Park Hyung-sik, a member of ZE:A and Happiness, portrays Crown Prince Lee Hwan of the Joseon kingdom in the upcoming tvN period drama Our Blooming Youth.A scheme to have him dropped from the line of succession to the throne is something that he and other Korean royal heirs are fighting against. His beautiful looks and his proficiency with a bow and arrow are further things that set him apart from prior movie regals.
Although the court battles it depicts may sound familiar, this 20-episode historical drama is interesting since it quickly becomes apparent that it is much more focused on the female side of its narrative.
Although Joseon Era Korea had a strict, hierarchical society, Our Blooming Youth finds a few methods to offer its female characters agency. A budding star named Jeon So-nee plays Lady Min Jae-yi (Jo Pil-ho: The Dawning Rage).
Jae-yi is engaged to Han Sung-on (Yun Jong-seok), a friend of Lee Hwan who has fallen head over heels, but tragedy strikes before the wedding. Jae-yi is suspected of poisoning her entire family, and the evidence supports this theory.
Jae-yi and I initially cross paths while she is fleeing. She is hiding from a group of police officers in the woods, and when a few of them manage to catch up with her, she shocks them with a crude catapult she cobbles together on the fly and her martial arts prowess.
As Jae-yi continues to flee and hides in a cave to take care of her wounds, the show temporarily moves along like a survival drama.
However, it transpires that the word "escape" isn't completely accurate, as she is actually attempting to navigate her way into the very center of the Joseon Kingdom in order to clear her name. She must first reconnect with her maidservant Jang Ga-ram (Pyo Ye-jin from Taxi Driver) in order to accomplish this.
Jae-yi and Ga-ram have a close bond despite their hierarchy in the relationship. Their support for one another as women gives the story's more realistic aspects more emotional and social weight.
The majority of the screen time is still allocated for the Crown Prince and the numerous interlocutors in the King's sphere of influence, each of whom may have their own motivations for Lee Hwan not to ascend to the throne. This is true even if Jae-plight yi's is persistently woven throughout the first several episodes of the show.
Lee Hwan is plagued by claims that he is physically disabled. His right arm has been difficult to use for him to use since since he was hit by a poison arrow three years prior while out hunting.
In addition, he is plagued by visions of a letter that he purportedly received from a ghost that accuses him of murdering his brother in order to claim the throne and foretells that his best friend will kill him.
The King is aware of the rumors surrounding his son, so when his councilors recommend that he send Lee Hwan as his representative for an upcoming hunting event, he is forced to accept the suggestion. The Crown Prince title will be taken away from Lee Hwan if he is unable to prove his hunting ability on the designated day.
The Crown Prince title will be taken away from Lee Hwan if he is unable to prove his hunting ability on the designated day.
After catching up with Ga-ram and having him change into another male disguise, this time that of a royal guard, Jae-yi travels into town while wearing a man's disguise. Using this appearance, she infiltrates the hunting party and meets the Crown Prince in the forest, with whom she needs to speak.
Hunting interruptions come from Lee Hwan, not Jae-yi. When he turns to look where a blade that almost missed him and sank into the tree next to him came from, Jae-yi is the first person he sees.
When Lee Hwan and his guard take control of Jae-yi, she must now clear her name of a second criminal offense.
The Crown Prince has little patience for Jae-requests yi's because he is suspicious and spooked by the alleged ghost that is tormenting him. His attitude quickly alters though when Jae-yi saves him from a difficult situation by disclosing a deceitful tactic that was employed to fool him during the celebration rite that followed the hunt.
Jae-yi is not your typical noblewoman. Prior to her brother's passing, she was resolving complicated situations in the province that her father was administering in her brother's honor. Having persuaded Lee Hwan of her abilities, she must now set out to prove her innocence and discover the cause of the Crown Prince's paranormal affliction.
Even if the royal plotting in Our Blooming Youth is pretty stale, the show's main protagonists have been able to keep it in check.
However, the more somber tone helps to sell the contemporary gender dynamic. Some viewers might miss the humor that period dramas typically sprinkle in to offset the occasional dryness of the genre.
This includes Park and Jeon as well, who both give well-rounded performances free of the typical theatrical flourishes found in historical dramas.
Of course, there's a lot of reading to do, and ultimately, Jung Hyun-jung, of Romance a Bonus Book renown, wrote Our Blooming Youth as a romance.
The ability of the program to strike a balance between historical romance and contemporary social commentary may be essential to its future success.
