351. The Tale Nokdu 조선로코 녹두전 (2019) Korean

Jang Dong Yoon, Kim So Hyun, Kang Tae Oh, Jung Joon Ho, Kim Tae Woo

Drama Rating: 8/10     Neck Score: A

This is super late, so I'm not sure I remember enough to write a lot... and I'm also getting over a cold so my head is still cloudy as well. But I do remember liking it a lot. It's one of the ones that I looked forward to watching every week.

However, this felt like two different dramas: one where he cross dresses and one where the second male lead goes mega evil to stage a coup. They tie in together well, but the flavors are so drastically different that you forget the other one existed. I much preferred the cross dressing story too. Maybe because Jang Dong Yoon did a fabulous job, but also because it was different and refreshing while the highly political violent half is basically every sageuk out there. Not a bad thing, I did like all of it, its mostly how much it changed that made me forget. What I loved about it was that the characters didn't change even though how dire the situations got. They grew and adapted, but their basic character stayed them. Nokdu was Nokdu whether he was dressing like a widow or playing the soldier. You could even see the gradual decent of the villain into extreme measures. Just kidding, that was mind-blowingly unexpected. As was the death of who we all thought was the real villain.... wow.


I know some people struggle with Kim So Hyun, I like her alright, and I thought she did great. I was a bit frustrated at how her character kept pushing Nokdu away because she was so focused on revenge and she didn't want to drag him down with her. It probably went on for a little too long to be resolved as quickly as it was. But I was so happy that that plot line was done, I didn't really care. I did like their relationship the whole time, because even when she was pushing him away they supported and helped each other, and even when the drama pulled that "you can't be together because of who your parents are" crap, they didn't care and did what they wanted, which I appreciated.

The ending felt weird because they went back to the flavor of the first half, before all the crazy, so it felt super anti-climatic and slow, but it was also the only way they could have made it a happy ending. I do like the sentiment of it, choosing true happiness and freedom. It was cute, but definitely super slow pacing, but ultimately satisfying.