teskaya

First time i watched this i was stirred and frankly pissed off by the overwhelming amount of bad things people do throughout this drama. Stupid choices and unnerving plot twists that balance dangerously above the abyss of run of the mill, ridiculous soap-opera scripts. However, on second viewing it all somehow makes a near-perfect harmonious ode to the plight of the super-privileged, and rather intelligently puts it all on display. Would perhaps benefit from a slightly stronger actress to sell the very well written, infuriatingly righteous female lead, but who can blame an actress for going soft around Woo Do Hwan...? Anyway, point being: it's really well played and well put together and devastatingly sexy, even more so second time you watch, when you know how it all turns out.

This show does every thing a little better than the normal costume k-drama. The essential revenge-plot while obvious, holds suspense throughout thanks to a truly magical villain and title character. If you like a supernatural drama, it does not get better. This thanks to a production that holds a loving attention to detail that simply does not occur in increasingly vapid western vampire dramas. The melodrama is strong and unabashed and truly gothic, even though dressed as it is in delicious hanbok. The music is very strong and underscores the drama perfectly throughout. A little too weak/innocent/optimistic female lead is perhaps the only tiny scratch in the otherwise perfect show but there are other female characters that are deeper and more interesting so in the end it's all so very satisfying and a true feast for the eyes, ears and feels. A true sign of its quality is that it is equally delectable on second viewing. (Normally one is quite worn out by the slow build and obvious feel-stalling of a k-drama by the time it ends...) When it ended I immediately started over.