The Return of Iljimae Episode 1
The Return of Iljimae Starring Jung Il Woo and Kim Min Jong
The Return of Iljimae is a fusion sageuk (historical) drama about a mythical Robin Hood type hero who returns each generation to save the downtrodden of the world. The drama explores the beginnings of the hero in 17th century Korea, a Korea in which government corruption abounds and the country is about to fall apart.
The son of a high-ranking government official and a slave girl, Iljimae is abandoned as a child, and eventually taken to China and adopted by a wealthy Chinese couple. He is raised not knowing who his real parents are, but trained in martial arts every day. After finding out that he was adopted, Iljimae returns to Korea to look for his birth parents. There, he is faced with the injustice of society and the cruelty of the government, and watches as his first love, Dal Yi, is put to death. He vows from then on to protect the peasants and the helpless and to fight injustice wherever it may be found.
The last student of a master of an almost-forgotten form of martial arts, Iljimae mysteriously disappears after his master is unjustly executed. Three years later, he appears out of nowhere, and begins to roam the land, enforcing justice and protecting the helpless wherever he goes, leaving behind a white plum blossom as his trademark. He fights to protect the commoners and peasants from a corrupt, cruel government, and those in need from injustice and thus a legend is born.
The Return of Iljimae boasts beautiful cinematography, a stand-out soundtrack, and a compelling performance from well-cast Jung Il Woo, breakout star of 2006's Unstoppable High Kick.
Also known as Iljimae Returns or Moon River. Visit our friends at Drama Wiki and Hancinema for additional information about this drama.
Cast
Jung Il Woo as
Il Ji Mae
Yoon Jin Suh as
Dal Yi / Wal Hee
Kim Min Jong as
Goo Ja Myeong
Jung Hye Young as
Baek Mae
Lee Kye In as
Jeol Chi
Park Geun Hyung as
Kim Ja Jeom
Kang Nam Gil as
Bae Seon Dal
Lee Hyun Woo as
Cha Dol Yi
Sandara Park as
Rie
Kwak Min Suk as
Cham Mo
Drama Information
Native Name: 돌아온 일지매
# of Episodes: 24
Network: MBC
Year: 2009
Director: Hwang In Roe
Type: Korean drama
Genre:
Historical,
Action / Thriller,
Crime / Mystery,
Melodrama
Tags:
melodrama,
action,
historical,
romance,
Kpop,
Han Hyo Joo,
Lee Joon Ki,
Park Shi Hoo,
heroic,
adventure,
costume
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The title of this drama is somewhat of a misnomer; this is not a sequel to the original Iljimae, but a stand-alone story of Iljimae's adventures. The filming and natural beauty of the scenery was literally breathtaking! But I have to say, the pacing isn't well done; some parts are too slow and just drag. The narrator guides the viewer from the present to historical times in a seamless, witty style. Wacky characters also add a lot of humor to this drama. How did the writers come up with the horizontal-walking meowing guy? Too funny!
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I am not comparing this drama to the original Iljimae. But the drama is dragging in my opinion. The story is simply not interesting enough to make me watch it until the end. I've been forcing myself to watch the past few episode and am finally giving up at epi 16. I simply do not care enough for the various characters to want to know what's going to happen to them.However, I thought that it was interesting to see a very confused self destructing Iljimae. I also respect Kim Min Jong for this role because I believe his sincerity in loving Baek mae. But other than that, I think there are better dramas out there that deserve my time.
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During Cuban Comunist Revolution commander CHE Guevara arrived to a guerrilla post. Been from Bolivia and not cuban he ask to two revolutionary soldiers for the beach in this mountaneus Central Cuban Province. The two mid adolecent soldiers laugh and say Commander we are in Central Cuba and here we had no beach. The CHE takes his pistol and kill the two boys and this was only the begining of thousands of death. To get rid of him even Fidel Castro on the excuse of exporting THE REVOLUTION to South America send CHE to Bolivia. There in the jungle and incapacitated due to asthma was killed by the military. In episode I at the begining you see the portrait of this HERO for the people !
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Even if this is not a sequel, the history is perfect i loved it... But i dont like the main girl Dal yi and Wol Hee i hate her, i dont like the way she act and i dont like her at all.. Rie is very beutiful i love her a lot im very dissapointed.. thats the only thing that i hate in this Serie
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This was a real tear jerker for me. I usually choose Romantic Comedies but since I've seen most of them, I watched this one because I like Jung II Woo. I was not disappointed. .All the main characters were great, beautiful scenery, and the soundtrack was awesome.
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Korean dramas like this one are the reason of my addiction! Beautiful scenery, good story, and great actors.
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This is not a sequel. MBC had the rights to the original comic book, SBS did their own version (this one) and named it The Return to differentiate it from the MBC version. Beautifully done, well paced and good ending.
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Beautifullly Done Drama Return of Iljimae is the best drama I've seen in a long time. Everything clicked - the acting, directing, writing, and it was the most visually stunning drama that I've seen in a while. I'm glad that I tend to give shows a few episodes before I make a judgment because I didn't like the first scene and would have stopped watching, otherwise. It also helped that Dramabeans raved about this drama and loved it so much that she finished reviewing every episode even though her schedule was tight. In addition, I have to give a special thanks to Jung Il Woo (an actor I didn't know before ROI) because he did an excellent job in living up to the director's tough standards for how he wanted Iljimae to be portrayed. Jung Il Woo brought that character to life and made him seem like a real, deeply flawed, complex individual. As an actor, the chance to play this complex character must have been the role of a lifetime for him.
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Not a sequel to Iljimae - it's two different shows where the lead character just happens to have the same name. SO GOOD! The scenery is beautiful, the characters are imaginative and unique & the storyline was very well done. And as if I didn't already love Jung Il Woo, this made him slide up my favorites chart to top 3 - even if he does look like a girl... :) He brought out some serious skills for this one. The only thing bugging me is that they didn't have him workout more. For someone who is supposed to be fighting constantly over the years, he should've been much more muscular. But I can let that slide because I loved it so much!
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I really enjoyed this show. The writers did a nice job. The show has a nice blend of action scenes, some comedy, drama, and characters that were unique. Even the narrative at times was quite funny. I even like how they over do the the abillities of the fighters...making them almost 'fly' and leap in a way no mortal human can do. It gives the characters the same kind of 'feel' one would get if watching a show about...say...Greek/Roman gods/semi-gods - like Hercules, Achilles, Jason...and others who could do super-human feats. The writers and those who worked on Iljimae did a wonderful job in making Iljimae seem a bit more than human without going overboard and turning him into a full fledged super-hero. I saw the other version called just "Iljimae" and I liked it too...but thought this one was much better.
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