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.......