dangermousie | Aug. 14th, 2012

Aug. 14th, 2012

Finally, I couldn't wait any longer for the subs and checked out at least a few minutes of Faith with partial subs on viki. I am less than 10 minutes in and have to run but I have seen enough to know I will love it - I am big on snap first impressions of drama - those first few minutes set the vibe, if they do nothing else. And this reminds me of many a fantasy novel I devoured. Plus, LMH is too gorgeous for words:

I am so psyched to watch more!

I am currently in the middle of the first episode of the fantasy period drama Faith and am loving every second - it is a perfect blend of wuxia and delicious fantasy novels I used to gorge myself on. The cast is rock-solid - I am especially enamoured of the actor who portays the King - competence and steel will and hauteur - with so few words and gestures.

And then there is Lee Min Ho, our protagonist, Choi Young, or as he is otherwise known 'Woo Dal Chi' - the head of the King's bodyguards. He's deadly in battle but otherwise little interested in the world. In some ways, he reminds me of a younger version of Vimes, with his lack of interest in niceties or proper deference, but with deep competence to back it up.

I will probably meta all over this baby, but this post is not about that. No this post is about a much more shallow thing - Lee Min Ho's beauty. I mean, he is so unreal, I kinda forget to follow the plot because I am too busy admiring him. I've always liked him and always found him good-looking, but most kdrama actors are attractive, and I never viewed his looks as brain-meltingly perfect, the way I do Hyun Bin's. But here. Here! In armor, with long hair, and warrior intensity, it's like he's dialed it up to 11 and then multiplied it some more. He now evokes the same heart-stopping reaction in me that Hyun Bin does in anything or Hu Ge did in The Myth or Bae Yong Joon in Legend or Huang Xiao Ming did in Return of Condor Heroes, but nobody else does.

Seriously unreal. Here he is, being bored and brusque, protecting his King to the death (someone else's death), observed by the court, brooding and eye-fucking with the almost-as-gorgeous royal physician played by Philip Lee (I am going to be shipping him with the heroine when she appears, but for now, I am slashing those two like mad. I believe they will be involved in a triangle with the heroine - if there ever was a set-up that screams 'threesome,' this is it). But throughout it all, he is so ridiculously gorgeous, it's unreal.

( Caps caps caps of gorgeousness )

Ummm, I am afraid that less than one episode in, Faith has displaced both Shut Up Flower Boy Band, Queen In Hyun's Man and Gaksital as my biggest obsession/favorite drama of the year.

It's also taking me forever to get through each episode, between watching, capping, cleaning said caps, reading recaps to fill in sub gaps etc. I am only half-an-hour in, and I've spent two hours watching. At this rate, I won't be able to follow anything else!

( More caps of the gorgeous gorgeous Lee Min Ho )

One of the things I love about Lee Min Ho's character is how internalized he is (in that, if in little else so far, he is like Dam Deok of Legend. In that, and in his controlled fierceness). It's a pretty rare type in drama. He's phlegmatic but not flat. The scene that sticks with me is when he tells the King to order him to step into the void - that's suicidally brave, and he is being very dutiful, especially towards the King he has no particular attachment to (I love the scene where the King pressed him for his opinion on him, and LMH gave his view that all these kings, this one included, are just pointless Yuan puppets, without any embellishment), but you feel that this is because he has nothing he treasures in this life, nothing that excites him. Is it truly bravery if you have nothing you fear to leave? Or does he just control himself well? I think it's a mixture of both.

I also love the way our world is shot when he is in it - it looks so wholly alien. And I love how he takes crossing the road as some sort of a test of faith and courage. And I love his rare grin which transforms his serious, still face, and makes him look oh-so-human and much younger.

In some ways, a gorgeous, focused, fierce warrior is what my id has always wanted as a protagonist of a drama. And I got it!

Oh, and this drama is surprisingly, awesomely funny, to boot.

Ummm, I am afraid that less than one episode in, Faith has displaced both Shut Up Flower Boy Band, Queen In Hyun's Man and Gaksital as my biggest obsession/favorite drama of the year.