Title : Hwangjini
Cast : Ha Ji Won - Hangjini
Kim Jae Won - Minister Kim
Synopse : The life story of a legendary geisha.
Impressions : Billed as Daejangguem killer, the show does not dissapoint. The screen is colorful and the pace is not draggy, as the show was expressively designed with foreign markets in mind and is only 24 episodes long. The question is, will non-Korean viewers accept another career-based historical drama? In many ways, Hangjini adopts Daejanggeum formula, yet there are differences. Janggeum in Daejanguem was graceful, quite and self restraining; Hwangjini on the other hand is arrogant and is angry, who lives to humiliate rich and powerful men who fall to kiss her feet and to take a vengence on her teacher who took her first love away. So will non-Korean viewers accept an angry and arrogant femme fatale as the female lead?
Overall, the show is well-produced; dress designs are a cut-above seen in Daejangeum and actresses do their dance routines really well. Production-quality wise viewers will not be dissapointed.
A bad point was that there was a supporting character who was much more attractive than the lead actress. Accordingly she was stealing all the attention from viewers while Ha Ji Won's Hwangjini was left out in the cold. The solution? Kill the character off quickly. This left a bad taste in the mouth of viewers.
Don't miss it.