My posts on the drama Dong Yi (MBC 2010) are still the most read posts on my blog. And here’s an interesting  question about Jang Hui Bin …

Dong Yi, MBC, 2010, the villain, Jang Hui Bin

Hi, i’m from malaysia and i just finished watching dong yi, i know im late but i had to take my time because i had to concentrate on my studies. i dont know where to post my questions as there are no discussion about Jang Hui Bin in your blog. i am very confused by this character. while i love her 3 dimensional character, im still confused by how she can choose to commit to henious acts and the same time, claiming that she did it out of love for the king. how could she say that? she seemed to set her eyes on power from the very beginning, even before she was made a concubine. how can she blame the king when it was actually she was the one who made the choices? i desperately need to discuss this with someone but my mather has not finish watching Dong Yi so i have no one to discuss this with.  whitevenusandmars Continue reading “Jang Hui Bin – Is she pure evil? Or does she act out of love?” »

I’ve just come back from a few weeks in the UK for a holiday and there was a pile of recorded Dong Yi episodes waiting for me. Normally I’d sit down and keep watching one episode after another, but this time I watched a couple of episodes and then took a few days break. This means that this drama is still not gripping me as much as Lee Byeong Hoon’s previous ones did. It’s slower and not as exciting and I was asking myself why.

King Sukjong at the daily meeting, Dong Yi, MBC

Continue reading “Is Dong Yi too slow?” »

So if all goes well, Dong Yi will soon move up the ranks to become a concubine.

Dong Yi, MBC

At the moment she is a court lady, sang-gung, rank 5, (top rank for a court lady but below the concubines). But of course she is different to the other sang-gung. First of all, she’s different because she hasn’t worked her way up the ranks like the other court ladies have had to do. Dong Yi has gone from no rank to sang-gung thanks to her relationship with the king and so her title is not just sang-gung but sung-un sang-gung 승은 상궁 承恩尙宮. This is a special title for sang-gung who are intimate with the king and are likely to move up to concubine status. Jang Hee bin (currently the queen) was this level at the beginning of the drama and we saw her ceremony when she became a concubine, hu-gung 후궁 後宮, rank 4 Sook-won.

Lady Jang becomes concubine Jang Sook-won, episode 17, Dong Yi, MBC source

Because of this special status, the sung-ung sang-gung doesn’t have to work  like the other sang-gung do. The regular sang-gung have jobs to do around the palace – in the drama we see sang-gung leading the court lady investigation bureau. It seems that all that the sung-un sang-gung has to do is look nice and wait for the king!

Choi Chol-ho as Oh Yoon in Dong Yi, MBC

Dong Yi actor, Choi Chul-ho (40) who plays Oh Yoon, (the nephew of the leader of the southern faction Oh Tae Suk)  held a press conference on the 11th and voluntarily quit the drama in response to public criticism over an incident he was involved in one evening last week. Continue reading “Dong Yi Actor Quits Drama” »

According to this article about the viewer ratings of Dong Yi in Korea, there was a lot of interest in Dong Yi when it first aired because it is directed by Lee Byung hoon who as we know also directed the hit palace kitchen drama Dae Jang Geum, (Jewel in the Palace). However, although Dong Yi has a loyal following, it has not been able to keep the interest of many other viewers. So why is this?

It seems that due to the leisurely pace of the plot and lack of thorough historical research the drama has not been able to keep the interest of middle aged men and younger viewers in their 20s. According to TNS Media Research, the drama is mainly watched by female viewers in their 30s and 40s. Followed by ladies in their 50s and 60s and then men in their 40s.

Seo Jang geum (Lee Young-ae) with her cooking teacher Han Baek young (Yang Mi kyung) in the 2003 MBC drama Dae Jang Geum (Jewel in the Palace)

Dae Jang Geum also had a female lead and was popular with women in the same age group as Dong Yi viewers. However Continue reading “Who is Watching Dong Yi?” »

I read that Dong Yi heroine Han Hyo-joo has been getting lots of gifts from her fans and that last weekend she put some pictures up on her gallery on dcinside.com along with a thank you note. Due to all night filming fans have been worried about her health so have sent health presents including red ginseng, mosquito repellent, pain relief packs and snacks. On her gallery page she writes that two large boxes of presents arrived for her and that she was touched by the fans’ concern. She also says that she will take lots of ginseng to try and get rid of the dark circles under her eyes! And ends by encouraging everyone to take care in the summer heat and promises to do her best for the rest of the filming and for us to look forward to Dong Yi becoming Suk Bin soon.

The pictures in the gallery show her trying the health drinks. There’s also a picture of a birthday cake given to her by fans on her birthday, February 22. The figures on the cake are all characters that she has played in various dramas.

Visitors to the gallery have had a chance to respond to the pictures. There has been some criticism too. One comment is that the photographs are sloppy and not taken with care. Another wonders if the pictures are an advert for red ginseng. Positive comments remark on her kindness and thoughtfulness for responding to the fans and that other young celebrities don’t put photos up like this to show their gratitude to their fans. (My initial reaction to the photos was that it was refreshing to see natural pictures that were not staged.)

Han Hyo-joo writes that she uses all the presents sent her with the greatest of care. The ginseng she was given for her dark circles (다크서클) she uses every day during filming and she feels gratitude every time she uses any of the gifts.