Jang Ok-jung, Sarang-e Salda

Wonderful,shining and clever story about Love and of course about Power.I can watch this drama many times .Jang OK Jung (actress Kim Tae Hee) is gorgeous .When she stage grief we can feel almost palpable her breathing and inner tremor; when shows her love is so nice, and this happens at 33 years old as actress!!! How young and fresh she is!

In the beginning, young Jang (JOJ -for short) is a talented, ambitious, clever and cute girl, struggling for a decent life in clothes craft. But her fate is another. Number of turns of fate will make her the loved, the concubine,the Queen of Joseon Dinasty and finally the beloved sentenced to death by poisoning, by Lee Soon the King.

From the first episodes we have immortal scenes: They (future King and Queen) as children, running through the snow, making promises under a huge, old tree surrounded by frozen roses (a wonderful picture!); The quarrel in the market between nobleman Min and the uncle of JOJ Jang Hyun, over social class and bribery (a great show); A few random and wonderful encounters between JOJ and Crown Prince, before to recognize their love; That amazing kiss throw by Lee Soon over the lovely Jang, in that water basin, in the rain, nearby only cherry in blossom, beautiful traditional painted roofs and a passing witness, Dongpyung; Cute and very funny tea scene, with the future queens (to much tea !); Crown Prince (actor Yoo Ah-In) plays his role at perfection, love and wrath and policy. He can not be forgotten for his malicious, terrible entied laugh when defeat a politic opponent; Countless close-ups on character's inner experience ( nobleman Min, Queen mother, Jang's uncle, all future queens), Jang's uncle is so great actor and not at all alone; Jang's wrath against Queen and wives gathered at party, for mother's dignity (a stunning faces look, and great voice).

I repeat, all actors I find they performed great: Jang OK Jung (Kim Tae Hee), nobleman Min (Lee Hyo-Jeong), Queen mother (Kim Sun Kyung), Lee Soon (Yoo Ah-In), Min's daughter (Hong Soo-Hyun), Queen Inkyung (Kim Ha-Eun), Prince Dongpyung (Lee Sang-Yeob), younger Jang (Kang Min-Ah), Jang's uncle (Sung Dong-Il), and not at all only!

Jang OK Jung (Living in love) is a kind of Shakespearean story, I think so, told us with modern images. A masterpiece like was Shakespeare's writings in his time, that is. I can't expect more historical accuracy when I found in this drama something important in cinematography "Once upon a time...".

Film music is also wonderful. When no one is perfect under the sky how I'd pretend more from this drama? It's gold.A classic gold!

At first I thought Kim Tae Hee and Yoo Ah In does not look compatible. But after seeing them together acting, they really suited each other portraying their characters. They exudes charm and romantic chemistry. The story was not that great especially if you have seen other story about Jang Ok jung. Nevertheless it is a must see historical kdrama to add in your list.

The series is based on a novel by Choi Jung-mi published in 2008 about the life of a famous concubine in the Chosun dynasty. The concubine Jang Ok-jun is played by Kim Tae-hee and king Sukjong is played by Yoo Ah-in who both do a good job alongside the supporting cast.

Sadly I think the script is weak as it concentrated too much on the doomed love rather then the court subterfuge. This lack of development of the villains left it like it was just a number of events loosely cobbled together to move the story along. It was entertaining but could have been so much better with a few less inept characters.

A slightly different take on Jang Hee Bin. The drama suffers from the exact same problems any profession focused historical drama attempt. Very similar to Goddess of Fire with its storytelling, transformation, progress and conclusion. The drama didn't deserve to be longer than 16 episodes at best for the amount of material it had to offer. Quickly enough, they deviated from fashion design in favor of typical bland drama antics. They kept all the details of fashion design to minimum. Looking at the cast it seemed promising but it turned out to be quite disappointing. This drama and its other remakes were all equally as problematic and disappointing. Maybe Jang Hee Bin as a historical character is cursed to be portrayed in media.