Tree with Deep Roots

At the beginning of the Chosen Dynasty the written language used by the Korean people was Chinese characters,thousands of them that only the nobles had time to learn and use. The characters were symbolic and without relationship to the words used by the Korean people. King Lee Do,frustrated with the inability of his people to petition him and his inability to communicate to them imformation vital to them all,decided to establish an alphabet that reflected both the phonics of the Korean language and was easy to learn and use by everyone. This would upset the balance of power in the realm by allowing the "great unwashed" masses to have access to the government and to read and write whatever they chose,allowing even the commoners to enjoy reading whatever gave them pleasure. Thus began a long struggle by the king and a very small handful of supporters to build,from scratch,just such an alphabet,all in secret.This historical Korean Drama (kdrama as they are known) is beautifully filmed and acted by first-rate quality actors, easily on par with US movie theater quality although it was shown on Korean TV and,just so you understand,the target audience is the Korean people;they have oft-times a difference of philosophy about how things should or do go and every story having an happy ending isn't one of them.In several instances near the beginning,Chae-yoon would make drawing in a notebook and as he did,in the lower left of the screen,what he was drawing was being drawn on the screen. Another time,there was a scene someone was trying to make sense or rhyme out of hundreds of characters on stacks of paper when suddenly mental connection was made and the correct letters/symbols began to float up and began to form a thought. There are more than a few examples of the 3D graphics and special effects.This series is not an ordinary series. It is in-depth,well-played and beautifully filmed,a first-rate effort in all respects.Most highly recommended.

This series was very interesting and the story drew me in. In the beginning I didn't like it as it has a bit too much screaming, but even that played into the story later, so stick with it. This tells a different twist to the story of the king who invented a different alphabet for his people to make language available to everyone, not just the aristocrats. It has a good dose of politics and intrigue, murder and cunning. The cast is excellent. I think Koreans are brilliant in how much they love their history. I have learned so much watching various dramas. I have added this to my every growing collection. Now that my favorite production company has shut down, I depend ever more on Amazon for a source of series to purchase. YA Entertainment production were so well done. I hope they have all joined other companies. The subtitles from YA had to be the best. I never had a bad experience with any of their translations. I can't say that of all other purchases. The worst is when the language changes from Korean to Chinese and the translation gets changed. YA never did that. I would like reccomendations for clean translations. This series was perfect in the English translation and subtitling.

I just can't seem to get involved with this film as the pace is sl slow.

Story was good. Tense and keep you in suspense. The only thing that troubles any viewer is the interpretation which is absolutely 'garbage'. That person does not know what he is talking about in English.

Once things get going, it's a very enjoyable drama. There were times, on the weekend, I could not stop watching 'cause I wanted to see what happened next. The captions are good. I have found that sometimes, on any of the Korean dramas, I have to go back and pause to read them because there are times when the background is too close to the caption color.Other than that little nit-pic, it's a very good drama.

Very good although plot is very complex. Would recommend it for the King's goal was really worthwhile and noble. Reynold spector

This is probably the best K-drama I've ever seen (I have not seen much... but for now..)! The story is very engaging--murder mystery behind the creation of the Korean alphabet, clever! I'm always at the edge of my seat when watching this. The acting is phenomenal. Every actor is great here! I love it. The costumes are lavish, colorful, beautiful! Also, it's only 24 or 26 episodes long, not too long compared to other historical dramas but it's AMAZING!

Translation is top-notch quality. I can just say I needed to buy this after watching it on TV.Acting, costumes ... the whole production it's worth watching over and over again.