Review on Korean Drama: Queen Seon Duk (2009)

Title:  Queen Seon Duk

Genre: Period Drama, Action, Romance

Duration:  62 episodes

Cast:

Lee Yo Won as Princess Duk Man/Queen Seon Duk

Ko Hyun Jung as Mi Shil

Jo Min Ki as King Jinpyeong

Uhm Tae Woong as Kim Yoo Shin

Park Ye Jin as Princess Chun Myung

Kim Nam Gil as Bi Dam

Yoo Seung Ho as Kim Chun Chu

Lee Seung Hyo as Alcheon

Seo Young Hee as So Hwa

Synopsis: Was anyone born to become a hero? Was it not for every hero, circumstances and his abilities, aided with blessings from heaven that would make an ordinary person become legendary?

This is such a story.  It’s about a little girl who grew up in the desert, surrounded by merchants and travellers who thought she was abandoned by his father but nevertheless was leading a happy and carefree life.  She lives with her mother who has become sickly because she saved her when there was fire when she was little.  Deokman (Lee Yo Won) was naturally curious, witty, charming, naive and intensely loyal to the people she loves.  She led a simple and quiet life in the tavern with her mother unaware of her troubled past and the real reason why she lives in desert, so far away from the land from which she was born. 

She was only made aware that her life was threatened when a man came to kill both her and her mother and told her that he has been looking for them for the past 15 years.  Surprised to hear of someone so dedicated to look for her and kill her that she decided, after seeing her mother die in the desert, to get to the root of all these and look for the man who might have a clue to her true identity, Chunno.

It was a tumultuous era where King Jinpyeong (Jo Min Ki) is a mere puppet of Mi Shil who controls everything in the royal court.  Mi Shil is an ambitious, power-hungry woman who’s feared and at the same time revered by the people for her power to be able to control the heavens and accept revelations from the heavens.

Scheming to become the Queen, Mi Shil ordered to have the queen killed, but fortunately, she was able to make it alive with the help of Munno and also realizing that she’s pregnant. On day she gave birth, the king fearing Mi Shil will use the prophesy that giving birth to twins will result to the male lineage dying to depose the queen, he sent one of the newly born twins with the queen’s maid, So Hwa, to take away from the palace.  However, it was also written in the stars that the baby would be the one to contend with Mi Shil and accomplish great things. 

So Hwa took the baby away from the palace with the aid of Munno, a highly respected Hwarang whose martial arts skills are legendary.  Choksil who was the trusted aid of Mi Shil ardently pursued them for more than 15 years finally finding them in the desert of China.  Deokman(Lee Yo Won) grew up in the desert believeing So Hwa as her mother and that her father abandoned them.  Away from the pressure of the palace, she was able to learn many languages and read many books since different types of merchants travel for trading in China.  She grew up cheerful, resourceful, and brave, not afraid to put her life on the line to save others.

She simply want to live a quiet life with his mother.  All these were put to end when Choksil tried to kill them again in the desert and her mother, wanting to save her chose to die in the quicksand and severed the rope that tie her and Deokman.  Thereafter, a sandstorm appears and puts an end to all her hope of still finding her mother alive.  She then made a resolve to go back to her hometown and find out why she was abandoned by her father and why someone has been actively pursuing them even after all these years.  Her biggest clue is finding Munno who seemed to have traveled quite a lot and no one seemed to exactly find out where he is.  

At the time she went to the island where Munno was said to live, Princess Chun Myung( Park Ye Jin) has made a resolution to fight Mishil after her husband died in battle trying to pursue some glory to make him deserving to get the throne.  In order to escape the evil schemes of Mishil, she pretends to give-up and retire in the buddhist temple where she safely gives birth to Prince Chunchu (Yoo Seung Ho).  Thereafter, she sends people to investigate where Munno could be, believing he holds the key in fulfilling the prophecy of overthrowing Mishil.  Unfortunately, while boarding a ship, they were ambushed and all the men who were guarding her were killed leaving only her and Deokman alive.  Not knowing how to fend for herself, she follows Deokman ordering her to become her bodyguard and that becomes the beginning of their lifelong friendship.

The two eventually arrives at the temple only to find bodies scattered everywhere and assassins sent to kill them.  They were able to evade the assassins with the help of Kim Yoo Shin’s group, Uhm Tae Woo.  Princess Chun Myung was brought to their training camp not knowing her real identity.  She was impressed on how serious Yoo Shin tackles his training and not losing focus.  When he realized her real identity, she invites him to stay in the palace and serve her.  He pledges his undying loyalty.  She also asks that Deokman be allowed to join his group of huwarang so she could also keep her close.  Mishil didn’t have a choice but to allow them to come to the palace especially when there Deokman presented evidence that it was her son who tried to kill the princess.

Years after, Deokman maintained her friendship with the princess not realizing her true identity and still in search of her truth and wary of Mishil and her followers.  Mishil continued her control of the kingdom while the king continued his reign without any real powers. 

Everything was turned upside down when Mishil’s faction realized Deokman’s real identity and assassins were sent to kill her while she planning to escape with Yoo Shin.  The assassin believing Deokman was wearing the princess’ attire killed Princess Chun Myung instead which led Deokman to abandon the thought of running away and of living peacefully as a woman.  She decided to avenge her sister’s death and her family’s demise against Mishil head on.  On the process, she met Bi Dam (Kim Nam Gil) who is a man not afraid of anyone and unconfined by society’s mores and rules who could kill an entire village without any remorse. 

Together with Deokman and Yoo Shin, they decided to fight with Mishil to gain her identity back as a princess and to eventually become the ruling monarch.  They tried to outwit, and thwart her plans and in the process realize how power is gained and Deokman taking it further by ensuring that the people would benefit from everything she learned. 

Yoo Shin and Deokman’s love story though ended when Yoo Shin was forced to marry to save his people.  Although she already acknowledged that becoming the next ruler ends their love story, it still broke her heart when he got married to Mishil’s niece.  His marriage however did not make his loyalty wane since in his heart, he could only love Princess Deokman. 

After Princess Chun Myung’s death, her son, Kim Chun Chu was brought to the palace.  Prince Chun Chu (Yoo Seung Ho) distraught by his mother’s death but believing she betrayed him by never fulfilling her promise of being together rebelled against Princess Deokman.  He pretended to be a weakling and dim-witted whilst planning to avenge himself and his mother against everyone.  He dared to even marry Mishil’s niece and used Mishil to declare him qualified to become the next ruler.  The fight between Princess Deokman and Prince Chun Chu however made Mishil realize that her mistake was only wanting to become the queen when she could have set her goal to become the ruler.  She then decided to abandon all the principles she previously adhered to and declared an all-out war against the monarchy and took the king as prisoner with the goal of becoming the next ruler.

Amidst all this, Bi Dam begun to realize that he is more than ready to do anything and everything for Deokman not only because he believes her goal but because he begun to fall in love with her.  Although Yoo Shin is already married, he is still jealous that Princess Deokman seemed to trust him the most and gives him important tasks while he is given mundane errands.  He confesses his feelings to Princess Deokman but she repeatedly refuses him.  He is torn knowing he loves Deokman but also knowing that he has the potential of doing great evil since he knows he is the abandoned son of Mishil. 

In the end, will Deokman be able to overcome her great adversary Mishil as the prophesy revealed or will Bi Dam cause her downfall?  Will Prince Chun Chu realize who his real adversaries are? What will become of the great Mishil?

Review: If you dare to love someone great, is the love bound to fail? I can’t help but noticed that too many of these historical dramas end with tragic love stories.  The greater the goal, the bigger the pain for the people involved.

The story was indeed interesting enough that when the dvd I bought did not play, I frantically searched the net for the succeeding episodes.  There were some episodes I can’t find but I try my hardest to follow the story with the succeeding ones.

Of all the characters in the story, the one that made the biggest impact on me is the character of Bidam.  I mean the guy is super hot with his hair down, has excellent martial arts skills, smart, funny, brave, loyal but unfortunately slightly wacko at times like when he killed all the people just so they won’t be able to see his book.  It of course must have been the bad blood he got from his mother but he’s so cute when he’s childish.  Unfortunately, it was already set from the beginning that they would not be together. However, I wonder if the writers’ intent from the beginning was a love between the queen and Bidam or did they switch to him to become lead because he was drawing more attention that the male protagonist?

I like the acting of the female lead at times specially when she smiles, she’s really pretty.  But I can’t help feeling that sometimes, she is overdoing it and at the latter part of the show, all she seems to be doing is glaring at people even when the situation does not call for it.  I felt that her acting was very weak sometimes specially when her nanny died and she was supposed to act distraught in private but wasn’t able to deliver the emotions.

What kept me watching? It was because Bi Dam literally lit the screen whenever he is on.  I loved his smile.  Prince Chun Chu also looked so adorable even when he was being naughty and was trying to manipulate Mishil’s faction. 

I give this show 8 out of 10 stars because I love the costumes, I love Bi Dam and Chun Chu and I love how the females were depicted strong and powerful instead of the usual damsels in distress.

Review on Korean Drama: The King and I (2007 to 2008)

Title: The King and I (2007 to 2008)

Genre:  Romance, Period drama

Duration:  63 episodes

Cast:

Oh Man-seok as Kim Chuh-sun/Chun Dong

Ku Hye Sun as Yoon So-hwa

Go Joo-won as King Sungjong

Jeon Gwang-ryul as Jo Chi-gyum

Ahn Jae-mo as Jung Han-soo

Jeon In-Hwa as Queen Insoo

Jung Tae-woo as Prince Yunsan

“You will become a hero or a traitor.  It’s a very thin line...”

Synopsis:  Where should loyalty and sacrifices for the greater good end and loving oneself begin?  How much should we give-up for love and for one’s country?  Plotting and scheming for the betterment of the nation, is it all worth it in the end? 

This drama focuses on the political struggles, sacrifices, loyalty and the pain behind the desire to maintain control of the throne.  It strived to show how one’s love could drive a man to castrate himself and become a eunuch in wanting to be close to the woman he loves.

Chun Dong/Kim Chuh-sun, Oh Man-Seok, was a man who was destined to become a eunuch and achieve the greatest feat in the history of eunuchs.  His foster mother refused to believe his son’s destiny and tried everything possible to make sure he does not become a eunuch.  However, Chun Dong decided to do his own castration when the love of his life, Sohwa (Ku Hye Sun), decided to become a concubine and enter the palace.  In order to stay by her side, he decided to become a eunuch notwithstanding death in becoming one. 

After becoming a eunuch though, he was filled with the zeal of maintaining moral fortitude and eradicating corruption.  He led his fellow eunuchs in making a stand to force the corrupt eunuchs admit their guilt and change their ways.  His childhood friend who is now the king lauded his achievement but sent him on exile after the ministers and royalty pressured him to punish the leader of the eunuch’s reform calling it mutiny. 

The queen eventually dies and King Sunjong decided that he would make the love of his life, Sohwa, his queen specially after she gave birth to his first son.  Amidst heavy objections from almost everyone, he triumphantly makes her a queen.  However, her personality is just too strong, too straight and too frank that she made an enemy against the king’s mother, the concubines and court maids and servants.  The only person who did not go against her was Kim Chuh-sun, more so because he is secretly in love with her than anything else.  Because she has successfully alienated herself from everyone, she became an easy target for a frame-up to depose her and eventually kill her specially after the king had an affair with Ulwoodong which drove her to jealousy.  It was during the king’s affair that she realized that the king’s love has waned and that she could not find the reason to stay in the court anymore except to be with her son. 

Because she stood alone against everyone, she failed to prove her innocence, was deposed and eventually ordered to drink poison to maintain peace and control in the court. 

Many years later, when her son became the king, he was driven to insanity when he realized that his mother was framed and mercilessly killed by the people whose desire was to gain power.  He started a bloodbath in the name of pursuing justice for his dead mother.  He also rebelled against all the court rules and laws and was haunted to maintain his complete control of his court officials and ministers that he became a tyrant while drinking all day and night and sleeping with various women.  He also brought in a slave and declared her to be his concubine. 

Chuh-sun believed that his obligation and duty was to protect the king.  He refused his foster father’s suggestion to change the man on the throne and decided instead to confront the king to make him change his ways knowing full well that it may lead to his death.  It was during this confrontation that he first openly admitted his love for Sohwa and the reason why he became a eunuch.  The king hearing this confession and the reproach against his behaviour in court, in a blind fury, killed Chuh-sun with his own hands. 

The death of Chuh-sun led other eunuchs to make a stand that eventually led them to their deaths as well.  Court officials and minister seeing the slaughter decided to put an end to the tyranny and revolted to put another king on the throne and exiling King Yunsan.

Review:  Watching Oh Man-seok was painful specially when he is using a pained expression.  I understood how some people would like to tear their eye sockets out because I felt the same when I see him in this show.  I could not understand why in the duration of the drama, instead of becoming better in his role, he actually turned bad to worst.  Although he is the main protagonist in the drama, I could not sympathize with the character because I never felt the sincerity of his character.  His character was pitiful at all times because his acting sucked big time.  I could not understand how his character could have been the hero in the story when everything he does is actuality pursuing his unrequited love but shrouding it under the guise of his upright moral principles.  His struggle to provide justice becomes ridiculous at times it even became painful to watch after some time. 

Ku Hye Sun was alright but there were moments when I felt she was overdoing it specially when she became queen and she was standing up against Queen Insoo.  Her stare would just be of defiance but no elegance or depth.  It looked more of a rebellious teenager against her mother who is scolding her that even when I knew she was right, it made it hard for me to sympathize. 

Queen Insoo made me mad a couple of times when she was trying to control the court and even scheming with the ministers to pressure her son to do her bidding.  I could not understand why she had a hard time dealing with Queen Sohwa when she originally planned her son to marry her before he actually became king.  I do not understand how she could have wanted to kill the woman her son supposedly loves and the mother of the prince.

The one thing that competed with my frustration with Oh Man-seok’s mind-numbing acting is King Sungjong.  He promised his unending love for Sohwa and yet maintained 10 concubines and having an affair with a loose, married woman.  He was ready to leave everything behind him just to spend a moment with her.   I actually had the impression that he loved her more deeply than Sohwa because he was going against everything he believed in and against everyone, not withstand the slander to his image as the king.  All this while maintaining that Sohwa is and always will be the love of his life yet throwing her down, knowing that she is heavily pregnant with his child.  I just don’t understand it. 

I also do not believe that Sohwa was just merely protecting and worrying about the king when she went out the first time and met with Ulwoodong.  It was obvious that she was insanely jealous of her and at the same time worried about the impact of their relationship to the monarchy.  But maintaining that she did it out of her desire to solely protect the king is ridiculous.  I also don’t understand why she had to be so antagonistic towards her servants when she could have used more benevolence and understanding.  She was just pure mean.  It made me think that she might actually be guilty of all the cases thrown at her but the story made me think that it was a frame-up.  I think she was really a witch that’s why her son turned out the way he did.  I do not believe that a bad apple could have come from a good orange tree.   If she was as good as they wanted to project of her, her son could not have turned out so badly specially not when he is so bright and intelligent to begin with.  He did not become insane just because he discovered that his mother was innocently killed leaving him with no mother but enjoying the attention of everyone while growing up.

What made me watch this show until the end is actually his foster father, Jeong Gwang Ryul and his loyal bodyguard. Jo Chi-gyum character being complicated in the sense that he is more in the grey area and not just being good or bad.  When he is struggling with himself, it reflected in his eyes and his actions.  His actions always reflected the true meaning of his words although he might say otherwise.  I thought he was very regal and his presence commanded respect and attention although he was a mere eunuch.

I was frustrated with so many aspects of this show specially when they were flinging accusations and punishing people without even proving the guilt.  There were some scenes when they were stretching the human emotion and yet failing to gain the sympathy from the viewer.  I specially hated the part when the king developed a relationship with Ulwoodong proving that he goes for the look more than the character.  It also proved that he actually plays around a lot and not what was initially shown of him sleeping around in defying his mother who refused to marry him to his first love.

I give this show 7 out of 10 stars because my biggest frustration is the main male protagonist who made it painful for me to watch the show.

Review on Korean Movie: King and the Clown (2005)

Title: The King and the Clown or The King’s Man (2005)

Genre: Period Drama

Duration:1 hr and 49 mins

Directed by: Lee Jun-ik

Cast:

Gam Wu-Seong as Jangsaeng

Lee Jun Ki as Gonggil

Jeong Jin-yeong as the King Yeonsan

Kang Seong Yeon as Jang Noksu

Synopsis: Jangsaeng (Gam Wu-Seong) and Gonggil (Lee Jun Ki) are part of an entertainer troupe but are barely able to bring decent food to the table.  Their manager prostitutes the effeminate Gonggil to rich customers but Jangsaeng was so sickened by this that he forcefully takes Gonggil to escape. Unfortunately, Gonngil accidentally kills their manager in defending Jangsaeng and both decides to escape and make the best show in town. They band with three more street performers and decides to do a skit that mocks that king and his favourite concubine, Jan Noksu(Kang Seong Yeon).

The troupe was arrested for treason but Jangsaeng makes a deal with the arresting officer to bring them to the king.  If the king finds their skit to be funny, they should be freed but if not, they agree to the punishment of death.  The troupe barely makes it alive until the last joke of Jangsaeng and Gonggil makes the king laugh. 

It soon became apparent that the King was attracted to Gonggil since he always invites him to his chamber to play skits and puppets which makes his favourite concubine jealous and Jangsaeng frustrated.   

Meanwhile, the King becomes more unstable as every performance they have, someone is killed.  Jangsaeng urges Gonggil to leave the palace but Gonggil appealed that they perform for the last time as the king ordered.  He wanted them to perform how his mother was killed but after the performance, he had the ones responsible killed.  After the performance, Gonggil pleads with the king to let him go but his pleas fell on deaf ears as the king refused to let him go.

Jang Noksu frustrated by the attention the King lavishes on Gonggil attempts to have him killed by distributing flyers which insults the king severely in his handwriting.  Jangsaeng takes the blame for the crime and is imprisoned but is secretly released by Choseon, king’s servant, and is told to forget Gonggil.

Jangsaeng refuses and instead returns to the palace and walks on the tightrope and mocks the king loudly and openly.  King shoots arrows and eventually, Jangsaeng falls and is caught.  As punishment, both his eye were seared with hot iron and was thrown into prison again.  Gonggil attempts suicide while entertaining the king in his chamber.  He was saved by the court physician though.

The king then orders the blind Jangsaeng to walk the tightrope again and Gonggil runs to join him and they had a skit full of deep meanings.  The last of which asking each other how they would like to be in their next life of which both answered nothing but clowns.

Review:  I am surprised by Lee Jun Ki’s performance in the movie and that he actually did a film like this notwithstanding his image.  I am amazed at the courage of Jangsaeng as he bravely faced the king and made jests which would make a normal person cringe with fear.

I would like to believe that Jangsaeng’s relationship with Gonggil is purely that of a master to a disciple or a father to his son but the relationship was never clear and there were times when he was fiercely protective of him.  I could never decide whether he was having pangs of jealousy or was just worried about Gonggil given their past. 

I give this 9 out of 10 stars.

Review on Korean Drama: Jumong (2007)

Title: Jumong aka Book of Three Han (2006 to 2007)

Genre: Period Drama, Action, Romance

Duration:  81 episodes

Cast:

Song Il Gook as Jumong

Han Hye Jin as Soh Suh No

Kim Seung Woo as Prince Daisu

Hu Joon Ho as Gen Hae Mo Su

Oh Yun Soo as Lady Yoo Hwa

Jun Kwang Ryul as King Geumwa

Kyun Mi Ri as Queen Wan Ho

Song Ji Hyo as Ye So Ya(Jumong’s wife)

Kim Byeong-Ki as Yeontabal

Synopsis: Hae Mo Su (Hu Joon Ho), a legendary fighter of freedom, joins forces with Geumwa, the crowned prince of Buyeo, to fight against Han.  Together, they formed the Damul army, a band of soldiers dedicated to defend Gojoseon refugees.

As fate would have it, both men fell in love with the same woman, Lady Yoohwa (Oh Yun Soo) but she fell in love with General Hae Mo Su despite him causing her whole trible to be killed and their huts burned to the ground. 

Prince Geumwa (Jun Kwang Ryul) decides to take her in but his wife got jealous of Lady Yeohwa and sends her to the Damul army camp where the love between Hae Mo Su and Lady Yoohwa flourishes and he promised to marry her as soon as the war is over. 

Unfortunately, he was sent to his death by the Buyeo’s Prime Minister and High Priestess believing he would bring destruction to the kingdom.  Hae Mo Su thought he was rescuing refugees but unbeknownst to him, the soldiers were only posing as refugees and he was caught by the ironclad cavalry of Han, tortured and his eyes taken out to serve as an example to the people.  Prince Geumwa witnessed how he was killed by the soldiers feeling helpless and frustrated.

Learning of the treachery of everyone around him, Prince Geumwa decides to take Lady Yoohwa back to his kingdom as his most favoured concubine and adopts Hae Mo Su’s son making the two other princes jealous of Hae Mo Su’s son Jumong.

Jumong grew up to be a carefree, weak, and cowardly prince who loves to womanize.  He only grew to realize the danger he poses when his two brothers tried to kill him on their way to see the legendary Damul bow.  Fortunately, he was saved by Soh Su No(Han Hye Jin) and lied to the king when he said he did not see the bow when in fact he broke the bow.  Because of the plot to his life, Lady Yoohwa decided that Jumong should learn to defend himself and hires a jail guard to teach him secretly.  During this time, the king declares a competition amongst the three princes on who deserves to become the crowned prince and this earned the ire of the queen and the two princes and they plotted to kill Jumong again.  Their plot fails but Jumong was stripped of his title and sent away from the kingdom.

It was during this time that he learned the values of humility and perseverance.  He begun to take his life seriously and slowly strategized to pursue his goal.  It was also then that he met three thieves, Oi, Mari and Hyobbo who will later on become his loyal companions in his noble quest.  It was also during this time that he encountered Soh Su No again and begins to develop deep feelings for each other.

Through the chief guard, Jumong was able to meet his real father, General Hae Mo Su in jail and he was able to train Jumong in martial arts.  It was apparent that Jumong had the skills and talent of his father that he was able to master the art of archery as well as become an excellent swordsman.

Unfortunately, Jumong only learned that his master was actually his real father but at the time that he learned the truth, his two brothers had already plotted to kill General Hae Mo Su at the prodding of the Prime Minister.

Jumong strives to fulfil his father’s lifelong wish and in his journey, he encountered pain, sacrificed his own happiness, but decides to move on in pursuit of his noble quest.

Review:

I only have three major complaints about this show.  First, the colours of the costumes stood out too much that it distracted me from enjoying the show. Second, Song Ji Hyo’s acting was so dead and dull that I never was able to sympathize with her character to the end.  Third, with all the sacrifices and support Soh Suh No  gave Jumong, it is frustrating that she had to leave him behind after the first family was brought back to the palace.  Being that what they had was their one, great love, it was heart-wrenching that the two lovers parted.  How can Soh Suh No be that noble?  She could have just stayed with him (deep sigh) or Song Ji Hyo could have just died (teehee).

But that being said, I enjoyed the show a lot specially the fight scene, how Jumong improved with his archery and swordsmanship and how Soh Suh No appears so brave and wise in all her undertakings.  She relentlessly supported Jumong never minding her circumstances.  She was forever putting Jumong’s life before hers that she was willing to give up on him and the throne just so they could avoid conflict in the palace...so sad.

I give this 9 out of 10 stars.

Review on Korean Drama: Jewel in the Palace (2003)

Title: Jewel in the Palace

Genre:  Romance, Comedy, Period Drama, Action

Duration:  70 episodes

Cast:

Lee Young Ae as Seo Jang-geum

Ji Jin Hee as Min Jung Ho

Hong Ri Na as Choi Keum Young

Yang Mi Kyung as Lady Han

Im Ho as King Jung Jong

Park Jeong Su as Queen Munjeong

Choi Ja Hye as Chang Ee

Yeo Woo Gye as Lady Jeong

Synopsis:

A palace may be a place of wonderful promises and the show started by showing the power play in the palace and how dirty politics can be.  It showed how the King was manipulated to give the order of poisoning the queen.  Before the queen drank the poison, she swore that everyone involved in her death will be paid in full.  The soldier who gave her the poison was so disturbed by the queen’s death that he fell on a cliff and was rescued by a wise, elderly man who told him that his fate is determined by three women.  One of them, he already met, the second one he would save but she would later die because of him and the third would kill him but she would save many lives.

On the other hand, one of the palace girls (Lady Jeong) reported to the authorities how she saw one of the maids put poison on the food she was making.  Unfortunately, she didn’t realize that she unintentionally got involved in the dirty scheme of politics and as a result, the maid was framed and was secretly forced to drink poison.  Due to circumstances, the girl does not die and was saved by the palace guard who was planning to escape so as not to meet the women that the old man told him.

After rescuing the young girl, the soldier fell in love with her and he accepted his fate. Both of them chose to settle on a faraway place and live inconspicuous lives as ordinary pheasants.  Their union brought Jaeng-gum who is an intelligent, morally upright, courageous, and has an insatiable thirst for knowledge.

Jaeng-gum starts as a palace girl after her father was sentenced to die and her mom was killed by the men pursuing them.  It quickly became apparent that Jaeng-gum has the gift for cooking and can “draw out the flavour” when she cooks.  Because she is excellent, she draws a lot of attention which brings her a lot of trouble, one of which was when she was ordered to go to the royal herb garden which is synonymous to being abandoned.  She decides to deal with her situation with perseverance and was able to achieve growing of a rare Chinese herb. Because of her achievement, she was allowed to go back to the palace just in time to take the qualifying exam for palace girls.  Because of her resourcefulness, the queen overrides the verdict of kicking her out of the palace for not following the rules of the exam (her flour was stolen so she had to resort to other means).

Jaeng-gum’s stay in the palace is a never ending struggle and overcoming seemingly impossible odds.  People who are threatened by her mere existence tried everything possible.  They came up with some tramp-up charge which eventually kills Lady Han and got her to be deported to a remote island where she meets a female doctor who takes her in as a disciple. 

Amidst all the struggles, Jaeng-gum always thinks about the wishes of her mother and this fuels her desire to stay in the palace and excel.  On several occasions, she has gambled even with her life which sparks interest from the royal family until she is recognized to be someone with excellent skills, intelligence, unfathomable courage, perseverance and dignity.

From the royal kitchen to the royal hospital, Jaeng-gum blazes a path that eventually lifts the image of women in a patriarchal society.  It’s a story of lies, webs of deceit, ambition and also of never ending struggle, courage, honor, love and truth.

Review:

It definitely is one of the well-rounded, well-written, and well-thought of show with a great cast and wonderful costume design.  What I hate about some of the periodical dramas is that the costumes can sometimes be too distracting (like in Jumong where every one of the cast has a color assigned to them).  There was a smooth transition from one episode to another and even though the show was very long, it didn’t feel like it was prolonged just for the sake of making it long.  Everything seems to be in the right place and the acting was just great.

I love it that Jaeng-gum gives the never say die attitude and perseveres even at the cost of her life.  She seems to give the air of someone concocting magic when she is cooking and one would feel that the dish would definitely turn out to be something unexpected. 

She has one of the loveliest faces and her character shows a balance of strength, courage, perseverance...virtues a heroine should always possess.  She always goes the extra mile whenever she does anything and gives all her heart and passion into her work.

Jung Ho is probably the kind of man every girl dreams of.  Intelligent, kind, sincere, brave and is always putting Jaeng-gum first in everything he does.  For his love, he could abandon everything.  For his love, he could leave her behind.  I love that he never hesitated to consider how it would affect him but would only be concerned about Jaeng-gum’s safety and happiness.  He knows that Jaeng-gum plays a vital role in history(as being the first female physician of the king) and for her to fulfil her role, he quietly supported her and accepted when the king ordered him to go away. 

This is probably one of the best shows ever done and I would definitely give this a 10 out of 10 stars.  This is definitely a classic.