Brillliant Legacy/Shining Inheritance (찬란한 유산 / Chanranhan Yusan-2009)

Starring:
Han Hyo Joo as Go Eun Sung
Lee Seung Ki as Sun Woo Hwan
Bae Soo Bin as Park Jun Se
Moon Chae Won as Yoo Seung Mi
Extended Cast
Kim Mi Sook as Baek Sung Hee
Min Young Won as Lee Hye Ri (Eun Sung's friend)
Yun Joon Suk as Go Eun Woo
Jung Suk Won as Jin Young Suk (Hwan's friend)
Han Ye Won as Sun Woo Jung
Ban Hyo Jung as Jang Sook Ja
Yoo Ji In as Oh Young Ran (Hwan & Jung's mother)
Kim Jae Seung as Lee Hyung Jin
Son Yeo Eun as Jung In Young
Choi Jung Woo as Park Tae Soo
Lee Seung Hyung as Pyo Sung Chul
Jun In Taek as Go Pyung Joong (Eun Sung's father)
Baek Seung Hyun as Manager Lee Joon Young
Park Sang Hyun as Han Soo Jae

Go Eun Sung's life is similar to Cinderella's. After her father died, her step-mother, Baek Sung Hee, took away all of her assets and her younger brother, Eun Woo, suddenly disappears without a trace. Despite this, Eun Sung preservers and works really hard to fulfill her dreams. When the CEO of a food company, Jang Sook Ja, suffers amnesia and can't remember who she is Eun Sung takes her in. However, Eun Sung does not know that she is the grandmother of Sun Woo Hwan, the man who she switched bags with at the airport. How will their constant bickering lead them to realize that they care more about each other than they let on?

Where to start? There was good and there was bad...but not so bad. Bad, I guess, was the fact that SBS decided to string us along for another 4 episodes and make us all go bald going crazy waiting for a conclusion. The extra episodes were added when SBS realized that Lee Seung Ki is one hell of a money maker. LOL!

The good was surprising. I started watching this when it was halfway through. I think everyone was on episode 11 or 12 when I got bored one day and decided "what the hell." Don't get me wrong. Lee Seung Ki is a cutie patootie but not so much as to make me go epileptic ga-ga. Okay, I'll admit I watch 1N2D's like anyone who knows how good that variety/reality show is. *Going off topic....Mianhe* This was a long story of a girl who pretty much gets the worst kind of Cinderella treatment ever. Worst kind being that her autistic brother was tricked by the EVIL stepmother (who by-the-way was the most perfect at this role) and taken away and "lost."

Typical is most Korean dramas....bad boy treats good girl (thought to be bad girl) rotten and then realizes his mistake. Good girl falls for bad boy (who isn't really bad at all but mistaken). Yes, kissing scene included. At least there seemed to be some pucker other than sewed lips pressed together. But it wasn't the best. (The best so far is Ariel Lin and Joe Cheng in ISWAK) It was at least slightly different.

I know Han Hyo Joo is a much sought after actress but really.....she bores the heck out of me. Every romance I have seen her in has been....typically....unemotional. If you are going to hug....then squeeze. If you are going to kiss....then atleast pucker (it's not like you have to stick your tongue down the guys throat). Other than Kim Sun Ah, is it a cultural thing, that the female leads act all unemotional when it comes to love and affection on TV. In the movies, it's totally different....definitely different. That is why you never really here me talk nice about the female TV leads (exception Kim Sun Ah). I want a romance to bang a gong in my heart.

Okay, on to someone who was surprisingly realistic. YUN JOON SUK was the amazingly sweet, endearing, autistic brother. Damn, I really would have thought he was the real thing if I didn't know any better. This kid RULED! I want to see a WHOLE lot more of him. I really do.

Lee Seung Ki

I love, love, love this pic.

Iljimae (일지매 (一枝梅) -2008)

Starring:
Lee Joon Ki as Iljimae / Yong / Lee Geom
Han Hyo Joo as Eun Chae
Lee Young Ah as Bong Soon
Park Shi Hoo as Shi Hoo / Ja Dol

Extended Cast
Lee Moon Shik as Swe Dol (Yong's adopted father)
Kim Sung Ryung as Dani (Shi Hoo's mother)
Lee Won Jong as Byun Sik (Eun Chae's father)
Ahn Kil Kang as Kong He / monk (Bong Soon's adopted father)
Moon Ji Yoon as Dae Shi (Yong's friend)
Kim Chang Wan as the king
Kim Roe Ha as Sa Cheon (chief assassin)
Kim Moo Yul as Shi Wan (Eun Chae's brother)
Do Ki Suk as Hee Bong / Slick (Castor Oil gang boss)
Kim Hyun Sung as Heung Kyun
Jung Jae Eun as Sim Seok
Suh Dong Won as Eun Bok (Hunter Jang's son)
Lee Won Jae as Hunter Jang
Kim Kwang Sik as Geok Doo
Yang Jae Sung as Shim Gi Won
Jo Sang Gi as Moo Yi (Sa Cheon's follower)
Lee Il Hwa as Lady Han (Geom's mother)
Son Tae Young as Lee Yeon (Geom's older sister)
Jo Min Ki as Lee Won Ho (Geom's biological father)
Yeo Jin Goo as young Geom
Kim Yoo Jung as young Eun Chae
Jung Da Bin as young Boon Soon
Ahn Ji Hong

Set during the Joseon Dynasty, Ryung acts as a useless gangster in the marketplace by day but at night he is a chivalrous robber who robs corrupt government officials to give to the poor. After each robbery he leaves behind a wooden branch from a plum tree at the site of the robbery to take responsibility for the robbery. The poor citizens only know him as Iljimae. Bong Soon is a hilarious girl with good martial art skills and lives as a swindler. She only loves Ryung and sacrifices her whole life for him. Eun Chae is a government official's daughter and is good in nature and usually helps miserable people. She meets Iljimae once by chance, and their sweet love story begins. However, her love puts Iljimae in a dangerous situation because an Imperial Guard also loves her.




Wow! I loved this drama. My kids would get sick of me every Thursday or Friday when crunchyroll.com would submit the newest episode. "Iljimae!" I'd yell, scream and/or cry. LOL!
Okay, seeing Lee Jun Ki lookin' his awesomest with that pretty, long dark hair gave me the lovely willies. LOL! I love his hair long. But enough about how cute he is....y'all can obviously see for yourselves......

I'll admit the first few episodes bored the living daylights out of me. I understood they were setting up the story. It took a lot out of me to watch that part. But once Geom/Yong-ee/Iljimae grew up......it got livelier and exciting. I'll admit I was routing for Yong-ee and Bong Soon. Eun Chae was just toooooooo nice. Kind of made me sick to my stomach to how sweet she was. Bong Soon was lively, funny, and a spit-fire. Perfect for Yong-ee.

The fighting scenes were fun to watch and as the story progressed my stomach got the twitters because I didn't want the episode to end. Again, as the week was ending, I was all over the internet looking for the latest episode. And, yes, I'm downloading the entire series per bittorrent.

Now let's talk about the ending. In perfect Korean fashion, it wasn't all that. Don't get me wrong, the series was freakin' awesome but I knew that once the ending came I wasn't sure sure how it was going to end. Well, it wasn't sad or a happy ending.....really, I think they set it up for another season. I didn't feel there was a conclusion to the story. Now if they did another season, I don't think Lee Jun Ki would come back because of his popularity and awesomeness. LOL! Ah, but if he did....well, I'd be on the Iljimae train wagon all over again.

This was so much fun......and it finally ended. *sigh* What am I going to do now? I still have 2 perfectly good series I'm watching now but they are also about to come to a close. *sigh*

Park Shi Hoo

Okay, I had to put him in here. He's such a cutie in the show. I hope to see more of him in the future. He might have been a little bit of an ass on the drama but he made up for it well in the end.......