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markmctague
Reviews
Seondeok yeowang (2009)
62 episode series tracing 40 years in the later history of the Korean kingdom of Shilla (period in question runs from about 579 - 647 A.D.)
I've watched other Korean serial dramas and enjoyed some of them ("Heo Jun" comes to mind), and while they're often a bit overly dramatic, I have never seen one as tedious as this. I watched two episodes since I thought the first one might have been simply overworked by the director. The faults of the show are numerous. The acting is abominable. Sock puppets could show more true emotion. It reminds me of silent films from the 1920s where the bad guy would twirl his mustache and the fair damsel would swoon and look around wild-eyed for her savior, who would rush to her rescue but not without pausing for 3-5 seconds while the camera lingered on his stalwart features and flinty expression while the audience felt the sense of righteous indignation swell in their collective breasts. *Sigh!* Yes, it's that bad. No, really. It is just THAT BAD. The camera lingers on almost every shot 2-3 seconds too long, draining every scene of whatever smidgen of dramatic tension it manages to create. Characters are flat as cardboard cutouts, and the dialog is so dull that it's impossible to care for anyone. Even the villains don't rouse any animosity in the viewer since they seem so clearly inept and, dare one say, stupid, and the heroes always appear magically in the nick of time. I can only imagine that someone very well connected at the network that produced this howler had a brother-in-law who just graduated from film school and by golly, just KNEW he could be the next Spielberg! If you enjoy wasting your life, by all means watch this.