This drama was a first for me. It was my first long sageuk, it was one of the few historical dramas where I quite liked the childhood portion of the story or the setup, before the actual story began. As soon as Yeo Jin Goo appeared on screen I was totally charmed, his performance really moved me, and I found myself immediately hooked. That kid is amazing. His parts in the drama are still one of my favorite bits in the drama and I really cherish that moment of Dong Soo’s life.

This drama is all about the characters and their relationships, how the grow as a human being and so on. The real heart of it all is Yeo Woon and Baek Dong Soo’s friendship (or more depending how you read into it).Their relationship is the core of the drama and what makes it quite addiction to watch I must say. There is a lot of bromance, a whole lot of angst, some pretty people in pretty period clothes and some fun action and sword fighting scenes. There are some cutting of limbs and blood so maybe it isn’t for people who don’t like that or find that triggering but I honestly didn’t find it so bad. If anything I found it a bit too over the top and comical at times.

The angst is a blessing and a cure, as it can be a bit frustrating and repetitive, but the way Yoo Seung Ho does it is so good and even if you don’t agree with Yeo Woon or what he is doing or saying (no one is destined to be evil my boy) you can totally empathies with it, but I also think it’s because Yoo Seung Ho did such a good job with the character. He made the drama what it was! He is the angst in this drama and this drama is very heavy on the angst.

And I think that’s the case for a lot of the characters in the story, it’s the actors that make you like them, not the writing, which doesn’t do that good of a job (especially for the minor characters and the main female lead) to draw these characters out or give them consistent motivations. Some of them were as interesting as a dry brick wall, especially if the actor playing that characters wasn’t up to par.

There is a nice contrast and parallels between Dong Soo and Yeo Woon, and you can also see similar things in their relationship with each of their mentors, the Sky Lord and the Sword Saint. And it that aspect, and the angst, I think the writing did do a good job, while it severely lacked in others. I find it hard to comment on the political maneuvering and the intrigue, because this is an edited version of an old review I did back in the day and back then I did not really care or pay attention to these things as I did now. But it never really stood out to me, in my memory, for being super fun or that interesting to watch.

But I also don’t think it tried super hard with that. I think it was just suppose to be a fun action drama, with some lovable characters, and you just need to sprinkle in some politics for some extra tension in the story. It’s there but it’s never super heavy ether. And it sort of succeeded at that. It was just fun, for the most part; Angsty, but entertaining.

The story did start to drag a bit towards the end, and it did that classic kdrama thing (which isn’t as much of a thing anymore) where it got extended and the writers just had to find new angst and new things to fill in that hole that was created, which didn’t help it at all. It might have made the finale the way it became, which I will say has left some scars, so I don’t go into spoilers. Did I eat upp all that angst and all the drama and tears and whatnot that the writer did through at me though? well yes… I did. I just wanted to see more of Yeo Woon and Baek Dong Soo.

Yet, despite some flaws in the writing I can’t help but note how incredibly hooked I was watching this, how much fun I had and how many emotions I felt while watching this show. It made me the Yoo Seung Ho fangirl that I am today. I will always give Warrior Baek Dong Soo credit for that and for just taking me on a journey that I never got tired of the whole way through. It was also the start of my love and interest in sageuk dramas. It’s such a starting point for me. And I think it might be a good starting point for other people. Because it’s not super complex or super deep, and it’s mainly just about the friendship between these two dudes, and I don’t think it was trying to be anything other than that in the end.