KBS2 drama “Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth,” aired its finale on Feb. 21. The show started with huge expectations starring the hottest stars such as Park Seo-joon, Park Hyung-sik and Go Ara. Famous idol members Choi Min-ho of boy band SHINee and Kim Tae-hyung of the K-pop group BTS participated in the show as well. The show, however, did not live up to the hype and ended with a viewership rating of 7.2 percent.

Hwarang was complimented for its good use of colors. Not only were the stars eye-catching, but the use of color throughout the show was intense. Unfortunately, its three shortcomings could not make up for its good visuals.

1. Boring veiled feud of the adults

(KBS2)

Whenever the show was about to get light with the young characters showing off their charms, the scene suddenly shifted to the boring repetitive conflicts among older characters.

2. Sudden use of BGM

(KBS2)

The show ruffled up the viewers’ feathers with sudden loud back ground music. The BGM started and ended out of the blue.

3. Unexpected development of the storyline

(KBS2)

The cliche “secrets of birth” lowered the dramatic tension as well. Moreover stories of each Hwarang member were not fleshed out properly.

Perhaps it was due to the reason that the show had been shoot in advance. The production staff tend to prefer shooting in advance since they do not have to work on the production in a hurried manner. It also has its limit however, in that the staff cannot measure the reactions of the viewers and reflect them on the show.

By Im Eun-byel (chrissy93@heraldcorp.com)