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[In Defense Of] An ode to Faith

By Alaskan

Listen my Beanies and you shall hear
of a widely panned drama that I hold very dear
In 2012, I tried a new genre
of serial programs called Korean drama
My first one was Faith and I have to admit
that it began my addiction—it thrilled me to bits
I was quickly sucked into this fantasy story
of loyalty, love, and violent glory
I would watch Faith for hours and hours
Just to see all the villains with their magical powers

I wanted to hang out with Court Lady Choi
And who can’t help but love every Woodalchi boy?
Lee Min-ho as the General captured my heart
He was my kind of hero—kind, courageous and smart
Best of all was Eun-soo, as tough as one gets
She was clever and brave as she faced all the threats
She kept General Choi Young on the tips of his toes
and… honestly? Led him around by his nose
You may laugh, but I loved the king and the queen
And when she miscarried, I actually cried at that scene

I liked all of the intrigue, the politics, the war
(because for me, light romances are a bit of a bore)
So I say to my friends, I don’t care that they think
that the directing was clumsy, the villains absurd
I liked that Oh-sung played Ki Chul with a wink
and I liked Sung Hoon, though he said barely a word
And though I agree that the directing was blah
still the drama did touch me and isn’t that all
that each of us ultimately, eagerly looks for?
So keep the faith all you Beanies, forevermore

(With sincere apologies to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, as well as poets everywhere.)

 
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I didn't finished this but.. reading this poem made me want to try it again. I have a trouble to connect with Lee Min-ho's acting, but since I love Park Se-young, I will try this again. Especially no sageuk to watch at this moment.

Kudos @alaskan for this great post!

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Flawed but so moving
I watched it with my daughter
Faith: first k drama

Thanks for sharing this @tinak

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I love this drama. It is one of my favourite LMHs drama. Reading your post made me wanna rewatch this drama. Okay Im off. Gonna meet General Choi Young now 😚

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I LOVE Faith!
It's still one of the best Dramas I've seen. Well I don't know if 'best' is the term, but one of my favorites. I've seen it 3 times.

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Brava, @Alaskan!

I, too, have a warm spot for FAITH. The cracktastic OST was terrific. You've inspired me to post a bunch of links on my fan wall to my favorite pieces, many of them instrumental.

Out of the blue I recently recalled the excruciating embarrassment of King Gong-min's faithful retainer Ahn Do-chi (Kwon Hae-sung) when Princess Noguk inquired as to his wife's sure-fire stress relief-methods. The look on his face was priceless when he finally spilled the beans under duress, only to have the king enter the throne room, and Noguk beat a hasty retreat. Har!

The scene starts at about 5:00.

Faith Episode 12 English Sub Korean Drama 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsVMlGysTRE

In episode 13, Court Lady Choi delivers Princess Noguk's invitation to King Gong-min, starting at about 11:15. Keep watching as their tête-à-tête and the back story of their first meeting in Yuan unfolds. Very sweet. Park Se-young and Ryu Deok-hwan make a memorable royal couple.

Faith Episode 13 English Sub Korean Drama 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QY0BRSIkZ88

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This was awesome! And I actually completely agree with you. Despite it's faults Faith is actually one of my favourite dramas. I enjoyed every episode, all the characters, the time travel stuff and of course the romance (both the main couple and the King & Queen). When I heard that it was generally regarded not very well, I was surprised. It definitely has issues but I really don't think it's as bad as people make it out to be.
For me at least, it will be one I will always love and rewatch over and over, so this was so nice and fun to read!

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This was wonderfully written :)

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omg i lovelovelove this! your poem is amazing! And I'm SOOOOOO excited to see Faith defended in this month's "series" (or whatever its called :) ). As soon as I saw this month's topic, Faith came to mind, and I was hoping someone would properly do it justice---and you did!! Such a lovely tribute. Agree with all that you said, and with everything the beanies commented. Faith was my first kdrama, too, and I am just so thrilled to find that I'm not alone in my love for it <3

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So cute! Loved your apology at the end to poets haha ;)

I need to watch Faith sometime!

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The PS was gold!!!

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Thank you so much for defending Faith!!
It was also my first drama. I chose it purely by chance, but got hooked eventually and now I can't get enough of dramas :)

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But nobody mention the Mane of Glory ?

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Faith was also my first KDrama 4 years ago, and after watching dozens in all genres, I still love this one unapologetically. I’ve watched it several times since. I also like the ending that many criticize: it’s perfect.

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Awesome poem, and this too was my first drama, and I've watched it 3 or 4 times now, even if it's just for background noise. this drama will always have a special place in my heart.

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Your words is really good. If only I have the talent to play words to convey my feeling. Unfortunately

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Faith was my crack drama for many years. My healthy addiction. I would watch and rewatch it when I was tired, happy, bored, or had a hard day and needed distraction.

Much later I found out it was widely panned on Dramabeans and I never understood why this beautiful drama of perseverance and sacrifice with awesome sci-fi effects wasn’t loved by the community. But it didn’t deter my love for the drama by one bit.

I often think that Faith was the last drama Lee Min Ho actually poured all of himself - heart and soul - in. In later dramas: Heirs and the Legend of the Blue Sea - he goes through the motions, but his heart isn’t really there. There’s a stark contrast in his drama work Pre and Post Faith, I confess his withdrawal from completely immersing himself in his characters made me like him a little less. Not that I blame him, the events following the wrapping up of Faith were tragic and enough to shake the most stalwart of people.

Despite all of that, this drama remains one of my most beloved to date.

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The fact that there's a defence of Faith and that its loved by this many is actually making me tear up. At last, I've found my people.

I did like LMH in Personal Taste, he and Sohn Ye Jin had a natural chemistry that developed comfortably( aside from some questionable decisions of the writing). Admittedly, it was the traditional swoony male lead role, but still...

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@ Flighty Gazelles,

In PERSONAL TASTE, LMH's chemistry with Ryu Seung-ryong was also noteworthy. Jeon Jin-ho's defense of Choi Do-bin was deeply touching. RSR projected immense dignity as the art curator.

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Definitely, their scenes together were among the best in the series.

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I really love the show's treatment of Ryu Seung Ryong' character. You had all these comedic mishaps taking place because of LMH being mistaken as a gay character and all the false stereotypes that comes with it. And then you have RSR, dignified and respected to the end. Love it.

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Aw, thank you, everybody, for your kind comments. The Ode was lots of fun to write, even if it did veer into "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," if not Dr. Seuss territory, at times.

And it's good to know that I'm not alone in my love for Faith, flaws and all.

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Wow, mad respect for you! Those rhymes were great! @tinak Great job!

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Ahh, twas' awesome this post!!
Pouring your heart out is what I love most!
And although Faith wasn't always winsome,
it came and delivered, feelings so wholesome.

Kudos for the wonderful post, Alaskan!

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I absolutely adore Faith and I've probably watched it at least 15 times. Even with the obvious budget issues and circular plot points (how many times are they going to run away and turn back to the palace?!) it is still one of my all time favorites. It was clearly intended to be a much larger scale production and at some point, after the budget for the cool animation and special effects had clearly been cut, the writer must have just decided, screw it, I'm writing a romance novel. The chemistry between Lee Min Ho and Kim Hee Sun was off the charts and they will always be my # 1 KDrama couple.

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I am so with you about this drama! It’s been ages since these comments were written, but I did not start watching K drama until this past year. Having discovered faith, I have become slightly insane. I just love it so much and keep re-watching it and finding that it’s hard to move onto another drama. Anyway, if you read this, I want you to know that I thank you for saying that you’ve watched it 15 times. I’m currently at five. And I’ll give myself another 10 before I get worried about whether or not I’m completely insane. L O L.

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Hey, welcome to the Dramabeans comment section @LBuie ! We hope you stick around, and judge you NOT AT ALL if you watch this drama 10...20...30 times more. 👊

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I have rewatched Faith at least 50 times! Keep going!

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Love this!! I too enjoyed Faith even with all its flaws. It was one of my first dramas to watch as it aired. Found out about it through this site, so I had the recaps to help me understand things that were still new to me. Thank you for your lovely poem.

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Faith is my guilty pleasure.
I know it has a lot of flaws and problem behind the scene, but I love it very much, can't help it.

Until these days, I'm still listening "Because My Steps are Slow" everyday, my favorite OST of Kdrama.

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Love this lol you should do more kdramas~

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Lol Alaskan I really liked Faith too! My sister and I both loved it actually. I read that the initial production was full of drama and budgeting issues which probably led to the subpar editing and special effects...but I thought the story was quite good. Not historically relevant (I mean they were throwing lightning and fireballs at each other) and sometimes redundant but it managed to remain entertaining. That may have been largely due to the main leads who executed flawlessly in this drama (in my opinion). Oh and the soundtrack was great, I still listen to it time to time. It was one of my guilty pleasures...my fourth ever kdrama...and one that I repeatedly go back to and rewatch 😬. So yeaa, I sorta feel ya

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I like Faith very much! Not as much as I love the classic Goong but it is still top of my list. This is the only Lee Min Ho drama I like. He was cast really well and he had awesome chemistry with Hee Sun! I had butterflies in my stomach watching that last scene. The villains were funny not in a good way but I enjoyed it all. I remember sincerely wishing the Queen has a happy ending, thinking that she is very beautiful and sweet. What a great post by our guest beanie to celebrate this classic gem!

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I loved this! And I have to agree. Faith may not have been the best drama out there, but I still love it!

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