Legend: Because we all know Bae Yong Joon is God, anyway.
Legend
He's the reluctant hero destined for the throne. They're reincarnations from his heavenly past embroiled in a 2000-year-old tapestry of love, betrayal, and war. Together, they are MOTHERFUCKING EPIC!
If there is only one Asian drama you watch in your entire life, make it Legend.
It's fucking perfect.
It's a 24-episode epic fantasy kdrama dealing with magic, religion, royalty, and reincarnation. There are swordfights, eternal love, large-scale battles, political messes, ancient supernatural powers, struggles for kingship, and the question of destiny vs the will of heaven vs the inherent nature of man (no, really). It's gorgeous and epic and complicated and amazingly choreographed. The writing is so tight. It's a plot that covers over 2000 years, and Legend never once fumbles with it. (It's one of those dramas where every scene you watch is relevant, even if you don't know it at the time, and you wind up shrieking "OH MY GOD I REMEMBER THAT!" when you least expect it.)
Also? Dangerous ladies. The women of Legend are just as strong and significant as anyone else -- warriors, mothers, widows, soldiers, evil magical priestesses who can set fire to your brain. Their strength and capability is a given, not a gimmick.
Also? INTELLIGENCE. I mean, okay, half the characters are morally ambiguous and using their smarts for murder or treason or world domination, but do you know how refreshing it is to watch competent people? Our hero becomes a hero through clever political maneuvering and by doing things like encouraging free trade and establishing a war budget. (In one of my favorite scenes, he has a scribe tag along to an important meeting over his counsel's protests, because he's all, "If I make a mistake, I want it recorded so I won't do it again." You guys. He archives. I know fandom is geeky enough to appreciate this in a man.)
Have I mentioned the writing? That it's brilliant and perfect and the closest to airtight I've ever seen in a drama?
Legend has completely replaced any other drama I ever claimed as a favorite.
A MILLION THUMBS UP.
Some very expensive pretty (~45 billion won) to give you a taste:
It's kind of awe-inspiring the way they just shoveled money into this sucker.
Our hero, Dam Duk. He's battling his cousin for the throne, and is everything a great king should be -- smart, brave, merciful, powerful, wet. He orders his men not to die for him and goes to the front lines of his own battles. He's gorgeous. Also, he's Jesus.
No, seriously.
He's a prophesied warrior whose grand destiny is to complete the mission failed by their Korean Christ figure 2000 years ago. So his responsibility is pretty much to pick up Jesus' slack. No pressure or anything, Dam Duk.
Our heroine, Sujini, is a loud, wine-chugging archer who fights by the king's side, cheerfully needling both him and her friendly neighborhood battle mercenaries.
She can take out your eyes and leave you to the vultures.
LOOK AT THAT GLARE. She and Dam Duk have an amazing relationship that defies social boundaries. He's a righteous hero, she's a gambling street orphan; she can slaughter through enemy forces with the best of them (much to his anxiety), and he would move mountains for her (much to her resignation). Occasionally they desecrate royal property together.
"I know you're here. Who else would dare drink in the grand palace?"
Kiha, the great fire priestess, was raised by an evil cult and trained in deception and ninja warfare.
You come to admire her trail of corpses.
If she doesn't like you, she can set you on fire!
The messed-up hottie who challenges our hero for the throne. Mmmmm. You can see a pattern in his diplomatic negotiations.
Just to complicate things, Ho Gae is in love with Kiha who's in love with Dam Duk who's in love with Sujini, because Korea can never resist an opportunity to turn their audience into raving multishipping lunatics.
Fucked-up OTP alert! "Heaven cares nothing for people like us." Kiha makes speeches to Ho Gae about how she will use him, then discard him, then sleep well at night. Ho Gae opens his shirt and asks her to stab him. Obviously they are a very healthy couple.
dangermousie said it best: helping someone put on their armor is Legend's version of foreplay.
This is just for the Avatar fans out there. *cough*
The lieutenant of an all-female regiment who, when stabbed, yanks the sword out of herself and finishes her mission.
Endless, endless pretty.
ARE YOU WATCHING THIS DRAMA YET?
He's the reluctant hero destined for the throne. They're reincarnations from his heavenly past embroiled in a 2000-year-old tapestry of love, betrayal, and war. Together, they are MOTHERFUCKING EPIC!
If there is only one Asian drama you watch in your entire life, make it Legend.
It's fucking perfect.
It's a 24-episode epic fantasy kdrama dealing with magic, religion, royalty, and reincarnation. There are swordfights, eternal love, large-scale battles, political messes, ancient supernatural powers, struggles for kingship, and the question of destiny vs the will of heaven vs the inherent nature of man (no, really). It's gorgeous and epic and complicated and amazingly choreographed. The writing is so tight. It's a plot that covers over 2000 years, and Legend never once fumbles with it. (It's one of those dramas where every scene you watch is relevant, even if you don't know it at the time, and you wind up shrieking "OH MY GOD I REMEMBER THAT!" when you least expect it.)
Also? Dangerous ladies. The women of Legend are just as strong and significant as anyone else -- warriors, mothers, widows, soldiers, evil magical priestesses who can set fire to your brain. Their strength and capability is a given, not a gimmick.
Also? INTELLIGENCE. I mean, okay, half the characters are morally ambiguous and using their smarts for murder or treason or world domination, but do you know how refreshing it is to watch competent people? Our hero becomes a hero through clever political maneuvering and by doing things like encouraging free trade and establishing a war budget. (In one of my favorite scenes, he has a scribe tag along to an important meeting over his counsel's protests, because he's all, "If I make a mistake, I want it recorded so I won't do it again." You guys. He archives. I know fandom is geeky enough to appreciate this in a man.)
Have I mentioned the writing? That it's brilliant and perfect and the closest to airtight I've ever seen in a drama?
Legend has completely replaced any other drama I ever claimed as a favorite.
A MILLION THUMBS UP.
Some very expensive pretty (~45 billion won) to give you a taste:
It's kind of awe-inspiring the way they just shoveled money into this sucker.
Our hero, Dam Duk. He's battling his cousin for the throne, and is everything a great king should be -- smart, brave, merciful, powerful, wet. He orders his men not to die for him and goes to the front lines of his own battles. He's gorgeous. Also, he's Jesus.
No, seriously.
He's a prophesied warrior whose grand destiny is to complete the mission failed by their Korean Christ figure 2000 years ago. So his responsibility is pretty much to pick up Jesus' slack. No pressure or anything, Dam Duk.
Our heroine, Sujini, is a loud, wine-chugging archer who fights by the king's side, cheerfully needling both him and her friendly neighborhood battle mercenaries.
She can take out your eyes and leave you to the vultures.
LOOK AT THAT GLARE. She and Dam Duk have an amazing relationship that defies social boundaries. He's a righteous hero, she's a gambling street orphan; she can slaughter through enemy forces with the best of them (much to his anxiety), and he would move mountains for her (much to her resignation). Occasionally they desecrate royal property together.
"I know you're here. Who else would dare drink in the grand palace?"
Kiha, the great fire priestess, was raised by an evil cult and trained in deception and ninja warfare.
You come to admire her trail of corpses.
If she doesn't like you, she can set you on fire!
The messed-up hottie who challenges our hero for the throne. Mmmmm. You can see a pattern in his diplomatic negotiations.
Just to complicate things, Ho Gae is in love with Kiha who's in love with Dam Duk who's in love with Sujini, because Korea can never resist an opportunity to turn their audience into raving multishipping lunatics.
Fucked-up OTP alert! "Heaven cares nothing for people like us." Kiha makes speeches to Ho Gae about how she will use him, then discard him, then sleep well at night. Ho Gae opens his shirt and asks her to stab him. Obviously they are a very healthy couple.
dangermousie said it best: helping someone put on their armor is Legend's version of foreplay.
This is just for the Avatar fans out there. *cough*
The lieutenant of an all-female regiment who, when stabbed, yanks the sword out of herself and finishes her mission.
Endless, endless pretty.
ARE YOU WATCHING THIS DRAMA YET?