K-Drama: Warrior Baek Dong Soo

Easter break and come and gone and in it, I've finished Warrior Baek Dong Soo. I actually started this drama a couple of weeks ago but completing it has been rather slow since it's hard to cram in more than 1 episode a day during the week after coming home from work, eating dinner etc etc. By the time I settle down to watch an episode it's already like, 11pm. Anyhoo, because of this much needed 4 day weekend, I've managed to blitz through the rest of it and I'm here to rant about the bitter injustice of the ending of this drama 

*****[SPOILERS AHEAD]*****

I'm a pretty big fan of period dramas if they're well done, like Empress Ki which I wrote a lengthy review about. Overall, I really enjoyed Warrior Baek Dong Soo, there was character development (maybe not for all the characters but for the ones that actually mattered), suspense, a fair share of baddies and lots of people dying as with most period dramas similar in genre to this. Ji Chang Wook is a great period drama actor like he was in Empress Ki, this drama also developed my new found interest in another actor Yoo Seung Ho. Like always, I won't go through what this drama is about because you can read that up for yourself (and if you're reading this review you probably know already what it is) but in sum, it's about best friends becoming enemies and yeah, tragic endings. 

Rather than go through each episode I think for this review, I'll talk about the major aspects of the drama as well as characters - there were a fair few but I'll mostly be referring to Baek Dong Soo (played by Ji Chang Wook) and Yeo Woon (played by Yoo Seung Ho).

Plot

It's hard for me to summarise the plot in terms of good and bad because there were actually 2 plots, one is the actual story behind the 2 best friends becoming enemies and the other is the treason plot in the palace. The story of the 2 best friends was so-so, this part starts from the beginning from when they were kids and carries on throughout Dong Soo grows up with Yeo Woon but then Yeo Woon ends up betraying him and becomes an assassin working with the baddies to assassinate Yi Sun who is the heir to the throne. Of course, you can already tell the ending won't be pretty, the ending actually made me enjoy the drama less.

The treason plot was nicely done, I liked how it was a battle of wits most of the time, the plot didn't really begin until Crown Prince Sado died and Yi Sun became prospective heir to the throne so in terms of pacing, you'd have to wait a fair while until the real plot appears. What was even more cool was when Yoo Seung Ho's character Yeo Woon turned his clan on the baddies and ended up helping Dong Soo save Yi Sun. In the end the baddies got what they deserved, justice prevails as always (in Joseon dramas anyway).

Character Development

Baek Dong Soo is a character that is in the center of change in this drama (the drama IS named after him after all), as a kid who witnesses so much death happening from the onset and throughout you'd be amazed if he was the same Dong Soo through 29 episodes of this drama. We see big changes in the character when Crown Prince Sado dies, Dong Soo falls into some deep pit of despair and changes after Jin Ji risks her life to snap him back into reality. Though, I do feel that this change was a little extreme and forced as he never is the same Dong Soo again. You see glimpses of his former foolish self when he's around Yeo Woon but yeah, his change was a real change. 

Yeo Woon doesn't really change, apart from seeing his softer and caring side as opposed to his cold, heartless side, he's pretty consistent as a character which is expected as he was always on the dark side to begin with. 

Other characters worth mentioning are the Sword Saint and Sky Lord, the Sword Saint is Dong Soo's master and the Sky Lord is Yeo Woon's master. They're known as the best swordsmen in Joseon so I guess that's rather significant and is a good reflection of good and bad when they fight each other and when Dong Soo and Yeo Woon fight each other. I quite liked this master / disciple relationship for both of them, except Yeo Woon ended up killing the Sky Lord, you can really see that he respected him and he was somewhat like a father figure to him. 

Romance

This was a bit of a let-down for me, Dong Soo obviously loves Ji Sun who was supposed to become Prince Sado's wife but after his death, Dong Soo took her in and she basically became one of his groupies. 

Similarly, Yeo Woon apparently likes her too, I say apparently because I never really saw this as an obvious thing, maybe Yeo Woon had trouble expressing feelings due to his tragic past but still. He never really fought for her either, we only find out that he has feelings for her when the Sky Lord points it out LOL. I was like huh? Oh he liked her? Ok then... It was as if the writers decided that although the 2 guys are enemies, they should also like the same woman. 

Dong Soo ends up with her anyway, she practically lives with Dong Soo for more than half of the drama so I don't see why Yeo Woon would've ever had a chance nor did I ever see him try to fight for her. He rescued her many times but always gave her back to Dong Soo. It's pretty obvious who she chooses anyway, I was expecting there to be more of a fight for her than what I saw. 

In terms of the other characters falling in love, they literally all fell in love with each other. I'm serious, everyone ends up with someone by the end of the drama. Even the bromance between the 2 towards the beginning of the drama was spot on. 

Ending

Here's what disappointed me the most in the drama. Yeo Woon dies. Yep, he dies. 

Towards the end Yeo Woon desperately tries to atone for every bad thing that he did and even things he didn't do so he can go back to Dong Soo and live happily with everyone. He was sentenced to death by Yi Sun based on the fact that if he's still around (bearing in mind Yeo Woon is the leader of an assassin clan by now) no one will ever be safe. To make things worse, this suggestion to him was made by another one of his best friends Cho Rip who he also grew up with. Yi Sun offers to let him make up for all the bad things he did by dissolving the assassin clan. Of course, when he orders everyone to leave the clan and live like normal people, these people went and plotted against him, inviting Cho Rip out and almost killing the guy. Yi Sun finds out and sends people to look for Cho Rip and says that if Cho Rip is harmed, to kill Yeo Woon. Yeo Woon being the blame-taker he is, sends his men away and takes the blame for beating Cho Rip up, Dong Soo finds them and fights Yeo Woon and Yeo Woon ends up deliberately losing to Dong Soo and dies. Sigh. 

I hated this ending so much because a) Yeo Woon admitted he killed Prince Sado when he didn't b) Cho Rip didn't say anything when Dong Soo asked Yeo Woon if he hurt Cho Rip and c) Dong Soo didn't believe Yeo Woon at the last minute when he always has throughout the whole drama. His death just doesn't make any sense and was almost needless, even though it was something I expected, having him turn around to try and make things right and breaking away from "fate" to jumping straight back in it was just... weird. And to make things worse, he's not even mentioned once after that.

ANYWAY, apart from my long winded rant about the ending, it was an enjoyable drama to watch. When a drama leaves an impression on me for a whole day, it's when I know it's been a good one.