1
1
Vera
Sweden
This review may contain spoilers
A mature historical kdrama - might or might not frustrate you.
My Dearest is a epic masterpiece most of the time - with beautiful cinematography, interesting plot and amazing acting. Set during 1600s when Qing declared war with Joseon, it tells the tough violent times with many innnocent lives lost, killed in brutal ways… In midst of the tragedy, there is Gil Chae, who started as an arrogant, spoiled young woman from a noble family, but who is forced to mature quickly because of war! And then there is the cynical realist Jang Hyun, who has seen it all. He”s a mysterious man with a dark past who is fascinated by the bold Gil Chae, she who has many men drooling after her because of her beauty and is disliked by other women because of jealousy and because she is not ladylike and is quite ”scandalous” known for flirting around. But she is in love with the scholar Yeon Jun, she tries everything to get his attention, but he’s engaged to her only friend - Eun Ae. Anyways everything is peaceful, but then war starts and it changes everything forever, Jang Hyun falls deeply in love with Gil Chae, Gil Chae however is confused by her own feelings …
My Dearest is somewhat loosely based on the classic Gone With the Wind, but it grows into its own unique story without much common with Gone With the Wind anymore. My Dearest is a serious, dark ”proper” historical drama, not one of those youthful lighthearted historical dramas with idol actors. The acting here is amazing and of highest quality, the quality overall is on the same league as Mr. Sunshine! Definitely not a cheap drama! Characters are multidimensional, flawed and complex. Both main leads - Jang Hyun and Gil Chae are very interesting characters. Jang Hyun is anything but naive, he doesn’t live in some bubble, he knows How dangerous, powerful and strong those ”barbarians” are, and that the Joseon men fighting in the war will most likely lose. Because he is not unfraid to be brutally honest, he is not popular among the others. Besides that, he has this playful nature, in order to hide his dark past. He is a womanizer who never wants to marry and he lives without a purpose. Just like Gil Chae, he is concidered ”scandalous”.
When Jang Hyun meets the much younger Gil Chae, he experiences true love. He loves teasing her, which often makes her angry. Just like the others, she looks down on him and is quite mean to him too, he is far from her ideal type…but when war starts she sees another side of him, and gets confused by her own feelings. Gil Chae, who has been in love with another man for years, refuses at first to admit her growing feelings for him, not only because she is in love with someone else, also because she doesn’t see him as serious since he teases her a lot and not wanting to ever marry.
The other characters are interesting too… we have Yeon Jun, an idealist who has studied confucianism all his life, he has been taught to put the King first, having him as the first priority, he is engaged to Eun Ae, an soft gentle young woman who is great at reading other people and a great observer, unlike Gil Chae. However, she is not nearly as strong as Gil Chae.
She loves Yeon Jun, despite not putting her first. But does Yeon Jun truly love Eun Ae?? Or is he with her only because she is the safe choice, while he has feelings for Gil Chae, but won’t act on them because she is too strong-willed for him, not some ”proper” lady. Then there is Ryung Eum, a legendary singer and Jang Hyun’s friend, he has a big Secret that he keeps to himself…
Despite the big age gap between Namkoong Min and Ahn Eun Jin the chemistry is AMAZING! I love their characters banter, how they quarrel and How both are so strong willed, refusing to back down! Sometimes Gil Chae gets a bit too harsh and mean to Jang Hyun, but we see she cares for him a lot. Jang Hyun sees Gil Chae for who she truly is, he admires her strength… would Yeon Jun admire Gil Chae’s strength? I doubt it,while he likes her he doesn’t want to a bold woman, he wants someone submissive. Anyways, Jang Hyun is willing to go so far for Gil Chae, and yes it’s frustrating because she doesn’t know that… but it’s not really her fault, because he never tells her how much he is willing to sacrifice for her. By the way, it’s such a delight to see how Gil Chae develops so much, how strong she actually is… at first you think she is quite stupid, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth… when it comes to surviving she is very smart. I love that.
Jang Hyun really grows on you, at first I didn’t know really want to think of him although I admired him for his brutal honesty and for being a realist, but I ended up really loving him and feel for him. He is without a dobt the best character in My Dearest, for me, and one of my all time favorite male leads in dramaland! Behind his playfulness he is quite vulnerable, all he wants is Gil Chae’s love! Namkoong Min does an outstanding job, he plays his character with so much depth. I’m glad they casted him, besides his outstanding acting he has a mature face, which in my opinion is important , because his character is supposed to be older who has been through a looot, I’m thankful they casted him instead of some younger baby faced actor. And Ahn Eun Jin is also outstanding! She plays her character so well, I’m glad she’s getting more popular. All actors are amazing!
This drama is very realistic, the sword fighting is great and the makers of this drama has done a great job potraying the uglyness of war, how it affects people, how it destroys them. Since My Dearest is for mature audience, it can get very brutal and violent. But that’s How it was during the Qing invasion of Joseon,people were tortured in the most horrific way possible, women were raped, etc. What I love about this drama is that the makers are not obsessed about having the actors look like flawless dolls, the make up artists actually makes them look dirty/ messy. Just as it should, there is no way during wars that they looked perfect and flawless, with make up on. Kudos to the makers of this drama, the make up artists… and kudos to the actors for not being scared of not looking perfect all the time!
Many says that ep 1-2 are not that interesting, that its not until ep 4 this drama gets VERY interesting! I liked ep 1-2 but yeah, it definitely got more interesting in ep 4. But it was important to introduce the characters in the first 2 episodes, so that we get to know a bit what they are like. My Dearest is a very tragically beautiful drama with lots of heart put into it, it’s a roller coaster full of emotions! I have to keep my breath sometimes, it’s a stressful drama because you never know what will happen and you fear for the characters, etc. it’s far from a predictable story, far from being cliche. I love that this drama is quite fast paced, I never feel bored!
Thanks to this drama I learned a lot about Korea’s history, I had no idea prior to this that there was war between Qing and Joseon. And learning about Khan, Mongolians and Manchu people was really interesting, it was interesting to see actors portraying them. They could be really brutal!
Honestly, tho … the love story can be very frustrating , because Gil Chae… For part 2- hopefully it will have the same high quality in part 2 too, which I think it will, because supposedly they split this into 2 parts so that the quality wouldn’t be less. .. I just hope that Gil Chae will realize how much she loves Jang Hyun, who’s done so much for her. So overall, a great watch if you can handle some very frustrating moments.. sometimes I felt like banging my head into wall to be honest, but the greatness is far stronger …
My Dearest is somewhat loosely based on the classic Gone With the Wind, but it grows into its own unique story without much common with Gone With the Wind anymore. My Dearest is a serious, dark ”proper” historical drama, not one of those youthful lighthearted historical dramas with idol actors. The acting here is amazing and of highest quality, the quality overall is on the same league as Mr. Sunshine! Definitely not a cheap drama! Characters are multidimensional, flawed and complex. Both main leads - Jang Hyun and Gil Chae are very interesting characters. Jang Hyun is anything but naive, he doesn’t live in some bubble, he knows How dangerous, powerful and strong those ”barbarians” are, and that the Joseon men fighting in the war will most likely lose. Because he is not unfraid to be brutally honest, he is not popular among the others. Besides that, he has this playful nature, in order to hide his dark past. He is a womanizer who never wants to marry and he lives without a purpose. Just like Gil Chae, he is concidered ”scandalous”.
When Jang Hyun meets the much younger Gil Chae, he experiences true love. He loves teasing her, which often makes her angry. Just like the others, she looks down on him and is quite mean to him too, he is far from her ideal type…but when war starts she sees another side of him, and gets confused by her own feelings. Gil Chae, who has been in love with another man for years, refuses at first to admit her growing feelings for him, not only because she is in love with someone else, also because she doesn’t see him as serious since he teases her a lot and not wanting to ever marry.
The other characters are interesting too… we have Yeon Jun, an idealist who has studied confucianism all his life, he has been taught to put the King first, having him as the first priority, he is engaged to Eun Ae, an soft gentle young woman who is great at reading other people and a great observer, unlike Gil Chae. However, she is not nearly as strong as Gil Chae.
She loves Yeon Jun, despite not putting her first. But does Yeon Jun truly love Eun Ae?? Or is he with her only because she is the safe choice, while he has feelings for Gil Chae, but won’t act on them because she is too strong-willed for him, not some ”proper” lady. Then there is Ryung Eum, a legendary singer and Jang Hyun’s friend, he has a big Secret that he keeps to himself…
Despite the big age gap between Namkoong Min and Ahn Eun Jin the chemistry is AMAZING! I love their characters banter, how they quarrel and How both are so strong willed, refusing to back down! Sometimes Gil Chae gets a bit too harsh and mean to Jang Hyun, but we see she cares for him a lot. Jang Hyun sees Gil Chae for who she truly is, he admires her strength… would Yeon Jun admire Gil Chae’s strength? I doubt it,while he likes her he doesn’t want to a bold woman, he wants someone submissive. Anyways, Jang Hyun is willing to go so far for Gil Chae, and yes it’s frustrating because she doesn’t know that… but it’s not really her fault, because he never tells her how much he is willing to sacrifice for her. By the way, it’s such a delight to see how Gil Chae develops so much, how strong she actually is… at first you think she is quite stupid, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth… when it comes to surviving she is very smart. I love that.
Jang Hyun really grows on you, at first I didn’t know really want to think of him although I admired him for his brutal honesty and for being a realist, but I ended up really loving him and feel for him. He is without a dobt the best character in My Dearest, for me, and one of my all time favorite male leads in dramaland! Behind his playfulness he is quite vulnerable, all he wants is Gil Chae’s love! Namkoong Min does an outstanding job, he plays his character with so much depth. I’m glad they casted him, besides his outstanding acting he has a mature face, which in my opinion is important , because his character is supposed to be older who has been through a looot, I’m thankful they casted him instead of some younger baby faced actor. And Ahn Eun Jin is also outstanding! She plays her character so well, I’m glad she’s getting more popular. All actors are amazing!
This drama is very realistic, the sword fighting is great and the makers of this drama has done a great job potraying the uglyness of war, how it affects people, how it destroys them. Since My Dearest is for mature audience, it can get very brutal and violent. But that’s How it was during the Qing invasion of Joseon,people were tortured in the most horrific way possible, women were raped, etc. What I love about this drama is that the makers are not obsessed about having the actors look like flawless dolls, the make up artists actually makes them look dirty/ messy. Just as it should, there is no way during wars that they looked perfect and flawless, with make up on. Kudos to the makers of this drama, the make up artists… and kudos to the actors for not being scared of not looking perfect all the time!
Many says that ep 1-2 are not that interesting, that its not until ep 4 this drama gets VERY interesting! I liked ep 1-2 but yeah, it definitely got more interesting in ep 4. But it was important to introduce the characters in the first 2 episodes, so that we get to know a bit what they are like. My Dearest is a very tragically beautiful drama with lots of heart put into it, it’s a roller coaster full of emotions! I have to keep my breath sometimes, it’s a stressful drama because you never know what will happen and you fear for the characters, etc. it’s far from a predictable story, far from being cliche. I love that this drama is quite fast paced, I never feel bored!
Thanks to this drama I learned a lot about Korea’s history, I had no idea prior to this that there was war between Qing and Joseon. And learning about Khan, Mongolians and Manchu people was really interesting, it was interesting to see actors portraying them. They could be really brutal!
Honestly, tho … the love story can be very frustrating , because Gil Chae… For part 2- hopefully it will have the same high quality in part 2 too, which I think it will, because supposedly they split this into 2 parts so that the quality wouldn’t be less. .. I just hope that Gil Chae will realize how much she loves Jang Hyun, who’s done so much for her. So overall, a great watch if you can handle some very frustrating moments.. sometimes I felt like banging my head into wall to be honest, but the greatness is far stronger …
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