Chuno

[Ren Ying Ying]

Actually, I don't think the "angst" was that bad, nothing more than what we didn't already expect...sort of.

but what I really am angsting over is

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Gen Choi & Wang Son is really DEAD! they even showed the corpses. NOOOOO!!! Unless somehow we find out that they just magically look dead but are actually still alive. I mean...they arn't buried yet, right? I mean, it should've taken a while for their bodies to be transported back to the capital and they haven't rotted....*cross fingers & hangs on to slim hope*

But seriously, the scene where Dae Gil was eating by himself and stealing Gen Choi's egg was definitely one of the most (if not the most) emotionally draining scene in the drama.

Though it seems that misunderstandings will be cleared soon? Most of the major relevations have been made....

[junny]

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The General Choi and Wangson bits really depress me, so I try not to think about it Still having very slim hopes that they're not dead... or at least, General Choi manages to stay alive even if Wangson is dead. Feel so awful for Daegil

I suppose the good thing is that Unnyun finally has a sense of purpose and isn't the flat wallflower she was in the earlier episodes. Still, I can't help but find her annoying.

[Ren Ying Ying]

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The General Choi and Wangson bits really depress me, so I try not to think about it Still having very slim hopes that they're not dead... or at least, General Choi manages to stay alive even if Wangson is dead. Feel so awful for Daegil

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Looks like our wishes are granted? At least so far . Though, I wonder if Chulwoong purposely left them alive...or is it just inconsistent story telling? I mean, if Chulwoong didn't mean for them to live, there is no way he would not have finished them in one strike or didn't notice that they were dead...He is far too skilled for that.

[junny]

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^ Yeah, I think that might have been a scriptwriting boo-boo, regarding General Choi and Wangson (though I don't mind so much ). Either Chulwoong was careless or Choi and Wangson are smarter than they've shown so far. Or maybe... too many fans moaned the "deaths" of Choi and Wangson and they were brought back due to popular demand! If Han Jungsoo's cyworld is to be believed, he'll be around at least until Ep 21.

And lots about Taeha lately, finding out about Unnyun's bogus yangban status and all. Could be just me, but I felt it was natural that he'd go into a big shock on learning who she really is. You think he'll stick by Unnyun because he loves her regardless of who she is, or just cuz of the little prince?

I'm kinda sad about Chun Jiho dying though He started out awful, but he shaped up nicely these few episodes.

[Ren Ying Ying]

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I saw in a recent picture of Han Jung Soo that he had his hair cut. I suppose that means he'll be out for real now? I wonder if they're actually killing him off or just not mentioning him again. Or maybe they'll just give him a wig

As for Taeha, I think they'll let him get over Unnyun being an ex-slave and stick by her, unless they really wanted to turn his character 180 degrees--which I highly doubt. Afterall, he starts off as an extremely noble character. I'm glad at least they're trying to shed some of his "Mr. Perfecto" image by adding arrogance and jealousy.

[junny]

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Oh dang, I forgot he cut his hair for the new drama. Shucks. I guess it'll be bye bye General Choi for good after Ep 21. Sigh.

Yeah, I'm glad they're doing something about Taeha being Mr Perfect, although it has to be said that he's not so much perfect as he's bland. And boring. Seriously, I almost burst out laughing when he was trying to propose to Unnyun. I am fine if a guy isn't a ladies' man or if he's awkward with expressing himself, or if he's just a reserved kind of man. But I think I'm going to put it down to Oh Jiho's acting. He's like a block of wood. That's not a Mr Perfect, that's Mr Wooden. I just don't feel for him or his cause. Ugh.

It is nice that they tried to ruffle Taeha up, but I think if they'd given more hints about his yangban arrogance or stickler for class lines, or even that hint of jealousy, then it might have been more believable. As it is, he's a bit lopsided.

I think we're gonna be writing this entirely in spoiler mode

Btw, which of the side characters do you like? Other than Choi and Wangson, I'm liking Hanseom, he's so jolly. The jumos are funny too, dunno if either of them will end up with Choi.

[Ren Ying Ying]

but spoiler mode is fun...

I don't really care for any of Taeha's men or any of the political guys . The Jumos are somewhat entertaining, although the Artist and "police" guy gets a bit annoying. I actually quite like the timid slave friend of Eop Bok (forget his name though).

Personally, I think if Dae Gil were to get a tragic ending, then hopefully his friends might get a happier ending? Your thoughts?

I hope it's not one of those dramas where EVERYONE dies at the end...

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As for this week, it looks like it'll be a big reunion party at the mountain theives' hideout. Bloody battle maybe?

As for ep. 19, I did quite enjoy the 3-way awkwardness. In a way, it was almost quite funny .

[junny]

Yeah I would like a happier ending for Choi and Wangson at least, I think they deserve it. They'd been drawn unwillingly (somewhat) into this slave-hunting business and they're just simple men at heart who hope to settle down to a good life with a bit of money.

Taeha and his men and cause can die for all I care. They're so godawful boring.

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Poor Hanseom, though. I really liked him.

Btw, I haven't been able to catch up with the latest developments, so are they any good? I only know vaguely that

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Taeha and Daegil save each other once.

[Ren Ying Ying]

I still think the cat-mouse chase at the begining was the most interesting. especially since the later episodes always get bogged down with filler scenes of jumos, minister pretending to be plotting and the useless slave rebels...

what ep. are you on, btw?

[tuoimongmo2007]

This series does not live up to its hype. Even though the quality is great with the scenery and everthing. I got so bore in the later half. Chasing back and forth. I quess i seen so many good chinese wuxia series. Korean ancient series seems so boring to me.

It wasn't as good as i expected. Lee Da Hae's character was boring throughout the series.

The only good thing is the leads got massive exposure to this series.OH ji Ho especially. He recieved many advertisement because of Chuno. Even the supporting cast like Kim Ji Suk also benefited from Chuno. He should, they're like the only interesting thing about this series. Oh yea and that cute little prince. So cute!

[Ren Ying Ying]

I admit, I don't usually watch korean costume dramas (I'd rather watch wuxia or even chinese historical). I was really initially caught by the cast...and then the abs

though, I must at least commend the korean ones for an original storyline. not ncessarily creative, but at least original. as much as I love wuxia, there are only so many times I can rewatch the same story. Half of the excitement of watching dramas (for me) is wanting to know what happens next. And no matter how draggy & boring the plot gets in the middle, the one thing korean dramas do well is leave nice cliff-hangers or teaser previews.

The wuxia industry really needs to start making some more original storylines or at least do adaptions of other novels .

[junny]

well, subs-wise i'm on ep 14-15... i know, pretty slow on that. discussion-wise, i was sort of up to date until ep 20, then i missed out on last week's eps and am now horribly confused

it's true that wuxia needs something to jazz it up, it does get a little repetitive after a while. still, i have a soft spot for hk wuxia, so i don't mind too much.

as for chuno, i think the first few episodes were very refreshing - bearing in mind this is a fusion sageuk, that means they could take liberties with a lot of things, such as injecting more modern music, and slave-hunting is always going to be a controversial topic so that brings in more talk and discussion.

but i think as the storyline got heavier, it lost some of its earlier panache. because so much of it was devoted to daegil's chase for unnyun and all those cliffhangers, that left only 12 episodes to deal with all the issues resulting from the reunion, plus they had to throw in all that political intrigue and slave revolt... it's a lot to resolve in 12 episodes. so the earlier self-indulgence comes back to haunt it.

[Ren Ying Ying]

I'm not too big on the slave revolt or the "changing the world" storyline...so the story sort of lost a lot of it's previous luster for me (not to mention a lot of the issues revolving the "reunion" is just being ignored rather than resolved...)

It also seems that once again, the writer/director did not plan their scripting and filming well beforehand, so I hear a lot of things will be either rushed or just cut.

Oh well, at this point, I just want to know what happens in the end already...

[junny]

Well, it seems the story has pretty much taken a 180-degree turn. It began as Daegil's story and the slave revolt has pretty much taken over things. I do like the actor who plays Eopbok (Gong Hyung Jin, he's so versatile), but eh... don't you feel kinda cheated a bit? The ending sounds like it'll be a cop-out, at this rate.

I really hate that most Korean dramas shoot on the fly and don't have properly written scripts of all the episodes by the start of filming. It really screws up the storyline, tone and pacing of the drama.

[tuoimongmo2007]

Well, it seems the story has pretty much taken a 180-degree turn. It began as Daegil's story and the slave revolt has pretty much taken over things. I do like the actor who plays Eopbok (Gong Hyung Jin, he's so versatile), but eh... don't you feel kinda cheated a bit? The ending sounds like it'll be a cop-out, at this rate.

I really hate that most Korean dramas shoot on the fly and don't have properly written scripts of all the episodes by the start of filming. It really screws up the storyline, tone and pacing of the drama.

Yea, and they never learn. THey always tend to shoot their drama this way. They always tend to write scripts as they go. Sometimes they would finish the episode an hour before it airs. The actors get the scripts week by week.

I mean filming beforehand is much better. YOu can go back and edit more.

But anyways. I think the most interesting thing that will happen at the end of this series if everyone dies. Other wise the other endings will not be much of a surprise.

[Ren Ying Ying]

Saw the ending...

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Dae Gil is definitely one of the most miserable characters out there. The writer/director definitely made a stamp to ensure that...

And Un Nyun finally ticked off my annoyance scale...EPIC FAIL. She made some progress by the middle and then went back to her weak a$$ self--especially in those last few scenes. Poor Lee Da Hae didn't know what she was getting into. She needs another apology from the writer

And the lame "slave revolt" was entirely pointless to the main plot. I could've skipped over the entire thing and still not miss a beat to the main story.

[junny]

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Eh, I can't believe that Chulwoong didn't die! WTF, the villain doesn't die? I know his father-in-law kicked the bucket, but Chulwoong was equally eugh, so he should have gone too, and not get a chance to go home and cry to wifey. Ugh.

Unnyun... I know she left with Taeha, but what did she do to tick you off so bad?

Slave revolt... sigh. All that court intrigue was super boring.

And they're even talking of the possibility of Chuno 2! Written by the same writer! I can't believe it.

[tuoimongmo2007]

There are talks of sequel to Chuno. I'm laughing at this because it seems like i'm the only one that think it sucks. Like what you guys had said, Jang Hyuk really did get ripped off.

[Ren Ying Ying]

Well, I think they'll sport the idea of sequal/prequel or whatnot because it did have pretty high ratings (it was popular in Korea at least).

As much as Chuno has it's negatives *cough*inconsistent storytelling*cough*, it did have quite a few positives such as nice cinematography and music. A lot of the individual lines were actually quite clever and thoughtful (esp. Daegil's lines)...and Daegil is definitely a very memorable character (though I can't say the same for everyone else). And I still thought the begining chase was pretty exciting. But once Daegil & Unnyun met each other...the story sort of got bogged down (esp with that damn "slave revolt" and useless side stories).

More thoughts on the ending

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On Unnyun:

I wasn't displeased because she left--she was placed in quite a tight situation afterall and one can rationalize her leaving many ways. What really irked me was actually just her line when she left, saying something along the lines of "I'm sorry that I'm ditching you all alone again." I mean, really, for all the talks of progression in character, the writer had her character do the same exact thing she did 10 years ago? What "message" were they trying to send? Really, I'm just more upset with the writer/director for inserting such a B.S. line. Could they not come up with a better line?

But whatevers, after reading some discussions, I picked an interpretation on what she meant--makes me feel less upset at least .

As for Hwang Chulwoong living: I think that's just the writer trying to throw a curve ball to make the ending less predictable. But I still don't really understand how anything Daegil said to him made him change his attitude...

[junny]

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Yeah, I read various interpretations of that line, but still, it wasn't the least innovative. I think Unnyun is as much of a deadbeat by the end as she was from the beginning, so overall she was a disappointing character.

I expected Daegil to die, and I wish Taeha had died as well

I think the idea the writer had was decent and worth expanding into a bigger drama - if they had maybe 30 episodes, they could have tied everything up better, fleshed out some characters more and done away with useless ones. Chulwoong... I still don't understand how he could live and repent after Daegil talked to him. If that was all it took, then... sheesh!

Did the brother issue ever get dealt with?

As for Jang Hyuk being ripped off... well, he was the main beneficiary of Chuno, his character got the most fleshed out and most screentime, so I wouldn't say he got terribly short-changed. Missing out on the Baeksang... I understand that the Baeksangs are a little behind on awards, so they reward last year's dramas instead. Chuno being a 2010 drama, maybe Jang Hyuk will win next year's Baeksang, unless someone else outshines him in the meantime.