The writer-director of the ever awesome Queen In Hyun's Man and Nine have done it again. The drama exceeded my expectations, it started with gorgeous movie like posters and teasers and it manage to maintain it's movie-like beauty throughout which is impressive (and it explains the high budget for this).
THE CHARACTERS
Lee Jin Wook as Crown Prince So Hyun
The leader of the three musketeers, a crown prince that has much more capability than his father, the king and a husband that doesn't exactly love his wife. The crown prince started off as an interesting character, he looks serious most of the time but has many cheeky moments (especially teasing his wife hehe). Prince So Hyun proved himself to be a lovable character with his loyalty, cheeky personality and that he acts like a little boy at times despite putting on a serious face.
Although I've watched Lee Jin Wook in Nine, and I liked Nine but I didn't develop a liking towards him but when I watched Miss Granny, my love for him rapidly grown, he was so cute in there gosh I totally understand why Choi Ji Woo and Gong Hyo Jin ever fell for him. (His ex girlfriends)
So obviously, I was excited to see him lead the drama, he did well and has the screen charisma needed to play Prince So Hyun. He was cute and displayed strong acting (nothing to rave about though but I feel that he displayed much tighter and stronger acting in Nine).
Jung Yong Hwa as Park Dal Hyang
Park Dal Hyang is a young man that is travelling to the capital for a exam to become a official in the capital, he worked really hard for the exam as he promised his first love (Seo Hyun Jin's character) that he will pass the exam and get married with her but sadly, his first love is now married to Prince So Hyun. Park Dal Hyang started off as an ordinary man whose life became not so ordinary after meeting the three musketeers and got himself in more trouble than what he wished for.
Yong Hwa is my ultimate bias ever since watching him in Your Beautiful, there has never been anyone that I love more than him but I am well aware of his limited acting skills. He was heavily criticized for his acting in Your Beautiful and Heartstrings but receive praises for Marry Me If You Dare and he certainly push away all the criticizes he received in the past with his performance here. He IMPROVED SO SO MUCH, something he lacked in the past was on screen charisma, my mum watched him in his past dramas and find him really blend and lack charisma but he finally feels charismatic in this drama, he manage to make Dal Hyang interact with viewers hehe. Part of the reason why he improved so much here is also because of how well Dal Hyang is written as a character, Dal Hyang is cute, loyal, cheeky at times, sometimes he feels like a lost puppy haha. Dal Hyang is a role that requires acting unlike his characters in Heartstrings and YB who put on a straight face most of the time so he definitely improve and play Dal Hyang the way he is suppose to be portrayed. (I find this role most alike to his real life personality so maybe it may also be the reason why he improved so much too)
Yang Dong Geun as Heo Seung Po
Heo Seung Po is definitely the most memorable and most playful out of the three musketeers, he is a father of 6(I think, I can't exactly remember) who still lives his life messily (he mix up his children's name....), he has been friends with the Crown Prince since young as his the son of a famous general so he is probably the only one that can play nonsensical jokes on the prince and get away with it. He is probably the comic relief of the drama so he remains super likeable throughout.
Yang Dong Geun was absolutely brilliant as Heo Seung Po, I've never watched nor heard of him before his casting in the drama so i'm completely new to him. He impressed me and it feels like the role is tailor made for him, even his looks suits Seoug Po's character!
Jung Hae In as Ahn Min Seo
Ahn Min Seo is the most sensible and normal out of the three musketeers, he used to be a monk but later ended up working for the prince due to his martial arts skills. He is quiet, loyal (ok everyone in the show is loyal) and he is loved by many women due to his looks although he isn't interested in them at all.
Jung Hae In is the most rookie actor out of the bunch having to do only Bride Of The Century before this, I did remember him as the playful musician brother in BOTC despite him looking really different here. His character here do reminds me of Yong Hwa's past characters which he was criticized for not acting well because it's a character that barely has emotions but he did pretty well and definitely does not lose out to the experienced cast he is acting with.
Seo Hyun Jin as Crown Princess Yoon Seo
When I first heard the description of this character, I was expecting her to be a "flower vase" kind of character, a character existing for the sake of existing, with no personality of her own and little screen time but she was much much more, and in fact my favorite female sageuk character of all time (I do have to admit that I don't watch a lot of sageuk though). Yoon Seo is Dal Hyang's first love and she promised to marry him five years ago but due to circumstances she married the Prince although she was quite unwilling to. SHE IS AN ABSOLUTE CUTIE PIE, she is clumsy, shy, has a mind of her own, she can't lie at all, she manage to become strong when she needs to, she is honest about her feelings which of course makes her a excellent character. (she do give the vibe of Yoon In Na's character in QIHM). She was initially upset about the prince not loving her and she isn't close to the prince but as the story goes on, she manage to capture the prince's heart with her innocence and make the prince love her.
When I was watching this, I'm also watching Feast Of The Gods where Seo Hyun Jin plays the bad guy but I didn't get affected and still manage to think the two as absolutely different character although the fact that her character and image and look in the two dramas are super different helps make me differentiate the two roles well . I liked Seo Hyun Jin ever since Here Comes Mr Oh when she plays the sister to the female protagonist, I find her really pretty and likable despite her role not requiring much acting so I didn't find anything special about her as an actress but she proved herself to be a great actress in this role. Crown Princess Yoon Seo is a excellent character which is super well written but Seo Hyun Jin playing her makes it even better and makes the Crown Princess so much more lovable.
Yoo In Young as Mi Ryung/Hyang Sun
Mi Ryung / Hyang Sun is the dangerous evil first love whom came back for revenge. Her love for the prince is more of an obsession and desire to become the princess but at times, her love for the prince do feel really sincere. I'm not going to talk much about her character because she's the most complex character with many spoilers so in order to not be a party pooper I won't say much.
Yoo In Young is probably most known for her cameo in You Who Came From The Stars where she was Chun Song Yi's rival. She looks really pretty here though, I think she looks great with the sageuk setting haha, she was great in acting too, she manage to show that although her character's love for the Prince may be seen as an obsession to many others but she still do at one part of her heart truly love the prince and feel thoroughly devastated having to be betrayed by him.
STORY AND DIRECTING
Synopsis
Based on the original novel of the same title written by Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers will be re-produced by setting Joseon dynasty as the background. It will put together the story of Prince So Hyun of Joseon dynasty from the 17th century with the story of The Three Musketeers, which sets 17th century France as the background. This three seasons drama is a fushion sageuk about the story of Park Dal Hyang and the Three Musketeers (Crown Prince So Hyun, Heo Seung Po, and Ahn Min Seo) who travel through China during the Joseon era.FROM DRAMAWIKI
I was initially hesitant to start on the drama because a sageuk can sometimes be hard to watch and the theme of the drama sounds really serious but it turns out to be whole lot of fun, it was effortlessly funny and light hearted, the characters are all cutie pies, the pace of the story was literally perfect, the growth of the characters in the story are great, the relationship between the Crown Prince and Princess was done so damn well, the chemistry of the 3 (later 4) musketeers is so good too.
I really can't find fault with the drama at all, the directing was so damn good, the writing was literally perfect, the acting was well done, the casting and chemistry was great too. It is quite upsetting the drama is not getting it's second and third seasons as planned due to poor ratings (it manage to obtain above 1% except for two episodes though), I watched the drama knowing that there won't be another 2 seasons (it's quite obvious as the budget is so high but it's not getting the ratings nor buzz it deserves urgh) but I can't help being disappointed that there won't be more of the four musketeers and our dear Crown Princess.... the story has loads of potential to continue but well, tvn says no.
I'm really happy that there isn't or barely any fight of power here, having to dislike watching sageuks full of people fighting for power (I've watched Dong Yi, Queen Seon Deok with that theme and it's quite tiring to watch those....), this drama is definitely my all time favorite sageuk but I have to admit that I've only watched around 6 sageuk (Queen Seon Deok, Jumong, Dong Yi, Gu Family Book, Moon Embraces the Sun) which is considered little.
I've never watched nor read the original classic Three Musketeers so I can't compare but I did heard of it because well, who hasn't? I do love this remake and will check out the original for sure.
IN CONCLUSION
Despite being upset that there isn't going to be anymore of our 4 musketeers and Crown Princess but well, hopefully Director Kim and Writer Song will work together again for a new drama because they manage to make 3 lovable dramas in a row hehe.
Personal Ratings: 9.5/10
How much it deserves: 9.5/10
Comments
Post a Comment