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Post by mugwump on Aug 25, 2009 19:02:04 GMT -5
I just watched 27 and 28, and you ain't seen nuttin yet! This show will have you chortling with delight over all its twists and turns.
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Post by MTR on Aug 27, 2009 15:53:15 GMT -5
This drama was written by the same team that put out ''Dae Jang Geum ","Seo Donyeo "and "Yi San "so you would expect nothing less from writers ,producers and directors like this (at least on the evidence of 1 and 3 never saw 2 ) It also has Lee Yo Won who has so much beauty and class i could even watch 60 mins of her staring at a wall . And the subject matter ,Korea's most beloved Queen how could any one screw this up (well KBS could ),This drama should also feature the legendary ''Hwarang "(Flower Nights aka violent good looking young boys with a code of honor )as Seon Deok was their patron . Of the three "Year Of Women "dramas this and "Ja Myung Go"seem to be the two to see ,sadly most of us are stuck with the drama we would most like to avoid .
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Post by mugwump on Aug 27, 2009 18:33:24 GMT -5
This show does feature the Hwarang prominently (many of the lead male characters are Hwarangs). I think of them as kind of like boy scout troops running amok, especially in the early episodes. There is something a mite bit scary about them. And the princess is indeed their patron.
And tying this in with Seo Donyeo, The "villain" in that show Giroo was a Hwarang from Shilla. Now that I'm seeing the Hwarang in action in Queen Seonduk, I understand better some of the things he did.
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Post by ginnycat5 on Aug 28, 2009 18:12:08 GMT -5
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Post by consoleman on Sept 11, 2009 0:31:53 GMT -5
This is actually the most popular historical series right now in Korea.
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Post by tinkerbell on Sept 11, 2009 21:43:10 GMT -5
Queen Seonduk leaves the competition in the dust. The ratings are deservedly high. I love this drama. It's filled with intrigue and twists. Nam Ji Hyun plays the young Deokman and Lee Yo Wan plays Princess Deokman, Queen Seonduk. Both actresses are fantastic. Ko Hyun Jung does a superb job portraying the evil villainess, Mishil. You won't be disappointed IMO.
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Post by mikey on Sept 12, 2009 9:44:08 GMT -5
The actress playing the older Deokman is good, but the actress who played the young Deokman was outstanding! I just loved her enthusiasm! And yes, the actress playing the evil Misil is terrific. In so many scenes (where everyone else is jabbering) she doesn’t say a word. You just watch, and enjoy her facial expressions as the scene rolls on. Although the storyline in the early going has a few silly moments (and seems to be mostly fiction - I don’t think the real Queen Seon-deok ever had a twin sister) I can overlook all that, because it’s so thoughtful and intelligently written. Fiction or not, it’s presented in a perfectly believable manner. And (as I mentioned elsewhere) the battle scenes are also realistic . . . terrifyingly so, one might say. This all makes for an amazingly good drama show. Just slightly annoying how the subtitler Romanizes words like “Shilla” and “Mishil” as “Silla” and “Misil”. Now, I guess, if you go directly from Hangul to Roman, that’s what you get . . . but you can definitely hear the “sh” sound when the actors say it, and even after 20-something episodes, I still stumble over the show’s Romanized words sometimes.
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Post by tinkerbell on Sept 12, 2009 13:36:52 GMT -5
The actress playing the older Deokman is good, but the actress who played the young Deokman was outstanding! I just loved her enthusiasm! And yes, the actress playing the evil Misil is terrific. In so many scenes (where everyone else is jabbering) she doesn’t say a word. You just watch, and enjoy her facial expressions as the scene rolls on. Although the storyline in the early going has a few silly moments I agree. I loved the young Deokman. She had a bubbly personality, was smart, courageous adventuresome. I enjoyed the beginning scenes with her out in the desert at the trading post (or whatever it was). I also liked the fact that the different merchants from all over spoke their own language. There were some silly moments especially the glowing levitating egg. Also the fact that Deokman survived the rigorous training and battles yet still managed to conceal she was a woman. I wondered how she went to the bathroom and bathed without being discovered. Of course that all came out later. It was funny that the others all thought she was a very pretty guy. ;D Did they think "she" was a late bloomer with no facial hair or voice change? ;D All that aside, I did enjoy watching those scenes. Yes, Mishil doesn't have to speak, her face says it all. BTW mikey, what episode are you up to? I just watched ep 32.
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Post by mikey on Sept 12, 2009 16:17:00 GMT -5
I’m only up to episode #20, so it seems that I’m quite a ways behind you. Deokman survived the rigorous training and battles yet still managed to conceal she was a woman. I wondered how she went to the bathroom and bathed without being discovered. Of course that all came out later. Lots of people raved about the actress-playing-a-boy in “Coffee Prince,” but to me she just wasn’t that convincing. But Deokman really did come off like an adolescent boy, so her lack of facial hair or voice change didn’t bother me at all. However, it DID start to get to me after a few years had gone by, and she STILL wasn’t shaving with the guys. But again, given this shows many virtues, I could accept it. I also liked how a lot of (seemingly) far-fetched happenings eventually panned out into something logical. Somewhere around episode 10-12, we have the good guys asking aloud how Mishil could have acquired “her powers,” and I groaned that we were about to encounter some mystical gobbledygook (like the flying egg thing). But, in the end, Mishil’s mystical “powers” were perfectly and logically explained. I really liked that!
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Post by maranyc on Sept 13, 2009 15:48:22 GMT -5
I have MBC America temporarily as a 90 free trial from my new Verizon Fios and they are showing this drama. I like it as well and will have to try to catch the earlier episodes online - I think I am on Episode 20 also - not sure when it is on, have to keep checking the schedule.....I've liked Park Ye Jin since Thank You Life and then as Chulin in DJY of course.....plus it has 'Mimosa' from DJY and Mom's Dead Upset......I didn't realize that actors crossed over so much from KBS to MBC.....
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Post by consoleman on Sept 14, 2009 9:07:42 GMT -5
Historically Mishil wasn't that powerful, but at this TV series, she's so powerful figure.
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chuck
Junior Addict
Posts: 117
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Post by chuck on Sept 14, 2009 20:43:51 GMT -5
Spoilers
I'm a huge fan of the author of this series, since she penned Dae Jang Geum. You see the same great plot ability in Queen Seon Duk. Conflicts all over the place---not just between the good guys and the bad guys, but between the good guys themselves. The King and Queen having to banish their own daughter, she comes back only to find her existence is a threat to her mother's existence, and so forth. Such great value conflicts are what make drama, and this author has that ability in spades.
I'm up to episode 20, watching on DramaFever.com. It appears that one of the bad guys, Chil Suk (?), may have turned on Mishil out of remorse for what he had done to Sohwa and Deokman.
Even Mishil, the author cannot find it in her heart to make completely evil. Mishil had compassion on Chil Suk for falling, seemingly, in love with Sowha, since they had both sacrificed half of their lives in carrying out a task given to them by a superior. Mishil also has a lifelong remorse for forsaking her first love.
I love the author of this story!
Yushin is such a great character. Everyone else trembles at the sight of Mishil, but when she tried her wiles on him, he told her she could have him---only after she had killed him. That's my kind of hero.
I really liked the young Deokman too. She seemed to me like she could easily have played the adult Deokman, but I guess that was not to be. I do like the older Deokman, too.
As for Mishil, I adore Ko Hyun Jung. I've seen her also in H.I.T., and in What's Up Fox? She was convincing as a hero, as a romantic lady, and now, as the woman determined to overawe everyone she sees.
I also great approve of the emphasis on rational explanations for supposedly mystical occurences, specifically the Sadaham Maewha.
I have not yet figured out what the theme of the drama is. At first, it seemed to be simply Deokman's search for her own identity. But around episode 11 she and Yushin and Princess Chungmyeong (?) were all discussing the matter, and it seemed that Deokman had decided it was more important to: one, make herself something special, regardless of her past, and two, decide if the princess was someone worthy of serving. This, she said, was more important than finding out her own identity. But she still wants to know who she is, and why her "mother," Sowha, had to die.
I hope the theme is more along the line of making herself into someome special, and less about discoving her lineage. As someone once said:
"My fathers sleep on the sunrise plains, And each one sleeps alone. Their trails may dim to the grass and rains, For I choose to make my own. I lay proud claim to their blood and name, But I lean on no dead kin; My name is mine for praise or scorn, And the world began when I was born And the world is mine to win."
(from The Westerner, by Badger Clark)
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Post by pilseung on Sept 15, 2009 6:08:38 GMT -5
Spoilers I have not yet figured out what the theme of the drama is. I hope the theme is more along the line of making herself into someome special, and less about discoving her lineage. Deokman wants the people of Shilla to live well and be treated fairly.She hates the way Mishil has ruled with tyranny instilling fear over the innocent.The theme is that she does become someone special but mainly because of others......that is,the good people around her guard her and guide her with sincere hearts!!!So she gets things done the hard way with honor and intelligence.In history,she was known to be wise and intelligent.
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chuck
Junior Addict
Posts: 117
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Post by chuck on Sept 15, 2009 6:43:06 GMT -5
Deokman wants the people of Shilla to live well and be treated fairly.She hates the way Mishil has ruled with tyranny instilling fear over the innocent.The theme is that she does become someone special but mainly because of others......that is,the good people around her guard her and guide her with sincere hearts!!!So she gets things done the hard way with honor and intelligence.In history,she was known to wise and intelligent. Certainly Deokman does want to see Mishil's tyranny overturned. That's one of her goals, and a good one. But I don't agree that she becomes someone special "mainly because of others." Princess Chunmyeong had the same people helping her, and didn't become the great person Deokman did. Greatness comes from within, not from others. Of course she needed help, but her strength and integrity--the things that made her special--were all her own.
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Post by pilseung on Sept 15, 2009 9:45:01 GMT -5
Certainly Deokman does want to see Mishil's tyranny overturned. That's one of her goals, and a good one. But I don't agree that she becomes someone special "mainly because of others." Princess Chunmyeong had the same people helping her, and didn't become the great person Deokman did. Greatness comes from within, not from others. Of course she needed help, but her strength and integrity--the things that made her special--were all her own. Greatness does come from within...you are most definitely right.However,I was referring to people like Lord Munno,who though not quite fully knowing the answers himself at times,will pose many thoughtful questions to Deokman.These questions will probe Deokman into thinking in a unique and intelligent way(out of the box as it were) resulting in her finding ways,from within herself(like you suggest),to resolve difficult situations often initiated by Mishil and her "gangsters".This is what I meant by "mainly because of others".
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