First Impressions - Joseon Gunman

Look at that poster. It's beautiful. If that alone doesn't make you want to watch this, that fact that it stars Lee Min Ki should. I'm also a bit of a sucker for fusion saguks, especially ones that look like they will be extremely visually pleasing, which most of them are. I'm also excited for when Lee Joon Ki ditches his sword and his high born clothes for the outfit above. He is pretty awesome with a sword though.......and a fan, but that's in the past. 

Iljimae

 

.......I don't even know where to begin.......

I liken this drama to something that happened to me when I was was in elementary school until about the time I graduated from high school. I had this friend and we had been friends for a long time. We saw each other a lot, we went to church and school together and got into general childhood and adolescent mischief, it was wonderful. Then one day, without warning she turned on me and made it her goal in life to make my life miserable. To this day I still don't know the reason, but it makes me sad because we did have a wonderful friendship for a number of years. 

I went into this drama excited because it had Lee Joon Ki and the child actors Yeo Jin Goo and Kim Yoo Jung. All are wonderful and I love watching them work. As I continued to watch though, everything began to fall apart. I stuck it through though because I wanted to believe that it would get better and we could separate on amiable terms, but it was not to be. When the curtain closed on this drama, my jaw was on the floor and I was resiting the very strong urge to flip the computer desk and then light the computer on fire.

Yes, it was that bad.

I knew going into it that there were going to be problems. There were reviews all over the internet and I like to know what I am getting into before I invest myself in something. That way I watch things that I like. I went into this drama fully aware that I would  probably be disappointed, but I did not fully realize the extent of that disappointment until the end. 

Let's start off with the first thing that was weird. The drama begins with Iljimae being awesome and ninja-ing his way across a rooftop. When he gets to his destination he pulls out......wait for it.....wait for it.....an invisibility cloak. That's right ladies and gentleman, Iljimae has an invisibility cloak. He also has super legit stage makeup, prosthetics, and plastic explosives. Um.....we are in Joseon right? This isn't like a Korean The Village only they have future things in the old time period? 

I'm Iljimae and the laws of the universe do not apply to me

After that....interesting....introduction, we learn Iljimae's back story and the events that created the man we had just seen. Even though the beginning was incredibly sad, it made me really happy because I got to see these two cuties: 

They're going to get married someday, it's going to happen okay?

The first time I saw them was in The Moon that Embraces the Sun so how could I say no when I saw that this was the first thing that they did together? Yeo Jin Goo did not disappoint me with his child acting skills. I may or may not have shed a few tears when he had to deny everything and run for his life. Kim Yoo Jung, while she didn't do a lot in the drama, the parts she was in were adorable and just furthered my belief that these two are meant for each other.

Nine and eleven year old love

This drama did have its good points: the cast, the scenery, the relationship between characters, and, of course, Lee Joon Ki being a freaking ninja. But that all blew away with the bad story line and the insanity of the last episode. Seriously? How could they do that not only to the characters, but to us as an audience? I had this grand ending planned for the drama because 1) I thought that all the characters deserved nice things because of everything that they had gone through and 2) a good ending would have at least made watching this show worth it.

That ending though.....I'm still confused about it, mainly that random kid the mothers were taking care of. If anyone who reads this post and has seen Iljimae, can you tell me who he is? Seriously! Is he some reincarnated soul, is he even related to Iljimae? Who the heck is he? And the thought of actually watching the last 15 minutes of that drama again to try to figure it out, makes me want to cry.

The writers did do one thing right though. Ilijmae's calling card was a painting of a plum branch that he would leave at the scene of every crime. All through the drama I was hoping against all hope that the writers would allow me the one happiness of Iljimae pulling off a giant heist and unfurling a gigantic version of his symbol.

Thank you

So as to whether or not you should watch it? It pains me to say it, but don't do it. I'm glad I watched it in a strange way, but I would never want to watch it again. Not even clips of it on Youtube. I don't want to have to relive all that nonsense again.

~Alora

Arang and the Magistrate

This drama was absolutely wonderful. The score was great, the acting was spot on, and the story line was both funny and intense. What more could a person ask for? No much, if I may answer my own question.

This was the first drama that I watched with Lee Joon Ki and Shin Min Ah and they both killed it! I feel like I should have watched Gumiho before Arang though because all the timed commenters on Viki kept making Gumiho jokes and I felt super out of the loop. 

Oh, Lee Joon Ki, how beautiful you are as the Sato. This guy can kick some major but too, and it is really him doing it; that just makes me love him so much more. Anyways, he is our main character Eun Oh and he can see ghosts. He doesn't like seeing ghosts though because they think that he can help them pass on to the next world. It is fun to see him grow throughout the drama as this cold guy who wants nothing to do with the ghosts that are around him, but he ends up helping a lot, in very odd ways, by the end.

Also to make him cooler, if that is even possible, they gave him a MURDER FAN! Yes a murder fan and it is super amazing and lethal.

Our female lead is played by the lovely Shin Min Ah and she was wonderful as Arang. I liked (and also hated) how fearless she was. Much of the time, especially at the end, I just wanted to slap her silly for taking unneeded risks because the refused to talk anything over with anybody. That's what always happens in dramas though right? "I love you, so I will let you go because you will get hurt if you stay with me" blah blah blah. Don't give me that crap, just kiss each others' faces and get on with your lives, geez. 

That being said, something that I both love and hate about fusion sageuks is that it takes so long for the main characters to confess their love for each other. I like it because we can focus more on the story line and less on their love issues, but at the same time you are so frustrated with the characters and the sexual tension is almost tangible, it is unbearable!

 Anyways, back to that last part about ghosts.......

There are the guys in charge of us, that worries me. The Jade Emperor is played by Yoo Seung Ho who we all know is freaking amazing. I have previously gushed about him in the I Miss You post about how wonderful he is and he didn't disappoint here. I loved that his character was this kind of sassy playboy old man in a young man's body. His wig was also pretty cool, but only when it was down because sometimes he was rocking an ahjumma bun which was very questionable styling.

Also from the other world is our main bady who is truly bad. The woman who played her was creepy too. Not to be mean, but you could kind of tell that she had had a lot of work done and that definitely played into the fact that she was creepy as heck. I think that is all that I am going to say about her because anything more about her character and you will know everything about everything that will give away the horrible yet awesome reveal when you find out who she is and how she is connected to everybody. All of her connections are quiet tragic too, so even if you do hate her character, and trust me you will, there is a tiny baby amount of pity as you learn more about why she chose this path.

Like every good murdering demon bent on world domination and personal gain, our bady has a henchman. He is a little different that most though because you feel bad for him. At the beginning of the drama he is just the hands of the villain, but at the end, even though he still acts as those hands, your heart just absolutely breaks for him and what his life has become. Just thinking about it actually makes me tear up a little because 1) I am a giant baby and 2) it was actually quiet horrible and heart wrenching to the extreme. He just seems like this unfeeling psycho crazy, but is it all his fault? Joo-wol is one of those characters that puts you in one of those moral emotional dilemmas.    

I think that Joo-wol is a wonderful example of the tragic villain. He has done so many bad things and he does think of himself as a bad person and without any hope of salvation. He didn't start out bad though, he was brought into it; that doesn't mean that he shouldn't pay for what he did (and he does), but watching him come to the realization of everything is terrible and the actor does a wonderful job of portraying this turmoil that is going on within him.

On a more happy and non-murdering note, this drama has given me one of my new favorite OTPs. The male is Dol-swe, Eun-oh's man servant and Bang-wool a shaman who can't see ghosts, or much else for that matter. The two of them are so ridiculous, yet adorable, with a side of the grotesque, it is kind of wonderful.

Something that this drama does well is the way that it wraps everything up, and I mean everything. It is a total emotional roller coaster too, I am surprised that every person who has every watched this drama didn't just explode by the end. I feel that in a lot of dramas, only the main characters get an ending and that is something that really bothered me about Sungkyunkwan Scandal, the ending was rushed and half the characters just disappeared and you never found out what happened to them.

The first couple of endings do tug at your heartstrings and how I wish that I could just tell them to you, but that would be wrong. Just know though, that they are well done and both funny and sad because the Jade Emperor has a twisted sense of humor. The last last ending though was pure gold and.....I'll stop right there before I say something that I regret. Just know though, that it is wonderful. WONDERFUL!

So........should you watch it? Um, yes, is that even a question? The drama keeps you at the edge of your seat, and even though they don't reinvent the wheel or anything, they give it their own spin (unintended pun) and it is fantastic.
 
What else am I watching?

Full House -These people are making me so mad! How can two people be so dumb! They may be worse than Joon Pyo and Jan Di, no lie.

Cruel Palace: War of the Flowers - Everybody is slowly coming down with the crazies

Dating Agency: Cyrano - This drama is amazing!

Nail Salon Paris - This week's episode actually interested me because of the romance, but I am pretty sure that they are going to pull a Dream High in the romance department; if that happens, I will have to kill someone.

~ Alora