Momozono Cherushi

I REGRETTED not reading any review before watching the movie SO MUCH. Had I known how awful it'll turn out, I wouldn't even glance at it. The cover on Netflix looks so tempting and even the trailer is engaging so I decided to jump on the ride and waste my precious 121 minutes on my precious Sunday. I should've watched something else. I love like 3/4 of the movie. It gives us nice setting and a touché plot with layered characters, but the ending truly sucks. Nothing came out of the amazing plotlines they tried to build here and there. What a waste of Amanda Seyfried..

I'm a great fan of a historical drama, especially saeguk or Korean historical drama. I've watched most of the dramas. Personally, I think this drama lacks elaboration. 16 episodes aren't enough to portray the complicatedness of the plot. The writer should've focused more during the time when Eunbo was a palace maid and when she works in Buyong Agency to portray her intelligence more. The writer focused too much on the selection process (gantaeg) but I guess that's the reason why the title was Gantaeg anyway. The Kim family was not evil enough. They are not antagonistic enough. They seem like a stupid bunch of minions. How can they do well in harsh politics of Joseon era? They are destined to be the doom of their family anyway. Jo Heung Gyeon was already a good evil. I think his character is the most genuinely written one. A greedy old fox. It fits his role and the actor played it well. As I mentioned before, the writer should've focused more during the time when Eunbo hasn't recovered her memory. That way, there's more elaboration in her relationship with the prince and thus would justify his deep love for her. The prince seems so weirdly obsessed with her just because he saves her a few times and found her to be really beautiful. Then, they also should focus during after Eunbo becomes the concubine. The harem's fight is always an interesting thing in a historical drama. They miss so many things and just focus on the king's and eunbo's deep love, but it makes Eunbo to be portrayed as a week damsel in distress. Always got saved by the king. The prince's past is also very lacking in every way. They should portray his past more to justify his conflicted character and deep hatred to the king. So it won't be seen as only a drunk blinded by love to a beauty. This drama has so much potential. It could easily become a hit drama like Empress Ki or Dong Yi. A plot about twins, prophetic dreams, gunshot, resurrection is quite a new thing and a fresh start. It could easily become a great drama if elaborated more into some 50 episodes length drama. But they miss so much, rush so much, that the drama just keeps going downhill. I somehow feel quite disappointed. The casts were great. I love the passionate love between the king and Eunbo. But the writer seems to focus too much on the love story and cast everything aside. Their costume is also boring. It's like every character is already paired with that costume and it becomes part of their character. Can't help but to think it's a low budget drama.