I am an European, but a fan of Korean tv shows. The first part with its 20 episodes belongs to the best I have seen yet: A great fantasy setting with a convincing world, a great story which is told in a very interesting way uncovering layer for layer, a very new take on a love story which is at the same time the story between master and study. So if you have seen episode 1-19 it is almost 10/10 (for me the music is often too syrupy and the comic relief sequences are sometimes a bit too clumsy to really reach the top).
But in episode 20 they introduce new and vital information how the story world works and immediately make a very crude use of it. This is so embarrassing because up to this point all major plot elements have been carefully prepared in advance, often many episodes before they make use of them. It seems as if either someone else wrote this episode or they decided in the last minute to introduce these new plot hooks for the second part.
Well, the second part is a mess in more than one aspect. First of all of they replaced the actor for the female lead (Jung So-Min). For twenty episodes you watched her in many scenes and many close-ups - and Jung So-Min is an very talented actress bringing the many aspects, the character is supposed to have, convincingly to life: She is sullen and dismissive, scornful, condescending, reluctantly affectionate, insolently submissive, tenderly concerned, full of love and desperate. And she can switch between all of them in a second and make you believe in the reality of the character. The new actress is not bad, but by far not as good as Jung So-Min. The chemistry between Jung So-Min and Jae-Wook Lee, who is also very good, makes the first part to something special. And somehow these feeling cannot be shifted to a new face.
Add to this that the second part lacks the subtlety in plot building of the first and the ending has all the silly bluntness of the final scenes of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
It would be great to know why they botched this series which could have been a masterpiece so badly. And who are they?
But in episode 20 they introduce new and vital information how the story world works and immediately make a very crude use of it. This is so embarrassing because up to this point all major plot elements have been carefully prepared in advance, often many episodes before they make use of them. It seems as if either someone else wrote this episode or they decided in the last minute to introduce these new plot hooks for the second part.
Well, the second part is a mess in more than one aspect. First of all of they replaced the actor for the female lead (Jung So-Min). For twenty episodes you watched her in many scenes and many close-ups - and Jung So-Min is an very talented actress bringing the many aspects, the character is supposed to have, convincingly to life: She is sullen and dismissive, scornful, condescending, reluctantly affectionate, insolently submissive, tenderly concerned, full of love and desperate. And she can switch between all of them in a second and make you believe in the reality of the character. The new actress is not bad, but by far not as good as Jung So-Min. The chemistry between Jung So-Min and Jae-Wook Lee, who is also very good, makes the first part to something special. And somehow these feeling cannot be shifted to a new face.
Add to this that the second part lacks the subtlety in plot building of the first and the ending has all the silly bluntness of the final scenes of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
It would be great to know why they botched this series which could have been a masterpiece so badly. And who are they?