Dong Yi

I remember started watching this early July when my parents and my sisters were going to London for my niece and nephew's graduation day. So I had to stay at my sister's house to drive my nieces to school... and I think to put my sister and brother-in-law's mind at ease with another adult in the house. (Haha...me an adult?!). Anyway,at that time I was really juggling many dramas at one time, there's this Dong Yi, Bad Guy, Coffee House and Grudge of the Gumiho Child. I finished up Bad Guy and Coffee House, did I post something on them? I think I remember writing something for Bad Guy but I don't remember writing any on Coffee House... but hey if you're not a fan of any of the CH casts please don't waste your time watching....it's not something I will recommend. Now, Grudge of Gumiho Child, I haven't finished watching it... I don't know when I'll pick it up again with all other dramas (which might be more interesting) to pick on.. but it's just I hate the thought I have not finish watching something that I had watched over 50% of.....

Dong Yi, what can I say about Dong Yi?..... I've watched other period drama... sageuk dramas they called it... and to me Dong Yi fall under the same class as Yi San... it's not as addictive as Jewel in the Palace, Ballads of Seo Dong Yo or Jumong. They were some suspense episode ending that made you wanna continue watching another episode but it's still resistable since you need your beauty sleep and you have to work tomorrow morning. But for the above-mentioned korean drama... wah! I don't care, I went with no sleep to class (in the case of Jewel because I was still in Uni then) and to work for the other two. If I could escape class and work, I might doggedly continue til I finished watching all...

Dong Yi (Han Hyo Joo) , is a about a child who slipped in to the palace to work as a slave in order to find the culprit who framed her father and brother that resulted in their deaths. I don't remember the details of the drama, lets just say that Dong Yi befriended the King Sukjong (Ji Jin Hee) while he was travelling incognito and helps solve a case. She was then promoted to be the palace maid of Jang Hee Bin (Lee So Yeon), the king most favored mistress. At first she was in the mistress's camp against Queen Inhyeon (Park Ha Sun) but later she became the Queen's loyal supporter.

She also met her brother's bestfriend, Cha Chun Soo (Bae Soo Bin) who she hopefully hope she had not lost along with her father and brother. I think it's slightly obvious that he had feelings for her apart from brotherly affection, but she remain clueless to the end. I do wonder though if she's really in love with the king or she was just feels affectionate for him... (I don't think Han Hyo Joo's here merit a daesang for the MBC 2010 Dramas Award), now the king we know how much he loved Dong Yi, he's willing to give up the throne for her...but the drama tries to show Dong Yi has the bigger heart of not willing for him to give that up but dreaming of a grander dream beyond 'their love'.

I know sometimes I'm a romanticist, sometime a cynical... like Joo Won (Hyun Bin) said in Secret Garden, if he gave everything for Ra Im (Ha Ji Won) now, he's not confident he won't resent her for that later, he's not confident that they will live happily ever after. Still, I wish that Dong Yi would express some yearning how they could live happily as a normal couple beyond the public's eye....

I know that I wouldn't be fair to the person who prepared the costumes on how much I love Jang Hee Bin's costume especially her skirts. There are so beautiful and eye-catching. While Dong Yi and Queen Inhyeong pastel colours went unnotice by me. My niece said it was because only the villains wear bright and daring colours while the humble heroins wear subdued ones.. but I think even subdued colours can be beautiful right?

Temptation of an Angel

She watched the horrific deaths of her parents because of Shin Woo Sub's greed and machinations. She was on a revenge path. Like the legend of Troy, the best way to crumble down a great and strong fortress is from the inside. Only that she doesn't need a wooden horse to infiltrate enemy's camp; just her beautiful self cause the enemy has a son with marriageable age to her. That was Joo Ah Ran plans to get her revenge. She marries Shin Hyun Woo with the intention of bringing down the family. She had insider help, the family's doctor and also her lover Nam Joo Seung who have also an ulterior motive to bring the family down. Its not hard to decipher to whom his hatred was on.

Han Sang Jin as Hyun Woo (before)

However, their plan crumble early when Shin Hyun Woo found out about their affair. Dring a car ride with Ah Ran where he confronted her with the evidence he had found and Ah Ran confess everything, they had an accident. Ah Ran who was on the driver's seat, moved the unconscious Hyun Woo to that seat to take the blame while she went to Joo Seung for help. Ah Ran was relatively unscratched from the accident while Hyun Woo was in a coma. She was safe to go on her revenge's plan.

She get the family's consent to move Hyun Woo to secluded villa promising he will get the best care from a foreign doctor. But the truth was she only hired a nurse to tend to the basic necessity of caring for a coma patient and not to do anything to help him awake. It turns out the nurse was none other than the girl from the orphanage Hyun Woo and his mother had sponsored throughout her life and even get her to graduate from university. What a small Seoul isnt it? That was what I thought at first, lucky that his mother sponsored the girl but it turns out it was not mere coincidence at all. The nurse, Yoon Jae Hae was none other than Ah Ran's long lost sister Joo Kyung Ran, who also happen to be having a crush on Hyun Woo since who knows when. Oh don't worry I'm not spoiling anything if you haven't watch this drama and happen to stumble on my blog. It was all made so obvious in the drama. Anyway, Ah Ran get so desperate when she found out Hyun Woo was gaining conscious and all, so she set up the villa on fire. She thought she had killed her husband but if she succeeded then who then be the hero right?

So Hyun Woo only suffer a minor burn on his face but decided to go for a full body plastic surgery. He wanted to become a different person, he wanted to Ah Ran to taste her own medicine; he will make her so madly in love with him and thrust a knife on her back - just as she did to him. The story get more interesting towards the end, and it all not appears as it should be.

If I were Ah Ran I will hate the perpetrator of her parents' death but also her irresponsible uncle and aunt who make her life miserable. But she seem to let them go off easily. I do like this drama, but the actor just seem lacking 'chemistry' with each other. If I didn't already adore Bae So Bin I would not have fallen for him in this drama. They should have build more story on how Hyun Woo who should be wary of falling in love again fall for Jae Hee. And how could Ah Ran falls so deeply in love with the cold Ahn Jae Sung? He should be more romantic and suave so that it understandable that she would abandon Joo Seung for him.

Well, anyway the acting to be applause for would be Lee So Yeon for potraying such a deceitful and pityful Ah Ran and maybe Kim Tae Hyun, I just "felt" for him even from the first episode. But I'm still rooting for Bae Soo Bin!

Bae So Bin as Hyun Woo (after)/ Ahn Jae Sung

Lee So Yeon as Joo Ah Ran (she's so beautiful! even when she's being ugly)

Kim Tae Hyun as Nam Joo Seung the pitiful lover and ....

Hong Soo Hyun as the sweet and devoted nurse Yoo Jae Hae

Han Jin Hee as Shin Woo Sub the man who raised himself from below and became the president of a big company. He may be brash, uncouth and uneducated but he's loyal.

Cha Hwa Jun as the the submissive wife Jo Kyung Hee

Lastly, I will like to quote Shin Hyun Woo at the last episode after the revenge was all wraped up "one person is dead and one person live in misery. So why am I still unhappy? If I had entrusted the sins of those two to God back then , would our lives be different now?"

So making two wrongs won't make everything back to right.