You know a show is going to be excellent when it genre-blends historical thriller, fantasy, romance, and melodrama in one finely crafted package. Dear Hongrang tells the story of the Sim family, which loses its heir, an 8-year-old boy named Hongrang. The disappearance of the young boy get the whole village to start searching for him for years to come, but after many imposters, 12 years later, it seems a 20-year-old Hongrang has truly returned. But has he? Or is he just an excellent impostor? What follows is a series of events that culminate in a mystery that unfolds slowly but deliberately, leaving us in utter shock. In truth, Dear Hongrang follows the typical pattern of the historical K-drama; it’s got something to do with an heir, there’s a great evil lurking in the shadows, and there’s an almost forbidden love story at the heart of it. But it’s not lost on me that originality today is a myth, so how does Dear Hongrang use the formula to give us something new and fresh, and why should it be your new weekend watch?
Dear Hongrang is based on Tangeum, a novel by Jang Da-Hye, and is an 11-episode series that was dropped all at once on Netflix. At first, I thought it didn’t make sense that such an intense show with all these twists and turns was released all at once, but then I realized that it makes sense because it’s so perfectly binge-worthy. As the summer draws nearer, the quality of shows we get will continue to get better, because more people have the time to watch the good stuff and not just have things running in the background. Just a bit ago, we had the action-thriller Weak Hero: Class 2, which was an excellent example of this trend, and while I thoroughly enjoyed that show, I might give Dear Hongrang a little bit more love specifically because it’s not solely focused on just action and friendship.
Before I get into the whys of the plot being enjoyable, I want to take a moment and talk about the soundtrack of this show, which is terrific and will bring you to your knees. There’s a scene when Lee Jae-Wook walks away from a burning hanok, and the song Burning Petals by 4BOUT just enhances this so beautifully that you want to keep gazing at it for hours. Okay, I might be exaggerating a little bit, but it’s honestly striking. I’m going to be listening to this song on loop for sure.
The story itself is quite convoluted with the stepbrother, half-brother, not-brother situation. It’s also a little bit strange to me that a man could fall in love with the person he is meant to care for as a sister, but I guess we can forgive it because they’re not related by blood at all. But, overall, Dear Hongrang is an addictive show because the plot thickens with every episode, even when we get the answers we’re looking for only in episodes 10 and 11. The action sequences are mesmerizing as always, and you already know how beautiful it looks when men twirl around in the flowy, multi-layered hanboks. The colors, the lighting, the camera work—everything is perfection. Yes, some frames feel a little bit too green or too red, but that’s okay in the grand scheme of things.
I don’t think there’s a better young K-drama actor today who fits in the historical setting as easily as Lee Jae-Wook. Maybe it’s a bias I’ve inherited thanks to the love Alchemy of Souls received, or maybe it’s just because the flowy garments of the Joseon era seem to suit him so well. Whatever the reason might be, K-drama fans are going to be excited the second they see him clad in a traditional hanbok. And the advantage here is that it’s easy to see why, because he does an excellent job of bringing this stuck-up yet brooding character to life. Add to this, you already know that the chemistry is going to be through the roof when we’ve got the two actors charismatic enough to romance walls playing romantic leads. I personally find Cho Bo-Ah slightly boring in her role choices because it looks to me like she’s always doing the same kind of acting, but this is not to say that I don’t like her. She’s got a very charming personality, and her big doe eyes are hard not to fall for. They look fantastic together. I was excited to see Kim Jae-Wook return to the screen, but I feel like he was underutilized because he’s just so good. If only there had been a little more of him. Jung Ga-Ram plays Mu-Jin, the replacement brother, and I found this character the most annoying on the show, but Ga-Ram does a good job in trying to make him as likeable as possible.
The show has some themes that are not suitable for young viewers. There’s a painting in particular that is quite vile and will leave you in disgust, so be forewarned. I think the show does a great job of balancing out this multi-genre act, and I enjoyed most of it. To be honest, I think it could’ve been finished in about 8 episodes, but it takes its time in setting the pace for what’s coming, so I guess the odd 11 episodes is justifiable. If you’re generally a fan of historical K-dramas, then you’re going to like this one for its twisted plot and well-thought-out premise. Given that, as fans, we’ve been known to binge-watch K-dramas overnight and lose sleep over them, I think Dear Hongrang can be devoured in one sitting, but I would recommend taking your time. Overall, I enjoyed this show for what it is and had loads of fun with the soundtrack and sword fights. The romance is sweet but elevated by the chemistry of the two leads, making it worthy. I’d give Dear Hongrang 4 out of 5 stars.
