This drama is seriously one of the best K-dramas I've watched technically speaking. When I say that, my criteria in using my judgment would include execution of the scenes, editing, casting, cinematography, script and a heartfelt story about war, romance, and brotherhood. I can also say that perhaps, I've never heard of this Kdrama before until one night, I came across a video and started watching it; hence it was a total surprise to me having without any expectation. The first episode really got me hooked into watching as I could sense the quality it has comparing to other Kdramas I've seen. So I did some research also, went to google because I wanted to read few reviews about it but I didn't find any from drama bloggers. I can't imagine how an excellent Kdrama like this could be missed out in the midst of Kdrama wave going on. It really talks about how much popularity gets the credit for everyone to watch a Korean drama. I was sad learning about it.
I was also basically curious about how this drama fared in the rating department and how much love it received in Korea, the screenwriter, the director and of course the budget. And for every information that I have gathered, I get really awestricken. The rating was tremendously bad despite of it receiving great preparation and vision, like for example the big names, So Ji Sub, Kim Ha Neul, Yoon Kye Sang, where do you get these people act together other than in this drama? Also, we had Jung Kyung Ho's cameo and Julien Kang so far as guests (I'm at episode 12). Then of course the huge budget they had, however it was not reciprocated in ratings. But what really convinced me why this is special is that it was a pre-production series filmed from January to June 2010 but was only aired August of the same year. That alone speaks of the quality, with the ample time in editing the scenes that made it effective all throughout. I guess, even though I've only seen the first half of this show, I could already conclude in generalization of what I've witnessed. Furthermore, in the essence of time while watching, it passes so quickly everytime because the scenes are very engaging and I don't get bored even when we say that this is a melodrama. But I guess this is a case to case basis because I'm really used to feeling their emotion rather than paying attention to the direction of the story. I could enjoy the moment in an effortless manner.
Will I recommend it to non-Kdrama fans?
DEFINITELY. Maybe this drama will break the notion of those who think that Kdramas could really excel in shallow events but could not deliver something that is worthy of the actor and most certainly the budget. I give this drama a full trust that it could compete in terms of technicality so I really recommend it to everyone, not just to the Kdrama or war movie / series fans but to everybody. We could extract so many emotion, real life drama and a deep characterization of the roles. This is simply just a magnificent offering to a Kdrama standard.
Synopsis:
It's a fictional story about a war set on the 1950s where the Korean Peninsulas are merciless towards each other making Road Number 1 as a battleground. Jang Woo left his family and his girlfriend to be a soldier, in order to support her girlfriend's study in medicine. After few years in the army, the family received a news about the death Jang Woo however, the news was hoax. He's the only one who survived the battle and returned home. With this turn of events, he found out that his girlfriend is engaged to Lieutenant Kim Tae Ho of Division 2. What he thought would be the end of his service was only the beginning of many more challenges ahead.
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