Ore mana! J Happy New Year! This is first post in 2012, it is rather long, so bear with me. I started blogging again last year, so much fun, though I could not write as much as I wish L And I felt like I didn't watch many dramas last year like I used to. Swear I did my homework like a diligent student, I watch drama every single day, 7 days a week. But I feel I keep lacking behind, perhaps it is right there’s no such a thing called too many dramas for K drama addict. Sometime in days, I fell into K drama spell, I could only spare my free time for watching not writing about K drama (That is what a K drama fan all about, don’t you think? Because you like to watch K drama more than to read or to write about it, right?). I rather went back to the past last year, too many rom com dramas for makjang girl. Sigh. I went to the good ol’ days, the time where melodrama was in bloom. So, any way wish for more good dramas coming this year! J
Drama title: Jejoongwon
Genre: Medical Sageuk
Episode: 36
Broadcast station: SBS
Broadcast period: January 4, 2010 – May 4, 2010
Airtime: Monday - Tuesday
Director: Hong Chang-wook (The Scale of Providence)
Screenwriter: Lee Ki-won (White Tower)
Main cast:
Park Yong-woo (Term of Endearment) as Hwang Jung
Yeon Jung-hoon (East of Eden) as Baek Do-yang
Han Hye-jin (Thorn Birds) as Yoo Seok-ran
Even among my K drama addict friends, Jejoongwon is not popular enough, not many of them have watched it. But all of the few who had watched this always gave a good review about it (hah, for once pohonphee you watch a K Drama because its good review! Not the otherwise). So let's take a look at it.
Why should you watch Jejoongwon or not?
And for all reason, what I got ;)
Kim Gab-soo, the best step dad ever (Cinderella's Sister) and the best real dad too here ahay...No more Poor Dad who can only runaway and leave our heroines with debt or Rich Dad who can not keep his pants on.
Kim Sung-oh, him being bad-ass, him being quirk, I take them all.
And I think they should play father and son someday, both of their eyes are gorgeous.
Medical Sageuk what is that?
Okay, I realize some people out there are same like me, allergic to medical themed drama. As much as I love Song Joong-ki I couldn't pass two episodes of Obstetric and Gynecology. But there is Sageuk attached to it. Somehow it becomes the reason I want to try to watch JeJongwoon. Without it I wouldn't have the courage. The first question I asked to my friends who had already watched it is would it be like Dae Jang-geum or Obstetric and Gynecology /White Tower/Brain? They said it is more or less tending to Dae Jang-geum instead of ObsGyn and friends. And I like Sageuk if only for pretty hanbok, fabulous gache, beautiful scene, siren Korean speech and screen painting that I love.
Because I like hanbok, or it is the easiest way, I usually divide sageuk based on the wardrobe (yes I'm shallow, too many political intrigues that pretty much always come along in sageuk turn me off) to:
1. Non Joseon sageuk (The Legend, Queen of Seondeok, Jumong). The hanbok looks like heavily influenced by the main land.
2. Joseon sageuk (Tree with Deep Root, Dong Yi, Painter of The Wind). This is my favorite one, the colors, the style of hanbok is beautiful.
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| For common people, the hanboks usually look like this |
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| And these are the court robes, the colors are awesome |
3. Fushion Sageuk (Hong Gil Dong). Like the writer that takes the liberty in story, not so much based on true fact of the history, so does the hanbok in this kind of drama. The hanbok usually is modifed in the eccentric way, mostly it has anime-esque.
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| Hong Gil Dong is the clear example of fusion sageuk |
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| I'm not sure what category Joseon X-file should be in because the hanbok is a bit modified giving it look comfortably to wear and practical for moving around, yet still beautiful. I love it, and the way they use gat makes gat looks like hat, cool! |
Jejoongwon is shifting from Joseon dynasty, Korean Empire, to Japan colonization. The costume changing follows the era, from traditional one, to the westernize one, till somehow less and less people wearing hanbok in it (so sad ㅠ.ㅠ Seok-ran's hanboks are gorgeous).
Yeon Jung-hoon!!! It is my first time watching him in K drama and won't be the last for sure (Hello Vampire Persecutor J ). He is Hawt! And his Baek Do-yang is so well written. Baek Do-yang is a noble man who gives up his status, cuts his top knot, and quits from Sungkyunkwang to become a doctor. He is smart and slick. He is passionate and true to himself. Above all he is not perfect, he is the snobbish kind of deureunim who is blinded by his ambition though he changes sometime in the future. He doesn't change because someone changes him like we usually see in other K dramas, he changes because of himself, he learns from mistakes he made. This character grows up and I can feel it not just changing of cloth or hair do (I look at you Coffee House).
He has a hobae in Sungkyunkwan who looks like the younger version of him, so he has to move to Jejoongwon
And I love the way he love. For half of early episodes I was screaming: "Nooo don't do that Do-yang she will hate you", " Omo why you say that can you read a woman?". Sigh. My heart was hurt for second lead syndrome (Chanting: “He has Han Ga-in at home, he has Han Ga-in, he has Han Ga-in….”). I know he loves Yoo Seo-ran for the way he looks at her, the decision he makes. He just seem doesn't know how to love (acckk my poor young Do Yang). Young Do Yang is trapped in the Confucian world he lives in and the western perspective and world that he reads and wants to be part of. He is not the man with flowery words. He will not lie and say or do something he is not for the sake of his love. Having romantic man who is always ready at my side and to be lean on is good, but I prefer and desire someone who let me do thing, make mistakes from it and let me fix and learn from it by my own, and push me to my limit, to be the better me. So I understand why he does or says it but doesn't mean my heart not bleed for him.
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| He can be playful |
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| Then he can be so passionate till he can cut his topknot to prove he can be good physician not merely a deureunim |
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| Sigh, apparently he knows he can look like this after. And no matter how inappropriately that hair cut in the era, he can keep that if only for us to swoon. BTW his hobae in Sunkyungkwan should have some talk with him about good hair cut |
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| Yes, you can keep the bowtie, hottie but sorry for the lack of the guy liner |
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| This is from my favorite scenes in which he becomes such a bad-ass and fight some his Japanese friends alone. Having been beaten up, he laugh out loud when those friends call him a lowly, son of butcher. Eep awesome sarcasm never end |
Ahh I'm gonna stop talking about Baek Do-yang. Let’s move on to our hero Hwang Jung. He is a butcher's son living in the place and time where butcher is the lowest of the lowest class. Forgive me but I never get the idea why butchers are considered to be the most horrible and the lowest of them all. Ok butchers slaughter animals, it isn't good for their karma, I can see that. But it is not like the others don't eat the meat from animals they have been slaughtered. Those other people make the butchers do what they do. Instead of think and treat them as the lowest, should they thank to the butchers for every delicious grilled ribs they eat? Anyway, being a butcher's son, Hwang Jung inherits “the gene” (if there is..) of good skill with knife. It gives him the advantage in learning surgery while other have to start from the bottom and get used to it because the other Jejoongwon student is from yangban (the noble class, a class just below the royal family). Allowing your children's hands get dirty makes your children smarter. Heh. He is kind, he is smart, he seem always understand Seo-ran and be there to help her. He is predicable and he is boring.
But his acting comes so natural, like he doesn't act at all, just there being him self in the entire episodes. Cue his sageuk hair do or what you call it, I find his expression in trying to be humble and innocent, as he being butcher, that seems so real comes off as stupid, it annoys me. That hair of his is kind of limiting his face expression from innocent stupid to stupid-looked-like smart. He looks so much better with his modern hairstyle. Gosh I try to be level-headed in this despite my bias toward Do-yang dereunim, but I guess I can not, can I? HDFKLSJKJH
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| Blame him! *pointing finger* |
Yoo Seok-ran is a daughter of Yoo Hee-seo's (Kim Gab-soo) daughter. Hee-seo is English translator and also successful merchant. Though her father may not be a nobleman, as the daughter from chungin family (If you have ever watched Sunkyungkwan Scandal, this class from which Song Joong-ki’s Gu Yong-hwa coming , formed by successful merchants, painters, musicians , physicians, etc, placed below yangban but slightly above “common” people), Seok-ran has many privileges (You know: “What money can buy?”), she got many social values applied for Joseon woman bent for her. She has everything provide for her, from beautiful hanbok to hardly to find books, from personal servant to bicycle that so rare that time.
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| She has this beautiful hanbok for sleep, Envyyy... |
I supposed beside Jejoongwon attempts to give us look of how western medicine first introduce to eastern traditional medicine in Korea, they would also want to portray the struggle of becoming the first modern female doctor but somehow it just didn't convey well enough. Suddenly BAM she is already a doctor, without facing many difficulties, I think there would be a lot in that time being, because even now there're a plenty. And maybe it is just me, every time I read or see these women called the icon of woman emancipation, and then I read a bunch of noble titles behind these women's name or rich family background, my heart goes cynical. I can considerate woman emancipation is successful in one country if all women regardless their family background can achieve what male, as their counter part, can achieve with the same requirement, not one that has bent, and based on the skill, not just to fulfill a quota.
More than Seok-ran, I more valued Empress MyeongSeong character in picturing woman empowerment in Korea. From my experience of watching sageuk, I realize that the queen always sleeps in different chamber, separated to the king. The king only visited the queen on occasion. Yes she has the highest power in internal court business, just below the king's mother if she is still alive, but for the matters out side the palace she has no opinion. The queen in Jejoongwon which is Empress Myeongseong or Queen Min, is different. I have no doubt she also has her private chamber, but this drama shows she and the king, King Gojong, like to spend the night together discuss about political situation and other things outside domestic affair. The king valued her opinion, like she is his partner, not just a complimentary thing. And when she died in Eulmi incident, it put King Gojong in great grieve not just "ok yes next queen please" phase. Really this "ok yes next queen please" part is one that made me could not take Ji Jin-hee's King Sukjong romancing Dong Yi in Dong Yi seriously. Every time I saw them playing love couple I could not contain my self from eye rolling since I could not get rid off the other king's women from my head. And this encourages me to wiki-ing Empress Myeongseong, and there's spreading story about her great character, so it is not just in drama.
Yups welcome to sageuk world: where history and fiction story collide.
The foreigners, K drama, and their English
Every one who has been following K drama will be agree with me, that there's a strange relationship between foreigners, K drama, and their English. How fast they are learning Korean is jaw dropping. But how awkward they are speaking in English makes me have to turn the subtitles on though no Korean is spoken. I don't know how they do the casting for foreigners in K drama. So I'm surprise that Jejoongwon team has made good cast, no skill goes to waste definitely. Our honorable Jejoongwon inhabitants, doctor Horace Allen and doctor John Heron speak English fluently and Korean so well (like every foreigner in K drama suppose to be).
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| Sean Richard in Jejoongwon as Horace Allen, a kind-hearted and compassionate doctor |
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| Sean Richard in Athena. If it is not for the eyes, I'm not sure I'm looking at the same person |
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| Ricky Lee in I need Romance |
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| Ricky Lee in Jejoongwon |
It is kinda tricky when it comes about medical drama. Although at one point I don't want it looked too real, thus inducing my allergic reaction to medical genre. But I don't want it go to far from reality, just staying in believable range is what I want. It is kinda hard if I want it from American TV show, but there's still a little hope left when it is applied in K drama, because K drama is such a failure in *any* profession procedural-themed drama. Other s might think this is thing that turns them off but I think this is the one that pulls me in.
1. A Pair of Latex Glove
Medical genre can not be separated with blood. I'm not the one who is afraid with splatter and splatter of blood, but watching people handling blood carelessly without gloves like it is water does make me cringe. You can argue the medical rubber gloves have yet to be invented in that time. You will notice as the years in Jejoongwon go by, the doctors start to wear latex gloves but the way they handle blood doesn't change. Shudder. If they know how infectious blood is...
2. An IV to save a drama Life
The deeper and the longer I get into K drama la la la land, the more I think that Intra Venous (IV) treatment is included in Over The Counter (OTC) drug. With the craziness of live shoot system in K drama, you probably get used to hear that many actors get IV treatment caused by exhaustion. Tell ya I think what those actors need more is sleep than IV drip. Furthermore, in K drama a character can have an IV treatment so easily (She got cold, surrre she needs IV line. Psst. I wish I never get cold in Korea, above any other countries, not even once! If I have to have IV treatment for a cure), in every where they want, without doctor or paramedic supervision. Guh they can even put the IV line by themselves. Psst. Why they even need IV treatment if they can do that? So when I watch Jejoongwon and they do a big operation without infusion ready, I cringe. Don't they know how much blood a laparotomy or craniotomy is caused? But who is to blame for my reaction?
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| Finally an infusion but they forget to give it to the patient |
3. A Nose Bleed Epidemic
Nose bleed is not rare, but it is not that common that every people will have nose bleed every time they are exhausted. It is not like every people must get cold every time they are splattered by any thing fluid (woops that k drama medical fact too, dun dun dun). I wonder why K drama always shows it as the 1st sign of exhaustion above anything else. Don’t you think, it is because exhaustion word doesn’t exist in K drama la la la land? You know, they think it is OK for sleep only 3 hours or less in a day for 3 months constant, remember? Ah matha! Because it is medical sageuk, I set my mental in higher level of seriousness, so when they gave me this stupid cliché for dramatic purpose I didn't budge L sorry.
4. I don't understand why he doesn't understand
This is one flaw in Baek Do-yang character's development. I seriously do think You-*might*-involve-in-killing-my-parent-so-I-can-not-love-you plot or its sibling I-feel-guilty-because-I-*might*-cause-your-parent's-death-so-we-can't-be-together plot are so overused in k drama. How un-creative and lazy the writer is to use that plot to make a conflict between Baek Do-yang and Hwang Jung. So un-natural and trying too hard. I mean this Baek Do-yang is supposed to be one smart and rationale character ever who reads medical book before he even goes to medical school. When everything in drama telling Hwang Jung doing is not the reason behind his father's death, he seems just can not understand and figure thing out, even after doctor Allen explanation, just for so the clash between Baek Do-yang and Hwang Jung starts. Way out of character. I can not take it.
The Story
Back off if you can not take a thing called spoiler. I talk so much above, I go straight to the end of story instead. Hah. I don’t know watching someone doesn’t get consolation prize is so damn satisfying. But it depends on what you mean with consolation prize. It is a girl for second lead male right??
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| Not every happy ending love story has to end with marriage |
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| Or together ever after |
Lesson of the Drama
Never miss the Confucian wisdom, when you watch a sageuk drama. Cause even in the crackastic sageuk drama like Sunkyungkwan Scandal, there must be one. For this one only, make sageuk worth-watching. Yes, one please for my shallow K drama fan inside.
“ A man with knowledge is not as good as a man with love. And a man with love can not defeat a man with passion.”
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| “And what is your passion?” |
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| "K drama?..." |
The rating
Jejoongwon managed to have early twenty rating in average which is ok, not too bad. The rating slightly dropped in the last three episodes which I guess it is caused by the show sway too far from its previous premise in introducing western medicine to Korean traditional medicine. Too much focus to political issue. Some dramas have the peak of tension in the middle of stories, these are some that I can delay to watch the final episode until couple of days later. Some dramas have the peak of tension in the final episode, that I feel the urgency to finish it as soon as possible even if it takes no sleep or even suppress the bath room calling. Jejooongwon is the first one.
And The OST
잊을게요 그대도 함께 잊어요Ijeulkeyo geudaedo hamkke ijeoyo
사랑했던 우릴 잊기로 해요
Saranghaetdeon uril itgirohaeyo
미안해요 눈물로 보냈던 날들
Mianhaeyo nunmullo bonaetdeon naldeul
가슴깊은 곳에 박힌 그말들
Gaseumgipheun gose bakhin geumaldeul
어쩌면 그대 날 잊고 잘지내고 있는데
Eojjeomyeon geudae nal itgo jaljinaego itneunde
왜 난 아직도 그대를 못잊고 이러고 있는지
Whae nan ajikdo geudaereul mojitgo ireogo itneunji
힘든 내맘을 비워내고
Himdeun naemameul biwonaego
질긴 인연을 잘라내도
Jilgin inyeoneul jallanaedo
그대는 또 그대는 내안에 살잖아
Geudaeneun tto geudaeneun naeane saljana
항상 그대만 그립다고
Hangsang geudaeman geuripdago
평생 애타게 울어봐도
Phyeongsaeng aethage ureobwado
그대 향한 마음 씻을까요
Geudae hyanghan maeum ssiseulkkayo
어쩌면 그대 날 잊고 잘지내고 있는데
Eojeomyeon geudae nal itgo jaljinaego itneunde
왜 난 아직도 그대를 못잊고 이러고 있는지..
Whae nan ajikdo geudaereul mositgo ireogo itneunji
힘든 내맘을 비워내고
Himdeun naemameul biwonaego
질긴 인연을 잘라내도
Jilgin inyeoneul jallanaedo
그대는 또 그대는 내안에 살잖아
Geudaeneun tto geudaeneun naeane saljana
항상 그대만 그립다고
Hangsang geudaeman geuripdago
평생 애타게 울어봐도
Phyeongsaeng aethage ureobwado
그대 향한 마음 씻을까요
Geudae hyanghan maeum ssiseulkkayo
한걸음 두걸음 내맘을 막아도
Hangyeoreum dugeoreum nae mameul magado
그대 향한 내맘은 멈출 수 없죠
Geudae hyanghan naemameun meomchulsu eopjyo
터진 내맘을 비워내고
Theojin naemameul biwonaego
아픈 상처를 위로해도
Apheun sangcheoreul oerohaedo
그대를 또 그대를 보낼 수 없잖아
Geudaereul tto geudaereul bonaelsu eopjana
항상 그대만 그립다고
Hangsang geudaeman geuripdago
평생 애타게 울어봐도
Pyeongsaeng aethage ureobwado
바보같은 눈물 마를까요
Pabogatheun nunmul mareulkkayo
바보같은 눈물 마를까요
Pabogatheun nunmul mareulkkayo
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