Pyeonggang, Cut to the Heart (2021)

Good drama but felt long

Typical Korean dramas are about 16 episodes, therefore this felt long to me at 20 episodes. Especially towards the last 5 I started to fast forward a lot I just really wanted to know who was going to become king and how are they going to end all the complicated characters.

That out of the way, Kim so Hyun as Pyeong Gang was great. She's always been a great actress in all the dramas that I've watched her in. This is a refreshing character - we don't see a dumb innocent female lead but someone who is great in martial arts, can lead an army, can stand her own in the king's court and at the same time be shy (only in the beginning LOL) and in love and actually shows her feelings.

I found On Dal's character has become more manly when Na In Woo took over the role. He just fits my image of the great general more. I think he did well in this drama - me becomes a new fan so hope to see him in more lead roles. It was kinda shocking at episode 7 when On Dal suddenly got a new face but got used to it really quickly.

I didn't really know how I felt about Go Geon - was he good? was he bad? I think he was at one point but became loyal towards the end - I think those were the parts that I fast forwarded a lot so I don't know how and why he transitioned back to being loyal but as I mentioned above at this point I didn't really care for all the details anymore.

Wol Yi the little girl really played well in her character speaking like an ahjumma. If her voice was not that of a little girl you'd think you were listening to one.

The costumes were nice, the acting was great from all the cast, action scenes were great too we have females fighting in the battlefield.

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I'm dropping this just like how the producers dropped jisoo

1st story wise, tbh beside the FL I think the story was repetitive and the 20eps were pushing it. they kinda just took the usual backstory of the ML and made it the FL's story. SHE was the lost princess with the horrible dad king, there was nothing new, but it gave the FL a chance to be something more than the love interest.

and kim sohyun was the perfect choice I can't imagine someone else as her. but with that I also can't get over jisoo as Dal, I personally HATE actor changes and bellow this part I shall rant in peace so whoever is looking for a fight, or want to twist people's words then please don't read past this







I hate how some people say fans are stupid for being hurt over an actor they never met/that doesn't know they exist, but this is so like what happened in veronica mars s4.
I just loved the characters so much, and I loved the series then they went ahead and stabbed the fans and the other cast with their choices, they sabotaged the true core of veronica and they disregarded one of their most important actors' hard work just for the sake of "suspense" and most probably money..

here, they didn't drop jisoo becasue of his past deeds but they did it for the sake of the ratings and the money. and the rest of the fans of the other cast are so ready to show they never cared for jisoo or anyone beside their favs.
everyone is acting like everything is ok, as if one's hardwork is more than the other

I'm in no way defending jisoo's past actions, but if they really cared for the victim's, they should deal with this in a bigger scale.
you can't fight bullying with bullying and now jisoo is the target for so many people.
some say "deformation" is a huge crime in korea, but as a long time idol fan I've seen so many false rumors regarded as the truth just becasue they were posted online.
just one anonymous post on a shabby site like koreanboo can ruin people's reputation and even if the truth comes out no one cares.


and in turn the idol bullying scene is just as bad as the school bullying which just proves the whole system needs to change. bullying should be a crime with consequences.. and that includes cyber bullying that targets the celebrities.

people need to pay a price and try to work on themselves. I've seen so many ugly things thrown at jisoo, even the actress Park Hye Soo addressed how easily her past got twisted and the ones who bullied her are now back to play the victims.
it's not always the case, I'm not disregarding victims but spreading non proven facts doesn't make it real or ok to share..



anyway, ep7 aired and the 1st thing people care about is rating or how their own favs are doing, so I can't take this double standard bias... they made jisoo the villain that ruined the staffs hard work and now they're working for free

I'm really sad over this, I love both jisoo and sohyun as actors and this was a dream casting for me. no matter what, jisoo has worked hard on his career, he always got side tracked or ended in low projects that this was his big break. and I can't see anyone else pull of Dal like him.
and I'm not hating on the other actor... and I watched part of ep7 but I just can't. it's such a huge difference...
they should've killed him off, I HATE actor changes it just takes away from the character, I even hate anime voice actor changes. it feels unnatural.
and they could've brought the new actor as a new character who is a general in the palace. there could've been so many better solution.
but mostly I wish this was preproduced. as a fan of the characters and the art form my feelings are valid

I hope no one comes at this and attacks me for whatever reason they want to twist this into. be kind and let me vent my valid sadness in peace ;D

I really loved kim sohyun in this, I'll forever keep her as one of my favorite female characters and maybe once things are cleared out and sorted I'll come back and watch this with a lighter heart

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Good drama

I love this drama so much, princess Pyeonggang is so powerfull woman in sageuk drama with Queen Seondeok. Kim so hyun show great acting in this drama and became the youngest nominee for Best actress Baeksang Arts Award 2021. Also Na in woo became best new actor from this drama. I wish Sohyun will comeback with sageuk drama soon. Very recommended for all sageuk drama lovers enthusiast

I love this drama so much, princess Pyeonggang is so powerfull woman in sageuk drama with Queen Seondeok. Kim so hyun show great acting in this drama and became the youngest nominee for Best actress Baeksang Arts Award 2021. Also Na in woo became best new actor from this drama. I wish Sohyun will comeback with sageuk drama soon

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A must watch Historical Drama

I was kind of surprised when I wathed this drama in 2021 with the main actress Kim So Hyeon...First time I see her in action drama, she is very for to do historical drama since young and not fir for like drama like Lovely Liar or Love Alarm , not impressive at all in these dramas. Somehow she is so fit for all Historical dramas and love to watch her role . This is one of her best, and I think the first Historical I watch was The Moon that embraced the Sun and at that time she was still very young.
She is a great actess among so many I should say . And this drama am gonna watch a second time. Thanks to the screenwrite, Dirctor and Producer for such wonderful story
これはぜひ見ていただきたい素晴らしい歴史ドラマです。

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Please make the SML the ML :)

I started watching this reluctantly because I am not a fan of Kim Ji Soo at all. Even so, I really liked the plot and the other characters, and for me, this was enough to continue the show. For me, it was such a relief that they got rid of him and I truly want to see the Princess with General Go. Such good chemistry and they seem like a really strong couple! Now, for the new ML he is bad in his portrayal but he did not have time to prepare so I guess his performance can be overlooked. Maybe he will get better in the next episodes but even if does not I still don't care because the FL and the SML do such a great job that even if they decide to kill him in episode 10 I would not care at all :D I did not feel any chemistry between the ML and FL so their romance i totally irrelevant to me. The other characters are great and the plot is engaging! I hope hope hope they will change the the romance to the SML. He deserves to shine as a ML!!!

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It's boring.

It's pretty much boring for me. I almost gave up after the first 12 minutes of ep.1 but saw a lot of early comments about how great this drama is with just the first ep so I watched it till the episode end, but this is all I'd give my time for this series. It officially is a dropped project for me.

****Edited 2: Due to quite a fuss about I dropped the drama and left my opinion only after "one" episode, I changed my mind to give myself and the drama some more chance and watched the 2nd episode. Anyway I still feel the same. Following is my original opinion without any edit. I reaffirm it without change.****

Brief opinion on some aspects:

Story: The plot is cliche, ordinary, guessable. The progress is very slow. Most part of the first ep is to give the background story - this background story has nothing new for the audience, just another same old kind of plot. The drama starts with the scene in the present before going back to tell the past story, so I kinda see how the story will become, not a difficult story to guess the storyline.

Character design: Simple and plain. The bad side is bad. The protagonist side is simply straightforward. There won't be the so-called character development in this story even though the time span is almost 10 years. The kids might grow up, be stronger and start to love each other, but it's just a straight-line walk. No interesting conflict. Just some revenge.

Acting: I like both actress and actor who play the main characters, but they can't make me feel along the characters with their acting esp. Ji Soo - this isn't the best version of the character he plays. The mother role that Kim So Hyun plays isn't portrayed that well either. She may be too young for that role.

Scene: For the CG part - it's not the best CG though acceptable. The shooting location in the nature is refreshing for a nature lover like me.

Music: Just so-so. Not much comment. It's not bad to be noticeable.

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Edited 1:
There're some fusses both on the comment sections of my review and of the drama itself over why some people already gave their review with the score only after 1 ep. Below is the reason on my part that I replied to one of those comments:-

I gave a review b/c this already a finished project for me. I drop it. It is done. I want to take a note to remind myself why I drop it and how much I (don't) prefer it - that's how the review comes.

In my opinion, the way Mydramalist designs the type of data to collect is quite good now, like scores from those who complete and drop the dramas. In the future when there's enough data accumulated to analyze deeper, they will surely categorize and show the result in more scrutinizing way. Just that people have to input data as detailed as possible for that to happen. You wouldn't feel much grumpy about the reviews from those who drop the drama if you understand data science.

Below I leave a link to another opinion about the way to collect data on the site and how to make use of them in case you're interested:
https://mydramalist.com/discussions/suggestions/28529-make-impossible-to-rate-uncompleted-dramas?pid=962745&page=6#p962745

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Interesting link about dropping a drama:
https://mydramalist.com/article/dropping-asian-dramas-is-ok-054182455

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