catch a break from y'all.

One thing I hate in the kdrama fandom is when women get all the criticism when it's so obvious that the writers and directors should get most of the blame. Now I am not saying that SSK is the best actress in the world but she tried and she did in my opinion well for with what she was given. Her character could've been so much more complex and interesting had they written her to be more on par with the ML's character. His brother dies and he becomes king and therefore heartless and in my opinion she should've been just as heartless, but god forbid women have any other emotion than sadness and love. The revenge part just was not as emphasized as it should've been and the love story was too meh to be entertaining. In any case, it is not SSK's fault she got a poorly written character. Had they wanted her character to be different they should've written her differently or directed her differently. SSK did justice to a character she got and y'all need to tone it down with the hate.

Lastly, I hated the fact that her best friend dies, basically because of the ML and the love story continues... How am I supposed to root for them if I despise him from the very beginning??????? "Oh but he's the king he had no other choice" WRONG, he had many choices and was even begged to pick another one. And how was the FL not angrier about this??? Give me the pen I swear I can fix this mess.

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so slow

I watched this drama because it has so many good reviews, it was well watched and just known as one of the top dramas in the kdrama world (not to mention that literally everyone is in it in some way or another).

It started well, the historic background really gripped me and made me watch further. The main story as well as the sub plots were all very interesting and made me want to find out what would happen next.
But then the story started to slow down, like reaaaally slow down.

Before I get to the rest of the story, I just have to say the main love story just did not convince me at all. Their scenes were poorly written if you ask me because at some point they were just in love and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why it happened or when. And their scenes were unnecessarily dramatic. Their long gazes, the dramatic music... it would work if I had been convinced from the start but I wasn't so it was just boring and skippable. However, the last episodes changed a bit and from the moment they get fake married, I really like the couple. Their heart wrenching ending also made me bowl. But again these were the last episodes.

The rest of the story is kind of the same. Starts interesting, especially with Eugene assassinating that minister, the smuggling of that one patriot etc. but then the story sort of forgets it's potential for exciting moments. There were some funny moments, some interesting ones but they hardly kept my will to finish the show intact. I honestly only finished it because of the historic background which was really interesting, especially in those last episodes. And there we are again, those last episodes saved the show to me. They were exciting, the love story was finally interesting, things started moving along and I finished those episodes with no problem.
Also, someone here said the historic background doesn't feel as meaningful for a global audience but I fully disagree. The story about the rebels was my favourite and it was incredibly touching to see how many people from different life paths all came together to try and save their country. I feel like I learned a lot and was just moved by the resilience Korean people showed in the faces of their oppressors.

All in all, this drama was okay. The cinematography is amazing, the casting was obviously great and the OST has some gems. But it should've been shorter, 24 episodes all longer than an hour is just way too long to keep the audience gripped (although many would disagree i guess). But I still think if you have a good attention span that you should watch it.

Some other things that annoyed me:

- Hina finding out about her mother's death. I don't know why the minister had to use her only to tell her her mother passed away. I know he gave his reasoning but it felt dry and just lazy idk
- all the men being in love with one woman while not even properly knowing her and who she is. Very unnecessary.
- we get zero closure for Hotaru. Plus we don't really learn anything about her until the end and the story felt cliche when i feel like it could've been way more meaningful to the whole plot. Idk she's just there and then she's not and that's just lazy writing to me.
- Hina dying??? like I know she wanted to but then she didn't want to but then she did? It would've been a lot more meaningful to let her die in the hotel or let her live. The way it happened was only so that she could confess to Dongmae which at that point felt unnecessary. Why did they even start that love line?????
- Dongmae having 309403924 battles and dying several times until actually dying like ??????
- the French... girl

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I love Ahn Bohyun but ????

I am writing this review simply to explain why I dropped this drama and why I think you shouldn't watch it if you were curious. It has a minor spoiler but nothing huge for the overall storyline.

TW!!!: rape, sexual assault

I started this drama because I'm a fan of Bohyun and because I was interested in seeing Jo Boah in a role like this. However, the minute the show started I was worried already. The ML is a d*ckhead and one thing I cannot stand in kdramas is ML's who are a*sholes and get some stupid, poorly written redemption arc and we're all just supposed to forget they were a*sholes. But this drama truly takes it up a notch with the level of a*shole-ness (for lack of a better word).
The ML basically serves the rich and is their pet (Doberman), which irked me to say the least but I thought okay we'll get a redemption arc, or he'll have to defend something un-defendable and realize how f-ed up this has all been... But no! In fact even after his main client rapes a girl and films it (a very Burning sun-like scenario might I add, art definitely reflected reality), ML wants to help him and is looking for ways to work directly under him. They even have drinks in if I'm not mistaken the exact same place where the rape happened. I was properly pissed off already and seeing ML's redemption arc beginning having nothing to do with yk questioning his own immorality, I gave up. And for this I think you should not give this drama a chance at all.

Also, such a waste of Jo Boah and her character??? I actually liked her in this and thought the action suited her well but even she couldn't keep me interested.

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