Not gonna lie, this was my second try to watch Vagabond, first time, one year ago, I’ve just watched first episode any for some reason decided to drop it. I don’t really know why, probably I was just not in a mood to watch action drama. This time, I’ve made it past first episode and that was one of best decisions I’ve made this year, I swear. This drama has everything and in perfectly balanced proportion. There’s action, drama, romance, even a bit of comedy, just name it.
Story is simple at the beginning and then throughout the series it gets more and more complicated. Cha Dal Geon, our main character takes care of his nephew when the boy dies in an airplane crash. Dal Geon is devastated but soon discover that a simple plane crash might’ve been a terrorist attack. He allies with Go Hae Ri, young agent for NIS and together they try to solve the case which will take them to the very top of Korean politics.
First of all, the plot that we get is from the start very multilayered. Very quickly we’re introduced to vast array of characters that represent both sides of the conflict, so we have broad view of the situation. This gives us more or less full picture of what’s going on on the surface. Because the case quickly turns out to have a lot of layers that we’ll expose them together with main characters.
I’ve quickly put my attention to the characters. Of course, there’s a lot of action, but the characters build the scenery here very well.
So we have Cha Dal Geon and Go Hae Ri, our main characters who in fact know the least of what’s going on, but are in the middle of the action and they are the reason plot moves forward.
Then we have, let’s call it, second circle, where I’d put Gi Tae Ung, who appears first with security audit when things start to get hot in NIS and Min Jae Shik, Hae Ri’s direct supervisor. They both represent group that’s in the middle. They know a bit more than Hae Ri and Dal Geon, but are often limited by their bosses. Right away we get where they stand on the moral compass. Gi Tae Ung may be stickler to the rules of an asshole type of guy since the beginning, but he’s kind of right. He doesn’t trust Hae Ri, which he admits openly multiple of times, but he has s good reason to do so. She shortly proves that she cannot in fact be trusted in this line of work by giving all the information to the Dal Geon, who is certainly out of the investigation, as he’s in no way connected to NIS. She’s too impulsive and in this line of work this is not a trait to be proud of (especially in the eyes of her supervisors) since it may mean risking somebody’s life. By the way, I love Shin Sung Rok’s (playing Gi Tae Ung) acting in this series. His character is not completely good, but in his rough honesty there’s very interesting, true to his beliefs character.
And we have the highest circle, characters that we should be the most beware of. They include villain but also the higher ups in NIS hierarchy. We soon discover that even among “good guys” there’re some shady figures.
As the plot is multilayered with characters it’s also multilayered in terms of action. Viewer doesn’t get rest for long here. Crime in this drama has so many layers, that after uncovering one, another one emerges.
And there’re some comedic reliefs as well. In drama with so much suspense and action, they work as a good pressure valve. It was nice to see infantile rivalry between Dal Geon and Tae Ung in some scenes. It wasn’t pushy or important motive, but it was an interesting add on that took a bit of pressure in a rather action packed series.
Let’s talk about acting, because this was for me drama of reception for some actors. I’ve already mentioned Shin Sung Rok, who’ve done amazing work with Gi Tea Ung.
With Bae Suzy I’ve had initial problem, because I’ve first seen her in Big. The drama was so bad and poorly written that I’ve wanted to forget about everything that I’ve seen there, including Suzy’s acting. Since then I’ve seen her in While You Were Sleeping and Start Up but finally here, in Vagabond I’ve regained trust in her acting, she delivered perfect portrayal of her character.
About Lee Seung Gi. Well, my first encounter was in King 2 Heart, which I still remember with a dose of cringe. His acting wasn’t that bad there, actually he was one of good elements of that drama. Here, with better written character, he truly shined, and I’m so happy about it.
Overall I have absolutely not his bad to say about vagabond. Everything, from music, through characters to the plot was on its place as it should be. Viewer get’s a solid dose of action with strategically placed comedic motives. Absolutely perfect. With one exception, so far there’s no news about second season. And that’s very bad.