The Return of Iljimae, EPs 1-2

[emothy]

Apparently I'll put up with a fair amount for a pretty face and the promise - from multiple drama review sources - of a good saegeuk drama. I think perhaps if I hadn't watched other dramas (made in later years) before this I would be less critical right now. My biggest issues right now are: feeling like we as an audience are being talked down to, too much explanation for things we don't need explained - give us some credit! And then on the flipside, some happenings that seem a little bit of a stretch, silly or not believable enough. But recalling that this is based on a manhwa, I may have to accept that. (Still think they could've tweaked it a bit more for TV purposes though).


- The Return of Iljimae, Episode 1: OhmyGod, I love (sarcasm) how almost every show or movie in the world makes a captive who is gagged emit noises when someone comes to rescue them, like "Help me! Help me!" He is all kitted out in black ninja-wear, and didn't look all that surprised to see her tied up in that room. I THINK HIS PLAN WAS ALREADY IN PLACE, WOMAN. I suppose there's the possibility that people just can't help it, but someone out there must be aware the captors are still nearby and the need to keep quiet without being told. (/rant)

So much for a quiet grab and leave, Iljimae!

...Yes, because in modern times if we saw a man in ninja-wear battling a huge group of men using martial art combat we'd take it totally seriously and want to report on it. We'd assume it was for a damn TV show! XD

Maybe he does need to be told to rescue her xD

She is wearing stupid high-heeled boots to chase stories? I like women in sensible shoes, dammit. And he stares intensely too much XD

LOL, dude when a beautiful man smiles at you like *that* you don't just let him LEAVE ;D

...Did they just insinuate that this huge dude eats babies?! XD

That kid, Cha Dol, he played young Chuh-Ro in Legend :D Okay, no longer insinuation.

So we can discuss how evil this guy is by talking about baby eating all the time, but Iljimae isn't going to kill him, proving how good he is? If he fights bad guys they can't all be left alive! They won't stop being bad. (Don't tell me the chop to the head killed him when Iljimae could've used his goddamned blade). He sure fights noisily. And how can he keep his identity secret without a mask of any kind? :P

If the narrator continues to state the obvious I might just scream. We can all kind of follow what the characters are saying without it needing to be stated again.

OH JESUS SHE'S THE SAME GIRL FROM THE FUTURE, REINCARNATED OR SOMETHING. I actually can't stand that kind of destiny.

LOL, I love spunky kids in any kind of historical dramas. They live a pretty simple, often difficult, life, but they're often streetsmart and quick-witted with smart mouths. "That brave kid," XD I would love to be Iljimae up in a tree listening to this kid tell this ridiculous story ;)

I really don't get all these time jumps and mini-flashbacks right now. It seems all the interesting stuff happened before the time this is set in :x If interesting stuff is going to happen now because of the past we really should've just been shown in order what happened, so that his return would mean something to us when it happened. Right now I'm just like, "he's so pretty", but I have no reason to care ;)

Having a baby around makes everyone look happier XD And this should've come first, this backstory, and without the bloody narrator. SHOW, DON'T TELL.

Although what I don't get right now is why allow the baby a chance to live at all. They sent the slave girl off, instead of killing her, and told her they were going to keep the baby, and yet sent it down a river, again instead of actually killing it. I know they assumed that WOULD kill it, but it still seems odd to me! It was in a goddamned blanket and everything. Guilt? Assuming it would die, but hoping they wouldn't actually be responsible for killing a child? It would've been nice to have had that explained away so we would know. Right now it just seems like they didn't really think before filming that part.

Oh God, she's such a man-hater now XD lol, and yet she had a baby boy (who we all know turns out to be a SMOKING hottie who will no doubt break girl's hearts too ;D)

Jeeze, all of this is held together very barely right now. They always happen to find Iljimae when he fights the bad guys, they know who he is, what he looks like, and yet can't find him? Cha Dol is helping Seon Dal hasn't even attempted to teach the boy to read and write?

Lots of people think well of this show so I'm going to stick with it for now. It didn't irritate me overall. It just could've done with more thought going into certain aspects (since I tend to overanalyse a lot of scenes). Also I could get answers to things soon so I'll shut up, sort of XD



- The Return of Iljimae, Episode 2: Officer Gu is smitten, and also quite an idiot XD And this kind of makes him seem like a stalker.

...So the madame is continuing to buy Baek-Mae's silence by bringing her a gift, as though the woman actually cares about her?

God that baby is cute. LOL and gets thrown about so much! XD

And I completely refuse to believe the woman could recognise him. Babies change immensely, especially since he was so small when they got rid of him. (And how many baby boys get born at any time?) She knows who he is now through questions, but what made her ask in the first place? :P

Gotta love how this monk overdramatically decided people were out to kill the baby. Of course he was right, but a bit of a stretch?

This (older) baby is cute too XD

So Iljimae is even his real name.

AND THAT DUDE WHO IS PLAYING YOUNG ILJIMAE'S MARTIAL ARTS TEACHER PLAYS YOUNG CHUH-RO'S SPEAR TEACHER IN LEGEND.

Yay, we've come to teenage or adulthood, we get Jung Il-Woo from now on!

LOL. MEN DOING HIGH-PITCHED VOICES TO PRETEND TO BE WOMEN IS SO SILLY.

AHAHAHAHA, the part when the loud-mouth bully steps back and send in his minions to make HIS point.
Oh hi, some of this martial art looks dumb but some of it looks SO PRETTY.

I kind of like Iljimae as this principled and privledged guy XD But then his father truly is a nobleman (even if his mother was a slave), so it's only fair he got to grow up in a good household.

SO DOES SOMEONE ELSE LIKE ILJIMAE XD She's kind of cute. Ahahahahah, all the girls like him! But they are all serving girls.

Oh good God. So the monk knew whose baby it was in the end (considering the house the beggar went to it'd be possible to work that out). The monk wasn't killed, and when he returned home after finding Iljimae a home and family HE TOLD THE MADAME WHERE ILJIMAE WAS. BUT BUT. SHE SENDS THE FAMILY PRESENTS. Shouldn't she be sending goddamned assassins? This is all so we know that his adopted parents know who his family really is, I guess? And that we know a few people do know Iljimae's origins. Although only the madame and her son (Iljimae's biological father) would know who his mother was.

Seems like they don't plan on telling Iljimae the truth. Uh-oh. I smell trouble brewing from that.

LOL. "I know everything you know, and everything you don't know, so I know everything!"

OH GOD I LIKE HIM ALL SMUG. IT'S HOT.

How are some books and the note from his mother (a poem?) going to prove anything? It's just a poem a women once wrote. It's hardly DNA. It doesn't say "I name my child Iljimae and offer him to the x-family to live now forever".

Okay, I understand that the messenger dude who brings the gifts every year told this Hweng Bo stories, but again... Iljimae was adopted as a baby, less than a year old. Never lived with any of his biological family. It's simply a story of a slave girl who got pregnant by a nobleman who had to give up her baby and leave. And the baby fell into a monk's hands (to cut the story short) and he brought it to be adopted. WE KNOW THAT'S true, but why should Iljimae believe it, just like that? This part is totally trunicated. More tell instead of show. See now we're flashbacking "he felt different from the others, felt affinity to people from Joseon". WELL SHOW US THAT FIRST. Give a reason to believe why HE believes this tale is true so readily!

Blah. Looks at Jung Il-Woo being a hottie instead. Opening episodes of a drama can often be weak.

...Why go to Joseon to confirm? (AND HOW? YOU COULD BE ANYONE) when he could just tell his parents he knows the truth? Then they'd have to spill the beans, really.

..."Capture", "arrest"? "KILL"? WTF is going on here? Overreaction much by his father-in-law to be? Iljimae is just a boy(?) who found out that his past, his heritage is completely different, and he has connections (I'd say 'family' but it's only by blood and doesn't count to me if they've never known the boy) in another land. It isn't his fault he impulsively went! XD Or if his birth is lower than originally thought. Surely an adopted (only) child would still inherit any of the adopted parents land and titles and wealth?

Oh God more narration beating us over the head.

So much for those martial arts skills. Iljimae just watches Hweng Bo take on two men. He manages just fine, but still, a little mean of him? XD

If only people talked directly, hmm. If his adopted parents didn't allow things to overrun them lljimae couldn't have been convinced they'd turned on him. And his clothes have stayed very clean on this journey ;)

I guess this is where we find out if they can both swim! lol, or not. That was uneccessarily over the top ;D

OW. That looks painful! And Iljimae has been quite the damsel in distress in the latter half of this episode. It's fricking hilarious. (Considering he's supposed to be this Robin-Hood type character who protects the poor, and has been trained in martial arts from a young age! You wouldn't know it right now XD)