kdrama: Dae Jang Geum eps 19-27
Feb. 21st, 2010 01:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meganbmooreThis is the kdrama that I was watching when I completely got distracted from dramas for a year. (I finished the first DVD set, then got distracted while waiting for the second.) Though I’ve reached the point where the drama doesn’t think it needs to explain the ranking and position of characters who have been around since the episodes were in the single digits, I didn’t have much trouble remembering the various positions, rankings, (Yay for color coded clothing! And hats!) schemings, and relationships.
The series basically takes the Epic (Male) Hero (Revenge) Quest template and converts it to a politically driven series about women and cooking, though the main character is supposed to eventually become Korea’s first female royal doctor. (I’m at the halfway mark, and there’s no sign of that coming anytime soon.) It’s a bit slowly paced (though it looks like that may be changing soon) but I watched 9 hour-long episodes in 2 days, so it obviously isn’t too big a problem for me.
Jang Geum herself is still a little too perfect for me-even her flaws are just there to show how amazing she is, and it seems that good things only happen as a direct result of her actions, even if the action is supposed to be a mistake-but I still like her. However, with the exception of Keum-Young, I find that I prefer the “older” court ladies in motherly and mentor positions to the younger one. And the queen, who finally got to do a bit here, and is awesome. I’m also surprisingly fond of Inspector Min, given that he really is mostly there to be The Boyfriend. I think it’s because while nice an honorable and noble and etc. male leads in historical kdramas aren’t uncommon in my experience (period kdrama men > modern kdrama men, and with more fun issues*) he’s the first one I’ve encountered who’s all well-adjusted and doesn’t come with tons of baggage. (It’s ok, Jang Geum has enough for both of them)
Spoilers:
I was extremely annoyed that both of Lady Han’s victories in the Shounen Cooking Battle For Head Kitchen Lady weren’t her victories, but were essentially “look, Jang Geum did this and is so awesome so we should reward Lady Han for raising her.” Thankfully, the show made up for it somewhat with the rematch, but still! That was Lady Han’skill fight! Also, it looks like they’re killing her soon. This makes me sad. They just killed Lady Jung! Don’t they know that Tragic Deaths of Mentors should be well spaced to spare the viewers hearts achieve maximum effect?
We finally have Jang Geum and Lady Han knowing about Jang Geum’s mother, but I’m amused that it came out almost simultaneously with Jang Geum learning Inspector Min was the man she saved way back when, which (Jang Geum and Min not knowing) is a subplot that was stretched out a bit more than was credible for me.
Jang Geum’s father may still be alive. I love with my pet theories are fed. Also, still amused that he’s played by the king from Goong.
Alas, previews indicate way less cooking in the future! Granted, my modern, sanitation quasi-obsessed mind was occasionally concerned about some of the techniques, but those were some of the best parts! OTOH, it looks like coming episodes will be faster paced, and include fighting. And I do love my historical fight scenes. *ponders*
Finally, the actress playing Lady Choi may be the most fabulous thing ever. (I do love my historical kdrama villainesses.) It’s amazing how she can suck me in no matter what stance she’s taking, or what she’s doing.
*Historical kdrama man: “I angst and push you away and am cold because we are of different classes and it is illegal for at least one of us to wed and we could get executed, and by the way, there are a dozen assassins after me and your brother and his army hate me.” Modern kdrama man: “I angst and push you away and am cold because my parents were too busy running a corporate empire for movie night and so I suffered my childhood in privileged luxury and now suffer the agony of people expecting me to be responsible, and I’m having trouble deciding between you and mooning over the woman who dumped me ages ago and just came back.”
The series basically takes the Epic (Male) Hero (Revenge) Quest template and converts it to a politically driven series about women and cooking, though the main character is supposed to eventually become Korea’s first female royal doctor. (I’m at the halfway mark, and there’s no sign of that coming anytime soon.) It’s a bit slowly paced (though it looks like that may be changing soon) but I watched 9 hour-long episodes in 2 days, so it obviously isn’t too big a problem for me.
Jang Geum herself is still a little too perfect for me-even her flaws are just there to show how amazing she is, and it seems that good things only happen as a direct result of her actions, even if the action is supposed to be a mistake-but I still like her. However, with the exception of Keum-Young, I find that I prefer the “older” court ladies in motherly and mentor positions to the younger one. And the queen, who finally got to do a bit here, and is awesome. I’m also surprisingly fond of Inspector Min, given that he really is mostly there to be The Boyfriend. I think it’s because while nice an honorable and noble and etc. male leads in historical kdramas aren’t uncommon in my experience (period kdrama men > modern kdrama men, and with more fun issues*) he’s the first one I’ve encountered who’s all well-adjusted and doesn’t come with tons of baggage. (It’s ok, Jang Geum has enough for both of them)
Spoilers:
I was extremely annoyed that both of Lady Han’s victories in the Shounen Cooking Battle For Head Kitchen Lady weren’t her victories, but were essentially “look, Jang Geum did this and is so awesome so we should reward Lady Han for raising her.” Thankfully, the show made up for it somewhat with the rematch, but still! That was Lady Han’s
We finally have Jang Geum and Lady Han knowing about Jang Geum’s mother, but I’m amused that it came out almost simultaneously with Jang Geum learning Inspector Min was the man she saved way back when, which (Jang Geum and Min not knowing) is a subplot that was stretched out a bit more than was credible for me.
Jang Geum’s father may still be alive. I love with my pet theories are fed. Also, still amused that he’s played by the king from Goong.
Alas, previews indicate way less cooking in the future! Granted, my modern, sanitation quasi-obsessed mind was occasionally concerned about some of the techniques, but those were some of the best parts! OTOH, it looks like coming episodes will be faster paced, and include fighting. And I do love my historical fight scenes. *ponders*
Finally, the actress playing Lady Choi may be the most fabulous thing ever. (I do love my historical kdrama villainesses.) It’s amazing how she can suck me in no matter what stance she’s taking, or what she’s doing.
*Historical kdrama man: “I angst and push you away and am cold because we are of different classes and it is illegal for at least one of us to wed and we could get executed, and by the way, there are a dozen assassins after me and your brother and his army hate me.” Modern kdrama man: “I angst and push you away and am cold because my parents were too busy running a corporate empire for movie night and so I suffered my childhood in privileged luxury and now suffer the agony of people expecting me to be responsible, and I’m having trouble deciding between you and mooning over the woman who dumped me ages ago and just came back.”