Sungkyunkwan Scandal

Haha…I can’t believe that I caught the Sungkyunkwan Scandal (KBS, 20 episodes) fever too…

Sungkyunkwan Scandal Synopsis: (from DramaWiki)
Sungkyunkwan Scandal is set in Sungkyunkwan University in the late Joseon era during the reign of King Jeongjo, revolving around the exploits and love stories of four youths. When her younger brother's illness worsens and their family is in danger of being evicted from their house for lack of money, Kim Yoon Hee enters the school under his name, disguised as a boy in her desperation to support him. There, she becomes friends with the intelligent and upright Lee Sun Joon, the playboy Goo Yong Ha and rebellious Moon Jae Shin.

Cast:
Micky Yoochun as Lee Sun Joon
Park Min Young as Kim Yoon Hee
Song Joong Ki as Goo Yong Ha
Yoo Ah In as Moon Jae Shin
Seo Hyo Rim as Ha Hyo Eun
Kim Min Seo as Cho Sun
Jun Tae Soo as Ha In Soo

My comments:
I usually would not pick a Korean ancient drama but I heard a lot of good things about Sungkyunkwan Scandal so I decided to give it a shot. I’m pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it. I view it as an ancient version of Hana Kimi and the quartet as the scholar version of A.N.Jell (in You’re Beautiful).

I always like stories with the girl cross-dressing as a guy and it’s usually hilarious when the guys start to fall for her and then question their orientation. In this drama, it took long enough (15 episodes) for our dummy hero Sun Joon to know Yoon Hee’s gender and when he knew the truth, surprisingly he wasn’t as angry as I expected him to be. I totally expected one or two episodes where he would be all pissed off and mad; well not that I'm complaning...It’s so funny that Yong Ha knew from the very first glance that Yoon Hee is a girl and wanted to prove it to the other oblivious two but failed at every attempt. Aw…and Jae Shin, the poor guy hiccups whenever he is near a girl so imagine at first when he knew…hehe…I still LOL at the sleeping arrangements scenes (1, 2).

Too bad that the ending is too rushed. There were so many questions that left unanswered. We have a closure ending for our quartet but what about the others? I would like to know what happened to Ha In Soo and his sister. I kinda liked Ha In Soo despite what he did in the drama was glaring at everyone but I thought he had potential to be Sun Joon’s love rival. Why was Cho Sun in her situation in the first place? What really happened during the night Jae Shin’s brother and Yoon Hee’s dad’s murder? There’s this big talk about a better future for Korea but was it realized? It would be nice if there was ONE scene in which Yong Ha and Jae Shin telling Yoon Hee that they knew she was a girl. If I remember correctly, Jae Shin did not confess (at least verbally) once to Yoon Hee and now that’s a first in the little K-drama history that I know...

I thought the overall acting was great considering that they were mostly newbies. Park Min Young looks too girlish (she has manga-like round sparkling eyes) to pass as guy but I guess in an ancient setting it’s passable. Song Joong Ki and Yoo Ah In shone in their roles and I absolutely found their bromance endearing. Micky Yoo Chun was a bit wooden at the beginning but I guess that was part of the character and he just got progressively better. Ah…I’ll surely remember you guys, Jalgeum Quartet.

That is too cute to not post it (from kbs.com.kr)

* Opening credit of the drama