Love is.....

After finishing two dramas which I enjoyed very much, Jumong and Phoenix, I would like to recommend them to those of you if you still haven’t seen them, especially if you are fans of Song Il Gook and Lee Seo Jin. One is a historical drama while the other is a modern day drama, but they both focus on the LOVE theme. Love does not necessarily mean only romance though, as you will see when you watch these two dramas.

Don’t let the 81 episodes of Jumong put you off as this drama is action packed and quite addictive once you’ve started on it. Playing the leading role of Jumong is the very popular actor Song Il Gook who has starred in dramas such as A Man Called God, The Kingdom of the Winds, Lobbyist, Emperor of the Sea, Terms of Endearment, Bodyguard and Did We Really Love. This drama portrays great emotions, you can feel the anguish, the rage, the sadness, the love, the rivalry, the jealousy, the hatred, the frustration, the agony and the pain. What I loved to see were the elaborate costumes and the accessories. Even the armored vests were so well designed. I just loved the wedding scene of Jumong and Lady So-seon (Han Hye Jin) looking so splendid in red with their golden crowns (which we can still see in the museums of Korea today.) Han Hye-jin has starred in dramas such as Terroir, Jejungwon, Be Strong, Geum-Soon, Romance  and 1% of Anything.

This is the story of Jumong who lived longing for the chance to meet his father, who was in fact his teacher, during a short period of time in his life, only that he didn’t know it then. He loved a woman but ended up marrying a different one and eventually broke up with her, but all these trials and sadness did not get in the way of his destiny. His legacy to the Korean people was the great historical triumph of winning back the skies of the Old Joseon and establishing the Goguryeo Dynasty.

It’s also the story of So Seo-no, a wise and strong queen, who had the intelligence and foresight to look out for the future generations but because she was a woman she could not live her dreams. She was not afraid of death but because she was from a weak nation, she had to bear a pain more painful than death. Although she couldn’t become the love of a lifetime to a certain man, she stands up to be a most powerful and wise leader. The first queen history remembers, in a time when love was lavished, yet not considered everything.

Then there’s Dae So, jealously itself, who as a child lost all his father’s love to Jumong. As an adult he bore a scar from not being able to be with the woman he loved. He brought Jumong’s father to his death and did everything he could to take Soo Seo-no away from Jumong. On the other hand there’s Geum Wa, an affectionate king of Bu-yeo who fought in a war against the Han Nation alongside Hae Mo-soo.  The two shared a friendship even thicker than blood but eventually surrendered to the Han nation after which he betrayed Hae Mo-soo. He later took in Hae Mo-soo’s wife, Lady Yu-hwa , a woman who lived every day longing for Hae Mo-soo, as his own wife, when Hae Mo-soo was presumed dead. He took care of Jumong, as his own with both love and hatred and a very heavy sense of guilt. Actually the King was also in love with Lady Yu-hwa long ago but he gave in when he knew that Hae Mo-soo was also in love with her. So Jumong grew up as the third prince inside the palace, hated by the queen, Queen Won-hu and his two older brothers, but loved by the king. One day, during a quest to find the legendary artifacts of the kingdom, Jumong’s brothers plotted against him and he nearly died, only to be saved by So Seo-no, a merchant's daughter whom he eventually fell in love with.  At the same time, Prince Dae-so, the elder son of the king also fell for her when he saw her. Love was in the air and that was when the rivalry and hatred first stemmed between Prince Dae-so and Jumong. It was obvious that So Seo-no loved Jumong which made Prince Dae-so even more jealous of Jumong. So the story develops from there. There was also the younger prince, Prince Yeong-po, a weakling and not that intelligent, who also harbored the idea of becoming the crown prince too. It was a well-known fact that Jumong was not good in martial arts and sword fighting, so his mother sent him for secret training under Musong (Head Guard of a Secret Prison) built in a cave outside the city. And that was where Jumong met his real father, the legendary Hae Mo-su, only that, he was unaware of the fact then.   

So Seo-no knew that she could not refuse Prince Dae-so’s request that she become his concubine, so she married one of her father’s trusted employees who was actually in love with her. He knew about her love for Jumong and yet he was willing to wait until she could forget about Jumong. They eventually had two sons but he died in a war with another tribe. So Seo-no was very intelligent, wise and courageous and was not afraid to speak her mind which made her a lot of enemies.

Jumong was very heartbroken when he learnt of So Seo-no’s marriage but he didn’t know of the great sacrifice she had made, as she was still very much in love with Jumong, just to avoid becoming the concubine of Prince Dae-so, whom she disliked. So he got married to Ye-so-ya, someone whom he saved and brought back with him. As Jumong was living outside the palace most of the time fighting one war or other in trying to fulfill his father’s dream of uniting the whole of Korea as one strong unified nation, he never even saw his son Yuri being born. It was Jumong’s destiny to marry his first love, So Seo-no, although it was more of a marriage of convenience so to speak. The alliance of So Seo-no’s and Jumong’s armies brought them victory but in order to stop the division of allegiance as both parties wanted their respective leaders to be king, So Seo-no agreed to marry Jumong though she knew that Jumong was pining and looking for his wife and child who had escaped from the palace without any trace. As fate would have it, his wife, Ye-so-ya and son, Yuri, did manage to find him during his wedding to So Seo-no but they left without meeting Jumong because Ye-so-ya felt that it was more important that Jumong fulfill and realize his and his father’s dreams to build a new country.

One thing that I loved the most about this drama is the theme of sacrifice and true love. The women in this drama truly give their all to their loved ones without expecting anything in return. The love that is portrayed in this drama is even bigger than the history itself. ‘Love’ seems to be the one common denominator across people of all generations and nations. ‘Love’ gets swept away with the waves of time and also gets hurt with biased views in societies, but it also creates a new kind of history by wrestling against adversity and the trials of time. True love, which is uncommonly seen in history, is re-drawn through this drama of Korea’s once forgotten history. Here we see the sacrifices two women had to make for the sake of one man, Jumong. The first one was when So Seo-no got married to someone else instead of Jumong, the second, when Ye-so-ya left after seeing her husband being married to So Seo-no and the third when So Seo-no left after Ye-so-ya and Yuri were reunited with Jumong again so that they could be in their rightful place beside Jumong. Isn’t this what love is all about, the giving.

And now for the other drama ‘Phoenix’ also on the LOVE theme.  Perhaps my judging of this drama may be a bit biased since my heart-throb, Lee Seo Jin, is acting in it. Who doesn’t like to see dramas with nice looking actors and actresses?

Love is timing. Love needs just the "right time". It's not because you loved him or her less that you parted. Heaven brings you your soul mate when the time is just "right". "Phoenix" shows you this heaven's work.

There is a young couple who desperately fell in love but who couldn't be together because the time wasn't just right for them. Years pass by and these two meet again. And the trick of fortune switches their situation and environment. A daughter of a millionaire has now become a dometic helper suffering from the grim realities of life. On the other hand, an orphan self-supporting student is now an accomplished wealthy businessman. Now these two people are looking at the world with different eyes. The childlike girl has finally learned the harshness of the world and the guy with once twisted mind has learned to enjoy the latitude of the mind. In the end, these two start to understand each other, thus arriving at the "right time".

There are four main actors/actresses in this drama, namely, Jang, Sae-Hoon, Lee Ji-Eun, Yoon, Mi-Ran, and Suh, Jung-Min.
Our hero, Jang, Sae-Hoon (Acted by Lee Seo-Jin) was raised by his father and grew up with great ambitions for success and fame. Then he lost his father in a car accident and started working part-time job at a gas station to make his living. His life was a hard one indeed but he's a natural born genius who has never missed a scholarship in school. One day out of the blue, a girl, Ji-Eun came storming into his life, a girl of a completely different background and character from himself. Knowing just too well of the harsh reality and of what awaits them ahead, he pushes her away. Ji-Eun however, is keen to get his heart and in the end, they get married. But as he expected, their marriage life was not a rosy one and Ji-Eun soon leaves him.
After signing the divorce papers, he got on a plane heading for New York and a "new life". After a series of all kinds of ups and downs, he accomplishes the "American Dream" and becomes a newly polished person, William Jang.
10 years have passed and he returns to Korea. Maybe it's a twist of fate, He finds himself standing in front of her once again, only this time, he has someone, beside him, a girl named Mi-Ran who used to study   together with Ji-Eun in Boston. Ten years ago, he had nothing to offer Ji-Eun but he loved her with all of his heart. Can he really let her go now that she's come back into his life again?
Then there’s our heroine, Lee Ji-Eun who had grown up doing everything she liked,  in other words, she was a spoilt brat  Her father was the successful CEO of a textile group while her mother was a hopeless and immature lady who only knows to live luxuriously.

She comes home from Boston for holidays and as usual, she goes around acting like a spoiled little brat. One day, suddenly Sae-Hoon comes into her life and she desperately falls for him. But naturally, her parents are not too happy  about it. Ji-Eun doesn't give up here and purposely gets pregnant. She leaves her parents and her luxurious life behind and starts her life with Sae-Hoon in a tiny weeny room. But very soon, she wakes up to  reality and starts to get tired of her life of destitution. As misery loves company, she gets a miscarriage and realizes she can't die for love. She gives a point-blank "no" and leaves Sae-Hoon. After divorce, upon hearing that Sae-Hoon is leaving Korea, she drives like crazy to the airport thinking it'd be her last chance to get him back. But again fate is still cruel to her and takes her father away in a car accident. With her father's sudden death and the fall of her family, hopeless Ji-Eun picks up the phone and calls Sae-Hoon who, without knowing her situation, coldly turns her down. She bites hard towards the harsh world and to Sae-Hoon as well.
10 years have also passed for her. Now a 32 year old divorcee, Ji-Eun is a completely different person. With a maniac-depressive mother and trouble maker sister, she has now become the bread winner of her family, totally different from the reckless little brat she was.
And another love comes knocking on her door. Jung Min is no doubt the perfect prince charming every girl would die for. Then, again she finds someone whom she desperately wanted to get off her mind but whom she just couldn't forget. Now her so-called ex-husband Sae-Hoon turns up in front of her. And the twist of their fates makes them meet as client and worker.
Yoon, Mi-Ran (Acted by Jeong Hae-Yeong,) daughter of a rich real estate agent, she grew up in a wealthy, carefree environment. Somehow, she has always felt somewhat inferior to Ji-Eun. Without knowing Sae-Hoon was once married to Ji-Eun, she gets to know Sae-Hoon at one Christmas donation party. She also desperately falls for him and decides to make him hers doing everything possible. She did manage to get Sae-Hoon to be with her but this was due to a car accident. The accident makes her live in a wheel chair. Feeling guilty and responsible for the accident, Sae-Hoon decides to marry her. Things get more complicated when Mi-Ran learns of Sae-Hoon's ex-wife. She then becomes more obsessed with Sae-hoon in order not to lose him to her lifetime rival Ji-Eun. She even hides that she can now walk again...
Then there’s Suh, Jung-Min (Acted by Eric Moon)  the prince charming of Suh-Rin group. The term "Prince Charming" always comes with his name. He seems to have everything: the colorful background as the heir of Suh-Rin, perfectly good-looking face, gentleman-like manners, talents in every sports. Maybe it could even be said that the word "perfect" is made for this kind of person.
When he graduated from a prestigious university in Boston with honors, people were putting highest hopes on him. However even to him was a twisted fate...
He can never forget the day when he lost his twin brother. Only if he had not shouted out to his brother..".Come on, you can do better than that. Beat me!" He has been feeling guilty for the accident ever since as if to revenge himself on his twisted fate, he just goes on enjoying living a life of a debauchee. He's got everything but himself. Then fate brings him Ji-Eun...

So in this drama we have 2 men fighting for the same lady and 1 very obsessive and jealous lady fighting for one of the men. Which one will the lady choose, the man from her past or the present?  I won’t tell you, so you’d better watch this drama if you want to know the ending. One thing I want to say is that I certainly learnt a lot about love from this drama.

Will tell you about The Kingdom of the Wind in my next posting..