Highly recommend to watch Jeong Do Jeon 2014 before watching this drama even though it was released 5 years later than this drama but it is a prequel and provide more back story and context to this show.

What I like:
The story for most part is very well written, most the episodes are intense and engaging. The characters are complex and multidimensional, you know each (whether it is main or side) character's motivation and personalities through their actions (for most part, I'll talk about further why I had some problem with the characters as well). The story cause me to think about my own life, without getting into spoilers, I think the show has a lot to do with power, our perception of power, especially as human how we view ourselves, how we should be treated like what we think we deserve, it is very interesting to see all the characters struggle for power.

Acting here are excellent all around whether it is main or side characters, children or teenage or adult actors I sometimes forget they are acting, whether it's emotional scenes or scenes whereby characters are talking to each other.

Music is beautiful in my option and fits well into the scenes.

The problems I had:
I think the biggest problem for me is the focus on the main character and side characters are not very well balanced, the side characters' stories while interesting they take up a lot of screen time as compared to the main character King Sejong, his name is the title of this show and he only appears 40-50% of the screen time most of the episodes while the rest of the screen time are side characters. I feel there are parts of story missing such as certain characters just disappeared from the show without explanation. The last quarter (70+ to end) wasn't as strong as the rest of the show, I find the characters keep repeating themselves, complex characters suddenly become one-note. The last episode also felt abruptly ended. There are some episodes that has its tropes and melodrama.

For the acting, I find the actor playing Jang Yeong Shil is kind of wooden at times, the character's romance also felt forced and the couple has no chemistry with each other.

Overall I would recommend to those who are into political thriller, concern with good storytelling, good dialogue and like to see faithful adaptation to the real history.

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Story: It's not unique and I have seen similar body swapping movie like freaking Friday (English movie from 2003) but still it was told nicely with well balance of comedy and drama, I was engaged throughout the movie. My only problem is the way that it was told, I feel it would work better as a drama than a movie because of the pacing you can feel they are rushing due to some parts of the story are told through as a montage. The story would work much better as drama also because the characters were not developed that well to make me connect, comparing to freaky friday movie which is a story of mother and daughter living each other lives after swapping bodies and throughout the movie they developed more and more understanding towards each other that movie I feel more connected and related to the characters whereas this story about two guys that has no relation to one another, just two strangers on the street.

Acting: the acting is excellent in the way both lead actors portraying each others' characters.

Overall a fun casual movie to watch to relax and have a good laugh.

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It is a lengthy drama of 200 episodes but it is due to the complexity of the story telling. The story is pretty much straight forward with not a lot of plot twist even if it is, it is predictable which I will explain why as we dive deeper into this review. The story is based on actual history, faithfully adapted with fictional drama throw in, also the heavy religious theme of Buddhism are in this drama which may turn off some, as a Christian I'm not really bothered by it because it is part of the actual history. Even though the story is complicated, considering the scale of the storytelling which involves the three kingdoms and each kingdom have their politics and stories that is part of the the main story. However, the drama is surprising easy to follow as it takes its time to develop its characters and with the help of narrator to explain everything (by laying out the historical facts and inform you which part is fiction for the purpose of drama). Most of the characters are written very well especially the antagonists, they are given backstory and you know their personalities and their motivation except the main character which I will get to my issue with the show.

Now the issue I have, the plot twists are predictable due to the narrator will spoil or tell you in advance example what will happen to the character in the future after the introduction to the character. Next the main character of the show, Wang Gun I wished this character was written as well as the antagonists, I don't know what is the character's motivation, he is a passenger in his own story, while the side/supporting characters are the driver.

The acting of the show is quite good all around. The characters are being portrayed on screen rather than actors acting.

The sound mixing, music/soundtrack and cinematography doesn't really hold up that well considering it was almost 20 years ago (it was year 2020 at the time I write this review), the aspect ratio is those old TV square shaped and sound effect used are quite bad in today's standard to a point that it is hilarious but what makes it watchable is the story telling, the acting and the production, the war sequences and they even have ship that is from that period that sail.
Because of the lengthy episodes, in my opinion the interesting episodes are from episode 1 to 120 and the last quarter of the show which is episode 150 onward to end while in between episodes 121 to 149 are where I find is where the drama drag.

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After watching this drama, I highly recommend that you check out Great King Sejong 2008 drama after finishing this drama (because it is a continuation of the story) if you haven't.

I would recommend this drama for those who are into political thriller, mature issues and excellent dialogue.

Simply a great story and suspenseful drama exceedingly well told through the characters. I like the way the drama doesn't have to treat the audience like a child where everything has to be explained (example you seen a lot is that character A will ask character B a question and the character B will explain to character A which is essentially to us the audience), just a few lines of dialog or through the action from the character I know and understand what's going on. I would have given the story 10 out 10 but episodes 41 - 48 is where I find the drama dragged and slowed down.

Seeing Jo Jae Hyeon as the protagonist kinda threw me off at first few episodes, some of drama and movie I have seen him in, he is always the scary bad guy. Looking at the casting list, it is an accomplished ensemble piece, thick with top notch acting performances. The weight of the subject matter combined with the intensity of the acting here will be more than enough for some people.

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-Mild spoilers-

I enjoyed the show only up to first half of the show which is up to about 18 to 20 episodes, I don't know what happened after 21 episodes onwards, it was hard to get through. The story and plots were all over the place, so many out of characters moments such as the characters' motivation/motive established very well at the beginning of the show and it change with very weak reasoning it's very frustrating to watch.

This show title should change to the fall of Baekje instead of Gyebaek, just basing on the title of this show I thought we were supposed to see the story be centered around the title character's perspective but unfortunately it is not, the story is too plot driven and the other characters arcs taking up the screen time that we don't see a lot of Gyebaek's character development and all.

Another thing that weigh down the show is the romance, it's your standard TV trope, love triangle. All the characters are intelligent and smart in this show, but when it comes to romance they become so dumb, I find myself cringe and face palm a lot at the romance plot.

Acting in the show are great. The stand out for me are the two female leads.

In conclusion, this show is frustrating, because of the very strong first half then jump the shark from episodes 21 onwards and had so much potential if only the story was more character driven than plot.

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What stood out to me in this movie for me are the amazing cinematography, set production, the visual effects and the action scenes.

For the story, this is me as someone who watches a lot historical dramas (like Jumong that character is mentioned in the movie, worth to watch and understand what's the importance of this actual historical figure) and movies and who is interested in the actual history which the story take place. It is a quite a straight forward story with little twist, me who watch many war dramas I kind of already predicted what is going to happen in the story, at the start of the movie around the first 15 minutes it felt slow to me, it only picks up when the 2 main characters meet. Some of the side characters that were interesting I wished they were given enough time to show their background and backstory as I didn't feel the emotion when something happened to them. So the only interesting characters are your 2 main characters.

The acting were good in the movie, the standouts to me were the 2 main actors. Music was not memorable but good for the scenes. Overall I enjoyed this movie.

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I watched this drama after finishing Jumong, it is literally the sequel but just that this show is made by other TV network. The story is not as epic as Jumong but nevertheless it is good, it tells a straight forward story that is well paced from beginning to end, I watched a lot of historical drama and quite a lot of drama doesn't have a good ending to the show, even Jumong I find the ending quite rushed. What's makes it stand apart from Jumong is the music, continue to read on the music/soundtrack section of this review.

For the acting it's really good across the board.

Soundtrack for this show is beautiful and breathtaking. After finishing the drama I just can't get the soundtrack out of my head. Someone has made a Playlist on YouTube for the drama check out and listen the soundtrack for yourself (https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLX2MqrE5k3wm9bhbsWp4OLvY9qj4xnun4). Because the music is so good, the scene incorporate with the music in the drama, you can feel the scene is being elevated and intensified.

I know I mentioned Jumong a lot, I really highly recommend this show to be watched back to back, not a lot of people know about this show, I accidentally found out myself (was searching jumong to rewatch and this title of the show came up in the search) and also both shows main character are played by the same lead actor.

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Imagine Sherlock Holmes as a bumbling goofball, chasing clues in a Joseon Dynasty skirt, and you've got the essence of this hilarious detective flick. Fast-paced action meets slapstick comedy as our awkward genius unravels a conspiracy as tangled as Korean BBQ noodles. Murders, political intrigue, embezzlement, the plight of the poor, and even a dash of Christianity simmer in this cinematic stew, initially seeming like all over the place gets interwoven pretty well at the end.

Our detective's Watson is no stuffy sidekick. Played with infectious charm by Dal-su Oh, he's the comedic yin to the detective's awkward yang. Their bumbling duo act is the heart of the film.

If you're craving a side-splitting laugh with a dash of intrigue and historical flair, this movie hits the spot.

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It's a good drama with compelling story to watch with top notch acting including the young actors. The music effectively complements the scenes, even if it doesn't leave a lasting impression. However, there are frequent use of k drama tropes, that can take up quite a bit of run time and make no impact to the main story line such as annoying characters that you don't care about are given quite a bit of screen time, characters meeting beforehand, love triangle etc which might make the story feel somewhat formulaic and predictable. Despite these shortcomings, the engaging core narrative and stellar acting still make it worth a watch.

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The story telling is well constructed and discloses its plot like a puzzle with a twist at the end I never saw coming if you like revenge or vengeance story this is a good movie to watch. The strength of the movie can also be its weakness the biggest issue for the story in my opinion after almost an hour into the movie, I still don't know what is the intention of the lead character and why is she doing what she is doing. Next issue is the side characters in the movie especially the police, they are bland and boring, they had very little background information and were there to fulfill a particular purpose, such as the detective he is there when murder took place and he did job which is to only investigate the case.

Acting in the movie, only the lead actress and the actor playing detective OH are the stand out in this movie, they did a fine job. The rest are not bad.

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Just my quick overall thoughts before I dive deeper about the movie in the spoilers down below. It's a fun and visual stunning movie with a few moments that gives me laugh. For those looking for movie that is causal and historical I would suggest to give this a watch.







! Spoiler part

Story: the first 20 minutes I find it slow pace and quite hard to get into the movie. It's very messy trying to balance romance, comedy and palace politics. There are so many things in the movie that didn't make sense.

As a romantic movie, cliché. The two main characters keep running into each other, when they meet I knew they are going to be love but that's the biggest problem, the princess met Seo for a few days and they are so deep in love with each other that she is willing to give up her status as a princess?

Palace politics, the writing is very weak, important decisions such as the princess's marriage are made in the court by fortune telling? It start off with a problem with drought, the people and government officials believe that the princess's marriage will solve the problem, I know people at that time period are superstitious but that makes no sense at all. Throughout the movie, the problem of drought is being brought up a lot of times but in the movie I don't see that, it keep showing luscious green trees and grass. My country has been through drought one time, you will see the grass withered over the country has turn yellow, discolored leaves among the green ones on trees. Overall, I have a feeling that this story would work better as a drama to develop each characters.


Acting: I know some of the casts in this movie, I have watched other movie and drama they are in and seen their talented acting performances from other shows. However I think the problem is the script, there is not a lot of focus on the characters thus their performance are very one-note, emotional scenes I don't feel it in their performance.

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I watched this drama after watching The Great King Sejong drama. I highly recommend that you watch the drama first before watching this drama. You will find me comparing both dramas in this review, it's apple to apple comparison, read on my review and I will explained why I recommend to watch the drama first.

What I like:
The cinematography is gorgeous and beautifully shot, there are many beautiful sceneries, the use cgi to illustrate and explain example how youngshil's clock works. There are a few moments in the show that are unexpectedly funny that makes me laugh out loud.
Nice cameos from the 2008 drama actors are in this drama. (you will recognize them if you have watch the 2008 drama)

Music is nice and blend well with the scenes.

Issues I have: (yes, I have a lot of issues)
The show title is called Jang Young Shil , you would thought the show main focus would be on the main character but no, its the same issue I have with The Great King Sejong drama, the show as well focuses a lot of side characters. Especially the political parts which I would never fully understand if I had not watch the 2008 drama. The difference is this drama side characters plot / story doesn't have direct impact / consequence to the main character's story in addition most of the side characters are one-note and bland which only added to unnecessary screen time, making the story very messy.
Even though Kim Sang Kyung and Kim Yeong Cheol have reprised the same characters as the year 2008 drama, the characters they are portraying are quite different from this drama. I feel their acting in this drama not as strong as the previous drama.
The main character Jang Young Shil, there's not much character development from start to end, which is a huge issue to me because if the character has no much depth then it is flat. I'm sure a lot of people have watched the first Iron man man movie, imagine Tony stark's character and personality is the same even after the things he had gone through throughout the movie. The drama will tend to show his almost finished invention without explaining how he makes it, comparing to the first Iron man movie again, it's as if the movie show the finished product of the iron man suit without the scenes of his thought process and trial-and-error into making the suit. I also do not buy into the close friends relationship with king Sejong and Young Shil by comparing with 2008 drama, you will see what I meant.
The princess sohyun character is unnecessary in the show, think her character is only there to serve as a love interest, there episodes she is not in it I don't feel I am missing that character.

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This show had a slow start but it get more and more interesting and exciting until episode 8 where the main character appears. The story of the show in my opinion is mostly quite unique and complex, there are a lot of episodes left me wondering how the story is going to play out and leaving me unexpected. Of course there are still some common tv tropes that if you watched some historical drama you would be able to predict those cliche from a mile away. The ending of the drama felt very rush and I feel like an extra episode could have wrap up the show nicely.

The acting, everyone is really good, the characters the actors portrayed don't feel like acting, most of the characters personalities are fascinating and have nice development as the drama progressed.

If you enjoy this show and haven't watch Gwanggaeto, The Great Conqueror, I highly recommend that you do check it out, there are mention of the king Gwanggaeto and also most of the cast in this drama are also in that show.

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One of the first few historical drama I got into when I started watching Korean drama, this show is easy to follow, the show will explain everything to the audience (maybe it might annoy some but for me as a non Korean who know nothing about Korean history). It's a plot-driven story with the main focus are on sequence of events and the writing of the show get better with each episode, the action sequences like the war scenes are nicely done in terms of TV. There's no episode I can think of I don't like. Unfortunately the problem of the show for me is that there are not much or deep character development, it has to be since the show is named after the main character thus you would think that the main focus should be on the character and what the character's thoughts, from the beginning of the show he is already developed (sort of), but one good thing is that didn't follow most historical drama cliche where it show the main character's childhood or origins from birth parents. Also when he is fighting not once I feel fear for the character might get hurt or killed and when something bad l happened to him there's not much struggle within or against himself. Rather the characters that developed a lot are the antagonists and side characters.

Sorry to say that the acting in my opinion is mostly serviceable, it's alright but not great, most of the actors will scream or shout their lines (be prepared to lower the volume) and some supporting actors will tend to over act which is hilarious to watch.

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