Every blogger have their biases and I have mine too. I'm a great fan of the supernatural, fantasy and martial arts genre plus or minus romantic/comedy elements. And for that I usually turn to C-dramas, tw-dramas or HK dramas to get my fix. So imagine my wonder and elation at the continuous stream of dramas with said elements coming from Kdramaland this year.
There are a number of YES points for me in Faith. Number one - there's Lee Min-ho! I suffered through the third adaptation of Boys Over Flowers for him. For me, he was the only shining beacon in that drama. Oh and maybe Bummie as well. I'm sorry I haven't got to City Hunter (will psyche myself to go through it one fine day!). Anyway, Min-ho shi is freaking hot here! And I love that he's playing such a layered character - lazy bum on the surface, but totally serious when he means business. Have lots of screencaps of badass LMH.
Two- Kim Hee-sun. I know that she's not exactly a fan favourite and that she's not exactly well-known for her "great" acting skills, but I have a fondness for her stemming from my early kdrama watching days. She was in almost everything I watched then. Anyway, I have to admit that her voice is pretty screechy and high-pitched here but other than that, I find her quite okay. I know she's older than Min-ho in real life but I don't find their age discrepancy glaringly distracting, thankfully because Min-Ho is no babyface (*coughcough* ...as opposed to the OTP in the last drama I recapped).
Three - the action! I always think that sageuks are kinda weak in terms of action, and I guess you have to be realistic and all. But I grew up on martial arts stuffs! Flying and special powers are a given. LOL. So I'm beyond happy they're going for fantasy-sageuk for this drama. Really made my day! Min-ho's character have
内功 (equivalent to chakra for Naruto lovers, or simply referred to as internal power or energy) besides his great sword fighting skills. In fact, this is like a mash-up of martial arts and sageuk sword fighting. I don't find the mash up weird, probably because I'm pretty used to all these elements but I do wonder what the Korean audience thinks of it. The fighting sequence are pretty cool for a sageuk (the last one that impressed me was QIHM) and I'm looking forward for more! It's okay - I won't ask where the fluorescent liquids and light sabers came from... Hihi.
Story in a nutshell : Choi-Young and his fellow warriors are entrusted to escort King GongMin and his chinese bride back to Goryeo when they're forced to make a stop at a local inn at the Yuan-Goryeo border. They are ambushed in the night and the Queen sustains a slash across her neck - a cut carotid artery judging from the blood spill. The royal physician can only stop the bleeding but is unable to do anything more. The King's advisor suggests that they send someone through a mythical gate to the heavens where the HwaTuo, a renown healer supposedly resides with his many disciples. So in goes Choi-young through the mythical gate to modern day Seoul where he mistakes Yoo Eun-soo as a legendary healer and kidnaps her.
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| King and his advisor |
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| Choi-young going through the portal |
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| The royal physician |
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| The injured queen |
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| Choi-young and his "hostages" who are performing surgery on the guard on whom Choi-young replicated the Queen's injury |
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| Eun-soo advising Choi-young to surrender. Cracks me up everytime she calls him "ahjussi"! LOL. |
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| Choi-young taking on the Korean police single-handedly |
The last fifteen minutes focuses on Eun-soo in a conversation with some fortuneteller regarding the fated man in her life ten days prior to Choi-young's appearance in her life. And a cameo by Ahn Jae-wook as her ex-boyfriend! LOL. Aww...this is so nostalgic - they were quite the onscreen couple back in the 90s.
And we are also allowed a glimpse into Choi-young's past when he first join this protection unit. Hobby- sleeping! (3 days without waking, eating or toilet needs - AMAZING!) LOL.
Special effects - not bad. Perhaps I've seen much much worse, so I'm actually quite satisfied with the special effects. Asian dramas still have a long way (and more money) to go before they can rival their Hollywood counterparts so it isn't really bad. And we need these special effects for the fantastical elements so if you can't stand that, too bad.
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| The guard whose neck was cut |
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| His look when Choi-young slashed his baton. LOL. |
I'm so glad I'm already loving the first episode so hopefully they can maintain this momentum. With Faith on Mon-Tue and Arang filling my Wed-Thurs, I'm so gonna enjoy the next two months.
I'm more looking forward to Arang and the magistrate. Somehow, Faith doesn't seem to be appealing to me.
ReplyDeleteMe either if Lee Min Hot were not their i'll not be watching it and I wonder what's ur next recap choiuce wii be?
ReplyDeleteHow about Gaksitaaaaaaaaaaal.?? i'm watching all 3 of them - Gaksital, Arang n Faith... Rich man , poor woman for j-drama .
ReplyDeleteI haven't started gaksital yet sadly...I swear I will LOL. Just have to get through the 1st ten minutes of history lessons...
ReplyDeleteThe rest I love. :P
I will first have to overcome the fact that the female lead is much older. I don't get this trend in the dramas these days. There are enough good actors and actresses to come up with the right pairing. For me it takes away from me being able to fully absorbed in the story and characters. I know I need to change since I seem to be definitely in the minority
ReplyDeleteoh but they have totally won me over. The imja couple is so sweet that my heart flutters at their every interaction. The buildup to their relationship is slow,I think it was by E9 that I felt they really connected, but so rewarding now. At the time of this post, it's already E16 and I'm loving them so much!
DeleteAs for the age thing, I don't feel it that much with this pairing. But of course if you're particular about it, well, so be it. Not everyone has to like a certain drama :)