Shinui

Great idea, mediocre execution - five stars

If you're going to write a fantasy, especially if it's a drama, the parts that aren't magical have to be really believable. Otherwise you lose your audience. This writers make one big mistake along these lines right at the beginning.

Is it possible that someone could be pierced by a sword and live to tell the tale? It's probably happened-but not likely in a situation where antibiotics are unknown and no one understands the basics of hygiene. And, never, I'm guessing, when the patient gets up, resumes his daily activities, and even rides a horse for hours on end.

At least for the first five episodes, the FL comes off as an annoying twit-but she improves after that. This woman is supposed to be cute, appealing, and funny. She's also supposed to be a respected and knowledgeable medical professional. Unfortunately she doesn't know how to be all those things at once. But, to be fair, I'm not sure anyone could do it. They made her a more serious person in the later half of the drama, and that helped a lot. Also the humor worked better as the series proceeded.

Unfortunately, the lighting on the set is not the FL's friend-at least in the beginning. In almost every scene of the first five episodes she looks older than she is (she was 35 when this series was filmed). Again, they fixed that problem in later episodes, and she starts looking more age appropriate in her scenes with the (10 years younger) ML. Another improvement was the ludicrous wig the pipe-playing white haired guy was forced to wear. The finally got that one under control after a few episodes.

There's a lot of telling and talking, explaining and pondering and politiking in this serires. Both the King and his nemesis, Ki Cheol are waay too philosophical and self-absorbed. The King talks endlessly about his self-doubts and feelings of inferiority, while Ki Cheol is always plotting and carrying on about the future and who should be next on his murder list. I think these two should be forced to live together, where they would undoubtedly drive each other crazy-instead of the audience.

At times the English translation is stiff and barely intelligible. Example:

SCHOLAR: "I had thought this, since a new king is coming, that if nothing should happen, there is no hope. If change were to occur, a bloody storm will blow."

CHOI YOUNG, ML:"The place I will be escorting you to was put together in haste, hence it will not be too pleasant."

SCHOLAR: "In an era like this, a warrior as you is pitiful as you have to continue to slay before you are slayed."

Having listed all the negatives, this series actually isn't that bad. For the most part, it held my interest. Seven stars.

I have come to appreciate the emotions good Korean actors can emit in a scene. This series is so very well done, I'm hoping it continues. I found it on Netflix {I'm not trying to sell Netflix), and was thinking it probably is an adolescent series. It isn't that simple. The subtitles are obviously done by an inexperienced translator, which sometimes is irritating, but also can be very interesting for a native English-speaker. The language the translator uses is very contemporary, using terms like "punk" etc., but I imagined from the get-go that there was a meeting of the staff to decide if using contemporary language would add or detract from the series. I believe they made the right decision in one sense because viewers (and most likely they are as adolescent viewers as me, it's true} can get caught up in the exchanges between actors, Min-ho Lee {Choi Young, the general, and Hee-seon Kim {Yoo Eun-Soo, the good doctor} as the love tension between them evolves, and there are some hilarious moments with these two as they struggle to hide their growing love from both themselves and one another. But I'm so curious about the archaic language that I might be missing because that language has always reflected the complex and brutal formality of the ancient cultures of the Asian societies. It's so very Shakespearean in his characters' consistent struggle to find one another in a feudal age where honor is everything to a male. But even with their use of contemporary Korean, I realize at this very instant, the power lies in a mixture of archaic expression with the contemporary "kids", "punks", etc., showing the exquisite complexity that one simple word can carry in the politics of the mind in a chess game or Go. As the first reviewer has said, it is very obvious the director tightens the series very sublimely as it progresses, moving nicely to much deeper themes than simply a love story or drama. I've been privileged to have seen some of the top actors of the series in other major films, and the impetus created by the story-lines and stylistic methodology compels the viewer to keep watching for the next episodes.

I'm amazed by the Korean theatre. It is very well established, and this series makes that obvious. The result makes for scholarly study of such a phenomenon as well as an enjoyable and even emotional/spiritual experience even if it is adolescent at its core. Perhaps I'm simply a 65 year old baby looking at my past remembering in my own melancholy some of the finer things in my life. As a former film maker though, I cannot help but want this show to continue to evolve. So does it matter that perhaps it is a little adolescent while covering a sublime set of universal themes? there's so much more I would like to say here, but I guess I will have to write an essay about it. No room here.

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A plastic surgeon from modern Korea Yoo Eun-soo played by Kim Hee-Seon is kidnapped by Choi Young played by Lee Min-Ho and taken back 700 years through a time portal. Min-Ho is a fearless general and the reason he kidnaps her is to save the queens life as she has been injured by a sword blade. She then ends up being pressured into staying in that time period and many factions within the royal court try to get her to side with them as she is thought to come from heaven and given the name heavens doctor. It is a well acted series with a good premise and there is plenty of action and romance. It has probably a bit too much history and could have definitely been shorter but my main frustration with the show were the Villains. They all had special powers but they could also murder at will with no consequences until the final few episodes.

This is a good series. I wanted most of episodes 1 -12 diligently then skipped to episode 18 or 19 and even then began following the plot but skipping along. Instead of providing high analysis I will just say, I wish the main characters embraced at the very end. To be correct I would have given it an 8.9 out of 10. Will definitely find other Korean movies to watch in future. Did not have the heart or time to thoroughly watch episodes 13-17 as it was more of the back and forth plotting and endangerment stuff. Definitely opened my eyes to some of Korean culture and historical drama. There are no outright make-out scenes, but some of the replay views of the past help to continually reinforce the bond the main characters have built up. I also wish more US/Western or UK stories were told from this perspective- not exclusively first person, always sticking the audience hearing in first person what the main character or characters are feeling.