Monday, February 7, 2011

Tamra, The Island

I finished Tamra, The Island (MBC, 16 episodes) just last night...

Tamra, The Island Synopsis (from AsianMediaWiki)
Set in the 17th Century, Jang Beo-jin (Seo Woo) is a young female diver on Tamra Island. She doesn't particularly enjoy her situation and dreams of one day leaving the island. One day, to her shock, she discovers a young blond haired man laying on the beach. The young man's name is William (Pierre Deporte) and he is a shipwrecked British citizen. Another young man named Park Kyu enters the island under the disguise of one of the many convicts sent to Tamra Island. In actuality, Park Kyu (Lim Ju-Hwan) is a budding government official known as a Seonbi. These three young people then become involved in a hilarious love triangle.

Cast:
Seo Woo as Jang Beo Jin
Im Joo Hwan as Park Kyu
Pierre Deporte as William Spencer
Lee Sun Ho as Yan Kawamura
Lee Seung Min as Seo Min
Byun Woo Min as Jang Won Bin


My comments:
I heard that Tamra, The Island originally had 20 episodes but due to low ratings, it suffered cuts to 16 episodes. From the 16 episodes version that I saw, frankly speaking, the only character I cared about was Park Kyu. Beo Jin annoyed me, William annoyed me; therefore, the love triangle annoyed me. Not only that but the villain Madam in Red was annoying with her only sly scheming expression throughout the who drama. I didn’t care much about the political intrigue and the illegal trade happening too.

What I liked were the cinematography and the OST of the drama. Man, those diving scenes were gorgeous shots and I enjoyed watching the interactions between the leads and the villagers and how they bonded. It was heartwarming how they all work together at the end to prevent the ship of the villains going to the one of the East India Company. As I said before, the love triangle annoyed me. Although Beo Jin was at times cute and adorable but at some point she just cried too much (although actress Seo Woo aced in her crying scenes). It took Beo Jin really long enough to figure out who she finally loves. And the end was just like that? I kinda felt cheated.

My heart went to Park Kyu with his repressed emotions and he did so much for Beo Jin and William only to get hurt continuously. It’s my first time seriously watching Im Joo Hwan (I didn’t get very far in Boys Before Flowers to see him appear and my attention wasn't on him in A Frozen Flower) and I’m pretty impressed with his performance in this drama. His expressions were spot on and I cried in a few of his scenes. Hwang Chan Bin/Pierre Deporte as William didn’t do much to me but his “Park Kyu/F**k you” pun will have quite a lasting impression. It was indeed hilarious and it wasn’t censored!

* Random observation: lead actor Im Joo Hwan and I share the exact same birthday; same month, day and year!

* Opening theme of the drama

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