Hae-sin

This will always be one of my favourite series. Mostly an admirer and fultoo fan of Hollywood TV series like Lost, Battlestar Galactica, 24, Prison Break, Smallville, etc., I've only watched and loved this non- English series.

Awesome music, nice action, great drama, enthralling characters... all make it into a must-watch TV series for all. Although it's mostly an imaginative and fictional recount of a real historical figure, the production values are v.good, and the best part is the acting of lead actors, and the soulful music embedded in almost every episode. The drama is engaging, along with impressive action scenes between the two leading actors.

I hate this drama. One of the worst stories to be ever told. Literally every single character died at the end. The entire cast died. No one lived except Jung Hwa. Such a bad ending. There's no point to it. Goong Bok died a cheap coward death, they might as well kill him off screen and it wouldn't matter. Poor performance from all characters. Not worth it wasting your time on 50 episodes where the drama constantly failed in every regard. There are much better ones than this drama. I regret every minute I wasted on this failure. I kept hoping that it might get better or we might get a decent ending but that never happened and I ended up regretting it.

We watch movies not only to learn from them, but also to get entertained. I am supper disappointed with the ending.

After watching, I feel like not to watch any other Korean serie. Very bad ending.

However, the movie is a lesson enough for someone to tightly know the following.

I) You must always know were to stop while being lenient towards an enemy.

II) Once a traitor, will always be.

III) Keep your enemy close, only in the mind but not with your body, any time he can penetrate through your defense line.

Many more lessons are in the movie story, although it lucks something passionate that can attract someone to have a desire to watch more.

Acting level is too good and should be appreciable. Although all of the characters are very good, the end is unexpected. The storyline is lacking at many times. And the armymen are like puppets; any of the main characters easily beat them, even if they are in greater numbers.

Anyone can easily kill, kidnap, or release any of his/her opponent, which gives a sense of stretching the episodes unnecessarily. In every episode, they tighten the security, but everyone is easily visiting here and there even after they are declared the most wanted criminals by the government. I think 51 episodes are too much for this.

This is the first Korean TV series I have watched, after hearing many praise them, and I must say they were right because this film is mind-blowing. I don't know whether to start with the costumes, the music, the plot or the acting, but the truth is all of these make for an emotional story of fate, love, war and friendship, strewn with bits of history and culture that no viewer can deny. I mean considering the conventions of a TV series such as this.

The frenmity between what should have been the best friends of the story is the catalyst of the all the happenings, good or bad, it is what makes the viewers hope, cry and rage, and then forgive and understand, but it is heartbreaking. Then the different pieces of the soundtrack fall like a bomb over the impossible loves, over the doomed-never-quite-accomplished friendship, shattering your horizon of expectations.

While many characters are very well-developed and carefully wrought, we recognize of course that the men are powerful and expert in Martial Arts, and the ladies are so delicate and dreamy, but somehow always present in the most dangerous contexts. I was surprised both by the beauty and by the cunningness of Madam Jami, I enjoyed the couples of funny men (whose names I can never remember) who accompany the lead characters as helpers and trusty subjects throughout the story, I simply loved Goong-Bok/ Jang Bogo for the genius that he is, for his kindness, his ambition and his endurance, for the way he loves and for the way he trusts, I admired the two ladies that revolved around him, for their patience and their wisdom, but the one that truly convinced me is Yeom Moon (Song Il-Kook). This Moon that shines all through the film, misunderstood and lonely and longing for companions, this fate-born pirate turned treacherous friend and protector, this silent lover whose look and tears just devastate you.

I think anyone should try and watch a Korean drama series in this life, and since this is so, why not try Emperor of the Sea? The powerful tension and incredible feelings of empathy you will get from the excellent acting are something worth all the while.