Hong Gil Dong (or Korean Robin Hood)

[alexandral]

I have watched 5 episodes of this 24-episode Korean drama already and it is really enjoyable. Not earth-shattering or outstanding but very, very well done. It seems that Korean dramas of the last two years gathered in speed and quality and this is just another very good product indeed. Fast, tight, great story, bright colours and very amusing. Oh, and good music. The story of Robin Hood is good everywhere, isn't it?

Few things to mention:

- Please don't kill me – I am not finding Kang Ji Hwan (the actor who plays Hong Gil Dong) attractive yet. I am saying "yet" as may be he will grow on me (and I really like the character) but for now he is somehow a tad too fat or something.

- I definitely don't quite like Heo Lee Nok (or Yi Nok?). And this must be the character as Sung Yu Ri was wonderful in "Winter Queen". I just wish Heo Lee Nok will stop making over-eggagerated facial expressions. And I have grown tired of "a stupid girl with a heart of gold who eats too much and with whom everyone falls in love" cliche . She doesn't bother me but at the same time she doesn't amuse me at all.

- So here (apart of the story which is very interesting to watch) I am all about The Black Prince. I think I will end up with my heart broken!!

- The last part of the usual quadrangle, Seo Eun Hye (played by Kim Ri Na) , seems to be a psycho spoiled girl. The first scene with her (the one with a dead bird) was very seriously creepy.

Just a nice screencap: The Black Prince vs Hong Gil Dong



A screen cap of The Black Prince

Comments

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

stay away from Taiwanese drama 'It Started with a kiss' then :)

Re: eating. I dunno, to me her stuffing her face denotes two things:
1. She has been ood deprived her whole life and
2. She is uncultured (in the sense of manners). Sort of a lower-class badge. Her manner of eating isn't much different from Gil Dong's. Queen Victoria would have been horrified by manners of both. (For comparison, Eun Chan stuffs her face much worse and more untidily in Coffee Prince and it's modern days, where manners are more set in stone for non-higher class and she's had food available in her life).

Re: silly. I don't know, I don't find her stupid or silly at all. She is certainly street-smart. I am trying to think of really silly stuff she does (other than very altruistic stuff like risking her life to save people, which comes later, which could I suppose be viewed as silly but I refuse to for obvious moral reasons). I mean, she has common sense, she doesn't trip over her own feet 18 times a minute. She has various huckster plans which might not be Einstein level but aren't too bad (medicine, cobra thing etc). It's just her manner (once again, lowclass thing, IMO). And emotionally she is quite attuned to GD (see eps 7-8). She acts spontaneous and unfiltered to me, rather than silly but MMV of course.

Re; CG. I suppose she was a good designer and I adore her to bits, but still think she was incredibly naive in the best case scenario and sort of dense/silly as other more likely interpretation. I don't mind a bit because I found her good-hearted and fun and Shin is intelliget enough for too (with CG having the emotional intelligence he lacks), but yeah :)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

For comparison, Eun Chan stuffs her face much worse and more untidily in Coffee Prince and it's modern days, where manners are more set in stone for non-higher class and she's had food available in her life.

It bothered me a bit in "Coffee Prince" too . But I think with every new herouine who does the same I gather more resistance to this type of behaviour. Whne it is once, it is eccentric. When it is 5 times in a row it is rather irksome.

Re: silly. I don't know, I don't find her stupid or silly at all. She is certainly street-smart. I am trying to think of really silly stuff she does (other than very altruistic stuff like risking her life to save people, which comes later, which could I suppose be viewed as silly but I refuse to for obvious moral reasons). I mean, she has common sense, she doesn't trip over her own feet 18 times a minute. She has various huckster plans which might not be Einstein level but aren't too bad (medicine, cobra thing etc). It's just her manner (once again, lowclass thing, IMO). And emotionally she is quite attuned to GD (see eps 7-8). She acts spontaneous and unfiltered to me, rather than silly but MMV of course.

The particular moment when YN became "too much" for me (but it all started with too much face-making) was when she and HGD talked at the cemetery and she was very supportive of him. And then she walked away and tripped and fell flat on her face and HDG was all "Stupid girl". Oh, it is difficult to tell why but this raises my feminist resistance. :D And I am sure that this instance of tripping iwas not the first one, but it is just one "concrete" example. For one thing, it is uncharacteristic to her character as she is supposed to be good in martial arts. Good in martial arts + tripping = how does this compute?

This all to say, she is much more serious in the episode 6 so I am warming up to her. :D

Re; CG. I suppose she was a good designer and I adore her to bits, but still think she was incredibly naive in the best case scenario and sort of dense/silly as other more likely interpretation.

I haven't read manga but in the drama I thought CG was supposed to be a good student. She was silly in a way all girls are – she didn't see how much Shin loves her, for example. But in other ways – not at all! You remember when she, the king and Shin were watching a film and she gave a short but very fitting "meta" and the king was very impressed? Or when she made up that very short poem at their poetry do?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I don't have the world's best coordination either so I don't mind a bit of clutziness (the amount of glasses of liquids I ended up overturning on myself...). I think at that moment it was done to put some humor into a tense scene. But eeehhh, it's all subjective obviously. I don't mean to be argumentative :)

I have seen a trope of a good fighter who is hopless at daily taks in anime before though, and kinda like it, but yeah, once again, it's a thing you usually do or don't. (If you don't like exaggerated faces btw, I rec staying away from any 'light' Taiwanese drama. They do it a lot).

Re: CG. Once again, it's rather subjective but I remember thinking she was a dummy :) Adorable dummy, but still a dummy.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Take me right, I DO like YN (as it stands after episode 6, lol), loyalty and kindness are my forever favorite traits.

I don't know if I formulated this right - I don't actually have anything against the characters as taken individually. You see, when I watch few dramas in a row with "stupid adorable heart of gold" heroines it seems as if this is a trend, and then .. blah blah blah.. They want to say something with it .. blah blah blah.

Sorry!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

That makes total sense though! Whenever I watch too many dramas in a row with weeping heroines, I get so fed up :)

I think in a way that is why I love all the clutzy/tomboyish/whatever heroines. Because even if there is a mini-trend for them, it's still bucking the established ideal and social norm.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

My favourite type is the heroine of "Pride", an old-fashioned girl as she calls herself, a lady but with a great spirit. I had a quick look at "Capital Scandal" and the herouine seems to be that type. I don't find it often in dramas.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yup, the heroine of Capital Scandal is like that. Oldfashioned and ladylike, but very strongwilled.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

YAY! I definitely need to check this when my HGD runs out. :D

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

It is really really awesome. And secondary otp is perfect as well.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I am so much looking forward to this!