Synopsis
Succession of the throne, time travel, and greed are what awaits in this drama. Lee Joon Gi plays our main male lead as the fourth prince, Wang So. IU plays our main Female lead, Hae Soo who travels back in time and falls in love with the to be king. In her time Wang So becomes a ruthless and bloody leader, but during her time with him and his many brothers she finds a happiness she hasn't experienced before and a love she never thought possible. However, will she be able to move him from going down the path of his fate in her reality, or can she change his heart and his fate to make him a benevolent ruler?
(photo taken from Wikipedia)
Review
Hello dear reader! While reading through some of my previous posts I realized that I have written a great deal of glowing reviews. Although I still write what I liked and disliked from each and every drama I feel that it still seems a little wishy washy of me to only write the good and not add the bad. So, I thought I should start with Scarlet Heart Reyo.
On my sticky notes I gave the drama a 65% on story telling and a 3/5 on direction. I won't even add Cinematography in this because it wasn't all that great either. I heard a great deal about this drama and I watched it while I was still fairly new to the K-Drama world and desperately looking for any recommendations. There was so many glowing reviews on mydramalist.com, as well as other sights that I thought that I should give it a try. I also researched it and tried to look at other people's ratings and comments. I read a few articles that stated that it wasn't all that popular in Korea, but that audiences abroad just flipped for it.
I apologize, dear reader, if you were one of the many who enjoyed this drama, but I have to agree with audiences in Korea. For me the drama just didn't do all that well. I found it to be incredibly boring as well as repetitive. It was as if they couldn't find any other problems to give our main leads than their love for each other. Seriously though, the issue of their love was something that was discussed at adnauseam. by the middle of the show I had to just roll my eyes and grumble: "seriously again?" It was as if the writer ran out of ideas on any other issues for our characters to face. I mean, come on, this guy is fighting his whole family. He has to beat out all of his brothers, whom he learns to love, for the throne. Then after he finally ascends the throne all he and Hae Soo can ever do is gripe and complain about if they loved each other or not. Seriously, they both went through so many tragedies and happiness together and all they could do was question each others sincerity? Not to mention that was going on well since the beginning. Also, the fate of the Makne's (younger brothers) really did make me angry beyond all belief. I think that may have been what did it in for me.
Not to mention the Hae Soo was actually a time traveler who may or may not have been sent to the past for a reason (we never quite find out). There was so much they could have done with that one fact alone. The drama Faith played on the whole time travel thing, and while it was sometimes predictable it was still enjoyable. Instead, it is as if the writer completely forgets about that fact up until the last episode. The writer also seems to forget about Hae Soo's decision to help make Wang So a better and more benevolent ruler.
It wasn't just the situations the writer was putting our characters in that bothered me, but the way they developed the characters. Gosh, there were so many character's who either didn't develop much or took way to long to change. I was just so done with how everything ended in tragedy and all the struggles the characters were going through. I understood the decisions of some as they slowly withdrew from their former selves and slowly manifested into something different. Wang So is a good example, as is our second male lead, the eighth prince Wang Wook. However, the eight prince's motives for some of the stuff he does were sometimes misleading or I didn't agree with the reasoning that was written for him. I understand that people can sometimes lose themselves and their judgment while trying to achieve something but holy cow, man, sometimes enough is enough! A good deal of the show was also centered around their rivalry.
I really disliked the main female lead's reasoning for a lot of her decisions especially concerning Wang So, who was supposed to be her "true love." I wasn't convinced as to why she makes the choices that she does. I found them to be irrelevant and silly. There was no reason for her to make her life the way it ended. Yes, I didn't like the ending. It made me very angry and like I had just wasted all my time watching the show. It made me feel like everything was just pointless.
Sometimes scenes were poorly shot, especially in the beginning, and I had to wonder if this was actually what would be considered a B rated film. I don't know what they are called in Korea, but in America it means a production that is low budget. The beginning looked awful which is a shame because the scenery at the lake in the first episode looks like it was actually beautiful. It was a good spot for the cinematography to be breathtaking but it wasn't.
That was my opinion on Scarlet Heart Reyo. There were aspects I liked but it just simply drove me nuts for the most part. Melodramas, much like soap operas, are productions that tend to drive me up the wall. Mainly because the way they are written and all the DRAMA ( I do that for emphasis) that occurs in them. There have been many petitions for a season two and last I read there was some talk about one. I may watch it if there is. I may not. Anyway, many like this show. I'm just one of the people who happened to not enjoy it. Give it a chance it you want. I watched it on Netflix and Youtube, but I am sure you can find it somewhere else. That's all for now, goodbye, until next time dear reader!