Terrific Korean drama collages

Bibimbap has terrific collages of Korean dramas on their flickr site.

I particularly like this one of Munno's death scene from Queen Seon Deok:

Queen Seon Deok, Episode 38 or what does the French revolution have to do with Mishil?

Episode 37 ended with Bidam finding Prince Chun Chu making origami out of the Book of the Three Kingdoms (kinda sounds like something one might find in Harry Pottery). Not realizing Chun Chu is a prince, Bidam rolls him up in a quilt and beats him with his sword. The next scene shows Prince Chun Chu with a bloody nose and unfolding all the origami. When Bidam asks Prince Chun Chu what's he going to do about the order of the pages, Prince Chun Chu replies that the pages are in perfect order. Well, what d'ya know? Prince Chun Chu has photographic memory.

A new plot strain begins with a move by Mishil's faction to corner the grain market. One thing I learned about monarchies in reading up on the French revolution is that the price of the staple food is central to a nation. If the price of wheat, and consequently bread, hadn't risen in France, the French Revolution might not have happened.



In Queen Seon Deok, the nobles are cornering the grain market to gain new land. The way it works is this: the nobles practice usury on the side, with many borrowers among small farmers and shareholders whose lives are more difficult. When the price of staple food items goes up, the smaller farmers and shareholders are forced to spend more money on food, meaning that they will have to borrow more just to eat while being unable to pay their debts. Since the smaller farmers' land is used as collateral, the nobles gain more land. Additionally, since shareholders only have their lives as assets, they are forced to become slaves to nobles if they can't pay back the money.

There's a terrific scene where Deokman confronts Mishil about the nobles cornering the grain market. Mishil tells Deokman "You are a shameless person." Deokman counters, "Yes, there has always been that quality about me." Terrific dialogue.

Deokman, using trade knowledge gained growing up on the Silk Road, counters trade manipulation with more trade manipulation. She floods the market with staples from the royal stock, forcing the price to go down. While some of the nobles are wealthy enough to withstand the prices going down, the nobles with less wealth are afraid to lose everything and rush to sell what they bought at inflated prices at lower prices.

Now, I am reminded of the sad state of economics in the U.S.? Watching that manipulation of the market, I couldn't help but think of the housing bubble and the consequent rush to sell stocks by traders as soon as they realized that their own actions had caused an artificially inflated value of U.S. wealth:



I will end my political asides there.

On a lighter note, although Chun Chu is wove lightly throughout this episode, I would like to mention him as he will most likely grow to be an important character. Yu Shin steps down as Chun Chu's martial arts instructor and hands him over to Bidam. It's perfect! The two are well-matched in cunning and manipulation. Prince Chun Chu pretends he can't remember anything while remembering every single thing; he pretends to be only interested in being a playboy while observing all actions around him. Bidam also is more than he appears: an excellent swordsman who dresses and acts nonchalantly; a son of Mishil who hides his lineage even from Mishil who doesn't what happened to the child she threw away. Both encourage people around them to underestimate them.

Queen Seon Deok, Episode 37 with a couple of surprises

So, going into Episode 37 when Episode 36 had ended with Yu Shin's decision to enter Mishil's family with a marriage to save the Kaya people, I thought that certainly Episode 37 would be woefully filled with scenes of Deokman crying her eyes out and a grand marriage ceremony. Boy, was I wrong! (Yes, there are scenes of Deokman crying with a particularly good scene when Jukbong and Godo give Deokman a wooden carved doll of a Man of the West from China. The doll looks just like Cartan Ahjussi! So, Seowha holds the doll and talks with Deokman, mimicking Cartan Ahjussi's voice.)

As with so many episodes of Queen Seon Deok, the plot moves rapidly with little slowdown for romance or sentimentality. The marriage between Yu Shin and the girl from Mishil's family takes place in less than 5 minutes. Instead, the real action of this episode has to do with Bidam and Munno.



In Episode 36, Bidam overheard Munno talking with a man in a room inside the gambling house; Munno said that he planned to give the books to Yu Shin. As we learned in earlier episodes, the books contain maps and information about the two other kingdoms. Munno wrote the books to help the right person unify all three kingdoms. Now, after hearing Yu Shin say that he will go into Mishil's family to save the Kaya people, Munno has decided that the books should be given to Yu Shin.

Bidam confronts Munno outside a temple where Munno will complete the books. Bidam justifies murdering the bandit community as a child by saying that he had been told by Munno that the books were important, that he believed the books must be protected at all costs and that he only wanted Munno's approval. Munno replies that Bidam is right; that the murders for the sake of getting approval showed Bidam's true heart.

Munno finishes the books and is walking with the books when Bidam again confronts him. The two have a sword fight...when Munno is struck down with poisoned darts! Bidam puts his master on his back and starts running away, leaving the books behind. And here, we have a true formulaic in every Korean drama: no one is allowed to die without the heart-wringing last words. Munno asks Bidam why he carried his master and left the books behind. Then, Munno says he was wrong to not know Bidam better, to not see his real heart. He instructs Bidam to return to Seoralbol, become a Hwarang and help Yu Shin and Princess Deokman unify the kingdoms.

Near the end of the episode, Prince Chun Chu shows up in the most surprising manner. Bidam goes to find the books left behind when Munno died. He confronts the owner of the gambling house who says he will show Bidam where the books are. As the gambling house owner and Bidam get closer to the room with the books, Bidam sees little origami balls on the paper. Prince Chun Chu has been making origami with pages from the book!

I can't wait to see the next episode!

My Too Perfect Sons, Episode 50

My Too Perfect Sons (The Sons of Sol Pharmacy) is slated to end with episode 54. Really, I am having a hard time understanding how the writers will tie up all the loose ends in four more episodes.

Episode 50 leaves us with these storylines:

Miran, on her way to yet another musical audition, has another glowering run-in with Bruce. Most of these confrontations include a couple of fat jokes made at each other's expense, with Bruce feeling intimidated by the formidable Miran. Surely, the beginnings of an auspicious romance.

Songpoong and his mother-in-law go off to a museum without telling Eunji or the father-in-law. There's even a line of dialogue when Songpoong says to the mother-in-law that they are on a date. Hmmm...how will the neglected Eunji take this? Will she feel forced to mature or will she sulk?

Mipoong, playing hooky from college cram school, goes to the army base to talk with Yong Chul who tells him that Soohee likes Mipoong and that he intends to give up on Soohee.

Bokshil is surprised by her father, half-sister, and Daepoong who join her at her mother's graveside for her final goodbye before leaving for America. On their way to the cemetery, Bokshil learns that her half-sister's mother was also ill for a long time, with the father rarely being at home. At the cemetery, Bokshil's father pulls out a photograph of Bokshil's mother when she was 25. When Bokshil asks her father for the photograph, he tells her that he cannot let her ever go back to America, that he plans on spending the rest of his life with her by him. This episode reveals more depth of feeling on Bokshil's father's part, with him even admitting how he is the cause of problems for both Bokshil and her half-sister. On the way back from the graveside to the car, Daepoong takes Bokshil's hand on the pretext that the path is rocky.

Soo Jin, out to prove herself as a perfect daughter-in-law, gets up early in the morning to cook breakfast for the Song family. However, she doesn't even get to enjoy her breakfast as she rushes out the door to check up on her niece and nephew before going to work. Poor Soo Jin...is she just adding on more responsibilities to an already large burden now that she is the Song family's oldest daughter-in-law? There is a great scene where Soo Jin and Jinpoong decide to say goodnight formally to their elders before going off to sleep. Unbeknownst to them, the father is only in his underwear as he's trying to convince the mother that they should make love. When Soo Jin and Jinpoong knock on their door, the father hastily dresses into a white shirt and tie!

One of the things that makes My Too Perfect Sons a fantastically funny drama are the actors playing the mother (Yoon Mi Ra) and father (Baek Il Sub). The mother is brisk, sarcastic, energetic, and prone to a little bit of hitting when the sons are behaving badly. The father is laid back, a lover of Korean dramas, and the opposite of his wife. Whenever things are going badly or his wife is upset, he says "Okhee [elongating his wife's name's last syllable], it will be okay."



In episode 50, a new theme rises where the family begins to insinuate that Soo Jin is going overboard on daughter-in-law perfection because of the mother's harshness!

My Too Perfect Sons often include scenes with food. In this episode, Soo Jin cooks kalbi jim.

My Too Perfect Sons and Rabokki

My Too Perfect Sons (Sons of Sol Pharmacy), Episode 49, came out over the weekend. A brief recap is as follows:

The second son, Daepoong, moves into Bokshil's house at the invitation of her father, the hospital director.
The first son, Jipoong, is now happily married. The one difficult spot is with Soo Jin's niece, Mari, who is struggling to understand that her aunt will no longer live with her.
The third son, Sunpoong, has made up with his wife in the epic war of the sexes in his in-law's houseehold and is now trying to make his father-in-law reconcile with his mother-in-law.
The fourth son, Mipoong, is about to go eat dokkbukki with Soohee, Hana's mother, when his friend and Hana's father, Yong Chul shows up. Watching Jipoong and Soohee interact, Yong Chul realizes that the two are developing a romantic relationship. Yong Chul picks a fight with Soohee.
A sideline that's also developing is increased pressure on Miran, the mother's niece, to marry. The obvious foreshadowing is a relationship between Miran and Soo Jin's brother, Bruce (whom the Song family keep calling Brutus).

I have been waiting with eager anticipation for the Daepoong and Bokshil relationship to be resolved:



However, I felt that the Sungpoong scene stole the show. Sunpoong, when he cannot convince his father-in-law to sleep in the same bed with his mother-in-law, checks up on his mother-in-law who is reading a poetry book. It turns out that the two have a favorite poet in common. So while the father-in-law and Sunpoong's wife, Eunji, fall asleep, Sunpoong reads poetry out loud with his mother-in-law. It's an unexpected and delightfully comic scene.

At the end of episode 49, I was intrigued when Daepoong makes Rabokki. I've never had it before, and it's something that I would love to make. I looked over a couple of recipes and found one that looks like the one Daepoong makes with boiled eggs. This is another recipe, without boiled eggs, but that clarifies most of the ingredients as it is written out along with visuals.

The Origins of The Return of Iljimae

The Return of Iljimae is based on a Korean manhwa (comic book or graphic novel as there is no distinction made between the two in Korea) called Iljimae and created by Ko Woo-Young. This short video is on the occasion of an retrospective of Ko's work in Korea:


Ko Woo Young Comic Artist - For more amazing video clips, click here

I am currently on episode 14 of The Return of Iljimae and while watching the episode, I became increasingly more curious about the original creation of Iljimae. In Manhwa 100: A New Era for Korean Comics, a rights promotional publication by the Korean Culture and Content Agency, Iljimae is described as a folklore character, a Korean Robin Hood. The hold Iljimae has on the Korean imagination is such that there are four drama depictions of Iljimae, two from the 90s and two within the last couple of years. Besides The Return of Iljimae, there was a very popular drama by SBS entitled Iljimae with Lee Jun Ki (The Clown & The King) playing the main character. However, as SBS did not have rights to the manhwa which had already been sold to MBC for The Return of Iljimae, they created a new story.

I haven't seen SBS's Iljimae yet but I loved Lee Jun Ki in The Clown & The King and might watch it for that reason alone after I finish The Return of Iljimae.

Currently Watching, with recommendations

Sons of Sol Pharmacy, My Too Perfect Sons
A hilariously funny family comedy centered on a family with four unmarried sons, with the oldest being 40 (by Korean age) and the youngest being a high schooler who failed his college examinations. Perfectly cast and great fun.

Queen Seon Dok
A historical saga about the first female ruler of the Shilla empire (one of three kingdoms that unified to make the current Korea). Fast paced with good war action and lots of political intrigue. If you want an intense historical drama, this is it.

The Return of Iljimae
Another historical drama. Based on a famous Korean graphic novel, Iljimae is about a young man who has learned martial arts in Korea, China and Japan and uses his skills to steal from the corrupt rich in Korea to give to the poor. Although there's action in each episode, this is radically different from Queen Seon Dok as there is no political intrigue. Additionally, while there is a storyline about Iljimae's life continues throughout the series, this series has more of an episodic feel. Lighter fare that's pleasant.

I Love You, Don't Cry
I tried to keep with this...but I couldn't. Oh, the drama...talk about overboard and forced plotline. A waste of time.

I will elaborate further on all four in future postings.