Kdrama - Iljimae (2008)

Synopsis - DAddicts
Photos - DAddicts & Sevenses

Set during the Joseon Dynasty, Yong acted as a hooligan in the marketplace by day but at night he was a thief who robbed corrupted government officials to give to the poor. After each robbery he left behind a painting depicting a plum tree branch to make his mark and was thus named Iljimae. His main purpose was not so much to rob but to search for the owner of a specially designed sword which he saw as a child was used to kill his father, a loyal subject of the emperor. Eun Chae is a government official's daughter who despite her upbringing has a lot of empathy towards the poor. She met Iljimae by chance and couldn't help admiring him for what he stood for even though she had never seen his face.

Since I am a Lee Jun Ki fan, I've been waiting for this drama to be released. Besides that reason, the synopsis is very interesting. The trailers to the drama had martial arts. This looks like a case of a Korean Robin Hood on the lose!

Lee Jun Ki is one of the Korean actors who I will watch almost anything in. Honestly, when I first saw him in My Girl, I was not impress with his looks. With his femine looks, I was turned off. However, his character and acting made up for that. Then when I saw him in Time Between Dog and Wolf, I was so in love with him. He's just toooooo adorable!!! Just like in Time Between Dog and Wolf, he was just as charming. I was very excited to see Lee Jun Ki as Iljimae. Lee Jun Ki's character goes through different name changes throughout the drama. Not only is he the masked Iljimae, he grew up with the name, Kyum , and later is known as Yong.

I've never seen anything with Park Shi Ho so I was curious to see him. I find him good looking and having a nice body. His character is very intense, which makes me fall for him. He goes through so much and gets confused with who he is. Ironically, his character's name is Shi Ho, just like his real name. Growing up as a beggar then realizing he has noble bloodline, never once did he have it easy.

Han Hyo Joo plays the beautiful Eun Chan. With such a kind heart, who wouldn't fall in love with her? Even though she is born into a rich noble family, she never lets that overshadow who she is. Since childhood, she has loved Kyum and believes he is dead. Her half "brother" Shi Hoo secretly is in love with her. She does show sympathy towards him since he was raised as a beggar. Fasinated by Iljimae, she starts to fall for him.

Lee Young Ah plays Bong Soon. As a child, she has been traumatize with everyone in her family being killed. By chance, she meets Hyum twice when they were younger. However, they got separated. When meeting each other again 13 years later, Hyum is now Yong. Yong and Bong Soon have a love/hate relationship. The cute, sassy, loud-mouth Bong Soon is witty and manipulative. Later she learns who Yong is and falls for him.

Watching the first episode and 15 minutes into it, I saw Iljimae and then him unmasking himself and Lee Jun Ki! Yah, I was so excited. Then there are flashbacks of his character as a child. So now I will get to see how he became Iljimae.

Towards the end of the second episode, you get to see Lee Jun Ki again. I waited and waited and waited....when is he going to be Iljimae? When is it going to happen?

Disappointing....I have no problem with the script introducing his life before he decided to be Iljimae. My problem is how long it took to show him as Iljimae.


Come on, this drama has 20 episodes!! You wait until halfway to finally show this? There were so many lose and unnecessary pot holes in the story. To make it worse, the dvds I have had awful, very awful English subs! My kids and I were watching them and they were so confuse with what was going on!!!

Honestly, I am tired of the "sibling" love. Creepy to me. Half siblings having feelings for each other. Even if they're not related, they've grown up in the same household and/or same parents and having those feelings. I think I'm going to pass on Kdramas for now. Still love Kmovies though. In conclusion, yes, Iljimae is very disappointing. Sad cause it looked promising but didn't follow through.