The Royal Gambler (a.k.a Jackpot)

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The Royal Gambler (a.k.a Jackpot, Deabak in Korean) turned out to be one of those black hole sageuks, the ones that are not very good but for some reason gets me hooked in the first 4-5 episodes and I emotionally invest and then they turn sour towards the end but I feel compelled to finish just the same.

This one had a good cast, Jang Geun Suk is one of my favorites. He has a great speaking voice and gives 100 percent no matter what (I actually admired his professionalism in the final episodes of this one). He is not that good an actor but I like him. He and his co star (who is a better actor but not as charismatic as JGS) are masters of the single teardrop and it was a joy to watch them go at it. The best of the bunch is Choi Min Soo, who looked very handsome still. The baddie is a guy I don't really like as an actor (for no apparent reason) and it was good that he is a baddie since it was easy to dislike him. There was a female lead who probably got bad reviews and sort of dissappeared and then killed during the show. And one small female part got bigger and bigger since I think she got good reviews. Anyway it was melodramatic made me literally yell at the villain, and ended in a snooze.

SPOILER!!

Well at least the hero didn't die