MBC drama, Tae Wang Sa Shin Gi has become a hot topic lately because of the usage of fantasy fused with history and huge amount of funding. But there has been gripes about it lately over its miscasting and old-fashioned storylines that has troubled the production crew. This has worsened at the eve of its impending ratings battle with SBS drama, Lobbyist.

The PD of Tae Wang Sa Shin Gi had said before at a press conference held earlier this month that he wasn’t worried about Lobbyist and shown extreme confidence in it. They expressed then that the story would have a strong start and strong finish. Especially when the Lobbyist starts showing, by then Tae Wang Sa Shin Gi would already have broadcasted its 10th episode, and the climax of the drama would have locked viewers into watching that for sure.

However, as the drama progressed, the reactions of the viewers are rather mixed. First of all, their complaints mainly fell on the miscasting of the show and the main focus is on credible actress, Moon So-Ri.

Some of them pointed out, “Moon So-Ri isn’t suitable for the role. Maybe its her first drama, her language and expressions isn’t very good, totally doesn’t fit with the drama.” The amount of flak it received was quite numerous regarding this. As the main flak fell on her, there were also gripes regarding Bae Yong Joon and Lee Ji-Ah, claiming that chosing them was a grave mistake.

The progression of the story has also come under fire. Since episode 6 was shown on 26th of this month, the pacing of the story started slowing down, the viewers claimed that it was getting draggy. One said, “The start of the drama had sufficient drama element and fast pacing to grab the viewer’s attention, but it has started to get draggy, and the pacing has suffered.” Another complained, “Next week will be on rescuing the three tribesmen sons and most probably it will take up one episode, when will we see Gwanggaeto Taewang going about reclaming the lands of Jyusin?”

Despite so much gripes about it, Tae Wang Sa Shin Gi still managed to grabbed ratings of 30% in the Chuseok holiday period which was an achievement. The real litmus test will be in the coming weeks when the Lobbyist starts airing.