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Are you watching Hwang Jin-i? Because you should be.
Holy shit, I love this drama so very, very much. More maybe even than Daejanggeum (although I can't say for certain until I've finished watching it. But still, these are words no one would have imagined coming out of my mouth a year or two ago.)
This series sends me into tremors of joy. Spasms of joy. Paroxysms of joy. It is 24 hours of non-stop, pure joyget.
And it's not just because the scenery is pretty (it is). Or that the hanbok are pretty (they are). Or even that the cast is pretty. (It really is.) It's because it, in a word, rocks.
Episode One found me thinking, "Eh, this is all right. The costumes are nice. Cinematography's flashy. Musical score hints at 'a modern retelling of this timeless story, blah blah blah.' But I'll keep watching."
See, this is how they lull you into a false sense of security before ripping your beating heart out of your chest while you stare on in mute horror. 'Cause fifteen minutes into Episode Two, I found myself crying so hard I actually had to stop the dvd. I am not a person who cries easily over things that happen to me in real life--and this is just a tv show.
So, over the next year or so, I kept trying to watch, making it one or two episodes further with each new attempt. It eventually got to the point where I'd be crying because I knew what was coming up. That is how good Hwang Jin-i is. Lest you think it's all melodrama, let me say that once one makes it over that hurdle, you will spend the majority of your time jumping out of your seat and cheering on the characters. Because OMG, they kick ass. (And this shit is coming out of patriarchal, neo-Confucian Korea. Hollywood, take note. You could learn a thing or 200 from this show.)
Sure, it's still a drama. Meaningful Looks are exchanged between characters or between them and the camera. But the cast is amazingly talented. There isn't a single person in the thing who approaches dud-ness. The script is pretty amazing too--believable 90 percent of the time, it leads viewers down the same old DramaLand Cliché road the other ten percent...
...before smacking them and saying, "Like we actually do something that lazy with the plot? Don't be stupid!" and then resuming its previous awesome believability.
And did I mention the characters/actors? Usually I watch for the pretty Asian boys (and there are plenty), but it's the female characters who rule this show. They are in charge. To such a degree that, again, it's difficult to believe that this series was actually produced in Asia.
It isn't just Hwang Jin-i who shines at the expense of second rate, 2-D secondary characters. They all rock. I want to be Baeng-moo Haengsu-eoreoshin. Hyeon-geum is an awesome and fierce mother, and Tam-shim is darling; I'm rooting for her so hard. Her mother is adorable too.
Even the "villains"--the Seoul haengsu and her apprentice--are awesome characters in their own rights; although they are definitely in competition with the Song-do kisaeng they aren't evil, just in opposition. I want them to succeed just as much as I do the "good guys."
I could go on and on (and on; I haven't even talked about Deok-pal or Eom-shim or the rest of the guys), but I will stop here in the hope my inarticulate squeefulness has motivated you to Watch this drama.
これで以上です。
Holy shit, I love this drama so very, very much. More maybe even than Daejanggeum (although I can't say for certain until I've finished watching it. But still, these are words no one would have imagined coming out of my mouth a year or two ago.)
This series sends me into tremors of joy. Spasms of joy. Paroxysms of joy. It is 24 hours of non-stop, pure joyget.
And it's not just because the scenery is pretty (it is). Or that the hanbok are pretty (they are). Or even that the cast is pretty. (It really is.) It's because it, in a word, rocks.
Episode One found me thinking, "Eh, this is all right. The costumes are nice. Cinematography's flashy. Musical score hints at 'a modern retelling of this timeless story, blah blah blah.' But I'll keep watching."
See, this is how they lull you into a false sense of security before ripping your beating heart out of your chest while you stare on in mute horror. 'Cause fifteen minutes into Episode Two, I found myself crying so hard I actually had to stop the dvd. I am not a person who cries easily over things that happen to me in real life--and this is just a tv show.
So, over the next year or so, I kept trying to watch, making it one or two episodes further with each new attempt. It eventually got to the point where I'd be crying because I knew what was coming up. That is how good Hwang Jin-i is. Lest you think it's all melodrama, let me say that once one makes it over that hurdle, you will spend the majority of your time jumping out of your seat and cheering on the characters. Because OMG, they kick ass. (And this shit is coming out of patriarchal, neo-Confucian Korea. Hollywood, take note. You could learn a thing or 200 from this show.)
Sure, it's still a drama. Meaningful Looks are exchanged between characters or between them and the camera. But the cast is amazingly talented. There isn't a single person in the thing who approaches dud-ness. The script is pretty amazing too--believable 90 percent of the time, it leads viewers down the same old DramaLand Cliché road the other ten percent...
...before smacking them and saying, "Like we actually do something that lazy with the plot? Don't be stupid!" and then resuming its previous awesome believability.
And did I mention the characters/actors? Usually I watch for the pretty Asian boys (and there are plenty), but it's the female characters who rule this show. They are in charge. To such a degree that, again, it's difficult to believe that this series was actually produced in Asia.
It isn't just Hwang Jin-i who shines at the expense of second rate, 2-D secondary characters. They all rock. I want to be Baeng-moo Haengsu-eoreoshin. Hyeon-geum is an awesome and fierce mother, and Tam-shim is darling; I'm rooting for her so hard. Her mother is adorable too.
Even the "villains"--the Seoul haengsu and her apprentice--are awesome characters in their own rights; although they are definitely in competition with the Song-do kisaeng they aren't evil, just in opposition. I want them to succeed just as much as I do the "good guys."
I could go on and on (and on; I haven't even talked about Deok-pal or Eom-shim or the rest of the guys), but I will stop here in the hope my inarticulate squeefulness has motivated you to Watch this drama.
これで以上です。
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From:
Oh yeah, synopsis.
HJI-the-Drama is pretty subtly critical of the whole situation instead of making the usual "their love is so tragic" riffs. And it has female characters Of STEEL. I still have about nine hours of watching to do, but it's been pretty consistently awesome thus far.