Now that I'm on the fourth show of this kind that I really wanted to like (K2, Healer and Black), but the writing prevented it AGAIN, I'm slowly at a loss for words. Rugal is my fourth K-drama thriller in a row with glaring plot issues.
Some shows like Healer and Black clearly run out of budget or time and have to rush the ending in a messy (& stupid) way.
Other shows like K2 and this just never really have a plot structure to begin with, despite a great premise. Every episode, some evil (or evil-seeming) person does something evil and has to be stopped, or some other challenge is to be overcome. The overall character relations are rather static, with most players looking to take a stab at one of their targets, but this rarely happening in a meaningful way. After about half of Rugal, it even turns into what feels like endless filler episodes, one more ridiculous in plot than the next. The primary villain of the show is pretty much Chaotic Evil, truly over the top in his atrocities, and most other characters have the chance to end him, and spare us the last ~10 hours. Yet they all somehow help him, or even rescue him, and as a result we viewers must endure.
The acting is passable, but most supporting characters are underused and rarely get to shine convincingly. The music is not that far behind K2's in excitement, but is used in comically unexciting situations. There's a lot of action, yet it's sadly often sprinkled in to cover for the lack of anything else. Random fight scenes with an infinite legion of goons are all too common.
If a plausible plot is not among your requirements, you don't mind violence, and sci-fi tech plus hero vs horde fights sound good, Rugal is likely worth a watch. The same goes if you just really enjoy the kind of villain who could eat up any weaker character.
Review by luckzBlockedParent2020-12-14T03:49:00Z
Now that I'm on the fourth show of this kind that I really wanted to like (K2, Healer and Black), but the writing prevented it AGAIN, I'm slowly at a loss for words.
Rugal is my fourth K-drama thriller in a row with glaring plot issues.
Some shows like Healer and Black clearly run out of budget or time and have to rush the ending in a messy (& stupid) way.
Other shows like K2 and this just never really have a plot structure to begin with, despite a great premise. Every episode, some evil (or evil-seeming) person does something evil and has to be stopped, or some other challenge is to be overcome. The overall character relations are rather static, with most players looking to take a stab at one of their targets, but this rarely happening in a meaningful way.
After about half of Rugal, it even turns into what feels like endless filler episodes, one more ridiculous in plot than the next. The primary villain of the show is pretty much Chaotic Evil, truly over the top in his atrocities, and most other characters have the chance to end him, and spare us the last ~10 hours. Yet they all somehow help him, or even rescue him, and as a result we viewers must endure.
The acting is passable, but most supporting characters are underused and rarely get to shine convincingly.
The music is not that far behind K2's in excitement, but is used in comically unexciting situations.
There's a lot of action, yet it's sadly often sprinkled in to cover for the lack of anything else. Random fight scenes with an infinite legion of goons are all too common.
If a plausible plot is not among your requirements, you don't mind violence, and sci-fi tech plus hero vs horde fights sound good, Rugal is likely worth a watch. The same goes if you just really enjoy the kind of villain who could eat up any weaker character.