Things I don't like about this drama

[JPh]

Here are some of the things that I don't like about this drama, in ascending order:


3) Kim Wan's comic roles. I'm sorry but I just can't buy this particular traits of Korean dramas which has the habit of throwing in comic reliefs. Serious dramas should stay with serious characters so that it will not undermine the credibility of the show.

2) Wakizaka's (or any of the Japanese commander except Konishi) comic laughs. Stereotypical cariculture of the Japanese as buck toothed, evil, mad, stupid, and perverted. I've seen too many Hollywood stereotypes of Asians on screen to fall for this crap. The Japanese were ruthless, but I think the stereotypes go too far and works against the drama for telling the story of the protagonists.


1) The special effects of showing naval battles are very good. I particularly like the sounds of the shells exploding in the decks of the ships. But on the other hand, the inaccuracies in portraying military hardware bothers me the most. For example, Portugese made muskets firing like machine guns vastly hurts the believability of the show. If the show writers can't even get the basic military facts correct, what else they can't get right? I would have loved to see Japanese soldiers advancing in rank, firing at once, falling back to reload, while the next row of soldiers with loaded rifles advance to take up the frontal position of the former row of soldiers who are now reloading. This makes me believe that the show writers have never seen how European Musketeers waged war in Europe.

[donilpark]

3) I thought you always needed a comic relief?
A tragedy is all the more sad because of comic relief, just like how a patch of grey looks darker when it's surrounded by white.

2) Hm... interesting. Koreans were actually complaining that the Japanese warriors were portaryed to charismatic, whith their more elaborate costumes and charismatic behaviours. In comparison, Korean generals, court officials and King are portrayed as scumbags who know nothing and only care about their own well-being, except for our hero Yi Sunshin.

1) No disagrement here. They didn't do a good job at portraying Korean army either. (well, not that anyone even cares about Korean army. I'm sure everyone is just interested in Japanese weaponry)
But they are low on budget too... that's one of the reasons. Still, they should have done better.

[Tresspasser]

> If the show writers can't even get the basic military facts correct, what else they can't get right?

What do you expect? The script is being written by a woman specializing in trendy threesome romances. She was heart-broken when the KBS directors told her to clean up her act and kill Yi Soon Shin/Chohee/Nalbal threesome romance plot....

[Choko]

Tresspasser, you are not only an ultranationalist but also a macho. OK. I still remember that you persisted YSS had never executed his soldiers and the drama distorted his images, even though his war diary says he executed many soldiers because they violated the military law.

Actually, the scenario written by the female writer just says "They shoot muskets" (the end. That's all) Then, the pictures of military hardware you guys are raising problems have been made by a lot of "male" filming staffs as well as some "male" professors of the Korean naval academy. How interesting.

Anyway, good luck... dear ultranationalist Korean macho man. I really hope Chicago friends do not think all Korean men are like you.

[Alexa]

JPh said:

Kim Wan's comic roles. I'm sorry but I just can't buy this particular traits of Korean dramas which has the habit of throwing in comic reliefs. Serious dramas should stay with serious characters so that it will not undermine the credibility of the show

Well I happen to like Kim Wan. The man is hilarious and I love His character. I mean all the characterS are different and unique. And thats how real life is, people are different and have different personalities. Not everybody is going to be exactly the same, and be serious all the time.

[Trespasser]

> Tresspasser, you are not only an ultranationalist but also a macho.

I am not anti-feminist in anyway, the script writer plainly sucks and that poor script writer just happens to be female, that's all. Writing a script for historical drama requires lots of knowledge in historical facts and context, which this writer clearly lacks, and you have a poor quality script like this one that everyone complains about.

In most drama discusssions, criticism are focused on lead actors who cannot act, but in case of YSS, it is the script writer who gets attacked the most. Why? Because the script quality is the worst in recent years and historical distortion and fictionalism are at the highest.

[skinz]

Trespasser said:

Why? Because the script quality is the worst in recent years and historical distortion and fictionalism are at the highest.

This statement is hilarious. Hahaha!!

Anyway, I was just about the create a topic about this. I don't have a huge problem with the weapons used in the drama. Money was low and they had to improvise, so I can't blame them for the lack of accuracy on the weapons. However, I have to agree with trespasser here about the writing. The romance didn't bother me too much but its the inconsistence of the storyline.

For example, the Mujin story romance just got thrown out the window without any closure whatsoever. Recently the pot maker, that got captured with mujin, didn't even mention one word about Mujin and what happen to them in Japan. I know the actress had other things to do or dropped but at least tie the storyline together.

Also, what happen to the "friendship" between Won Kyun, Minister Yu, and YSS? There are no showings between Won Kyun and YSS of their past friendships. Its like they never knew each other and just met when the war started.

No one knows what the script writer had to go through so we can't blame her entirely (deadlines,etc), but she could've at least try to use the past episodes in the future ones.

[FrederickII]

As to number 2, are you telling me that the Japanese army that invaded Korea were nice people? They massacred allot of people, what you see as racism if simply historic fact. Political correctness has no place in the history books....We cant stop telling the truth because you do not like it.

[TheBo]

No, Frederick, he's not saying they were nice people. He said, "The Japanese were ruthless, but I think the stereotypes go too far and works against the drama for telling the story of the protagonists." That's hardly excusing them. I happen to agree with JPh on this matter. If people are evil, you don't need to make clowns out of them to show that. The most evil person is the one who appears the most "normal" while executing the most heinous crimes.

As for you, Tresspasser, you did NOT merely say it was a romance novelist (of which there are plenty of men). You said it was "a woman specializing in trendy threesome romances." The clear presumption is that women cannot be trusted to write historical drama. If you're going to make sexist statements, don't try to make us believe you meant something else.

Bo

[FrederickII]

What sterotypes?


Something I've noticed in KOrean dramas is that EVERYONE laughs.

[letterman]

I am so out of my league here...........You folks know so much about period weaponry and military things like that....Are any of you College Professors with Phd's in these areas.............I guess I should just set back a while and just observe......Maybe I'll learn something as well.............Any books on IYSS that might bring me up to a better understanding....john

[Shaughraun]

We're with Alexa, we think Kim Wan is great. Look around your workplace, there's always someone llike Kim Wan in every one. :-)