Hong Gil Dong is AWEsome
Just… watch it.
This drama is based on the fictional, The Story of Hong Gil Dong written in the 16th or 17th century by Heo Gyun. It’s about a Robin Hood-like character that robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. In the series though Hong Gil Dong kind of falls into his infamy rather than directly choosing that path. Gil Dong, played by Kang Ji Hwan, the bastard child of a minister is a guy that just wants to go off to China, but his fate has something more in store. He meets Heo Yi Nok (Sung Yuri), a depressingly stupid girl with a good heart, Chang Hui (Jang Geun Suk) a dark figure with an interesting past but an even more interesting mission and a group of interesting bandits.
…The Series…
The Good:
THE ACTING
1. Kang Ji Hwan. I love this guy. His acting is great and he’s adorably hot. What more could one ask for?
2. Sung Yuri’s acting isn’t amazing and in fact it’s contrived sometimes but she makes the character she portrays bearable. Also, as an actress she retrieves herself from the mess she was before.
3. The supporting cast is amazing. First the bandits: Cha Hyun Jung plays Mal Nyeo the feisty female, Park Sang Wook plays Su Keon the wanna-be ladykiller and the adorable Maeng Se Chang plays as the adorable Gomi.
4. Jang Geun Suk, I find the coldness and steeliness of his countenance interesting and appealing. For me it makes his character more believable, it just make so much sense that he would be like that.
THE HONG SISTERS
The characters that they created are so complex and great. Even the bad guys you understand, you see the dark sides of the good characters. I’m on episode 18 of 24 of the series and I still don’t know where the heart of some of the leads are. It’s great to be able to keep guessing and not have to resign to predictability. And the series is just well written. I’m still interested! And I’m so picky about dramas. (I literally only watched the first and last episode of My Girl because I didn’t want to waste 16 hours of my life, but since learning that it was also written by the Hong sisters, I might go back and give it a chance.)
The not so good:
1. Meong Cheong Yi AKA Yi Nok’s persistent stupidity. I understand it’s her character but seriously, she’s dumb to the point of handicap sometimes. She has a good and loyal heart though but I’m sick of the dumb-yet-good-hearted-female character in dramas.
2. This is just a general thing I hate about dramas but I wish that people would stop talking to themselves and stating the obvious. I understand that some viewers are slow but seriously, they’re not as slow as Yi Nok.
In the end watch this drama because it’s quickly becoming one of the best dramas I’ve seen. It’s nowhere near perfect (I find dramas in general can lose some of the, well, drama) but it’s exciting, the acting is good, the characters aren’t simple and even though we know from the beginning who is going to end up with who, there is so much that we don’t know that makes watching this drama worth while.
March 18, 2008 at 11:55 am
I have been faithfully downloading this drama so I can watch it all in one go some time. I can’t wait! Maybe I will start it in two weeks, when it finishes.
OMG, no joke, My Girl is one of the “bearable” Kdramas. It has a lot of cliches, but it is really cute. I have seen quite a few dramas, and it is still one of my favorites. I don’t think the end will have the same meaning unless you see all the stuff in between, so if you rewatch it, the end might even feel new again!
But never watch Full House, unless you already have. In my opinion… you could watch the first and last episodes of it and you really wouldn’t be missing much. But I guess it’s one of those shows you either love or hate, so I must just fall on the hate side lol.
March 18, 2008 at 11:57 am
I’ve been marathoning this and will be posting my thoughts on it soon but I think we’re gonna have huge disagreements on Yi Nok’s character. She’s irritating sometimes, but for the most part, I LOVE her character and I’m usually not one with patience for stupid-yet-good-hearted female characters so this will be interesting
March 18, 2008 at 8:04 pm
hey…a drama write up! you should do this more often…i like hearing other people’s thoughts on dramas (good AND bad)…
and i sorta like your way of approaching dramas….watch the first and the last episodes only! i seriously think this approach works for 90% of the dramas out there….then you can probably go back and judge if you want to watch the in betweens.
i also realize that the more i watch dramas, the more i’m getting into the habit of skipping parts. i used to religiously watch everything because i feel like i owe the drama at least that much but now…………boring part? skip. bad acting? skip. oh-my-god-my-eyes/ears-are-bleeding parts? skiiiiip. i pretty much watched my last 16 episode drama in like a third of the time. haha
March 18, 2008 at 10:23 pm
I also love Yi Nok but when she’s not being a mentally handicapped person. I like her when she’s bad ass and when she gets all cutesy in front of Gil Dong. But sometimes her stupidity drives me CRAZY.
It will be interesting to see how differently we feel about the drama haha
Oh, and Akon, I so know what you mean about skipping parts. I did that with “Queen of the Game” but I actually skipped like 4 epidsodes lol
And Kristen, unfortunately I did watch “Full House” I was loving it at first but GOD it took forever to get the end (and it wasn’t even that great.)
March 18, 2008 at 11:19 pm
I’m all caught up now (even moreso than you actually, haha–I’m a huge loser) and I replied back at popfestfast to your comment, so I’ll save myself the trouble of rewriting
March 19, 2008 at 3:18 am
lol skipping 4 episodes at once? i didn’t watch that drama but it must have REALLY tanked big time….and i agree with full house. i’m a sucker for the romantic comedy stuff but sometimes full house was a bit over the top for me…plus the ending was kinda lame like you said….left me….i don’t know…unfulfilled.
March 19, 2008 at 10:39 pm
[...] BELOW!!!! If you don’t want spoilers refer to my other Gil Dong lovin’ post. (It’s 2 below this one [...]
June 11, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Sung Yuri ROCKS!!!
October 2, 2008 at 8:50 pm
omg…!!!!!!
i luved ittt!!!!!!!!!!
i wish that other series would be like this!!!
luved it to the end….period! ;P
October 4, 2008 at 9:06 am
this drama is good, but that girl is kinda…stupid…
October 4, 2008 at 9:09 am
i like the part where they steal the sword from the castle… Yi Nok looked like a princess =)