Jumong

 

 

 

 

 

Cast:
Jumong: Song Il Kook (Emperor of the Sea)

King of Koguryo

He is the son of Hae Mo-soo and Yu Hwa but grows up as the son of Geum Wa, a person who betrayed his father. He lives longing for the chance to meet his father, who is his teacher, again but he dies and lives the rest of his life not knowing that his teacher was his father. He loves a woman but ends up marrying a different one and eventually breaks up with her, but all these trials and sadness do not get in the way of his destiny. His legacy to the Korean people is the great historical triumph of winning back the skies of the Old Joseon and establishing the Goguryeo Dynasty.

 

So Seo-no: Han Hye Jin (Romance)

Wise and Strong Queen
She 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.

Dae-so: Kim Seung Soo (Million Roses)

Jealousy itself

As a child he lost all his father’s love to Jumong. As an adult he bears a scar from not being able to be with the woman he loved. He brings Jumong’s father to his death and also does everything he can do to take Soo Seo-no away from him.

Geum-wa: Jun Kwang Ryul (Trap of Youth/Age of Heroes)

An affectionate king
Fought in a war with the Han Nation alongside of Hae Mo-soo; the two shared a friendship even thicker than blood but eventually surrender to the Han nation after which he betrays Hae Mo-soo.
He takes in Hae Mo-soo’s wife, a woman who lives every day longing for Hae Mo-soo, as his own wife and also takes care of Hae Mo-soo’s son as his son with both love and hatred and a very heavy sense of guilt.

Yoo-hwa: Oh Yeon Su (Second Proposal)

Motherhood of sadness
The daughter of Ha Baek-joek, she has looks so stunning that anyone would fall in love with her at first sight.
She nurses Hae Mo-soo’s wounds with great devotion but ends up facing a tragedy when her people get murdered by the Han army for hiding Hae Mo-soo.
After hearing that Hae Mo-soo has passed away she falls into great sadness, but gets married to Geum Wa and gives birth to Hae Mo-soo’s son Jumong.

 

Hae Mo-soo: Huh Joon Ho (Hotelier)

Tragic hero
He is the hero of South Korea race who led the Dawou soldiers. He loved Yoohwa and never even got to meet his son, Jumong.

 

Yesoya: Song Ji Yo (Princess Hours)
Wan-hoo: Kyun Mi Ri (Dae Jang Geum)

Yeo Mi-eul: Jin Hee Kyung (Sad Love Story)
Boo Deuk-bool (Geum-wa's military envoy): Lee Jae Yong (Emperor of the Sea) Young-po (Dae-so's younger brother): Won Ki Joon
Boo Young (Ye-ssi): Im So Young
Na-ro (Dae-so's loyal subject): Park Nam Hyun
Mo Pal-mo: Lee Kye In (Mr. Duke)

Sayoung: Bae Soo Bin (Emperor of the Sea)

Other Titles:

The Book of Three Han: The Chapter of Joo Mong (삼한지-주몽 편, 三韓志-朱蒙篇), Chumong, Prince of the Legend

 

Summary:

“Magnitude is about to start.”

You are about to go back to the time of Goguryeo, a time which was bigger than now.
‘A time when our nation was the most beautiful’, ‘A time when our nation was the center of the world’. Have you ever met such a time?! Dare to journey into a time no one has ever gone back to. The most surprising time in history has come back 2000 years later, a time when the nation made China fall down to their knees and when we fought other nations without any fear.

Meet a hero bigger than the myth.
Alexander, Genghis Khan, we have the hero who overwhelmed his generation and changed history, Jumong! Up to now we have been used to dramas dealing with the history of kings and knights but now we are about to challenge in creating a drama with the birth of a true hero. A name only remembered as a myth. Get ready to meet Jumong, the hero who opened up the skies of the Old Joseon, which was once ours, by fighting thousands and thousands of armies.

Meet the love even bigger than the history.
‘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 the drama of our once forgotten history.
Through the wisdom and courage of Korea’s first queen So Seo-no...

 

Credits: hancinema, http://content.mbc.co.kr

 

 

 

What I Think:

Song Il Gook – This is the first SIG series that I have watched and he totally blew me over! I can tell he is very versatile because in the first parts of the series, where he has to play the young Jumong who flumps things all the time, and play with the palace girls, he was very wacky, very funny, very charming still and very unsure. But when Jumong grows older, SIG played his character with finesse. I like the way his distinguished cheek bones show when he smiles; he’s got a nice smile too. I like the way he pursues Soseono, and how he has learned to open up to her, tell her how he really feels, and love her. All the Jumong fight scenes were awesome! Especially the end battle and the battle where Jumong was lost to oblivion, totally awesome!

 

Han Hye Jin – Until my shobe told me that she was the same girl who played the love struck girl in “Friends” forever loving Won Bin in that series, I would not have realized she's one and the same actress! HHJ totally transformed into this wonderful actress, who moves and impresses. Like Song Il Gook, she too has a very high and prominent cheek bone, there were scenes in the first parts where I only get to focus on her face and her cheek bones. Haha, very distracting! But she was the strong, intelligent, and loving Soseono that I liked. You will learn to love her smile and realize how pretty she is. She gets to wear those beautiful silk dresses, and she has lots of chemistry with both Jumong and Daesu! Definitely Daesu!

 

Kim Seung Su – he played Daesu, wow he was a totally awesome actor. I totally disliked him, he freaks me out, he almost made me loose my wits, there were times where I just want to strangle him; and it just whacks me up that Daesu is not a totally bad-looking boy at all and that he is totally great in hand combat, self-defense and sword fighting or fencing whatever they call that, well at least next to Jumong that is. J He is my favorite villain in this series; I just hate the fact that I like him. When I saw his pictures not from the Jumong set, man he looks so good with Han Hye Jin. Hehehe…

 

Other things I just want to mention:

** It just amazes me how great actors Song Il Gook (Jumong) and Oh Yoon Su (Lady Yoohwa) are. That they made us believe they are a mother & son tandem when in fact in real life both are of the same age both born in 1971.

 

** That I am now a Bae Soo Bin (who played Sayoung, Soseono’s right hand)! Behind the long hair, I can see that he looks absolutely handsome! Haha! Talk about scourging pictures in yahoo Korea and finding nothing. In the middle part of the series, there came a time when after Soseono’s business clan came back from travels and fights, I’m like “Omg where is Sayoung? Is he okay? I hope that cutie aint dead…”

 

** So Ji Ho (played Yesoya) also gave out a better acting than her lackluster performance in “Princess Hours” At least this time she was not too solid and stoic in scenes.  She did pretty well here.

 

** Wu xia series (ancient) like these, I only start watching when I know that everyone else already does, it is not easy to finish 81 episodes you know which is longer than Jewel in the Palace” (72 episodes).

 

****HIGHLIGHT SPOILER ENDING STARTS HERE STOP HERE WHEN YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW THE ENDING***

 

Soseono left the palace along with her 2 sons from Ootae.

Jumong ends up with Yesoya and his son, Yuri. Yesoya after all is Jumong’s first wife.

(The highest viewer percentage peak in Korea for the last episode was this one, Soseono leaving the palace)

 

Rating: 10 Korean Kimchis out of 10

 

Other Stuff:

Number of episodes: 81
Airing (in Korea): May 15, 2006
Airing (in Hawaii): July 19, 2006

 

Official Website
http://www.imbc.com/broad/tv/drama/jumong/index.html

Photo Gallery
http://www.imbc.com/broad/tv/drama/jumong/...lery/index.html

Wallpaper
http://www.imbc.com/broad/tv/drama/jumong/...aper/index.html

 

Complete episode summaries:

http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Jumong.php

 

More pictures:

yellowshinsei.multiply.com

 

 

Credits: koreanwiz, Hancinema, popcornfor2

 

Jumong kisses Soseono

 

 Jumong is brave and strong...

 

Soseono is wise and intelligent...

 

Together they are a force to reckon with.

 

Daesu, Soeono and Jumong

 

Pretty Women: Daesu's wife, Seolran and Jumong's wife, Soseono...

 

Song Il Gook and Han Hye Jin chilling, they look so  sweet...

They look so good together..