Korean Drama: Dong Yi (동이)
Broadcast Date: March 22-October 12, 2010
Network: MBC
Total Episodes: 60
Leads: Ji Jin Hee and Han Hyo Joo
Synopsis: A historical drama based on the life of Dong Yi, who is well known as King Sok Jong’s royal concubine (title, Choi Suk Bin) and the mother of King Sok Jong. Despite the hardship of being orphaned at a young age, Dong Yi grows up to be a bright and friendly natured young girl. Working as a slave maid in the palace’s Bureau of music, Dong Yi’s quick mind and sincere heart towards others earn her many lifelong friends but also gets her into plenty of troubles.
Accidentally meeting King Suk Jong while investigating a murder case, Dong Yi naively believes the King’s self introduction as a judge working in the palace. Becoming quick friends with the kind ahjussi who somehow manages to show up just when she needs help, Dong Yi remains clueless of our hero’s true identity. Thoroughly amused to be our heroine’s “kind ahjussi” at first, King Sok Jong soon finds himself playing the role of daddy long legs to the young girl until the day finally comes that he can’t bear the thought of giving her away to another.
Why This One Is A Goodie:
Being the impatient sort, especially when it comes to long historical dramas filled with palace intrigue, I would usually avoid Dong Yi like the plaque. However, despite being filled with palace intrigue, Dong Yi was truly awesome from the beginning to the end. The romance between the two leads was super cute almost right from the beginning (this is a 60 episode after all so the romance will develop at a slower but very believable pace). In fact, I would dare say, Dong Yi’s romance is probably one of the cutest that I have seen in a palace drama. All the characters in this drama were very well developed. The heroine’s character was obviously the main focus and the writer did a great job in making her consistent as a heroine that remained strong, wise, and full of love for people around her despite having to constantly fight against greedy villains that want to destroy her for their own gains.
As for our hero, I LOVED Ji Jin Hee portrayal of a shrewd king who despite his position can still laugh with commoners and fret over what our heroine is going to think when she finds out his true identity. In short, both of our leads are people with a strong sense of who they are and refuses to let the bad apples among them erode the good inside themselves.
Another reason the palace intrigue didn’t bother me in Dong Yi is that I think this story is not so much about the struggle against the big baddies (although there were of course plenty of that) but the focus of the plot was more about how our heroine’s sheer stubbornness to be good shines through all the darkness which besides making the baddies hate her also inspires more and more people to join her cause to be the force for good. Instead of a depressing palace drama where the good guys spend most of the time trying to survive the persecutions of the baddies, Dong Yi is about the small triumphs of the ordinary and not so ordinary good guys who refuse to stop trying to change their world.
By the way, Dong Yi also has one of the cutest endings I have seen in a palace drama so do check it out, you will not be disappointed! (Both Viki and Dramafever have this one.)
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