One of the best KDramas in 2008 and the one that got me hooked on Kang Ji Hwan. I love the goofiness of the first few episodes but the funnies were steadily tapering down to zero towards the last episodes. Honestly, I seriously enjoyed the show till episode 18 and then just continued watching for Ji Hwan. Ji Hwan oppa!! Fighting!!
[Note: Below is a simple summary I did of the drama so SPOILER alert!! Plus, I didn't really impress upon the love triangle (or square) and mainly focused on GilNok]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Left:Gildong with Yinok
Right:Chang Hui
Kwaedo Hong Gildong is about the life of Hong Gildong, the illegitimate son of Minister Hong, the Internal Affairs Minister of Joseon. In earlier episodes, Gildong is shown as a good-for-nothing man with his one goal in life: to have fun. As he is an illegitimate son, he cannot study to become an official to help his country. His father also disallows him to learn anything and asks him to just do nothing and lay low. Fortunately, a monk saw in him the makings of a hero and took Gildong under his wing. Through a series of events, Gildong was framed by his own brother and was abandoned by his father leading to his "death" when he was shot with an arrow by soldiers at the tip of a cliff. In reality, Gildong was saved by a group of thieves he had previously befriended and continued to live in hiding.
With Gildong's guidance, the group robbed the corrupt officials and gives most of their loot to the suffering people of Joseon. The king of Joseon, Kwang Hui was preoccupied with fighting his own demons which was the result of him having killed of his brother, Chang Hui in order to attain the throne. Haunted by the ghosts of Chang Hui he spends his days and nights in the arms of gisaengs (Korean form of geishas, I think). Similar to Gildong, Chang Hui was actually not dead. He was saved by one of his mother's attendants and was whisked away to China. It so happened that Chang Hui was just returning to the land of Joseon where our hero's story is just starting.
And to complete the love triangle, we have the adorable, bumbling Yinok. A carefree girl with no regards to social decorum. She dresses like a man and eats like there's no tomorrow. Before Gildong's "death" him and Yinok has developed a special relationship, even being "engaged" at one point in the drama. Their relationship matters to Gildong as Yinok is the only one who believes in him and his innocence when he was framed. Yinok is actually the daughter of Minister Heo who is killed by none other than (drum roll please...) Minister Hong, Gildong's father. Yinok is also kind of Chang Hui's engaged since that union was already being discussed by both families when they were little.
Gildong let Yinok think that he was dead because it would be easier for her not to be tangled up in the "Robin Hood"esque thing that he is involved in. But when he saw how deeply Yinok was affected by his "death" he just couldn't break her heart anymore. While at first Yinok was happy to learn that Gildong is alive, she (not very quickly) learnt that he is involved in theft and is currently living in a very dangerous world. One where he could be caught and killed at any moment. However, Yinok's only desire is to be with Gildong, no matter how dangerous. She is quickly accepted as one of the gang when she helped them retrieve the Sa Yin sword, the sword that proves the legitimacy of Chang Hui as the next king.
With the Sa Yin sword and Gildong's help, Chang Hui managed to overtake the throne from his brother. At this time, Yinok's true identity was revealed, whereby she is now the fiancee of the king. Being a noble lady separated Yinok from Gildong moreover upon learning that Gildong's father killed her parents. Gildong focused on changing the nation's king to forget the pain of the separation. Gildong's true intentions of helping Chang Hui is so that Chang Hui would create a better place than the one that they are living in now. Where there would be no difference in ranks, no nobles and slaves and everybody lives in harmony with equal opportunities. But that is not to be since Chang Hui kept almost all of the corrupt ministers in the government. The sudden change of Chang Hui's heart is brought on by the discovery that the Sa Yin sword is actually a fake planted by his mother to ensure Chang Hui's ascension to the throne.
In the end, Gildong and Chang Hui went to war with each other. Upon hearing the news, Yinok quickly went to tha mountain hideout to be with Gildong (her ultimate desire remember?). They got married and shared a few quite moments together before the royal soldiers came down on them.
The hideout was showered with flaming arrows suggesting that the whole gang died (which initially I refuse to believe). The story ended with a Gildong lookalike standing on top a buliding in today's time kind of portraying that there will always be a Gildong who will stand up for the weak and oppressed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The end. There were a lot of scenes I didn't mention for lack of patience and memory. For a more detailed synopsis feel free to check out Dramabeans'.
No comments:
Post a Comment