It’s at all times good to see Namgoong Min again on the small display, and he’s chosen one thing a little bit completely different from his standard modern fare. “My Dearest” is poised to be a lush sageuk within the vein of “The Red Sleeve,” “Tree With Deep Roots,” and “Empress Ki.” It’s been some time since there was a non-fusion historic drama, and the premiere episodes ship all of the depth, magnificence, and heartache that conventional sageuks accomplish that nicely. Here’s what we liked concerning the first couple of episodes!

Warning: spoilers for episodes 1-2 under.

1. The twin timelines

We begin off in 1659, the place a historian occurs to get his fingers on a file that ought to have been erased from all data. It states that Crown Prince So Hyun (Kim Mu Jun) was manipulated by a person who lied about his exploits on the battlefield. The man was additionally someway chargeable for the autumn of the crown prince and rise of the current regime. Something about it doesn’t sit proper with the historian, so he assigns up-and-coming investigator Shin Yi Rib (Ha Kyung) to seek out out extra about this mysterious man, Lee Jang Hyun (Namgoong Min).

Yi Rib’s search takes him to a white-haired man who is taken into account insane and has been locked up for years. We don’t see who this different man is, however we all know from his physician that he’s been vowing for years that Lee Jang Hyun would come again for him. Yi Rib asks how this all got here to be, and we minimize to a bloodstained Jang Hyun, injured and weary, going through off in opposition to a sea of enemies who surprisingly look like Korean. He seems to be like he’s on the finish of the road however nonetheless picks up his robust and turns to them.

The present cuts to 1636, 23 years up to now and previous to the Qing invasion. The twin timelines right here work to construct a way of dread and anticipation for what might be coming the characters’ method as a result of we all know that Jang Hyun is taken into account a liar within the current and that the one file along with his title wasn’t speculated to exist. Just what occurred over 23 years for issues to go so unsuitable? Is Jang Hyun alive now? And who’s the white-haired man being locked up? There are so many questions!

2. Lee Jang Hyun’s quiet depth

Lee Jang Hyun walks into the sleepy village of Neunggun-ri and scandalizes a lot of the students and younger girls there by charming all of the elders and flouting many social mores. No one is aware of the place he’s from, however they do know that he’s a rich dealer with a knack for realizing simply what individuals want. Jang Hyun turns into a sizzling matter as a result of he drinks in broad daylight and has brazenly vowed off marriage. He’s cultured and clever however has little interest in exhibiting individuals simply how a lot. He doesn’t brag, reads individuals nicely, and it by no means takes him lengthy to have somebody wrapped round his finger. This contains the numerous girls who’ve tried and did not snag him in marriage. And he’s at all times up entrance with them from the beginning: marriage isn’t one thing he’s fascinated about. Naturally, the village’s girls have equally little curiosity in him.

But one thing lurks beneath Jang Hyun’s floor that hints at ruthless intelligence, coupled with a life that confirmed him an excessive amount of at too younger an age. Outside the village, he’s the ruthless righthand to an outpost dealer and even orders a homicide with out flinching. Namgoong Min excels at taking part in characters who’re greater than what they appear. He has this unimaginable method of exhibiting that a number of undercurrents are operating beneath his character’s outward calm. And that makes Lee Jang Hyun an extremely magnetic character, each fiercely restrained along with his feelings but exhausted with the world and everybody in it. Until he occurs to run into Gil Chae.

3. Yoo Gil Chae, charmer extraordinaire

At first, Yoo Gil Chae (Ahn Eun Jin) looks as if she doesn’t have any depth. She’s fairly, and he or she is aware of it and makes use of her seems to be to make sure that each scholar on the town is chasing after her regardless that she has little interest in them. She makes use of them as a way of exhibiting all the opposite ladies on the town (who hate her) that she’s higher than them. It’s a hen and egg scenario. The different ladies on the town can’t stand the best way males fawn round her, in order that they gossip about her being a fox (a lady who seduces any man in sight). Gil Chae hates the gossip, so she goes out of her method to enchant all the lads the opposite ladies need. In a time the place a girl’s solely social forex was how wealthy, linked, and good-looking her husband was, the truth that Gil Chae and the opposite younger girls do that every single day is only a byproduct of systemic failure.

But Gil Chae isn’t only a flighty, wealthy lady who desires of affection. She’s in love with Nam Yeon Joon (Lee Hak Joo), a scholar who attends Sungkyunkwan within the capital. The hassle is that he’s in love with Kyung Eun Ae (Lee Da In). Determined to safe his coronary heart, she decides to study metropolis individuals so she will be able to impress and appeal him. And who higher to enlist than Jang Hyun, even when she actually doesn’t like him?

Gil Chae sees Jang Hyun as a person as much as no good the place girls are involved. Still, a part of her is shocked when it looks as if he has little interest in her. She makes him a proposal. Seeing as they’ve little interest in one another romantically, if he reveals her the methods of metropolis people, she’ll let him in on the exams inquiries to be admitted as a scholar to the city’s academy. She’s elated when Jang Hyun agrees, unaware that he’s doing it as a result of he’s fallen head over heels for her.

What’s so refreshing about Gil Chae and Jang Hyun is that they don’t play video games with one another, however additionally they don’t pressure individuals to reciprocate their emotions. The second Jang Hyun realizes that he’s in love, he doesn’t dump it on her. He lets her imagine that she’s utilizing him however genuinely reveals her the perfect of the town. He even laughs when she believes that he’s impotent.

Namgoong Min’s smile is a harmful weapon

He gently factors out that simply because he isn’t falling at her toes like all the students doesn’t imply that he isn’t a person. It’s solely when she’s brutally rejected by Yeon Joon that he specific his curiosity, in fact with marriage not on the desk.

Gil Chae is equally trustworthy. Despite her immaturity at instances, she’s exhausting to not love. She senses that Yeon Joon is fascinated about her, so she pursues him. And she isn’t unsuitable—he completely does have curiosity in her. He simply is extra fascinated about Kyung Ae. When Jang Hyun expresses curiosity proper after she’s rejected, she doesn’t run into his arms to appease her delight. She informs him that she has no curiosity and storms off. He takes no for a solution and nearly provides up, till he sees her crying. He can’t assist himself and reaches to wipe the tear, when catastrophe strikes. War has begun.

4. The political warfare that’ll break up our duo aside

The first couple episodes present fragments of the bigger political actions happening whereas residents go about their lives. Much of the occasions listed below are traditionally correct, although altered for the needs of the drama. In temporary, on the time in China, the Ming Dynasty was in the course of warfare with the Later Jin dynasty, led by Hong Taiji (Kim Joon Won). The Later Jin had invaded Joseon in early 1627, and Joseon technically misplaced. However, the king on the time was deposed, and King Injo (Kim Jong Tae) was positioned on the throne. Injo severed all relations with the Later Jin and shaped robust ties with the Ming Dynasty. However, that seems to be a foul thought.

Nine years after the primary invasion, the Later Jin have weakened the Ming Dynasty and had sufficient of being ignored by Joseon, in order that they’re again. Hong Taiji calls for that Injo acknowledge him because the true authority in China. Injo doesn’t. And Taiji, recent off a sequence of navy victories, commences warfare. Historically, the warfare lasts about two months, and the Later Jin wins and turns into the Qing Dynasty. Even King Injo will fall and get replaced by King Hyojong. The present has a lot to cowl in 23 years, and it’s executed a unbelievable job of balancing and situating the smaller moments between the characters throughout the bigger shifting political panorama.

“My Dearest” has executed an unimaginable job so far, fastidiously crafting two lovers whose fates will dangle on forces they can not management. This present is break up in two components, with 10 episodes now and 10 in October, so I’m anticipating cliffhangers and heartbreak a a lot. The present is superbly shot with each actor bringing their A-game that that is going to harm so good. Bring it on, present!

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What did you consider the primary two episodes? Let us know your ideas within the feedback under!

Shalini_A is a very long time Asian-drama addict. When not watching dramas, she fangirls over Ji Sung, and spins thrillers set in more and more unbelievable worlds. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram, and be at liberty to ask her something!

Currently Watching:  “Longing for You,” “My Dearest,” “Not Others,” “Heartbeat,” and “My Lovely Liar.”
Looking Forward to: “Gyeongseong Creature,” “Ask The Stars,” “The Girl Downstairs,” “The Worst Evil,” “Queen of Tears,” “Vigilante,” “Daily Dose of Sunshine,” and Ji Sung’s subsequent drama.