The Tale of Nokdu

 All of the bandwidth was getting sucked up by hubby downloading something (& little dude playing something), so I couldn't get a signal at all to watch something. So I had to work with what I had downloaded from Netflix. Sigh. I do wish Viki had that option. I was hoping to do a Mystic Pop Up Bar episode, but it wouldn't renew for some reason, so I wound up watching the first episode of The Tale of Nokdu. 

This is one I'd been wanting to watch for a while anyway, so I'm not terribly fussed. 

Nok-Du (played by the lanky but delicate Jang Dong-Yoon) lives on a remote island with his father and brother. He's never been allowed to leave the island & it's obvious there's some story behind that (at a guess, he's the rightful king/prince). One day, they are attacked by a group of female assassins. Nok-du entrusts his father and brother to the care of the village and follows after the one that got away (wounded). He's a talented swordsman. 

He has a run-in with Dong Dong-Ju (played by Kim So-Hyun, who I've seen in Page Turner and Bring It On Ghost) while she is dressed as a man and trying to assassinate the king. Through various circumstances, Nokdu winds up having to dress as a woman to infiltrate a widow's village where he followed one of the assassins to. Dong-Ju, of course, is there as a kisaeng in training.

Now, a lot of the time, it's really unbelievable when characters dress up as the opposite sex, but I gotta say that Dong-Yoon can pull it off. He's tall, but he's pretty. I can buy him as a woman actually more than I can buy So-Hyun as a man; but at least Joseon men's dress is very concealing so you can see that she'd get away with it. 

There's a pretty good mix of action vs. comedy vs. drama and you can see where the romance is going. Fast-paced as well; nothing draggy about the first episode. Looks very promising.

Edit: Finished episode 3 and they just keep getting better so far. A bit confusing in that all of the old dudes have the same fake scraggly beards so it was a bit hard to tell them apart at first, but I think I've sorted it out now. I think little dude would even like it.

Edit: Finished 4 and I was briefly confused about what the heck was going on until I remembered stuff that had happened way back in the first episode that I'd forgotten about. Hey, it was back in November. I was getting a bit annoyed thinking, what are they doing?? But then now it all makes sense. I probably should have re-watched episode one before I re-started. 

Edit: Up through episode 9 now. I was wanting to start Mr. Queen because it looks absolutely ridiculous (and I like the leads), but I'm so far through this one that it made more sense to keep going without starting something new. Also, this one is really good. It has some of the best pacing of any of the Kdramas I have watched. The last couple of episodes have the first hint of oh, come on when Nok-du and Dong-ju keep running into the King while he's out dressed like a somewhat normal person & get to know him. One, it's way too convenient. Where are all his hangers-on? When he's going around the palace, he's followed by, like, a contingent. Am I really supposed to believe that he wanders around at all hours by himself? I can actually get why they don't recognise him as the King -- it's not like there are photographs or newspapers. But, yeah, it is all a bit convenient plot-wise.

On the other hand, it is interesting to see another side of the King. He's obviously not a good man -- he attempted to kill his newborn son after all (still no idea why or what it has to do with the date Nok-du was born) and apparently has killed other people in his quest to maintain power. But he does have some levels to him -- he's lonely, he's afraid, he felt betrayed by his father. He's not all evil, especially in his interactions with who he can only imagine are random strangers. And he seems to know that he's not the best king. But still, yeah, crap person.

Whereas Yul-mu has morphed from second lead nice/annoying dude to full on evil manipulator / schemer not afraid to kill entire villages full of women (not to mention the Grand Prince). He's actually a bit one-note now, though he does have a soft spot for Dong-ju...but, honestly, I don't think he'd hesitate to kill her either if (and when) she gets in his way. He's become the big bad of the show.

Anyway, still enjoying this one and have no serious complaints about it. And, like I said, the pacing is excellent.

Edit: Whew. Finally. Just two episodes to go. Everything's still good. Pacing, characterisation, etc. It is a bit wearying at this point because I kinda just want to get to the payoff now. Very tired of Yul-mu's posturing. Wanna slap the king. Wanna hug Nok-du and Dong-ju and make them talk to each other.

Edit: Okay. Finished it! Yay! I'm not gonna re-hash any of the plot. Overall, it was a great show. The front end is a lot more "fun" than the last half (all the cross-dressing hijinks, etc.), though about half of the last show was pretty much pure fan-service (not in the R rated sense, but in the fluffiness sense) as you get to see their wedding and some happy moments with all the family. In fact, that might be the one weak point -- evil Yul-mu (I never did figure out how to spell his full princely name) knows they are alive and it is extremely out of character for him to leave them be (or let the Queen mother join them once he finally succeeds in his revolt 9 years later). I mean, yeah, I'm grateful because I like a happy ending. But would his character actually do that?

The one "twist" at the end is one I had thought they would have (where Yul-mu's birthday is the same as Nok-du's and so the king's prophecy referred to HIM rather than the king's son and therefore the king was an evil idiot for no good purpose) early on. I didn't expect them to leave it for the last episode. It had been very early on (before Yul-mu showed his true colours) that it was mentioned they shared a birthday. The bad thing about being a writer, I guess. I'd been waiting and waiting to see when they were going to reveal that to the king. 

Anyway, am I glad I watched it? Yes. Would I watch it again? Hm...maybe. After awhile. The last half was a bit grim with all the dying and whatnot. So...maybe once we're no longer in a pandemic? I did really love all the actors, including the side characters. There's really nothing wrong with this one at all. Really well done all the way around. Any weariness is more related to pandemic-world-on-fire-weariness than with the show itself. And I really need to look up Jang Dong-Yoon to see what else he's in.