SPOILER ALERT - Stop where you are if you don't want to read possible spoilers.

I'm 15 minutes into episode 7 and I can't help but feel the urge to rant and call for the director to get fired.

This series has potential to be something pretty epic... correction, it had potential before the directing team took it and smushed it to pieces.  There are so many things wrong with this series that I don't even know where to begin.

There are some serious conflicts that arise in this series: a musician's struggle with losing his hearing; a need for an illegitimate son to prove himself to his father and gain respect from his peers; a trauma in a past that has carried forth to current day and a secret so valuable that an entire institution is built to help protect it.  These are some pretty amazing cards; solid groundwork that could be fleshed out and twisted together to make a solid story.  Instead of fitting the pieces together, the director/script writer/film crew decides to dip that in hot sauce and sprinkle it with sparkles in hopes that it might be cute.  "What the " is right!

You have the set up of some amazing characters.  A fallen idol, an illegitimate son, the strong daughter of a poor blind man, and the seemingly adopted daughter of the school master.  There are SO MANY things you could do with these characters that it's hard to mess it up right?  Wrong.  Nothing is impossible for these film directors; they are capable of making the idol emo, the son foolish, the strong daughter weird as and the adopted daughter a simpleton.  I don't think I've ever felt as bad for actors as I do in Moorim.

The acting, let's be honest, is pretty bad.  After having seen some of Hyunwoo's other works (more like all), I can confidently say that his performance in this drama is subpar at best.  Is it his fault?  At least a portion of it; acting is a skill and requires hardwork that I could never understand.  However, because I've seen some of his amazing work in other films (Norther Limit Line, Secretly Greatly, Technicians to name a few), I KNOW he's capable of so much more if he had a good director.  It's their jobs to bring out the best in an actor and this director fails painfully to do that for every one of the actors. 

The simplest things seem just stupid.  There are scenes (like the kitchen accident) that made my eyes bleed.  Really?  Martial arts to dodge and wack away flying hot food?  Really?  Climbing up a rope to the ceiling is simple arm work and doesn't require effort?  REALLY?  Scaling down the side of a build looks like you're floating in mid-air??  REALLY?  That's REALLY the best you can do???

As an author, an avid reader, and an obsessive movie/drama/anime watcher, it seriously frustrates me when a story is ruined because someone ed up.  I feel like the audience was cheated of an amazing experience simply because not enough thought or effort was put forth.  

At this point, I'm watching the series now out of principle for Lee Hyunwoo because he's my precious fluffball.  It's all I can do to keep watching even as my toes curl.