다모 3.5-4.5 stars
PG-13 for...POLICE related work. This is a historic drama so it's not as graphic as now a days, I think. There are a few scenes to watch out for:
There are two rape related/sensitive scenes. The first case in the first episode, a rape/murder investigation occurs. The second one is the attempted rape of Chae-Ok that she is utterly awesome in destroying, however it is just a little bit before she gets free, there is nothing graphic it just makes you go :P :P. Chae-Ok does take a few chances to bathe, all scenes are pretty distant, and mostly modest but still :P. Also there is someone who is beaten whose bloody backside you see. There is a weird healing scene...very temple...ish stuff, just so you are aware.
There are people slain on screen, at one point almost an army is killed on screen. It's not terribly graphic but still it is impacting and devastating. *SPOILER* several of the people killed are people you follow in the drama.*SPOILER END*
*MAJORSPOILERMAJORMAJOREVERYONEYOUCAREFORINTHISDRAMAWILLDIEANDITWILLBEWORTHALLTHETEARSYOUWILLSITANDSOBFORENDOFMAJORSPOILER*
다모 is like watching poetry on screen. The lines...the people, the story. It's a tragic poem. Stunningly beautiful...a story that will leave a beautiful scar on your heart to cherish.
This is one of my favorites.
One of my FAVORITE FAVORITES!
I stumbled across it by accident and it was one of the five dramas I pulled up to decide between. 다모captured me within minutes...melting away the world.
I was unfamiliar with fusion drama's when I first started watching dramas but I rapidly fell in love with the story telling, despite the unique fantasy like flying sword scenes.
I am not sure what drew me to this drama....maybe it was the scenery...
The stunning vistas
The golden silence of the bamboo forest
The stunning peacefulness...
Then this face....
Then hers...
the queerness of two people in trees..
Flying
Then her first words...
Where you trying to kill me?
Then his haunting answer
I already killed you.
A chase....
A hail of arrows...
A commanding voice:
Turn around Jang Sung Baek
It's all over!
Give up do not resist!
What you see before you is only a cliff.
You ran down a road that it's a road.
His reply:
A road that isn't a road.
How can you say that?
If a person takes a path...
If two people take it..
If many people take it
Then it becomes a road.
Then it becomes a road.
In this rotten world.
All I did was create a new road.
Commanding voice:
Don't be foolish the road you created is only a cliff leading to death!
His reply:
You're wrong.
Though my bones may be buried here today.
After I die many people will take my path and make it a road.
Some time their blood and souls will fill the valleys and rivers
and a new road, and a new world will definitely be opened.
Even though I die now
I will not...completely die
*whispers softly to himself* only Jae-Hui...
*then back to the world* This life of mine ends here
Please relieve me.
Commanding voice
How dare you!
Her voice
If I do not kill him with my own sword. I will regret it.
Him:
Don't make a mistake this time....
*fades to white*
And we spring to old Joseon...
And the Left Police Bureau
Where we meet Chae-Ok a tea servant for the police.
She is a female detective...and a slave...in name only.
Here is the commanding officer...he and Chae-Ok go a long...long way back.
Seriously! This drama is filled with awesome quotes and Proverbs.
But when I mean they go a long way back...I mean....a long way back...
This is her brother
Her father imparting wisdom...
The inquisitiveness of a 7 year old..
The affection of a father...
and his apology to his children.
The last few moments with her brother...
as they are being chased...
Now a little slave girl...
And the illegitimate son of a noble meet...
forging a bond and a destiny...
of faithful loyalty...
That does not fail if even trialed 10,000 times...
And the student becomes the master, teaching a slaves hands to war...
So much of this drama is poetic and a beautiful tangle of emotions and destiny twisting and twinning and churning the heart.
The three main characters have their fates to tightly tied together and Chae-Ok is nearly torn between the two leads who are though twain, her core.
Chae-Ok
She is played by Ha Ji Won. OH MY GOODNESS THIS WOMAN IS INCREDIBLE! She made me fall in love with Chae-Ok and her incredible story, a powerful woman, yet quiet and subtle she wields so much power and receives so much respect. Her heart is beautiful. Stunning...she just makes me marvel...and I'll stop carrying on but Chae-Ok will make you cry, and that is okay.
Yoon
The strong commander, the one she has been following since she was 7 years old, the compassion and pity of two lost souls finding each other and making each other home. Falling in love but neither are going to let it happen. To let themselves actually...fall in love.
Ah! This name. THIS MAN. He has a soul in his eyes that can hardly be matched. He has known pain and trial and yet has conquered it all to come to the point where is now.
I'll be honest. I fell in love with him.
Some of my favorite quotes from him are:
One must first kill with the heart. (The reason they haven't killed each otheryet.)
You are the first person to draw blood from my lip and lived. You will be the last.
If the people are not of heaven, I will destroy heaven as well.
He is sheer awesome and epicness...that will kill you. A prince of people...he sees people...
It's a story of justice. Scales, checks, balances...and justice. What does justice really look like? What does it mean? Is it really...blind? Is destiny also...blind?
It ends with this...
A far off
mountain…
A mountain with a deep green forest…
A destiny…that could not
foresee that divide
A love I could not measure…
A love that tore my heart
apart…
Not again… never again…
Do not live for me…
