So when we decided to cancel our Starhub TV subscription (contract was up and we hardly sat down in the living room to watch anything, anyway), my hubby decided to subscribe to Netflix. I took the opportunity to watch those titles that I couldnt watch on VIU or other free platforms.
I had watched Yoo Yeon Seok's works on "Mood of the Day" (movie) and "Youth over Flowers"(travel variety) & "Coffee Friends" (variety on cafe on Jeju Island), after suffering from the 'Chilbongie' syndrome from watching him in Reply 1994. But I hadn't seen Lee Byung-Hun and Kim Tae Ri in anything else. My interest was piqued as there were frequent instances in "Coffee Friends" when the cafe customers spoke to YYS about liking his role in Mr Sunshine.
When I watched the initial episodes, I was blown away by the beautiful cinematography. It was something best enjoyed on a large screen, not on my pathetic mobile phone screen. The first quarter of the drama was pretty draggy and full of slow-mo scenes. I started questioning myself about whether I wanted to watch another Kim Eun-sook (KES) drama. Speaking of which, I really should pen down my thoughts on her works. That will be another post. What pulled me into watching the first few episodes were the scenes of the actor Kim Kang-hoon portraying young "Yu-Jin", who was the same child actor who starred in "When the Camellia Blooms".
I am not adept enough in writing to be reviewingthe drama but I will just share my thoughts. Having watched KES' previous popular dramas like "Descendants of the Sun" and "Goblin", I would say that "Mr Sunshine" struck me as somewhat with deeper substance than the former two titles. It required audiences to think more about the plot and character analysis than just following for the romance of the 'One-True Pairing' (OTP). Being a drama set in the early 1900s, and about Joseon and the influences of Japan and America, I was totally lost in the history aspect. Notwithstanding the historical background setting, I enjoyed some of the witty dialogue that KES is known for writing, although some of it is likely to be lost in translation(on Netflix). I will probably have to re-watch the drama in parallel with some review sites (like dramabeans) to re-relish this aspect of KES' work.
Strong females
One thing that was striking in comparison is that KES had managed to impress with the writing of several strong female characters in Mr Sunshine. Going beyond lead Ae-Shin, I also enjoyed the multi-layered character brought out by Kim Min-jong (portraying Kudo Hina) and the other supporting actresses like Lee Jung-eun (as Ae-shin's maid and mother figure) and other badass mothers(of Ae-shin, Dong-mae and Eugene), sacrificing their all. Looking back at "The Heirs" and "Goblin", which seemed to pay more(or sole) attention to the male lead, it must really be true that the writer likes to tailor her script for a particular actor in her past works.
Pacing
The writing is not as tight as some other historical dramas I've watched (Six Flying Dragons and Tree with Deep Roots remain favourites in this aspect) and towards the end, I felt like there were some loose ends that were not tied up and wished that the plot hadn't been so draggy in the first half. Of course, that resulted in major heartache when our ensemble of patriots fell to the enemies in the last few episodes.
The Bromance
I loved the bromance, not just between the trio Eugene-DongMae-HuiSeong, but also between Eugene and the English translator Gwan-soo, Eugene-Kyle, Eugene- Domi. The comedic elements also served to lighten the heavy historical (and often violent & bloody) aspects of each episode.
The OST by Stone Music Entertainment
I have not looked at the translation of the lyrics of the OST songs, but while I enjoyed the music and songs, it is not outstanding. Certain songs are able to convey the sentiment (to a foreigner like myself who does not understand most of the lyrics). I loved the instrumentals though.
박효신 (Park Hyo Shin) - 그 날 (The Day)
I will look them up on Youtube/Spotify when I have time.
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