Mirror of the Witch

This historical drama is full of mysticism, with curses, spells and dark forces. It is a story of love and of good against evil, refelecting a lot about how Koreans appreciate mysterious forces and even chang form. I have travelled a lot in Korea and Japan and it taught me a lot about their approaches to viewing things. I have often wondered how Korean dramas have been so popular in Japan and China, and I can see the reason for such strong appeal. Having said that, I think westerners will have to open their minds to an eastern approach to really grasp this amazing drama series. I loved it.

It started with an interesting plot and a superb acting skills from the characters. It just got boring in the end because I think they stretched it to 20 episodes when it could be finished with 16. They try to link the male and female leads but the girl looked like a thousand year old younger than the guy. The villain is great in acting but again... repetitive story line of fighting with her is just exhausting.

This drama was like a rollercoaster ride without the thrills or the rails. That first episode was unbelievably bad and a huge turn off to kick start the drama but I kept going regardless. The whole mystical shaman vibe in a historical setting turned out to be quite an unsuccessful combo in this case, it felt like they slapped on those elements without any real thought. The entire story felt so limited and restricted, even the cast, when taking into consideration its length. All of that was accompanied by poor pacing, you can imagine how they were trying to push it to reach the 20 episodes mark.

A cursed princess Seo Ri Yun Hee played by Kim Sae Ron has been abandoned in the mountains surrounded by talismans. Any man she falls in love with will perish and in trying to lift this curse she creates many potions and magic that help to cure sick villagers. Into her life comes an unhappy man Heo Jun who inadvertently burns the book of magic so decides to stay to help treat the locals and lift the curse. It is an ok supernatural historical drama and the acting is all good but the pacing is slow and times and I think would have benefitted from fewer episodes. A lot of people complain about the ending but personally I did not mind it as life isn't always rosy.

I came to this series because of seeing The Man From Nowhere and being very impressed by the young actress Sae Ron Kim. Following on that line, I came across Secret Healer and was amazed at the stylish, beautiful, funny and powerful portrayals (and betrayals). Ok, so 20hours is - to modern western eyes - far too long. However, after a while I settled into the pace and subtlety of the work and was well and truly hooked, right to the end. There is a truly tragic storyline, plenty of magic (good and mostly bad), slapstick and humour aplenty and good old fashioned love stories. Some of these stories were undoubtedly complicated (even twisted) but the redemption of bad deeds through genuine remorse, forgiveness or stubbornly refusing to quit, runs throughout. Sins of the father, mother, brother, friend and true enemies are played out against a royal court in crisis and there's even some villagers rioting with pitchforks (burn the witch!). I liked the characters a lot, their roles were demanding (plenty of wrenching emotional scenes) and - within the context of the piece - totally believable. Lastly, I'm now a big fan of ultra-low-key emotional acting: by the end the tiniest move of a face spoke volumes. Excellent.