The thread is now open for spoilers, and opinions.
Nrllee said that refilmed (the “new and improved”) Episode 1 would be shown this week. Good news! I’m so ready to erase this image of Jisoo from memory.
From the start, I found his smug face was off-putting.
This wasn’t the image of an “innocent” On Dal in my imagination.
Gifs from surii’s tumblr.
He ordered the men like he was the “boss” of the forest. Then, he looked away from the hunter (as if he was too good to talk to him) just before elbowing him into a ditch.
I get that he wanted to teach them a lesson. But returning violence for violence didn’t make him a peaceful and innocent man. On the contrary, his actions here just turned him into a street vigilante forest vigilante. lol.
And I so dislike this “hotshot” expression this actor made by opening his mouth and jutting out his jaw.
See it here again? This actor liked to clench and jut out his jaw. This mannerism denotes arrogance and haughtiness and is inconsistent with a “fool.” To me, he was thinking to himself, “Huh! Who’s the tough guy around here? I could easily squash you like a bug!”
And if I didn’t know that he was On Dal, I would consider his laughter here similar to a bully taunting his victim before assaulting him. Really? For killing deer for food??
Then, his first encounter with Princess Pyeonggang was similarly jarring. I thought he looked sleazy.
Gifs from yesdramas’ tumblr
There he goes again with the jaw clench. Ugh!
And when his smile here looked odious. He looked like he was hitting on her.
No.
Jisoo’s interpretation of On Dal didn’t look innocent, naive, and guilessless to me. How could it be? One minute he was relishing beating up the hunters, and the next minute, he was flirting with her.
I’m looking forward to Na In Woo’s interpretation of On Dal.
credit: edelweissbee’s tumblr
Let’s enjoy the shows.
Ah, then I’ll start my rewatch and catch up from the beginning then! Totally agree that JiSoo was not able to remove his cocky persona from acting OnDal character. It’s not often that we can compare how 2 actors interpret the same character in the same show so this should be a must watch.
Maybe I will pick this up again from ep. 4😊
The new Ep1 is up. Compare the pair… the last scene with the deer and when OD peeks under GJ’s hat. Much better. It’s gentle and friendly. No hint of smugness.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CNAnEd4ptc7/?igshid=196zf1rys07t6
Thanks for sharing, nrllee.
I like his smile better than Jisoo, too. It’s a sweet smile.
I like that:
— he didn’t bend to peek at her, like Jisoo did. Jisoo’s movement was exaggerated. It looked like he was about to break-dance when he bent over.
— he squinted his eyes as if he was to see her better or trying to remember who she was.
— he smiled only AFTER he said that he knew her. He was smiling AT her.
To me —
If he smiled BEFORE he said he knew her, then he was smiling because he was pleased with himself for recognizing her. That’s where the impression of “smugness” comes in.
If he smiled AFTER he told her that he knew her, then he was smiling AT her to reassure her that they were friends. That’s why it looked “friendly” — he was letting her that they weren’t strangers to each other.
Yes @packmule3. NIW’s OD was initially tentative when he tried to peer under her hat. It wasn’t a confident strut. I am trying to track down how NIW portrayed the scene with the deer (when OD patted it before he killed it). I never fully bought JiSoo’s portrayal of kindness towards the deer that was caught. It felt strangely forced. I think NIW is a gentler man in real life, not as cocksure. So it should translate to how he acts in that scene.
lol. To me, the patting gesture looked forced but I attributed it to a fake (?) deer.
I’m not sure if the deer was just computer graphics or a stuffed toy, but it should feel different stroking an imaginary deer to a real deer.
How about the kiss in the beginning of Episode 1?
I couldn’t get what emotion Jisoo was supposed to show at the point so I just skipped it.
The battle scene (GJ reunites with OD)
JiSoo’s version
NIW’s version (I had to split it into 2 videos because Ep13 had fillers in between the 2 scenes)
(GJ I miss you) – I liked that he held the bracelet and then turned and had this faraway look in his eyes as if he was dreaming of the time they spent together.
Edited to add this for nrllee — pm3
https://www.instagram.com/p/CNAs54DJEOL/?igshid=110piohd3tvw2 (You are my Goguryeo, you are my kingdom)
Much much better with NIW. You get the feeling that he never wanted to be in that battlefield. That killing was never his thing/wish. He did it for her. She was there with him in the end and that was enough. 🥰. I think NIW’s portrayal of OD gives the audience the feeling that he never wanted to be a great general. That it never sat well with him. That he always much preferred the quiet life away from all the pomp and pageantry. JiSoo’s OD seemed to like the limelight. That somehow he felt that he was finally living up to his potential? 🤔
Gah…I think I went over my free upload limit for the second video. @packmule Can you replace the link above for the kiss at the end with this link from Instagram instead? Thanks
https://www.instagram.com/p/CNAs54DJEOL/?igshid=110piohd3tvw2
okay. Let me see if this will work. 🙂
I watched that deer episode with the first Ondal only once and I don’t need to watch it again to compare with Na In Woo’s version.
I really like NIW and glad that his version is much suited for the character. A gentle giant, who had lived peacefully with his nanny, sheltered from the rest of the world.
A bit sad about the ratings. I wish they could at least get past 10%. The only good thing is the ratings remain steady and not going down.
I agree @M. I really like NIW as OnDal. I felt sad for him in Ep 14 whilst he was in the Palace. He is being looked down upon by everyone. Crown Prince doesn’t seem to like him much even though he was rescued by GJ and OD. The concubine sneered at the jade bracelet half that he proudly displayed to her as a sign of his husband status. Like the girl twin said, OD is lonely in the Palace. He makes the most of it but you can see that he’s struggling to keep his spirits up. He was so happy and at ease when he ducked back home to try to get Mother to come to the capital to live. In spite of all that I must say NIW is a striking figure in the General’s armor. His height and broad shoulders make him formidable. I am hoping against the odds that the writer will pen a different ending to the real story.
I had a hard time with the actor change until episode 10. Now, both actors are fine with me. It’s especially important for the new one, because the old one will disappear completely from the drama. So I was mostly focused on adapting to the new actor. More a problem of transition than actor. The first 6 episodes are reshot: a good news for the drama as a coherent work from the beginning to the end (and can be rewatched). This costly decision has probably a good impact on the sales of the drama in the world. It would have been nice to touch up episodes 7 and 8 a bit too, as the editing tricks are visible.
Related to the article. I observe similar things, but not in a pejorative way.
Ji-Soo did have a wilder side, appropriate for a forest beast. A primitive energy and good quick, dry movements for the action scenes. You can see it well on the gifs posted in the article. On the elbow strike, he naturally bends down while remaining stable. There is even the hip movement typical of martial artists. And in the third image, we see that he can be taken seriously. I don’t expect a guy living as a fool, hermit, and hunting animals be too gentle or make sweet smiles at first encounter. It’s more like “what strange creature did I catch in one of my traps?”. This widens the gap with the time when he becomes softer later.
As for the “forest vigilante” part, anyway, that’s the script, not the actor. I don’t know what the script says about the character. If really, he’s supposed to be so innocent and naive.
Na In Woo. I’ve seen a few episodes of Mr Queen to get used to the actor and see his adaptation to a different role. He was very static in Mr Queen because of his character.
In River the moon rise, Na In Woo is very expressive. His face is less fixed than Ji-Soo’s. This can be due to the shape of the face and eyes, not necessarily the acting. (As an example, Kim Go Eun has a more fixed face than Kim Tae Hee, but she is a good actress too). So, thanks to elasticity, Na In Woo brings a lot of subtlety in his interpretation, every corners of his face move, almost independantly (ha ha). His character is probably too innocent, childish by exaggerating. Fact that I manage to accept because it counterbalances a little with Ga Jin who is more mature. Otherwise, they form a hell of a pair. This is the first time I see such a difference in size and weight between the two leads. The hugging scenes are memorable!
I guess you know that often tall men are attracted to small women and vice versa? 🙂
I didn’t really have time to post here, but so I’ve seen the episodes since. With good political intrigues, and overall good characters throughout. I’m surprised that Go Geon was able to give up his one-sided love for Ga-Jin so quickly. It’s not very believable, or maybe we should believe that Mo Yong is also such an exceptional woman that she bewitched him more than Ga-Jin! Without trying to understand more, I like this new romantic story.
Episode 14 ends with a good cliffhanger. I think it’s a pity that the drama is only 20 episodes long. I have the feeling of an epic drama with many subplots, the kind of thing that takes at least 40 episodes. Or maybe a season 2 is planned, and the drama ends at an earlier point than the end of the real On-Dal story? Like Sisyphus, this makes me feel like the ending is going to happen too fast. Maybe that’s always the case for the drama we enjoy after all.
In situation analysis, I quickly return to the scene of the cave, not having had time to answer before.
One thing puzzles me because normally, On Dal should not know what to do here and how meditation work. He needs a minimum of advice from the Buddhist master, who is just leaving him there. Or On Dal already knows these basics and has prior education on this.
I don’t think the yellow pellets are hallucinogens. This kind of thing is used by Mexican Indians with mushrooms, but not by Buddhists. Well, in theory, what do I know about a monk living in such a remote time? In the idea of emancipating oneself from parasitic thoughts, the mind needs calm and clarity, not additional confusion.
We see scenes where On Dal “burns” memories. It is the dissolution of negative emotions or mental chaos generated by these memories. However, we observe one thing, he is unable to do this for Ga-Jin. So he has not perfectly accomplished his spiritual mission and this could be a factor of misguidance and passion in his warrior’s path at a later time, capable of making him make mistakes. I want to make one thing clear: dissolving the mental emotions does not mean dissolving the love he has for her. They are two different things.