Post by mikey on Oct 16, 2007 21:20:29 GMT -5
Scandal in Old Seoul
Scandal in Old Seoul (the title used by KBS America, though it’s also sometimes translated more literally as Capital Scandal) is a different kind of K-drama. While it’s a very strange mix of the serious and the silly, I found myself really liking it, and I hope Chicago fans will give it a try.
The setting is the city of Gyeong-seong (“Capitol City” - which we today call Seoul) and it’s filmed in the same attractive little town we all remember from watching “Seoul 1945.”
The timeframe is the 1930’s, during the time of Japanese occupation.
Main Characters:
Seonu Wan
Wan is the son of a wealthy Korean aristocrat, and though he was idealistic in his younger days, he now lives an aimless kind of life as a Korean playboy. Wan’s wealthy father, like many Joseon aristocrats, has made his peace with the Japanese, and he spends an inordinate amount of time paying off Japanese officials to get his son out of trouble.
Wan boasts that he can seduce any woman within 10 minutes - something his friends take as a challenge, and they go about looking for the one woman Wan will never be able to seduce.
Na Yeogyeong (aka ”Jo Maja”)
Yeogyeong owns a local bookstore, and she tutors children as a sideline. She’s an intense little woman, extremely traditional, and she always goes about in an ultra-conservative black-and-white hanbok. Townspeople have nicknamed her “Jo Maja” (a nickname she personally despises) translating roughly to “the last woman of the Joseon Dynasty.” Because of her outspokenly anti-Japanese attitudes, the Japanese police keep close tabs on her, though it seems they consider her more of a nuisance than a dangerous revolutionary.
Yi Suhyeon
Suhyeon and Wan grew up together (Suhyeon was the son of one of the family’s servants) and Wan’s father was so impressed with the intelligence of the young Suhyeon that he sponsored his education at Tokyo University. It was an event that transformed Suhyeon, as he returned to his homeland a hard-core, pro-Japanese nationalist. Suhyeon’s newfound loyalty to the Japanese Empire has earned him a position as an investigator with the Japanese Governor General’s office, where he performs his tasks coolly and professionally.
Though Suhyeon and Wan grew up together as childhood friends, Wan now despises him - but it’s not clear exactly why.
Cha Songju (on left, with Seonu Wan)
Considered “the most famous gisaeng in Gyeongseong,” Songju entertains her guests at Myeongbin, her place of business. As a gisaeng, Songju knows the secrets of many important people, and as such Japanese officials tend to give her a lot of leeway.
Songju and Wan are close soul-mates, but it seems to be a purely platonic relationship, rather than anything romantic. Songju and Suhyeon go back as well, but their relationship seems to have been severely strained since Suhyeon signed on with the Japanese police force.
The “Monthly Jirasi” (the three owners shown above) is a National Enquirer kind of scandal-sheet, with each issue seeming to just barely squeak past the Japanese censors. Still, the Japanese police have been known to keep an eye on them, since the word “Jirasi,” it seems, can be interpreted several ways - one of them subversive.
It’s awfully hard, however, for even the Japanese police to take these “Monthly Jirasi” clowns very seriously.
Wan works part-time for Jirasi, but it seems to be more a hobby job than any serious attempt at a career.
Other Characters:
Fans of “Bizarre Bunch” will enjoy meeting up with old friends here. Yeogyeong’s mother is played by the actress who played Jongnam’s mom in BB. And, BB fans will doubt love seeing Haein’s parents (actors Ahn Suk-hwan and Kim Hye-ok) reunited as husband-and-wife - though here the husband plays the Japanese Governor General, and his wife plays the daughter of a dangerously ruthless and powerful Japanese official.
Scandal in Old Seoul (the title used by KBS America, though it’s also sometimes translated more literally as Capital Scandal) is a different kind of K-drama. While it’s a very strange mix of the serious and the silly, I found myself really liking it, and I hope Chicago fans will give it a try.
The setting is the city of Gyeong-seong (“Capitol City” - which we today call Seoul) and it’s filmed in the same attractive little town we all remember from watching “Seoul 1945.”
The timeframe is the 1930’s, during the time of Japanese occupation.
Main Characters:
Seonu Wan
Wan is the son of a wealthy Korean aristocrat, and though he was idealistic in his younger days, he now lives an aimless kind of life as a Korean playboy. Wan’s wealthy father, like many Joseon aristocrats, has made his peace with the Japanese, and he spends an inordinate amount of time paying off Japanese officials to get his son out of trouble.
Wan boasts that he can seduce any woman within 10 minutes - something his friends take as a challenge, and they go about looking for the one woman Wan will never be able to seduce.
Na Yeogyeong (aka ”Jo Maja”)
Yeogyeong owns a local bookstore, and she tutors children as a sideline. She’s an intense little woman, extremely traditional, and she always goes about in an ultra-conservative black-and-white hanbok. Townspeople have nicknamed her “Jo Maja” (a nickname she personally despises) translating roughly to “the last woman of the Joseon Dynasty.” Because of her outspokenly anti-Japanese attitudes, the Japanese police keep close tabs on her, though it seems they consider her more of a nuisance than a dangerous revolutionary.
Yi Suhyeon
Suhyeon and Wan grew up together (Suhyeon was the son of one of the family’s servants) and Wan’s father was so impressed with the intelligence of the young Suhyeon that he sponsored his education at Tokyo University. It was an event that transformed Suhyeon, as he returned to his homeland a hard-core, pro-Japanese nationalist. Suhyeon’s newfound loyalty to the Japanese Empire has earned him a position as an investigator with the Japanese Governor General’s office, where he performs his tasks coolly and professionally.
Though Suhyeon and Wan grew up together as childhood friends, Wan now despises him - but it’s not clear exactly why.
Cha Songju (on left, with Seonu Wan)
Considered “the most famous gisaeng in Gyeongseong,” Songju entertains her guests at Myeongbin, her place of business. As a gisaeng, Songju knows the secrets of many important people, and as such Japanese officials tend to give her a lot of leeway.
Songju and Wan are close soul-mates, but it seems to be a purely platonic relationship, rather than anything romantic. Songju and Suhyeon go back as well, but their relationship seems to have been severely strained since Suhyeon signed on with the Japanese police force.
The “Monthly Jirasi” (the three owners shown above) is a National Enquirer kind of scandal-sheet, with each issue seeming to just barely squeak past the Japanese censors. Still, the Japanese police have been known to keep an eye on them, since the word “Jirasi,” it seems, can be interpreted several ways - one of them subversive.
It’s awfully hard, however, for even the Japanese police to take these “Monthly Jirasi” clowns very seriously.
Wan works part-time for Jirasi, but it seems to be more a hobby job than any serious attempt at a career.
Other Characters:
Fans of “Bizarre Bunch” will enjoy meeting up with old friends here. Yeogyeong’s mother is played by the actress who played Jongnam’s mom in BB. And, BB fans will doubt love seeing Haein’s parents (actors Ahn Suk-hwan and Kim Hye-ok) reunited as husband-and-wife - though here the husband plays the Japanese Governor General, and his wife plays the daughter of a dangerously ruthless and powerful Japanese official.
