dangermousie | Warrior Baek Dong Soo

I was kinda hoping WBDS wasn't good because my kdrama slate is getting insane and also (a little bit) because Yoo Seung Ho sort of irritates me on principle.

Alas.

WBDS is bloody fantastic. It is gorgeous, intense, fluid, occasionally dark, always heroic. It is not a nuanced, gritty take on a period drama like Chuno, which made me think as much as it made me cry, but it doesn't try to be. The bad guys are very evil, the good guys are peerlessly good (with a few exceptions - the always amazing Choi Min Soo straddles both, dark but charismatic, and I think Yoo Seung Ho is supposed to take over that duality in the next generarion). So yes, not subtle. What it is (and it does it well) is the closest I've seen kdrama come to wuxia - we have matchless swordsmen (one of the main characters is named Sword Saint, how wuxia is that?), political conspiracies with the baddest of the bad, gorgeous and rather gravity-defying fights, noble assassins, cursed destinies, odd weapons, epic speeches. It's closer in spirit to Wallace Huo's wonderful Vigilantes in Masks or Hu Ge's Legend of Condor Heroes than to any kdrama I've seen in the last couple of years. Oh, and normally backstories bore me but I never wanted this one to end. I would have happily watched a drama all about the previous generation (once again, that only happens to me in wuxia).

The crux of the story seems to be forming around future conflict between Dong Soo and Yeo Woon, who will form a friendship but will go on to fight each other to the death. Think of it as chibi version of Emperor of the Sea's Bo Go and Eom Moon.

The vote is out yet as to who has the worst background - Dong Soo, whose parents are dead and who is forced to wear constricting corrective bamboo full bodysuit which is supposed to heal his infirm from birth bones but for now makes him a cripple and unable to even form a fist, a mockery of everyone in the village or Yeo Woon, whose father believed his child was born a killer, has tried to kill him in his cradle and killed his mother in the process and that brought him up as a personal abuse target who is also shunned and mistreated by the whole village (here is a hint, genius - maybe he wouldn't turn into a driven killer if you didn't do you best to drive him to it through major physical and emotional abuse. Maybe if you didn't tell the kid what a monster he is while beating the crap out of him on a regular basis, he'd not turn into a psycho you fear).

The fight between Sword Saint and the enigmatic assassin played by Choi Min Soo (my ahjusshi crush!!!!)

This drama is ridiculously gorgeous.

Crown Prince Sado, played by Oh Man Suk. They got major heavy-hitters for the adult cast.

Wooo, Korean Jack Sparrow, ILY.

Awesome assassin lady. I totally ship her and Sword Saint. Can we have a drama about them and their violent angsty forbidden love? Jack Sparrow can be a major frenemy. Seriously, I want a drama about the older generation, pls.