Tale of Nokdu

It took me a while but I have just finished watching the Tale of Nokdu. Those 32 episodes where with me over a month but it was worth it as serie was amazing. Apart from Hwang In-youp, I haven't seen anything else with mail actors but I see they are all talented. Their characters were trully realistic. Apart from acting the story line is impressive and funny at the same time. Tale of Nokdu contains of all - comedy, action, romance, revange and melancholy.

The Tale is about boy named Nok-du (Jang Dong-Yoon) whose birth was as awaited as threatening. He was meant to be killed just after coming to this world but noone could do that to the baby. On the contrary, he was brought up far from the city so that his paths would not cross with those who did not want him on Earth. Nok-du has grown into a strong man who is not afraid to work or fight. His life was not strewn with roses, so when he noticed that his family was in danger, he decided to find its source. Thus, he came across an unusual village, consisting only of women and widows. Wanting to learn more and hide from danger, Nok-du decided to turn into a woman. There he meets a girl who tried to kill the king a few days ago. Knowing her secret, they stick together. Dong Dong-Ju (Kim So-Hyun) is beautiful and is an apprentice to become a gisaeng.

Kdrama would not be a drama if we wouldn't have a love triangle! While Nok-du and Dong-Ju are spending every possible moment together, Cha Yool-Moo (Kang Tae-Oh) who is in love with the girl wants nothing more than to be on place of Nok-du. He is a high born noble man, a close relative to King Gwanghae (Jung Joon-Ho) and secretly want to become the next emperor.

As mentioned before, all characters where wholesome but the Nok-du role was actually outperformed. The acting as a men or woman were natural, the emotions were there in 100% with impressive switch on/off of tears. I'm not saying that other characters where poor in acting but his performance was just outstading. The idea of a man pretending to be a woman and living in a widow's village for a good number of episodes was a decision that could either turn out to be tragic or brilliant 😅 Fortunately, the producers gave a lot so that it would not be a flop. Nok-du was lucky (or simply Korean😂) that he had a delicate beauty and could be considered a woman without much cosmetic treatment. Just look at the pictures above .... can you imagine Brad Pitt of Johnny Deep playing a woman? hahaha no chance! 😂

When it comes to the story itself, it was catchy until the end but a bit too long for me. Drama was super engaging till episodes 20-23, later episodes were way too prolonged and boring. In my opinion drama could easily be cut form those 32 episodes to meaningful 25-26. For that reason, despite amazing acting, I'm rating Tale of Nokdu 6,5/10. It's worth seeing but just be ready that it will take a while to finish this Tale 😆