The Princess' Man: The New Romeo & Juliet?

Time to let the tension and angst reign again, as we head into a drama which promotional tag line likens it to Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Romeo & Juliet”.  Sigh.  Well, we all know how this drama is gonna turn out, right?   This brings us to KBS’s 2011 drama- The Princess’ Man.

So as the tale of Romeo and Juliet goes there are two households both alike in dignity, but rather than fair Verona, we lay our scene in Joseon era Korea.  So, welcome to sageuk land again my friends.  This drama was unique for me, because even though the supporting characters were based on real historical figures, the main characters are completely fictional.  It is an imagined love story between fictional characters, placed in a real historical setting.   Cool, don’t you think? I have to admit I enjoy how they arranged that.  While it’s true that all of the sageuks based on real historical figures are fictional, they are usually based on real events with the characters.  Creating an entire plot around fictional characters in real historical events really appealed to me.

Once again, this is a longer review.  I think I am starting to get all caught up in reviewing these things, so forgive the rambling.  Here we go.  Oh and as always:

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS, AVOID IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE, WELL SPOLIED.  

 

Our opening scene starts with our protagonist Kim Seung Yoo (Park Shi Hoo) galloping hurriedly to his father’s residence in pursuit of some attackers.  A fight ensues which ends with his father dead, and Seung Yoo on the verge of death, then through some exquisitely beautiful cinematography, we are zapped back a year in the past to our female lead Lee Se Ryung (Moon Chae Won).  It is before the two leads have even met.  

Personally, I enjoy dramas that give you a taste of the impending doom in the future and then zapping you back to before it has occurred so that you can see how you got there.  It reminds me of a novel, and I love the feeling of following a trail of clues to reach a conclusion that you already know.  Pretty much like a mystery.

Se Ryung is the eldest child of Prince Suyang (Kim Young Chul).  For those of you who don’t know any Korean history, Suyang later becomes King Sejo. He is a tricky character in Korean history, because he is seen as being a good king, but known as a bad prince.  He was younger brother to King Munjong (played by Jung Dong Hwan), but upon his brother’s death he set a series of horrific events in place in order to claim the throne for himself and disinherit his nephew King Danjong (played by No Tae Yub), who was only twelve years old at the time.  These are the series of events that will be taking place throughout this drama, since as I’ve mentioned it’s based on real historical events.   Anyway, back to this current drama.

Se Ryung is a loving and obedient daughter; for the most part; however, she enjoys doing unladylike things, such as horse riding, which isn’t going very well, earning her mother’s disapproval and her father’s smiles at her braveness.  She is the centre of her father’s world and in turn she adores him.  

Meanwhile, awakening in a Giaseng house we find, Seung Yoo.  He has just graduated the national academy and is entering the palace as a royal scholar.  He has an air of confidence and grace that seems to mark him as a typical Joseon era playboy, but as we will later see from his interactions with his friends, he is actually just a good friend who accompanies them on their crazy jaunts.  

Seung Yoo is assigned to be Princess’ Kyung Hye’s (Hong Soo Hyun) tutor, since none of the other senior tutors want to teach her.  The Princess is known for being troublesome and torturing her tutors.  Seung Yoo is confident that he can handle a mere princess and heads off ready to excel at his job.  Unknown to him, Se Ryung and Kyung Hye have decided to switch places for the day.  Se Ryung has overheard that Seung Yoo might possibly become her husband and wants to meet him.  What she fails to note is that her supposed impending marriage is a ploy on the part of her father, to turn the king against Seung Yoo’s father, Kim Jon Seo (Lee Son Jae).  Therefore, the likelihood of a marriage actually occurring between the two is highly improbably. 

Anyway, the princess has agreed to the switch places because she wants to see the real world outside of the palace walls.  Therefore, when Seung Yoo begins his teaching, the princess before him, is none other than Se Ryung.  Luckily, since in this time period no man is allowed to look upon the princess’ face, there is a screen dividing the room and Seung Yoo is unable to see her face.  Thankfully, due to K-drama misunderstandings, Seung Yoo thinks that the princess is playing one of her meddlesome tricks when he sees Se Ryung rubbing her ankle.  (We can see that her ankle is bruised from her fall from the horse, but to him it looks like she is trying to seduce him).  In order to teach her that he is not afraid of her, Seung Yoo lifts the screen and stares directly at Se Ryung.  Of course, she is initially taking aback but then she decides to confront him and the two have a most delightful exchange. 

Sometime later, after Se Ryung has returned to her life outside of the palace, she once again attempts to ride a horse; however, she is unable to control it.  She therefore, finds herself speeding towards a cliff without any ability to stop, but since it is K-dramaland, thankfully her knight in shining silk, has seen her precarious position and rescues her in the nick of time.  She has to continue to pretend to be the princess, since it would be a crime for a member of the royal family to impersonate a princess.  Seung Yoo continues to be impressed with her and the two grow closer.

While these two become closer, their fathers continue their feud.  King Munjong has decided it is time for his daughter to marry, and declares that Seung Yoo is the best candidate, since he is after all the son of his most loyal supporter.  Seung Yoo is, of course, thrilled at this idea because he thinks the princess is Se Ryung.  To combat Seung Yoo’s impeding rise to Prince consort, Prince Suyang attempts to have Seung Yoo killed, but ironically his daughter saves him (although he doesn’t know it’s his daughter).  A rumour spreads that Seung Yoo is courting the princess outside of official channels, which is inappropriate behaviour.  He cannot deny the charge because he thinks he is dating the princess.  He is obviously surprised when he meets the real princess.  

Kyung Hye lies that Se Ryung was simply a palacemaid and that Seung Yoo no longer be concerned with her.  Then to cover up the entire issue of switching places, she pretends that she was the one who met Seung Yoo.  This results in him being eliminated from the Prince Consort selection.  Now in the back of my mind I am going, well if they were seeing each other before might as well let them marry, but of course, Joseon era means that manners, behaviour and propriety are more important than logic.  With Seung Yoo out of the running, it has greater implications for the royal family, as the princess, crown prince and king have lost the strong support of the Kim family.   Prince Suyang has therefore gained the upper hand.  Alas, Prince Suyang is in for the shock of his life, when he learns that it is his daughter who has been secretly meeting with Seung Yoo.  He forbids Se Ryung from meeting Seung Yoo and sets the wheels in motion to assert his power. 

 

A series of important events then happen in quick succession.  King Munjong dies, and his young son Danjong ascends the throne.  He is temporarily protected by Kim Jong Seo, but then Prince Suyang accuses him the latter of treason, which leads to him being banished from parliament.  A coup d’etat is then organised and King Jong Seo’s faction is blamed, which leads us to the situation where our drama began with a desperate Seung Yoo riding to his father’s house.  

Seung Yoo doesn’t die in the fight, but instead recovers and goes after Prince Suyang.  To his shock and dismay, he finds out that Se Ryung is Suyang’s daughter and ends up carted off to prison and sentenced to die.  However, Prince Suyang, at his daughter’s behest promises to banish Seung Yoo to a deserted island for criminals, rather than kill him.  Of course, he has other plans in place to kill Seung Yoo in transit.    Se Ryung reveals herself officially to Seung Yoo as Prince Suyang’s daughter and begs him to live and return to kill her.  She will wait for him to return to take her life.  Well, that makes no sense.  It’s a beautiful sentiment, but that doesn’t stop it from being non-sensical.  

Anyway, if the story is following that defeatalist vein Seung Yoo will leave, almost die, then come back for revenge, and he and Se Ryung will kill each other, right?  Not quite.  There are a series of complex and deep situations that go on from that point onward, including Se Ryung’s change from being daddy’s little girl to a more independent woman.  She loves her father, but she no longer respects him.  She knows what is right and what is wrong, and her father’s quest to gain the throne is wrong.  It is wonderful to watch the dynamic between the two change as her father sees the things he does as not only benefiting him, but his family as well.  However, in Se Ryung’s eyes, his thirst for power is atrocious.  Having to deal with the one person he loves so much, look at him with such hate is a nice twist to the story.

The other supporting characters have great story arcs as well.  Seung Yoo’s friend Jun Jong (Lee Min Woo), who became Prince Consort since Suyang’s camp believed he was no threat, due to lack of family support or finances, proved to be of great support to Princess Kyung Hye.  It was nice to watch their romance develop and grow. 

I have to admit that I was disappointed with the way they developed the other friend in the trio Shin Myung (Song Jong Ho).  His move to the dark side, for familial obligations was understandable and I could accept that.  However, when he became obsessed with Se Ryung and was then turning against Seung Yoo because she was his and not Seung Yoo’s made absolutely zero sense to me.  He knew from the very beginning that her feelings were with Seung Yoo, and vice versa.  It seemed illogical for him to keep thinking that by destroying Seung Yoo he would gain Se Ryung’s love.  I suppose logic doesn’t always factor into K-drama plots.  

Perhaps my favourite supporting character in this drama was Seung Yoo’s young niece Kim Ah Kang (Kim Yoo Bin).  She did a great job for one so young.  Her expressions and reactions were absolutely adorable, and her character helped us to see that Seung Yoo remained human even when he went to that dark place in the latter half of the drama.

As for the two leads, Park Shi Yoo was phenomenal.  His role required drastic changes in personality and he did both sides of the spectrum very well.  He started out as the lighthearted, carefree nobleman, and then found himself in the dark depths of despair driven solely by one purpose- REVENGE.  It was a dynamic performance from him.  Moon Chae Won wasn’t bad either.  She had different layers as well, but primarily her holding steadfast  to her principles and not caving to her father’s will, made her a different kind of Joseon heroine, which I liked a lot.

So what does The Princess’ Man get on the Bel Scale- I give it four stars.  I enjoyed watching it, not only a great story but beautifully shot as well, with an excellent OST.  I've also watched is again since my initial viewing, so there must be something that keeps pulling me back in.

According to Bel: Star-Crossed lovers are always the most memorable.

Nodame Cantabile: The Classical Music Journey of Love

I was wondering which J-drama I should tackle next, and only one came to mind- Nodame Cantabile.   

I LOVE THIS DRAMA!!! When I say LOVE, I mean LOOOOVVVEEEE IT.  It is perhaps the best drama that I have watched, and that is saying a lot considering all the dramas I have watched.  Let’s just call it the best J-drama, I have watched.  

This drama focuses on the world of classical music, but not in the mundane and somewhat restricted way that one would expect.  I know that some people think that the classical music world, is filled with elitist snobs who think themselves better than others.  Even though that is not the case, it is understandable why that perception exists due to the way some classical music aficionados behave.  Nodame Cantabile strips away all of those boundaries and transforms the seemingly stuffy world of classical music to one that is open and humorous.  It takes you  into the musical world of comedy, laughs and entertainment from 0 to 60 seconds.  It's wonderful.

Our drama begins with the introduction of our protagonist Chiaki Shinichi (Tamaki Hiroshi).  He's a final year student at a musical academy in Japan.  He excels as a pianist and violinist, gaining him the admiration of the rest of the students in the school.  He has a stunning reputation, but is very aloof.  Yet, despite his great skills and enormous talent, he doesn’t seem to care much about what he is doing.  He just goes through the motions of in his piano playing and it seems to hold no joy.   

This, of course, earns him the ire of his music instructor, Eto-sensei (Toyohara Kosuke) nicknamed paper fan, because he likes to hit his students with a paper fan. Apropos, no?  Eto-sensei gets fed up with Chiaki and dismisses him as his student.

Chiaki then finds himself under the tutelage of Tanioka-sensei (Nishimura Masahiko).  He is known to have the least developed students in the school, basically the ones with no real hope of excelling musically in the future, so this is quite a blow to Chiaki’s pride.  However, things take an interesting turn, when Chiaki meets one of Tanioka-sensei’s student’s, Noda Megumi (Ueno Juri), who has nicknamed herself Nodame. 

Nodame is a bubbly, carefree, anime obsessed young woman, who's dream in to become a piano teacher to children.  Just like everyone else in the school, she is awe struck by Chiaki and can't help but get stars in her eyes (quite literally I might add) when she meets him.  The two are assigned to play a musical piece together “Mozart's Sonata in D major for two Pianos,” since Tanioka-sensei believes Chiaki can help Nodame improve her skills.  But alas they cannot find the harmony as Nodame has a very unique style of playing, she doesn’t look at musical scores, but rather plays by ear and according to how she feels.  In short, this means she is a musical genius, but is more interested in having fun, and playing music her way, rather than how it was written.  The two make an interesting pair.

From there, the fun exchanges and interactions between Nodame and Chiaki begin, including Chiaki repeatedly cleaning Nodame's room.  HA HA!  He helps her on her journey of becoming a more focused and dedicated pianist, while she helps him to rediscover his dream of being a conductor.  They are definitely an odd pair, but suit each other very well.  As their relationship grows and develops, many hilarious and plain old stupid situations occur, which just leave you shaking your head, yet you cannot turn away because it's such a wonderful tale that you just don't want to stop watching. 

 

Though Nodame and Chiaki’s relationship takes centre stage, there are several other characters that are endearing.  The character Franz Strezemann (Takenaka Naoto) who eventually becomes Chiaki’s mentor is one of the silliest and most amusing characters in the drama.  He is not the typical instructor one would expect and I love his unique brand of quirky.  Also, all of the members of the “S Oke” followed by the “Rising Star Oke” are intriguing and humorous as well.    

Based on the Japanese Manga of the same name, Nodame Cantabile incorporates some elements of the live-action genre.  Although most of the time I find live-action adaptation plain annoying and foolish, this actually works for Nodame Cantabile.  Since this drama begins and ends in the world of silly, live-action elements only enhance the silliness of the drama.  It all fits right in.  Nodame Cantabile orginially aired in 2006, then it was followed by two television specials in 2008, with the entire tale culminating in a two part movie in 2009 and 2010, which allowed for the entire tale of the Nodame and Chiaki's journey to be covered in great detail.  Furthermore, the fact that the drama was able to continue with more extensions of the tale over a five year period, demonstrates the caliber of the production and the fanbase that it has.  

It is an amusing journey to take, and funny to watch Chiaki become so attached to Nodame without ever realising that he is falling for her.  Nodame on the other hand is so blatant about her feelings, casually stating in day to day conversation comments such as "I Love You" as if it's the most natural thing in the world.  She even reaches the point of calling herself Chiaki’s wife.  In the regular world we would call her a stalker, in Nodameverse, it’s adorable and typical Nodame.   

The storyline is not the only thing appealing about Nodame Cantabile.  The classical music pieces throughout this drama were AMAZING!!!  I enjoyed all of the pieces especially the first piece they played together “Mozart's Sonata in D major for twoPianos”  and then another piano piece together “Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2”.  Hey, I even enjoyed the non-Classical selections such as Nodame's Fart Exercise.  Leave it to Nodame to create something like that.  LOL!!! The musical tone added multiple layers to the drama and set it sailing to phenomenal heights.

So Nodame Cantabile gets a whopping 5 out of 5 on the Bel Scale.

According to Bel:  Let the music guide you.

Queen Seon Deok vs. Mishil: An Amazing tale of two Strong Women

Alright, it's time to give the men in sageuk land a break and go back to female protagonists.  To be perfectly honest, a lot of the historical dramas I've watched have focused on male characters, and I suppose that makes sense because in that time period, men were the be all and end all, weren't they?  So now, joining the ranks of Dong Yi and Dae Jang Geum, we have Queen Seon Deok.

Unlike the previously reviewed historical dramas, which focused on female leads, Queen Seon Deok, does not take place in the Joseon era.  For her tale, we go centuries further back to the time to when Korea was still divided into three major empires: Gorgurgeo (the empire established by Jumong), Baekjae (the empire established by one of Jumong and So Suh-No's son's) and Shilla (the empire that ruled the south).  These three regions are in the midst of war to gain absolute power over the land.  They all seem to have the same aim of making the nation one, but the problem is who will be the ruler of that one nation.  Basically, the typical political power battles.  

 There are really two elements that make Queen Seon Deok stand out in my mind, the primary villain of the tale, Lady Mishil (Go Hyung Jung) and the conflicted and tortured character Bidam (Kim Nam Gil).  Both actors won awards for their performances and I think they were well deserved.  Of course, the tale of Deokman (Seon Deok's name per-acension to the throne) herself is intense and moving, but I honestly feel that if neither of the aforementioned characters existed, this drama wouldn't have been as impactful as it was.  This the drama, where I fell in love with Kim Nam Gil as an actor, and I will always admire his acting because of it. 

Alright, settle in folks, this review is going to be a long one.  I think the details of  the opening sequence are crucial to this drama's development, so I am going to delve right it and spend some time on them.  As usual when I give details like this, I'm giving the mandatory warning:

BEWARE OF SPOILERS.  IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN THE DRAMA, WALK AWAY NOW!!!!!  

Ok, let's get on with it.

We begin our journey several decades before the birth of Deokman.  Mishil serves the ruling King Jin Heung (Lee Soon Jae) and is a powerful warrior for the elite Hwarang, who protect the king.  She is loyal and serves him diligently, or so it seems.  There is a definite political struggle going on, and now that King Jin Heung  is ill, he fears for the future of his kingdom.  He chooses to appoint his grandson, Prince Jin Pyeong (Kang San) as his successor, even though he is still merely a child, since his son Prince Jinji (Im Ho) is too incompetent.  (It is important to note that Jinji is not Jin Pyeong's father, but his uncle).

He gives these orders to Mishil, including one which directs upon his death to leave the political life of the palace and dedicate herself to a monastery.  (Yeah, I wouldn't want to do that either).  However, there is a reason King Jin Heung gives such an order.  With him out of the picture, he knows that no one will be able to control her and she too will want to exert her power on the palace.  Knowing that Mishil probably won't follow his order, King Jin Heung issues an additional secret order to another one of his trusted Hwarang's Seol Won (Jun Noh Min).  Seol Won's orders are to kill Mishil should she not fulfill her own set of orders.  

Alas, as dramaland goes, Kingy is a step too late, and he puts his faith in the wrong people, as Seol Won is Mishil's lover and loyal to her not the king.  We see that there are a number of Mishil loyalist in the palace, and Mishil decides the time has come to kill the king.  Interestingly, the king dies of natural causes before she can do this.  So Mishil hides his original order, seduces Prince Jinji, and places him on the throne in hopes of becoming queen, ignoring the official orders from King Jin Heung to put his grandson Prince Jin Pyeong on the throne.

More years pass, and now king, Jinji still has not fulfilled his promise to make Mishil queen.  Mishil has given birth to his son, thinking that she has secured her position, but King Jinji refuses.  He doesn't know that he has messed with the wrong person.  Mishil abandons her child, as he is of no more use to her,  (this woman is as cold as ice and I love it) and sets out to remove Jinji from his position as king.  She reveals the original orders from dead king Jin Heung that Prince Jin Pyeong should be crowned king.

Now a young man, Jin Pyeong (Baek Jong Min) is of marrying age, so Mishil sees no problem in making herself his queen since she already controls practically everyone in the palace, that is all except one.  Hwarang Munno (Jung Ho Bin).  He is loyal to the true king, but has been biding his time, as it was not the appropriate moment to fight.  Another obstacle in Mishil's path is Prince Jin Pyeong's wife, the pregnant Lady Maya (Park Soo Jin).  Mishil orders her death and both she and Munno fall to their "death" into the sea.  Of course, as dramaland goes, any fall into a massive expanse of water is not a true death unless bodies are found.  Suffice it to say, Maya lives, and comes to reclaim her title, thwarting Mishil's plans.

We then, find ourselves at a royal birthing and a beautiful princess is born, alas, this king and queen have no luck since moments after the first child is a born, a second begins to appear.  Two daughters are born to the horror of the king since a prophecy exists that upon the birth of twins, the male royal blood line will end.  Of course, in this time period, kings can only be male, so it is horrific news that the royal lineage will die.  Well, darn it, as if life wasn't hard enough for the young king and queen.  

Luckily, the second birth occurred when no one besides the king, queen and the king's nursemaid were present, so the king makes the spilt second decision to hide the birth of the twins.  Mishil, who of course, has spies outside of the birthing chamber learns of the birth and sets the wheels in motion to claim her power. (And how much do I LOVE that Mishil creates her own theme music for whenever she is plotting her maniacal deeds) Thanks to smooth maneuverings by Munno and the nursemaid So Hwa (Seo Young Hee), the younger twin is successfully sent from the palace, however, she is being chased by another one of Mishil's faithful hunters, Hwarang Chisuk (Ahn Kil Kang). 

Both So Hwa and the baby escape though and our jumps ahead a further fifteen years where we meet young Deokman (Nam Ji Hyun) in the desert of Manchuria.   She is growing up without any knowledge of who she is.  She is a happy child, curious, and knowledgeable.  As she lives in a trading post, she interacts with travellerss from different parts of the world, ranging from Rome to the Middle East. She not only learns about languages and cultures, but science and medicine.  It is ironically an education befitting a future ruler of a nation.   A series of events occur, where Deokman looses her mother So Hwa and begins her journey back to the land of the three Kingdoms in search of Munno, whom she believes to be her father.

Meanwhile, young sister Princess Chun Myung (Shin Se Kyung) is growing up in the tumultuous environment of the palace, where Mishil threatens at every corner.  She looses her husband and is forced to leave the palace to protect her unborn child.  After giving birth, she too sets off to find Munno as he hasn't been seen in Shilla since the night of her birth.  She knows him to be loyal to her father, and he is the only person who can possibly help in fighting Mishil. 

Of course, the two sisters cross paths, but Deokman who is disguised as a man for safety reasons is unknown to her sister.  The two go through a series of trials which ends with Deokman working in the palace as a Hwarang under the tutilage of young Kim Yushin (Lee Hyun Woo).  

Another few years pass, and we finally find ourselves with the adult cast.  We follow Deokman (Lee Yo Won) through her journey as a Hwarang. She even finds herself on the battlefield in the middle of a war, and helps to not only save her fellow warriors, but her commanding officiers Kim Yushin (Uhm Tae Woong) and Alcheon (Lee Seung Hyo).  She is getting the best training possible to be a leader, and just as was the case with Jumong, she seems fated to achieve things that others can't.  Her hardships in the desert have given her a fighting spirit and since she didn't grow up in the palace she is not intimidated by Mishil or her schemes.  Therefore, we notice that just as Mishil gained people by fighting wars with them as a Hwarang and proving herself, Deokman is doing the same.

Her world, of course, is turned upside down upon the discovery that she is a Princess.  As it goes with dramaland timing, everyone discovers who she is at the same time, and everyone wants her dead, or to use in the game of political power.  Her sister (Park Ye Jin) attempts to save her and sends Deokman off with Yushin in order to secure her safety.  On their journey they meet Bidam, and our future love triangle is complete.

The political strategics, plotting, wars, fight sequences and growth from a no one to a Queen are what make Queen Seon Deok a fantastic journey.  There are sooo many twists and turns, plotting and manipulation that sometimes you don't know up from down, or left from right.  The good guys win ocassionally, but so do the bad guys.  

I love that Mishil IS an evil genius and that she is surrounded by evil geniuses herself.  What is even more interesting and intriguing is the parallelism between the way Mishil's mind works and how Bidam's mind works.  He too is very manipulative and cunning, in fact one could argue that he too is an evil genius.   It is a great plot development that Bidam turns out to be the son that Mishil as he served no purpose in her quest for power.  The fact that Bidam doesn't know this initially and the two spar mentally with each other is a fascinating to watch.  Even better, is the fact that the son Mishil threw away plays a key role in her downfall  and I love the drama for taking the story there.  

Queen Seon Deok, is a complex tale, with fantasy, mythology and supersition.  There is the idea of fate running consistently throughout this drama from beginning to end, and no matter how the characters try to escape it, they cannot.  It is amazing how every little detail seems to be interconnected culminating in a tale wrapped up nicely and neatly. 

That does not mean that Queen Seon Deok is perfect.  In my opinion, there is one major flaw in this drama, however, I have to admit that might just have to do with my like of the Bidam character.  I understand that historically Bidam was a villain and they had to find a way to make him a villain in the drama to give some semblance of accuracy.  After all, even though it is a fictional interpretation, you can't make a bad guy a good guy without a good reason.  

Throughout the drama, Bidam was a conflicted character and one was never sure, which side of the fence he was on.  He basically was out for what was best for him, and then what was best for Deokman because he loved her.  So to me, it seems illogical for his attachment to Mishil, THE MOTHER WHO ABANDONED HIM AND CONTINUED TO DISREGARD HIM, to be the reason for him choosing the path of evil.  It just made no sense.  His desire to take everything from Deokman to have her was a weak story thread from the writers and could have been done much better.  

Furthermore, I found that after Mishil's demise in episode 51, the drama slowly started to loose much of its appeal.  Of course, it picked back up again, by episodes 60 and carried on until the end, but it really didn't go well with me, how they dealt with Bidam's transition from "good" to evil. I do like that the writers continued to the very end to keep Bidam's love for Deokman unchanging and it made him a tragic romantic, which I have to admit is something that I always like to see.

Regardless of how powerful the Bidam character's "evilness" was handled, Queen Seon Deok was a pleasure to watch.  I enjoyed how the drama unfolded and following the characters on their journeys to greatness.  It was a beautifully shot, as is usually the case with MBC sageuks, and the costumes and stage sets were magnificent as well.  The outdoor scenic shots were breathtaking and awe inspiring too.  Queen Seon Deok, therefore gets four stars on the Bel Scale.

According to Bel: It's a journey worth taking.