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Before I go into what will likely be a lengthy and emotional post, I just wanted to thank you - thank you everyone who commented on my livejournal or posted on their own (and not just lj - joonni is amazing and I had a ton of fun lurking at soompi), everyone who made vids, wrote fics. I don't remember the last time I was involved in a drama with that much fandom enthusiasm and fun...actually, I lied. I remember - it was last year's City Hunter :)
I was very happy with the way Faith ended (I should have known to trust the writer - she has yet to write a drama that disappointed me), but I still feel bereft. I've followed and obsessed over this drama for 12 nail-biting weeks. I've developed all sorts of ridiculous rituals, not to mention spent a giant chunk of my free time on it. And now I feel empty. I don't want to say goodbye to this drama's world and to its characters - I don't want to let go of Eun Soo, Choi Young, Gongmin, Nogook, the Woodalchi shippers, Lady Choi, Jang Bin *sob*, and even the bad guys.
I am not so consumed by my love for this drama that I will claim it was the best drama of 2012. But while it might not have been the best (though it was still damn good, by an objective standard), it was by far and away my favorite. It made me cry (bawl, actually), laugh, swoon, and transported me into another, hyper-real, emotional, gorgeous world. It gave me what has become my favorite kdrama OTP ever - who knew when this started that I would go so obsessively, desperately head-over-heels for a modern Gangnam plastic surgeon and a 14th-century warrior with a death wish? Both Eun Soo and Choi Young had wonderful, believable, moving character arcs - they made each other better, they made each other the best they could be. Their relationship was epic but also organic and real - their quiet moments stick with me as much as the big operatic ones. A lot of the credit has to go to Lee Min Ho and Kim Hee Sun who are both so gorgeous it's ridiculous and who burn up the screen to a degree I've rarely seen in a kdrama (or anywhere else). I would have never thought to put them together (though I've loved them individually long before Faith), but it was perfect casting. I cannot imagine anyone else in the roles. I keep thinking about what Choi Young and Eun Soo are doing now (well, now being 1350s) - I don't want to let them go.
And of course there is the writing. Song Jina has yet to write a drama that wasn't good. She has done many genres and types of stories over the years, but it's the first time I've seen her do a romance. Most of her dramas have romantic threads (while wonderfully done - see Legend) in the background of everything else. So going into Faith, I was expecting epic and battles and politics and some romance in the background, if I was lucky. Instead what I got was intimate, interpersonal and so swoonily romantic, I cannot think of a single period drama (Korean, Chinese, Japanese or other) that comes close in the degree and importance of romance.
By going on and on about Choi Young and Eun Soo, I don't mean to leave out all the other characters. Gongmin and Nogook get their own growth arc and their own love story, that moved me immensely. This drama gave me not just the perfect main OTP but a perfect secondary one.
(But enough blabber, on to the last episode itself) ( )
I was very happy with the way Faith ended (I should have known to trust the writer - she has yet to write a drama that disappointed me), but I still feel bereft. I've followed and obsessed over this drama for 12 nail-biting weeks. I've developed all sorts of ridiculous rituals, not to mention spent a giant chunk of my free time on it. And now I feel empty. I don't want to say goodbye to this drama's world and to its characters - I don't want to let go of Eun Soo, Choi Young, Gongmin, Nogook, the Woodalchi shippers, Lady Choi, Jang Bin *sob*, and even the bad guys.
I am not so consumed by my love for this drama that I will claim it was the best drama of 2012. But while it might not have been the best (though it was still damn good, by an objective standard), it was by far and away my favorite. It made me cry (bawl, actually), laugh, swoon, and transported me into another, hyper-real, emotional, gorgeous world. It gave me what has become my favorite kdrama OTP ever - who knew when this started that I would go so obsessively, desperately head-over-heels for a modern Gangnam plastic surgeon and a 14th-century warrior with a death wish? Both Eun Soo and Choi Young had wonderful, believable, moving character arcs - they made each other better, they made each other the best they could be. Their relationship was epic but also organic and real - their quiet moments stick with me as much as the big operatic ones. A lot of the credit has to go to Lee Min Ho and Kim Hee Sun who are both so gorgeous it's ridiculous and who burn up the screen to a degree I've rarely seen in a kdrama (or anywhere else). I would have never thought to put them together (though I've loved them individually long before Faith), but it was perfect casting. I cannot imagine anyone else in the roles. I keep thinking about what Choi Young and Eun Soo are doing now (well, now being 1350s) - I don't want to let them go.
And of course there is the writing. Song Jina has yet to write a drama that wasn't good. She has done many genres and types of stories over the years, but it's the first time I've seen her do a romance. Most of her dramas have romantic threads (while wonderfully done - see Legend) in the background of everything else. So going into Faith, I was expecting epic and battles and politics and some romance in the background, if I was lucky. Instead what I got was intimate, interpersonal and so swoonily romantic, I cannot think of a single period drama (Korean, Chinese, Japanese or other) that comes close in the degree and importance of romance.
By going on and on about Choi Young and Eun Soo, I don't mean to leave out all the other characters. Gongmin and Nogook get their own growth arc and their own love story, that moved me immensely. This drama gave me not just the perfect main OTP but a perfect secondary one.
(But enough blabber, on to the last episode itself) ( )
