My Country: The New Age

How is it possible that someone could cast the incredible Hyeok Jang, the divine Do-hwan Woo, and then slip in an actor who can't evoke a single emotion in the viewer and is clearly not good enough for the lead role? Logically, he is joined by a similarly gifted female colleague to embark on the most boring and tortured love story imaginable. No one felt a thing there. And there were these flashbacks every now and then that irritated me. It was exactly the opposite with the fight scenes, which were a joy to watch, not least thanks to the perfect soundtrack (although the show might as well have been called "Immortals"). This along with Hyeok Jang kept me watching. The story itself was otherwise boring. And by lacking a proper romantic storyline or any sort of relationship, I had nothing to draw me in. So I was basically just waiting for Bang-won to come on the scene with his amazing performance. It was at times like this that I started to believe that I was watching something well made, that now it's going to get going, now the ride is going to start. Then cut, and I had fallen back into tearful boredom. Unfortunately, for me, this is probably the weakest historical series of Korean production so far. 2 stars (05/11/2020)