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The 2009 Korean drama, starring Jung Il-Woo as Iljimae, Yoon Jin-Seo as Dal-Yi/Wol-Hee, Kim Min-Jong as Gu Ja-Myung, and Jung Hye-Young as Baek-Mae.
Brief synopsis: The baby Iljimae gets his start as a forsaken infant left in a creek, but is saved by the grace of a beggar and a Buddhist monk. The monk takes the baby to Qing where a good family raises him, but the boy knows that he’s different. Although all he’s known is the peace in Qing, things are going to take a drastic turn of events to turn him into Iljimae the Thief and Hero.
For the curious ones, this drama is NOT a sequel to the 2008 “Iljimae” starring Lee Joon-Gi. It’s a different interpretation of the story as found in the original 1975 comic by Ko Woo-Young. I’ve read comparisons between the two Iljimae’s and have finally seen both to formulate my own opinion: both are totally worth watching! The 2008 Iljimae is probably more in line with the plot of the comic, although the comic book is unavailable for me to verify this first hand. However, the 2009 “Return of Iljimae” is structured like a comic, is fast-paced, and leaves less plot holes.
Getting into this drama was a little more challenging because it was produced to look like a comic. It threw me off and I had to get used to the narrator’s commentary. I also had to adjust to the character types and recognize which ones to remember (the narrator actually helps in this part). I would concur with a lot of the advice I’ve read in other reviews: just get past episode 8 and then you won’t have trouble following the drama all the way until the end.
This drama has a contemporary feel probably because of the narrator’s commentary and comparisons. Some of the language is very modern although the drama is a sageuk. Also, please look past the fact that this show can’t really speak any Chinese or Japanese; that took getting used to as well.
Hwang Heng-Bu is a perfect example of things that started out as really strange for me, but then I came to like. At first, I thought “Why. Just why?” But I came to like his part! He was some comedic relief! He reminded me of a Tasmanian devil.
Although Jung Il-Woo is wonderful and a brilliant actor, there were plenty of times Iljimae wasn’t my favorite guy. He seemed to have problems with communication that he never really learned from (evident in the 24th episode) and thought it was okay to go on a murderous rampage if the situation called for it. Although his relationship with his significant other definitely seemed more fruitful than Yong’s and Eun-Chae’s ever could be (2008 Iljimae), I agreed with Geol-Chi: Wol-Hee should have found herself someone better with a little more stability (I mean, seriously)! His flakiness was practically agonizing and then he kept taking his time!
That being said, I heard that Lee Seung-Gi was offered this role before Jung Il-Woo was but turned it down. Just picturing it in my head, I'd argue that Jung Il-Woo was a much better, maybe even perfect, fit for this role!
I think it would have helped if Wol-Hee just came out and told him she was pregnant.
My heart hurts just a little bit for the character deaths. No spoilers, but I was really hoping I’d see a certain ship sail. And then it sank.
The drama is longer so that there are no loose ends. For instance, I thought the episodes in Japan were useless but then I realized that the perfect thief would have ninja skills! It’s very complete, something that the 2008 Iljimae was a little lacking on. Although it means that the show has so many episodes, I’m sure that everyone can appreciate the satisfactory feeling in the finale. Especially how they tied the last five minutes to the beginning that we saw in episode 1!
In conclusion, I might give it 4.5 stars but since a half-star emoji doesn’t exist I’ll round up anyways! It’s definitely different form the other “Iljimae,” but I loved watching both of them. 5/5 stars!
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