Bossam - Stealing Destiny (2021)

Old-school drama... after all

Sincery I love historical dramas but I won't recommend this one because the storyline is really dissapointing, you can get hoocked because of the cliffangers and also good actings (lead and secondary roles as well) but the overall impression is not that good. If you like people holding hands and bunch of political revelations, this is for you. Lots of angst and crying scenes too. Otherwise, look for another drama.

The good point is the stress on confuceen and boudhist backgrounds, we always forget now how ancestor teachings and religion are important in the past. I also really enjoy some cute scenes where the poor princess finally smiles and lives for herself, the humble life in the village with the kid and the other couple. I also like the idea of a second-chance lifetime. But there is too much intrigues and plot twists that definitely kill the mood. Again, I don't blame the acting but the storytelling.

I expected a new way to reflect on the past. We do know that it's not easy to be a woman, and more being a widowed-princess in this time. Here, the whole storyline is rather conservative, with eternal damzel-in-distress rescue scenes.
(Spoilers here)
It really looks like dramas I saw long before, with scenes like a pair of males shoes and female shoes in front of the room which suggests... that they 've done it. The main couple interactions are nice but oh ! So old-fashioned !
The female lead is really graceful (nice bows) but flawless and somewhere annoying, being really the ideal asian type of sweet and docile wife. For example, she is good at archery and there is only ONE scene where she use it, and at the end of the fight, the male lead pull the arc from her because she must not take the burden of killing people (= She is too fragile).
I feel so lost with the alliances and family revelations (so many princes-to-be-king!). And the ending is really inconsistant: the main couple has made a promise to be together in spite of all. But, as soon as the policital matters end, she choose to have her way in becoming a nun! She finally flees with the male-lead, thanks to him (again), she changes her mind.
I really don't why this drama scored so well, maybe the kind of nostalgia vibes.

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Brilliant!Highly recommended!

This might be an unpopular opinion, but this is one of the best dramas!
Everyone should give it a chance at least.

First of all, the story was quite unique, and I loved how they portrayed the life of poor people in joseon
. Of course the show also had a lot of classical saeguk
elements after episode 10.
Some people say they didn't like the other half of the drama. I can agree, it was definitely different than the beginning, but still enjoyable! In my opinion the actions were logical and well-structured. Ending was good, loved it!
The characters were lovable and the acting was super, full of emotions. Altough there wasn't much skinship
between our main leads, the chemistry was so good, that you could tell they love each other from just their eyes.

Highly recommended! Definitely gonna re watch with my family!

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Yet another drama that revolved around King Gwanghae and the people of his household. When it was announced that Jung Il-woo would be playing Bawoo a single father who worked as someone who bossam widows to allow them to remarry I immediately got taken to the plot. Having first known him from Haechi, I was interested to see some more of his works.

Aside from the whole Bossam plot, I was also intrigued by the plot regarding King Gwanghae and Princess Hwa In. In a way, it made me think about Tale of Nokdu plot. But instead of the story of the king's abandoned son finding love and indirectly involved with the dethronement of King Gwanghae, this time, it was the daughter who had been abandoned. It's was kinda interesting to see a different retelling of what could've happened that led to the dethronement as well as a different portrayal of King Gwanghae in his latter years.

That said, Kwon Yuri did very well in portraying the young widowed Princess Hwa In. Despite this role being her first attempt at a sageuk drama, Yuri managed to bring out the grace and nobility of a royal princess who ended up being widowed even before her marriage.

Jung Il-woo as Bawoo was really wonderful. At first glance, you wouldn't have imagined that this ruffian who kidnaps widows for a living would have such a difficult past, but then the more you see how he lived the more you could understand why he acted that way. I really love the child actor who played his son, they really acted well together. And the story of how this pair of father and son ended up having their lives changed after meeting Princess Hwa In was really so sweet.

I first got to know Shin Hyeonsoo from Ruler and was really surprised that he's in this drama. It was nice to see him playing a different character compared to the one in Ruler. I have to say that the drama had some pretty good casting.

I've heard about the practice of kidnapping widows as brides in some cultures and media so it was interesting to learn there was a proper term for that practice. And as much as the political plot had been prominent throughout the drama, I like how the drama started and ended with someone being bossam-ed. That felt like a good way to wrap up the whole story.

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