Scarlet Heart wannabe.

That was too harsh but it's not too far off. If you look at the structure roughly, it seems almost identical (minus the time traveling). A lot of hot dudes, one girl, sageuk, and one golden retriever man (cough cough V and Baekhyun) that doesn't deserve to die.

It's a wasted potential tbh, it could be something as impressive as Scarlet Heart. I couldn't help but compare them as they aired this almost at the same time. Except for Scarlet heart was well done and Hwarang did not.

PSJ's character was so lost in his non-existent beef with PHS, Go Ara character was too busy getting into trouble and waited for PSJ to save her so she could cry over him getting hurt for saving her and the cycle repeats until the last episode. They could've spent the time to expand the Hwarang boys storyline but instead used it for Go Ara crying closeup. The romance between PSJ and GAR was also insufferable.

The only redeeming quality is the bond between Hwarang boys and the second lead couple. Oh and the OSTs. Other than that, it was disappointing which is a bummer considering the amount of promotion the drama gets. They even get a special episode even before the drama airs and the Hwarang boys went to 2 Days 1 Night to promote the drama (2D1N rarely has guests). Imagine how disappointed we are.