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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.
So Good that I Couldn't Stop Watching It
I'm happy to see that more episodes were added because there were only 19 when I first discovered this series. There are a lot of twists and turns in this drama. Although it's about powerful people at the highest levels of society, it's also a drama about a very dysfunctional family that was dominated by a woman with an iron will, Empress Chun Chu. She was such a formidable person, even at a very young age, that I can see why her brother both loved and feared her, but it's too bad he allowed that fear to cause him to alienate the one person who could have been his greatest asset. Empress Chun Chu was a fascinating character that I had never heard of before and I am pleased that this drama introduced her to me.