Baker King, Kim Tak Goo

When the drama had two time dimensions; one when the main casts was in their childhood and the other when they had become adults, I almost always intrigued by the storyline and the children-cast - except maybe for Ballad of the Prince (Seo Dong Yo) and Dong Yi, the intriguing part was in the adulthood. Then like the case of East of Eden and Fashion 70's, the adulthood storyline was so dragging and the adultcast was soooo not intiguing - I kinda lost interest and the reason I continue watching was because at that time I was so strict with myself - watch one drama from start to finish, then I can watch another one.

But then it was easy to discipline myself before cause to watch kdrama i had to buy the boxset, so all I had to do was not go into a cd shop and buy one; but nowadays I'm downloading them so I'm kinda drama hopping from one drama to another, depending on which one I was most curious to know the continuition of the story and the availability of the subtitles. At the moment I'm excited to watch Sungkyunkwan Scandal, I think it's because of Song Joong Ki's character and I'm still kinda guessing who will discover her real identity first and who's gonna fall for her (I hope not all three!) and so not in the mood to continue Tale of the Gumiho's Grudge.

I digress again, I wasn't planning to watch this drama cause the title seems so boring, King of Baking? (Ugh..not another lesson in cooking/baking, if it could improve my skills baik jua but it just further dissuade me to start learning cause they make it only special people could do it the right way) but I caught the first episode and it seems interesting haha...the fortune teller foretold that no matter how hard she prayed, how many times she tried she will never begets a son with her husband but she could get a son with another man. So isn't that the husband's fault? but then again he foretold that the husband's getting a son with another woman too... So what did she do? She went away to seduce her husband's right-hand man and left her husband behind with her daughters' nanny, and to top it off the nanny used to be one of the candidate that her husband wants to marry. Still you blame fate...

The children casts for the role of Kim Tak Gu and Go Ma Jun were also appropriate; Oh Jae Moo as Tak Gu with village upbringing, though he was loud and he was brash but he was frank and pure-hearted; and Shin Dong Woo as the never-knew-hardship Ma Jun - you do want to hate him because he was so spoiled and pampered all his life but there's just some kinda vulnerability in him that you want to shield him too from being hurt. He was pulled three ways from his father, mother and grandma who wants different things from him and nothing he does will ever enough for them.

So when Tak Gu was brought home and presented to be his older brother, it's natural that he feel resentment. The expectation of everyone else was already hard to bear, now he had to compete with this kid who came out of nowhere and seems to hold his father's heart already. Moreover, he overheard his mother's secret on who his true biological father is - what a burden for a child whose worry should only be of his studies and his playing time.

Haha..the way I'm going on the title should be XXX Gu Ma Jun. But seriously, his character was more interesting (and realistic) than Tak Gu. Tak Gu seems 'superhuman'; after tragedy happened and he ran away from home, he made it so simple and easy to live on the street, roaming by himself and he basically raised himself from childhood (of maybe 10 years old?) to adulthood. But then again, I'm always drawn to the silent-wounded-underdog...

The brothers met again in a bakery shop with Ma Jun hiding his real identity from everyone including Tak Gu. They also met Shin Yoo Kyung, Tak Gu's former classmate whom he had a crush on. But Ma Jun intervention and manipulation keeps them apart again for 2 years... you wonder what's the real reason for that? Is it to hurt Tak Gu or for his own sake? And I wonder too why they cast Eugene as Yoo Kyung, couldn't they find an actress with the same age as Yoon Shi Yoon and Joo Won? or they just want a famous name as a pull to the drama since both of them are a newcomer in the dramaworld?

I'm not gonna spoil any further about the drama but lets just say that compare to the recent drama that I've watched (Coffee House, Bad Guy) this one was interesting from start to finish. And Ma Jun's mother, though she was an evil witch but she was a fashionable-beautiful-evil witch ^_^

Casts:

Yoon Shi Yoon as Kim Tak Goo
Oh Jae Moo as Kim Tak Goo (child)
Eugene as Shin Yoo Kyung
Jo Jung Eun as Shin Yoo Kyung (child)

Joo Won as Goo Ma Joon

Shin Dong Woo as Goo Ma Joon (child)

Goo family
Jun Kwang Ryul as Goo Il Jong ( Tak Gu and Ma Jun's dad)
Jun In Hwa as Seo In Sook (Ma Jun's mom)
Choi Ja Hye as Goo Ja Kyung
Ha Seung Ri as Goo Ja Kyung (teen)
Choi Yoon Young as Goo Ja Rim
Kim So Hyun as Goo Ja Rim (child)

Other people
Jung Sung Mo as Han Seung Jae (Ma Jun's biological father)
Jun Mi Sun as Kim Mi Sun (Tak Goo's mother)
Lee Han Wie as Heo Gap Soo

Yang family (The Bakery Shop people)
Jang Hang Sun as Oh Doo Yong / Master Pal Bong
Park Sang Myun as Yang In Mok
Hwang Mi Sun as Oh Young Ja
Lee Young Ah as Yang Mi Sun