Bridal Mask/Gaksital
각시탈7/10
I did it! I finally did it! What did
I do? Watched Bridal Mask in under a week! 4 days to be specific (though I took
a 2 day mandatory drama slump break in between). Was it worth it? I’m not even sure. I
have to be honest with you. I hated a lot of things about this
drama. I also disliked a great many more
things. I did so much eye-rolling I once gave myself a headache. Snap
decision rates this a 7. You’ll know why if you read beyond the spoilers
mark below.
The Synopsis: During the Japanese
occupation of Korea (ca. late 1930s) there is Bridal Mask – Freedom Fighter!
Or, revenge fighter. Heaping revenge upon revenge, avenging wrongs that in turn
incite others to enact revenge, so they can go out and again avenge someone
else who died during someone else’s revenge. Yes teacher, I did learn how to
properly use these two words. I’m just glad a drama finally gave me ample
opportunity to use them. Did I mention
this is a revenge drama? Instead of a he said, she said; he killed, she killed.
It’s also got one of the most torturesome bromances I have ever had the
misfortune to sit through…
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| If this doesn't bode well, nothing will, bro. Nothing will. |
Back to the good part: Actually I
can’t remember the good part anymore, but I know there was some! Something had
to keep me glued to the TV for 28 hours, though it was probably curiosity more
than anything else. Just how sucky can these characters’ fates actually get!?!
Probably the most epic of epic dramas
(that I have seen recently), Bridal Mask the story of a Lee Kang To: a Korean
‘traitor’ employed in the Japanese Imperial Police. This is my first time with
actor Joo Won, and though I can say
I was pleased overall by his performance, I'm still not really his biggest
fan. More to my taste Park Ki Woong plays his best friend Kimura Shunji, a civilian school
teacher in contrast to his more militarily minded father and older brother.
So how do they get
from crying together on a bicycle to arch enemies on either side of a
Korean-Japanese mob versus police war? Watch and find out, if you have the
stomach to handle it.
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| Can't we just rationally discuss who gets the girl over tea time? Pretty please? |
What I Liked:
For all the plot-wasting time, I
found Bridal Mask to be a genuinely
good story with some pretty compelling characters, especially in the initial set-up
period of the drama: Kang To before he became Bridal Mask and Shunji before
circumstances forced him to side with his father against his friend.
Also, in keeping with my sudden
realization that I’m prone to bit-player
syndrome (as opposed even to second lead syndrome), I found myself watching more and more for a single character with about 5 seconds of screen
time per episode. An unusual fascination perhaps, but I highly respect an actor
who in a short amount of time can pull off a decent character with so
little to work with. My bit-player love
this time around: Choi Dae Hoon as
Lee Hae Seok, the son of a Korean count in cahoots with the Imperial
government. He’s everything a spoiled
rich kid is supposed to be: playboy, carefree, friends with everyone, and deep
down behind it a yearning that something is just not right with the world he
occupies. If you expect to see a huge character arc from this guy, it’ll take a
while (with about 1 major development per every 10 eps). I’m just giving credit
where I think some is due. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the actor has
been in anything else, ever. More’s the pity. I liked him way more than I did
some of the main actors.
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| Ooh boy, do I love that smirk. Couldn't you have been the major player here?? |
What I Didn’t Like:
The romance – shockingly. I just didn’t
feel it, and it’s mostly to do with the main female actress Jin Se Young as Oh Mok Dan. Her backstory is fine and dandy (for Kdrama
standards), but as the pinnacle of our love triangle she’s almost too bland,
and her acting while not horrid was not as compelling as others. I was mostly
bored every time she came on screen, and only tolerated her because she was so
vital to the story, and in the motivations behind our two main leads.
Also, I hate to admit it, but there
were so many torture scenes in this abominable show that I almost wanted to
yawn through them. Just how many times need we depict people being whipped or
burned or put in a box with metal stakes. I think it was the writers’ go-to
solution. “Well, what should we do now? The story’s slowed a bit.” “Hey, I
know! Let’s have them bring this person back in for questioning and torture,
AGAIN!” Repeat, two episodes later. And two episodes after that. Tedious,
anyone?
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| Need more masked-man action, pppplease!! |
Unfortunately I think Bridal Mask
suffers much from a combination of too many small things to count. Almost as if
it couldn’t decide what genre it really was (after the revenge drama part). Maybe the length has to do with most of these faults. Read more
for a short conclusion of why I gave this a higher rating than my initial
reasoning demanded.
SPOILERS AHEAD!