Jang Geum is not an ordinary drama because it was actually based in real life. In history, she is known to be a palace cook turned into royal physician but of course, like all history books made drama, producers has their ways in tweaking with the story line so a lot may have been changed. Setting that thought aside, I have enjoyed all 60 episodes of Jang Geum because in every episode, there are always different conflicts. In which will be solved on the next episode or the next. It keeps me on my toes and I just couldn’t help but get addicted to it. I like the thought that Jang Geum had great mentors so she could become the person whom the king trusted her to be. Then she also had different support systems: mainly King Jungjong, Capt. Min Jung Ho (the love interest), Yeon Saeng (her best friend), Lady Han Baek Young (her mentor) having this people around her she was able to survive the harsh world within the palace. Set things straight and become the Dae (meaning great) Jang Geum that she is known up to this date.
Oh and yeah, not to forget the romantic moments between Jang Geum and Jung Ho. Watching them in all those lovey-dovey moments was worth every tears I’ve shed for this drama.
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But, MDLers, I implore you: Hear me out!
I can see why people love this.
It's a powerful tale about a woman using her brain and talent to overcome great adversity (among other things; gender- and class discrimination) on her way to becoming a trail blazing legend and feminist role model.
This is a great premise! It's handsomely filmed, has a catchy soundtrack and is, for the most part, well acted out.
Too bad then that the overwhelming majority of the show consists of people in hanbok sitting around in cramped palace rooms, plotting and scheming their way to power.
And when they don't do that; they cook.
Now... as a foodie with a special love for Korean food - I didn't mind the amount of time that was spent on cooking. For around 20 episodes, in fact, that kept my spirits up. (While I was being forced to sit through more drab palace committee meetings than the queen of England.)
Somewhere around episode 20 though, was when I started fast forwarding.
By my own standards, that barely qualifies me to write a review for the whole drama. I speed-watched through most of episode 20 through to 45. That was when things started to pick up and get exciting again.
But I'm gonna. (Write a review anyway.)
Why? Because MDL needs a bad(ish) review to balance out the raves it's been getting so far.
In addition to all the mind-numbingly tedious conspiratorial meetings; one of the reasons I lost hope with this drama was the incessant look of surprise or despair on Jang Geums face. Both marked by a doe-eyed stare, while she wordlessly opens and shuts her mouth. It became increasingly difficult to root for what seemed like a cardboard place holder for a larger than life personality, rather than someone who had the actual range to express this.
I could also knit-pick over a number of annoyances with the script. Repetitive and weak plot devices, designed to needlessly heighten the feeling of life and death peril. However, these points are counterweighted by some truly wonderful portrayals of bonds of friendship and adopted family. So I'll let them slide.
Lastly, I see a lot of people praise the romance...
Lovers of romance; be warned! Out of 54 episodes (around 1h each) the sum total of the time that was spent on the romance in this whole series was around a couple of minutes.
Those few precious moments, often sprinkled half a dozen episodes apart, WERE sweet and memorable. Quantity doesn't always spell quality, after all...
I did expect more though. And so would probably you after reading other reviews.
In conclusion, I must say this:
I was moved to tears while watching this drama.
It was, however, mostly because I was bored to tears by all the politics.
THE GOOD
+ Feminist role model
+ Foodporn
+ Pretty cinematography
+ Lovely side characters
+ Utterly charming soundtrack
THE BAD
- Limited range of the main actress
- Very little time spent on the romance
- Endless meetings filled with scheming and palace intrigue
- No really... there's precious little else going on
THE SKINNY
You should watch this if politics and endless struggle for power gets your blood pumping.
You should avoid this at all cost if those exact things make you lose your will to live.
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plot: the plot was incredible, it was thrilling, complex, and simple gorgeous. I loved how they made it really feel like you watched an entire life take places and watched as the character grew and matured with the difficulties life presented her with. some people may not watch it because its so ridiculously long, but trust me, when you start watching it, you'll want it to be longer. the plot threw quite a few twists and new developments so I never grew bored of it and I found myself cheering for the characters who stood for justice.
characters: loved the characters. they were all so brilliantly crafted with their own unique quirks and characteristics that I found it easy to remember even minor characters. Plus there is a certain richness in the characters and character relationships that only really long dramas can bring about so when tragedy strikes and someone dies, the tears just keep gushing out. I also loved how even the villians had depth to them so that you couldn't completely hate them and even felt pity for them. Even though I often cursed one of the characters in this and found myself wanting to rip her face off, I actually cried when she died. that's how awesome they developed their characters.
music: I really just want to hug whoever was responsible for the music in this drama. They did an AMAZING job. I loved all the soundtracks played in this, it was both haunting and beautiful. I would seriously rewatch this drama just to listen to the soundtrack. Towards the last few episodes, the soundtrack at the end was especially creepy and haunting which was fitting and just plain awesome.
In the end I would highly recommend people to watch and then re-watch this drama. A very heartwarming and at the same time heartbreaking tale of overcoming your obstacles and learning to forgive and value yourself. beautiful coming of age drama. its one of those that don't leave your mind for a while. Definitely going to watch this again.
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From the very beginning you are rooting for Jang Geum, our heroine. And a heroine of her time is something she truly was!
She faces every problem with a strong will and pure heart, she is a true fighter in the sense that she never gives up.
I recommend this drama to anyone who likes historical dramas that also contain drama, a well developed plot and a broad cast of characters that will make you laugh, cry, be infuriated and much, much more!!!
I hope that anyone considering this series will give it a go because anyone who doesn't watch this will have missed a great show!!
It will always be warmly recommended by me and I hope others will feel the magic of this show as well...
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Although it was very good, it is too long, so I wouldn't watch it again just for that reason.
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How much do we need to put this poor girl through?
I stumbled upon this Sageuk in my constant search for something new, and found out that not only was this drama rated really high, but was also historically important for South Korea. Internationally-speaking, it was the very first historical K-Drama to really gain notoriety outside of SK's borders, and one of first one to give an accurate perspective of what life was really like for women under Joseon (a lot of Sageuks, especially nowadays, sugarcoat the Neo-Confucian ethics that dominated the region, sometimes very embarassingly). Knowing all of this, I was quite excited to watch a show about Joseon's first female Royal Physician: Jang-geum.The series actually started out really strong, showing the inner-working of the palace kitchen and the relationships between the women working there and the importance of this department in the whole grand scheme of the Joseon Bureaucracy. More than for "story", I wanted to watch this series to see how an early 2000s-era production of a Sageuk would translate today. Honestly, it looks great! Of course, it doesn't have a glossy sheen that all new Sagueks have, but I feel that if it were remastered into 720p/1080p, it would definitely work out even in today's production.
However, despite me being quite impressed with the production, acting, music, and script-writing initially...something started to make me dislike the series more and more as it went on. The show was no longer about a woman's struggle to realize her passion through a completely male-dominated Neo-Confucian world. It slowly became...almost a torture p*rn of some sort? I don't mean to crude, but really, how much do the scriptwriters want this poor woman to go through? I don't want to spoil anything for anyone who wants to watch this, but let it be known: you will have absolutely no breathing room. Every second, every scene, every sentence, is somehow connected to some woman or some man conspiring against Jang-geum in the most horrible way. Jang-guem suffers through so much in this show, and with absolutely no reward. It's an unforgiving show that will keep you at your seat, constantly trying to keep up with all the schemes people throw at this woman. I understand, what Jang-geum did was legendary and immensely (damn-near impossibly) difficult in the world that she lived in; however, I feel they could have portrayed her troubles in a different manner. The issue ultimately stems from this: were the script-writers trying to be *brutally* honest about Neo-Confucian ethics and hierarchy, or was this more for "show". My later sentences will show why I feel confused about this. Even if you wanted to be brutally honest, I think there could have been a much better way to portray it, with making the runtime of the show less tedious. The only thing that made this tolerable for me was the loyal group of friends Jang-geum kept with her throughout the episodes. Lemme tell you, if you had these kinds of friends in real life, they are 100% worth-keeping for their undying loyalty. Unfortunately, even Jang-geum's friends can't escape the curse of having everything bad happen to them as well.
In a nutshell: from the moment Jang-geum is born to the end of the show, everyone is conspiring against her. And this even applies to her inner-circle of friends as well. Not to mention, is it me, or is nearly every stranger Jang-geum interacts with automatically hostile to her in some way?
Again, I want to stress, I know how difficult things were for women back then, but I feel that this show goes a bit too far, or, at the very least, doesn't give you nearly enough time to swallow what's going on. It's a constant barrage of schemes, pain, and suffering towards Jang-geum. If you think I'm exaggerating, please watch the show yourself.
Also, this show has afforded waaaay too many 'conveniences' for my liking. Everyone seems to be at the wrong place at the wrong time (or the right place at the right time), everything that could go wrong does go wrong, the character constantly runs away only to end up right back where they started, Jang-geum is always right (and never wrong) and the villains are always wrong (almost a cut/paste Mary Sue character), objects that are supposed to be 'hidden' are always found by the villains, the super drawn-out 'forbidden love' in which the male is unable to help the female in much capacity, justice is somehow swift and harsh for our protagonists but the villains are always afforded some leniency, there's always some villain that happens listen on to a 'secret' conversation our protagonist is having with someone else, etc etc. It's tiring. How many tropes can you throw in one drama? I know it's hard to avoid using them, so if you're going to use them, use them sparingly and wisely.
If that wasn't enough, the ending is a complete waste of time. Believe me, once you go through all the episodes of this drama, only to see what this drama's ending has to offer, you will feel like you wasted your time.
I justify my 5/10 rating for this reason. It's a historically important Sageuk with incredibly competent production, with great acting and a sweeping soundtrack. I appreciate the history this drama tried to portray, and I have a lot of respect for the actors/actresses and scriptwriters as well who took on this massive undertaking. A story like this isn't easy to write, especially with a genre that is typically romance-driven or fantasy-driven. The story starts off good, but starts veering off into lunacy somewhere near the middle. The ending, is a complete bomb. There are too many 'conveniences' and cliches for me, and the main character gets abused to a sickening degree. It's a great show and a bad show at the same time.
Proceed with caution.
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I like the way it was built around the female lead in a way that few Dramas set in more recent times are. And I especially liked the fact that Jang Geum was shown as learning her skills, through study, practice, observation, trial and error. Obviously, dramatic licence inflated her skills and achievements, but not to the point of being “magick”, merely hyperbolic and perhaps anachronistic. In the current era of “geeenius” everything (ALWAYS male), it was refreshing to see a Drama built around a character who came across as real, and who earned her accomplishments on merit.
The contrast between this medieval medicine woman and a shrieky female psychiatrist in a currently airing Drama could hardly be greater. So, while I won’t be watching it again, and wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to others, I am very glad I watched it all. A modern day remake would be a must watch, I think 16-20 episodes following a woman’s rise to medical pre-eminence with an (at most) secondary loveline. A man can dream, right?
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Epic memorable sageuk classic Kdrama
One of the first few Kdrama I watched with my mum like 20yrs ago and still memorable. It is a drama that makes me hooked on Kdrama and have been watching ever since.Every episode is so engaging, Jang Geum's endearing and inspiring character makes the story so beautiful! It is also one of the rare few food period drama in the history, without much VFX and making everything looks so good.
Now that I recalled the song is in my head and recalled the dishes, politics and relationship in the drama. Worth rewatching!
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