Tale of Nokdu
I finally got to watch the finale of Tale of Nokdu. I have to say I wish I’d love it more. On the papers it had everything I wanted – a decent writer, my favourite actor and actress in the main roles, a wacky premise that sounded great…
I think I was most disappointed the story went into a serious sageuk territory in the second half. I don’t know what bothered me most, but there were some editing issues where the scenes transited abruptly or awkwardly and the writing wasn’t the best after all. For instance I think Yool Moo would never let them live happily ever after – I was disappointed the writer resolved it with just letting them go and Yool Moo giving up on her. From what we’ve seen from him it didn’t make much sense.
I think blending two genres together brought some jarring moments – for example veteran actors (the king, the ministers, the queen) all acted their hearts out – like they were in the true pure sageuk drama whereas young actors tried to do both serious and cute acting, thus their acting felt a little off or not on par with their senior actors. I think I felt the same about Moonlight Drawn by Clouds (it’s from the same writer after all). If I had to use numbers, I’d rate the drama 7/10.
The best thing about the drama was Jang Dong Yoon – he’s finally getting all the recognition he deserves. I bet we’ll be seeing him a lot from now on. I also think Kim So Hyun at last found her onscreen match in Jang Dong Yoon – she’s never looked better or felt more natural with anybody else. Also a special shoutout to Kang Tae Oh (Yool Moo) who I never watched before but who left a good impression on me. Especially the last scene with him sitting on the throne with his crazy eyes and smirk gave me chills.
Just watched it! Yup, I share your impressions: I really enjoyed the fluffy first half and the turn into darkness, but just wasn’t feeling it when everything came to a head in ep. 15… And I usually love sword fights, but in this case, mmmm, no. I guess the blame is on the mix of writing and editing, the intense emotional encounters in the middle of a palace battle just didn’t work for me. Besides, the king’s single-mindedness, Moo Yul giving up so easily, and also Nokdu’s brother redemption arc (when his betrayal was hard to believe in the first place) seemed not well justified. The finale was really sweet, and I appreciated that they brought back the lovely secundaries from the first half, but it also felt a bit perfunctory. Now that you’ve said that it is from the same writer as MDbC it all makes sense to me, because I felt exactly the same thing about that drama: beautifully shot, sweet, with charming leads, but a bit too light for my taste
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cherry 🍒
November 26, 2019 at 3:58 AM
Tale of Nokdu
I finally got to watch the finale of Tale of Nokdu. I have to say I wish I’d love it more. On the papers it had everything I wanted – a decent writer, my favourite actor and actress in the main roles, a wacky premise that sounded great…
I think I was most disappointed the story went into a serious sageuk territory in the second half. I don’t know what bothered me most, but there were some editing issues where the scenes transited abruptly or awkwardly and the writing wasn’t the best after all. For instance I think Yool Moo would never let them live happily ever after – I was disappointed the writer resolved it with just letting them go and Yool Moo giving up on her. From what we’ve seen from him it didn’t make much sense.
I think blending two genres together brought some jarring moments – for example veteran actors (the king, the ministers, the queen) all acted their hearts out – like they were in the true pure sageuk drama whereas young actors tried to do both serious and cute acting, thus their acting felt a little off or not on par with their senior actors. I think I felt the same about Moonlight Drawn by Clouds (it’s from the same writer after all). If I had to use numbers, I’d rate the drama 7/10.
The best thing about the drama was Jang Dong Yoon – he’s finally getting all the recognition he deserves. I bet we’ll be seeing him a lot from now on. I also think Kim So Hyun at last found her onscreen match in Jang Dong Yoon – she’s never looked better or felt more natural with anybody else. Also a special shoutout to Kang Tae Oh (Yool Moo) who I never watched before but who left a good impression on me. Especially the last scene with him sitting on the throne with his crazy eyes and smirk gave me chills.
Fly Colours
November 26, 2019 at 5:59 AM
Just watched it! Yup, I share your impressions: I really enjoyed the fluffy first half and the turn into darkness, but just wasn’t feeling it when everything came to a head in ep. 15… And I usually love sword fights, but in this case, mmmm, no. I guess the blame is on the mix of writing and editing, the intense emotional encounters in the middle of a palace battle just didn’t work for me. Besides, the king’s single-mindedness, Moo Yul giving up so easily, and also Nokdu’s brother redemption arc (when his betrayal was hard to believe in the first place) seemed not well justified. The finale was really sweet, and I appreciated that they brought back the lovely secundaries from the first half, but it also felt a bit perfunctory. Now that you’ve said that it is from the same writer as MDbC it all makes sense to me, because I felt exactly the same thing about that drama: beautifully shot, sweet, with charming leads, but a bit too light for my taste