I'm Not a Robot

I’m Not a Robot

8.5/10

I'm Not a Robot

Genre:                                                Episodes: 16                                           Year: 2018

Romance

Comedy

Synopsis:

Kim Min Gyu is the director of a finance company, but lives in seclusion after developing an allergy to human contact. Hong Baek Gyun is a developer of android robots, and his most recent AI, Aji 3, is based on his ex-girlfriend, Jo Ji Ah. Baek Gyun is in the process of selling Aji 3 to Min Gyu, when an accident causes the robot to break down. Baek Gyun offers to pay Ji Ah to pretend to be Aji 3 while the robot is being fixed.

Cast:

Chae Soo Bin (Jo Ji Ah/Aji 3)

Yoo Seung Ho (Kim Min Gyu)

Uhm Ki Joon (Hong Baek Gyun)

Park Se Wan (Pi)

Song Jae Ryong (Hoktal)

Kim Min Kyu (Ssanip)

Kang Ki Young (Hwang Yoo Cheol)

Hwang Seung Eon (Ye Ri El)

General Thoughts:

Well 2018 sure has started off strongly. After going through a year that had a bit of a drought of good romantic comedies, ‘I’m Not a Robot’ was like the long awaited rain. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come and not a start-with-a-bang-end-with-a-fizzle scenario.

This was the rom-com i needed in my life right now

The robot/human set-up is a new take on familiar trajectory, but it was handled so, so well. The path was pretty similar to a lot of typical rom-com stories- meeting-deception-falling in love-discovery of deception-fallout-make up. That being said, this drama had its own twist on that set-up that made everything seem much newer and more innovative than it actually was. 

Good Characters = Happy Audience

Rather than it seeming like this drama was treading the same path as a hundred others before it, it was more like this drama was coming along to show those hundred others how it should be done. Scenarios I usually find myself rolling my eyes at, such as the angsty patch in the middle, instead had me feeling invested and understanding. Because rather than using these situations to try and spur the plot along or fill out more episodes, ‘I’m Not a Robot’ used those moments to highlight character development and struggle that it had laid the groundwork for previously. What the show did so well is that it made its characters the main focal point- not the various occurrences in the plot. Yes, there were robot hijinks and a company backstory, but very clearly the main point was Ji Ah learning her self-worth and Min Gyu learning to trust others. The hows and whys were important too, but it was the way our characters responded to these situations that was the main draw. And of course the characters themselves.

The human allergy was constructed surprisingly well

Min Gyu was completely loveable, and quickly became a hero to root for in the very first episode. By opening with Min Gyu and not Ji Ah, the show allowed us to get a complete understanding of who he was, how is human allergy impacted his life, and ultimately how much he craved human contact. This was essential, as his first few interactions with Ji Ah didn’t exactly show him in the best light- he didn’t get out of his car to greet her, refused to pay her, and was basically a big ol’ jerk.

Yoo Seung Ho, please stay in rom-coms

But because we’d previously seen how terrified Min Gyu was of his allergy and how totally awkward he was (he threw a birthday party for his robo-vacuum), this scene became hilarious rather than being a reason to dislike the lead. Ji Ah wasn’t as whacky as our hero, but she was a refreshing and loveable heroine.

She may have the lowest IQ, but she has the most common sense

She did have a few Candy traits, but she was also innovative and stubborn, which gave her a sense of individuality. I loved that the show played her IQ for comedic effect as it was done in a sensitive way. No one was making fun of Ji Ah for being dumb, but the characters’ surprise (including coming from Ji Ah herself) when things worked out well for her were just hilarious. Such as her heart lamps being based on a complex hypotheses that took the scientists years to figure out, or her simple solutions to problems she couldn’t solve (such as breaking the box rather than finding the code to open it) that made Min Gyu think she was a extraordinary, futuristic robot. The side characters were all delightful, particularly those on the Santa Maria Robotics Team. Baek Gyun was a refreshing second lead, as it’s not often we get totally nerdy second leads actually being the ex-boyfriend of the heroine. They’re usually two completely different ballgames. But Baek Gyun had his own character arc of self discovery. I’m endlessly glad that the writer opted for Baek Gyun searching for the meaning behind his and Ji Ah’s break up, rather than simply having him compete with Min Gyu for her affections.

I always prefer when the second leads don't encroach on the happiness of the leads

There were certainly elements of regret and Beak Gyun wishing he could go back and be a better man to Ji Ah so that he could keep her, but his quiet, individual realisation that he and Ji Ah were now two different people made him and his arc so much more engaging and enjoyable. For a drama that had its heroine posing as an actual inanimate object for a large portion of its runtime, the male leads to an outstanding job at treating her like her own entity to be connected to and communicated with, but not fought over and won.

Teaching Min Gyu How to be Human Part 1

Hoktal and Ssanip were mostly there for comedic relief, and they were very funny, but they also had their more poignant moments. These came particularly when there were scenes of bonding between Min Gyu and the Santa Maria team. It’s Hoktal and Ssanip who are at the dinner Min Gyu throws, and it’s these two that chase after Min Gyu's car after he discovers Aji 3 was a human.

Scientists and love are always a fun time

Where the importance of these characters lie is that it shows Min Gyu opening up to a group of people, rather than only to Beak Gyun- which makes a world of difference for Min Gyu’s development. I was so happy to see that there were also a variety of female side characters- and they all had different, yet likeable personalities. How often does that happen? (For those of you who don’t know- not often). Pi was nerdy without being classically shy. She was bold and sure of herself, and was a great addition to the story. Her one-sided love and eventual love-line with Beak Gyun was super sweet and I always enjoyed watching the two interact, as Pi was often the greatest source of hard truths for Beak Gyun, as she was significantly more socially clued in than Baek Gyun. Sun Hye was used more for comedy alongside Hoktal and Ssanip, but in a similar way as Pi, she was the perfect person to deliver hard truths to Min Gyu. As someone who wasn’t a part of the Santa Maria Team, she was excluded from the complete betrayal Min Gyu felt when he discovered how the team had been deceiving him, and as such she was able to give him the facts of the situation without getting yelled at, scorned or ignored.

Learning to Forgive- also known as Teaching Min Gyu How to be Human Part 2

It was Sun Hye’s message that everyone would move on without Min Gyu if he didn’t choose to forgive that lead to the big reconciliation. Sun Hye’s character was carefully set up all series long with just the right amount of involvement so that she would be able to deliver this message- which I found to be an example of truly excellent writing.

Two thumbs up for a second female lead who isn't a basic b*tch

I was all primed to dislike the second female lead, Ri El, and I was so pleasantly surprised that she wasn’t at all how I thought she’d be. Rather than being the petty, shallow rich girl who comes to marry the hero, Ri El has a lot more depth. For one she has a conscience, which already depicts her differently from every other rich female character. Despite being the second female lead, I loved how separate her story was from Min Gyu’s, as it gave space for the main romance to grow and prevented us from getting annoyed by her character. Rather than watching her pine over the man she doesn’t get, we get to see Ri El begin to realise how her father is using her for his own agenda. Ri El doesn’t just sit meekly by, and goes out on her own to figure out how she can break away from her father and become her own person. Rounding out our support cast is Kang Ki Young as Min Gyu’s ex-friend. I’m so glad that Kang Ki Young is getting more meatier roles (he’s mostly had roles more like Hoktal and Ssnip before), as I’ve always found him a great actor. He’s an excellent comedic actor, but after seeing him as a kitten murderer in ‘While You Were Sleeping’, I’ve been excited to see him get more roles.

The company plot-line stayed where it belonged- in the background

He played Yoo Cheol with a great ambiguity. For a long time I was unsure if there was a simple misunderstanding between the men, or if Yoo Cheol actually seriously wronged Min Gyu. Yoo Cheol’s conflict was really interesting to watch, and provided some interest in the company plot-line. Like most company plot-lines, I didn’t actually care about what went on in the company,

I like you so much better in comedy than in melo

but Yoo Cheol’s actions in the company directly aligned with his relationship with Min Gyu. If Yoo Cheol supported his father he was abandoning Min Gyu for good, but his choice to walk away from his father and all his wrongdoings is what enabled him and Min Gyu to reconnect. With all great characters there of course needs to be great acting to back it up. Kang Ki Young wasn’t the only one that impressed me. I’ve sort of come to dislike Yoo Seung Ho a bit- not as a person, but as an actor. I don’t have any problem with his acting, which I find to be of a high quality, but then I started to realise that either his characters were annoying (Remember) or the drama was just bad (Ruler). I think that maybe because he’s so good at crying it gets overused a bit and his characters can sometimes be annoyingly weepy. But I like him so much more in rom-coms. He’s cute and funny and delightful, but also has the acting ability to back up the more emotional moments in the drama. I loved him as our hero, and he suited the role really well. Chae Soo Bin was just an absolute standout. Her last three dramas just fell of my to-watch list, but I’d heard good things about her.

She also kinda has the perfect face for playing an AI

Seeing her in action is so much better. She has a great flair for comedy and is a solid emotional actress- I was on board her rants and raves and all her heartbreak, and she made Ji Ah a beautifully relatable character. As well as making Ji Ah a wonderful heroine, I love Chae Soo Bin as Aji 3. There was great distinction in her facial expressions, her body movements and her voice, so it was always clear (to us) which character she was portraying.

Magic umbrella of magic

Also special shoutout to the Westerner who wasn’t the worst actor on the planet- what a nice change of pace from our usual white guys/gals. The directing and writing matched each other perfectly, and one thing that really stood out to me was the competence at which they told their story. The writer and director had faith that we were all smart little cookies and could follow along without feeling the need to overexplain anything, or rehash the same information again and again. This kept the story feeling fresh and the momentum racing. I also applaud the show for its minimal use of character flashbacks. Despite drawing parallels between the leads and why Ji Ah understood Min Gyu’s loneliness, the show didn't feel the need to actually show us a childhood version of Ji Ah being similarly solitary. Instead we heard this information as we needed it from characters in the present, which also allowed us to see Min Gyu’s response- which we wouldn't get in a flashback. I’ve never been a big fan of overusing flashbacks, and despite how easy it would have been to do that here, we don’t get an overload of them.

What Was Great:

Human Emotion:

I’m finding more and more that what gets me invested in dramas and causes me to really fall in love with them are the characters behind the story.

And I love these characters

A lot of the time it feels like we’re just going through the motions and using the same old formula when it comes to the rom-com storyboard. ‘I’m Not a Robot’ doesn’t do anything groundbreaking story-wise

Rather than using miscommunication as a plot device, this drama actively avoided it

(in fact it follows that old formula to a tee), but it’s the way the characters were written so humanely that made the drama so great. The characters feel like people- not just figments of some writer’s imagination. Often the problems presented could only be overcome through our characters’ development, and it worked because our characters acted like actual people and tried to learn from their mistakes and better themselves. And they communicated well- how much do I love that practically a whole episode was devoted to Ji Ah and Min Gyu sitting down and having an open, honest discussion about their feelings and how they wanted to proceed (hint- I loved it a lot). The writer knew exactly what scenes would be impactful and could draw the exact emotion she wanted out of the audience- a trait that a lot of rom-com writers seem to lack. 

Bearable Angst:

Usually I hate angst in rom-coms. There’s always a patch of it, usually just on the other side of halfway, and usually it’s ridiculously unbearable and completely avoidable. However, in this drama the angst made sense.

I get why they can't be together and I get why that sucks

Falling love with a robot is pretty angsty stuff. She’s not real, she’ll never be real, and the ‘person’ you’ve fallen in love with is just a machine with pre-coded responses (or so Min Gyu thought). Min Gyu’s choice to reset the robot in an attempt to overcome his feelings for her was believably sad.

It is inadvisable to fall in love with your pre-programmed companion

This was helped along by the fact that his complete isolation and lack of interaction with people from the outside world made it understandable how he could end up falling for a humanoid robot where most other people would be able to clearly draw a distinction between human and robot. The heartbreak from both the leads after the reset also made complete sense. There was no plausible way for the two to see each other again at that time. Min Gyu thought the robot he’d fallen in love with had been completely reset, and Ji Ah can’t reveal that she’s a human for fear that Min Gyu’s feelings of betrayal will trigger a fatal allergic reaction. Min Gyu’s actual feelings of betrayal are again understandable, as he’d been lied to by people he’d come to trust and love completely. There was no easy away around this particular angst- from the moment the drama synopsis first became available we knew we’d be headed for this particular territory. Because there’s just no way to come out of that sort of deception (as innocently as you may have gone into it) without hurting the one who was deceived.

This situation could not have been avoided

There was no moment when Ji Ah should have told Min Gyu and just didn’t, because from the moment she stood in as Aji 3, Min Gyu was always going to feel betrayed when he discovered the truth. The pièce de résistance was that the angst was just the right length. It wasn’t so short that it made the characters’ reconciliations unbelievable, and it wasn’t so long that I stopped caring.  

What Wasn’t:

Forgotten Plotline: 

I know it was pretty strongly hinted that Min Gyu’s groundskeeper was Madame X, but the whole Madame X thing just kinda got ignored a bit.

I don't even have a screenshot to go in this section- just shows how little airtime this plot-line got

I didn’t necessarily need a big Madame X reveal, but at least a little confirmation, or backstory or something would have been nice. As it was it just kinda felt like they ran out of time to include that particular plot-line.

Recommend?

I 100% recommend this for those that are lovers of a good rom-com. 

I adore all the parallels of this kiss

Ruler: Master of the Mask

Ruler: Master of the Mask

4.5/10

Ruler: Master of the Mask

Genre:                               Episodes: 20                         Year: 2017

Romance

Historical

Synopsis:

Pyunsoo is a group that control Joseon from the shadows. The organisation uses their power and wealth to privatise water, and the country’s people suffer greatly due to their actions. Crown Prince Lee Sun is an idealistic young Prince who wishes to free Joseon from Pyunsoo. 

Cast:

Yoo Seung Ho (Prince Lee Sun)

Kim So Hyun (Han Ga Eun)

L (Lee Sun)

Yoon So Hee (Kim Hwa Gun)

Heo Joon Ho (Dae Mok)

Park Chul Min (Woo Bo)

Shin Hyun Soo (Lee Chung Woon)

Bae Yoo Ram (Park Moo Ha)

Lee Chae Young (Mae Chang)

Kim Seo Kyung (Gon)

General Thoughts:

Whew- this one was a bit of a struggle to get through. Despite the great expectations that this drama raised, it crumbled underneath all its hype. The show aimed to be a sweepingly romantic, epic sageuk, but it didn’t come close.

It was just salt in the wound that this was stealing ratings away from '7 Day Queen'

The romance was weak, with the leads falling for each other in a split second with no build up and no reasoning, and all points of the show that should have been epic were either easily avoidable, confusing or concluded without much struggle. The writing is definitely to blame here, and the slow and befuddling plot makes the drama a real drag.

My feelings when I realised I had to sit through 20 hours of confused nonsense

For starters, the show didn’t really stick to its premise. Yes there’s a mask and a real King and a fake king, but water being privatised was brushed over in about 30 seconds in the first few episodes, and the heroine’s vendetta against the King/Crown Prince is short and bland- not to mention she doesn’t act on it. I was kinda expecting Ga Eun to be a secret, sly assassin waiting for her chance to strike the King (only to find out it was the man she loved all along)- I didn’t expect her to be a useless crybaby that didn’t do anything and only got about 5 minutes of airtime each episode. Hooooooo, okay, let’s go back to the beginning. Sun’s Dad sells himself to Pyunsoo to become King. And then he’s super agitated that he’s a puppet King and Pyunsoo Group has all the control (like, hello dude, what did you expect?). He then places a huge amount of pressure on Sun saying that he needs to be the king that saves the people (from the evil he invited in, I might add). Then everyone gets super angry when Sun tries to do something about it, saying that he can’t know how the world works because he’s sheltered (as if they weren’t the ones who sheltered him).

"Son, you were born to battle the evil I let in, and I sure as hell won't help you in any way."

Then for a very thinly veiled reason Ga Eun’s father is arrested and scheduled for execution. When Sun finds a way to sneak Ga Eun’s father out of prison he refuses (yeah what) saying that he won’t live his life as a criminal, so instead he gets executed as a criminal (double yeah what).

Why is everyone in this show so eager to die?

Dad dies, Ga Eun cries and Sun makes his (very) newly made friend, Lee Sun, stand in for him as Crown Prince. Pyunsoo kill Sun’s Dad (am I supposed to feel bad about this? He was a total ass, not to mention super unhelpful…), Lee Sun is crowned as a fake king and Sun lives outside the palace to ‘connect with’ and ‘understand’ the people. I say this sarcastically because this is glossed over in the time skip, and Sun is really no smarter about the people 5 years down the track. Anyway- so that was our opening, and the rest of the show makes about as much sense as that did, if not less. The characters get very little development, and the development they do get is often extreme and not at all realistic. Rather than showing a gradual buildup of emotions, our characters were suddenly 100% confident in their feelings. After several brief, and not very deep, encounters, Sun and Ga Eun are suddenly so very in love with each other that they would risk it all for the other.

And you like each other...why?

After more than 5 years waiting for Sun and being a quiet puppet king, Lee Sun suddenly hates Sun and wants to be king forever. I mean, these aren’t unbelievable ideas, it was just that there was no progression towards these outbursts- they just suddenly happened. The smaller stories (buying up the copper, rescuing the child workers, burning the poppies) were all interesting enough, but I just didn’t care enough about the characters to have these events hold any gravitas.

♫ I don't ca-a-a-a-a-are ♫

Except for Hwa Gun who was fab. Because the characters had such little development, it just felt like a bunch of blobs running around slowly (and I mean slowly) solving some problems. I’m sure that there were pieces of information that would have made the confusing aspects of the plot a lot less confusing, but I often found my mind wandering during episodes. Sure, it’s partly my fault for not paying attention, but it’s also kind of the writers' fault for not engaging me. When I’m engaged in a story I will remember every detail- I don’t even want to admit what sort of ridiculous details I remember about ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ (there’s a lot), but I can barely even remember the ridiculous reason behind why Ga Eun’s father was beheaded in this show. Of course, having characters that are poorly written gives the actors an extra hard job too. I’m slowly starting to realise that I’m not as much of a fan of Yoo Seung Ho as I thought I was (please don’t kill me). His characters often annoy me, and when he cries I tend to find him weak and useless rather than pitiful or loveable.

Whine on

I like him much better when he’s determined and strong, which thankfully he was for the most part in ‘Ruler’. But he just didn’t sell the love line that well. Understandably, because the love line is pretty darn awful. It was a difficult task for Yoo Seung Ho to convince me that Sun was a character that made sense, and he didn’t quite manage it.

Let's start picking better projects, okay?

I mean, when the character is written as a King who wants to rise up so he can save the common folk, but then constantly risks everything for one girl, the actor’s not really going to be able to make that go smoothly. I mean really, the whole ‘what sort of King would I be if I couldn’t even save the woman I love?’ thing was just stupid. You’d be an alive King who could actually do something about the people’s suffering. Stupid. What good are you to anyone if you’re dead? And boy did Ga Eun make me really angry at the casting director. If you’re going to give us an absolutely useless female lead, cast someone I don’t care about. Don’t cast Kim So Hyun and squander all her talent! It actually made me quite angry at how this amazing, powerful actress was given absolutely nothing to do. L was okay, but I really don’t think he was quite up to the task of making a bland character pop. Lee Sun was pretty annoying when he was a whimpering servant, but his transition into confident, mildly villainous king was just a tad too schizophrenic for my taste. Also his posture killed me. Yeah, I know he’s trying to be a cowering lower class man and all, but all that hunch did was make me want to put a knee in his spine and yank his shoulders back.

Like come one man, sit up straight

Yoon So Hee was a bit rocky to start, with her character's sudden and random love for Sun, but as the story progressed she settled in Hwa Gun’s character nicely. By the end of her story arc she felt comfortable in her role and gave a convincing, confident performance.

Quit playin' boy, we all know you ain't takin' it off

The side characters were all okay, barring Kim Young Woong who I find weirdly bad in everything. The plot itself felt super long, and dragged out points that should have been addressed much earlier. I mean, it took more than half the drama for Ga Eun to find out that Lee Sun was the King, and even longer than that to find out that Sun was the real King. There were so many moments where characters came close to finding out secrets about each other (that we the viewers already knew), that by the time these reveals came around I just didn’t care anymore. Ga Eun nearly discovered Lee Sun behind the mask so many times that it stopped being a cliffhanger moment- because we just knew something would happen that would prevent that mask from coming off. Long story short, this drama isn’t really what I was expecting it to be, and didn't really do a good job in telling its story.

A little less talking, a little more action please

Worse than being downright ridiculous-bad (giving ‘Scarlet Heart’ some serious side-eye here), ‘Ruler’ kind of just meandered on boring-bad, where it had all the right ingredients but just had no idea what to do with them, and so decided to do nothing. For 20 hours.

What Was Great:

Antagonists:

Thank goodness for our antagonists because really, they were the only ones that got anything done. Any time Dae Mok wasn’t actively involved in the story the pace of the show slowed right down and my interest started to drop.

He may be evil but Dae Mok knows how to get sh*t done

Once Dae Mok was back on board stirring things up and making trouble, the show became a lot more enjoyable. It almost got to the point where I was rooting for him and Pyunsoo just because he was interesting to watch on screen. While technically our second female lead is a hero, I’m still going to include Hwa Gun in this section,

The heroine of my heart

because as Dae Mok’s granddaughter and the new leader of Pyunsoo she was always aligned with the other antagonists. Boy, was Hwa Gun interesting. Once you accepted her rather abrupt love for Sun, her dilemma became quite fascinating. Her love for her family always collided with her love for Sun, and the tension just grew tighter and tighter as the time came for her to make a choice between the two. Hwa Gun was an upright and upstanding character who made many sacrifices for Sun, despite his indifference to her romantic feelings. She had a total Romeo and Juliet type of relationship with Sun, and I can’t help but wonder if this series would have been any better if Hwa Gun had been our leading lady. Hwa Gun was the interesting, active heroine I wanted for this show, often taking situations into her own hands and striving to always be on the front foot (unlike Ga Eun who knew nothing and did nothing). Hwa Gun’s defiant attitude and unwillingness to compromise Sun made for an interesting dynamic between the other Pyunsoo members. The love between Dae Mok and Hwa Gun was clear to see, which only made the friction caused by Sun more fascinating.

This is where the real tension's at

Hwa Gun’s Dad was a character I found surprisingly interesting. He lacked the smarts and cunning that Dae Mok and his daughter had, but his gentleness and love for his family was always nice to see. It was clear that Hwa Gun was going to be the dividing point between her father and grandfather, and it was bittersweet to see how her death at Dae Mok’s hand was what lost Dae Mok the respect of his son.

The only couple I really care about

And of course, without Hwa Gun we wouldn’t have had Gon. It took me a bit by surprise how alarmed I was when Gon was nearly killed, and I realised how much I didn’t want him to die. Even though he was a side character’s side kick, Gon still managed to get more character development than either of our leads. Despite not having many lines that went beyond accepting an order, Kim Seo Kyung was able to express Gon’s one sided love for his Lady, Hwa Gun, perfectly. As much as I adored Hwa Gun’s pure and unfaltering love for Sun, I liked Gon’s secret love just a little bit more. Gon was a character that gave Hwa Gun (and later Sun) power through his fighting skills, so it was nice to have a reason for him serving the two that went beyond just following orders. Lee Sun was a character that was either super interesting or super boring. For about 80% of this drama while he’s politely keeping the throne warm for Sun, Lee Sun was dead boring. Then towards the end he starts to have some autonomy (or so he thinks) and tries to shake things up a bit. Yay for shaking things up.

Really at this point I'll cheer for anyone who does anything that's not sitting around and talking

Sadly for Lee Sun, this didn’t exactly make his character any more likeable. It was less the fact the he was going against Sun and Ga Eun (because I didn’t really care about those guys at all), it was more the suddenly schizophrenic nature he possessed that made him a bit weird. Frankly speaking, I kind of wished that Lee Sun had successfully taken something away from Sun, cuz the real King seemed to have everything going for him and actually didn’t have to sacrifice much over the course of the drama.

Honestly speaking, I couldn't care less who ends up King

While a lot of people cursed him and called him greedy, I actually liked Lee Sun’s desire to keep the throne for himself. Because as things stand Sun really screwed his ‘friend’, over pretty royally. I mean, Sun (unintentionally) set up events for Lee Sun’s father to get murdered. He then starts wooing the girl Lee Sun likes.

You guys are terrible, terrible friends

He then asks Lee Sun to pretend to Prince just for a little while. Sh*t hits the fan, Lee Sun is forced to join Pyunsoo group, is continually poisoned and under threat of death every 15 days all while Sun runs off into hiding to protect himself. A whole FIVE YEARS pass in which Lee Sun is still being used, poisoned and threatened (all while separated from his family) and Sun makes no move to go and free his friend. While Lee Sun is suffering, Sun is off chasing a girl and making no effort to help anyone really- he’s even getting chummy with Lee Sun’s mother and sister. And still after all this Lee Sun intends to return the throne. Sun trying to marry Ga Eun was really the last straw for Lee Sun and he understandably snaps. Basically Sun and Ga Eun are officially the worst friends anyone could ever have. So I couldn’t help but cheer for Lee Sun a bit when he tried to keep the throne, if only because I wanted Sun to see how much of a wanker he’d been to this poor kid. Of course he doesn’t though and instead guilt trips Lee Sun for wanting the throne when he had nothing and Sun had everything. 

Costuming:

Everything was very pretty in this drama, particularly the costumes. Historical dramas always tend to have beautiful costumes and ‘Ruler’ is no exception. However, historical K-Dramas don’t always have the best wigs (I’ve seen some real shockers), but this drama thankfully gives us very nice and very natural looking hair- for both the males and females. 

Much pretty

What Wasn’t:

Non-Existant Heroine:

Ga Eun sucks. Sageuks are known for having pretty useless heroines (‘Moon that Embraces the Sun’, ‘Scarlet Heart Ryeo’), but ‘Ruler’ really takes the biscuit for the suckiest heroine.

Damsel in distress

Originally Ga Eun was quite cool. She hated injustice, was studying despite being a girl in a patriarchal society, and had no problem being friendly with people ranked lower than herself. She had to see her father executed and was then forced out of her home. Despite all the hardships,

Damsel still in distress

Ga Eun rallied the villagers around her who had also lost their homes and they built a market place in the middle of nowhere under Ga Eun’s instruction. And there ends our heroine’s usefulness. It also didn’t hurt that at the start while Ga Eun was quite likeable, Hwa Gun was acting kinda like a crazy person. But as soon as Sun comes on the scene, Ga Eun becomes completely and totally nothing-y. She literally does nothing of importance for the rest of the series. It kind of felt like the only reason she was in this show at all was because there needed to be some reason for Lee Sun to want to keep the throne. Ignoring that fact, without Ga Eun the rest of the drama probably would have progressed much the same, except that maybe Sun would have actually been a hero for the common people rather than just chasing after some girl and then becoming King so that he could marry her. I mean, I guess she did find the jar containing the document that proved Sun was King, but at the same time she was told to look for it in the first few episodes and didn’t actually find it until the second-to-last.

Congratulations, it only took you 15 episodes

During the period of time after the time skip and before Hwa Gun died, I actually think Hwa Gun got significantly more screen time than Ga Eun. Because she just mattered more, was more involved, and wasn’t annoying. I swear, Ga Eun never actually tried to solve any problems (and the times she did try she just made things worse- like becoming a court lady? Really?). Instead she just sat around and cried a lot. Frankly speaking I have no idea why Sun was so drawn to her, as in Joseon I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard to find a girl who whines and cries.

Recommend?

I strongly DO NOT recommend this drama. It’s long, exasperating, and left me feeling worn out rather than entertained.

Aaaaaaand it's over