“Hwarang” (화랑: 더 비기닝)

By Jae-Ha Kim
Substack
March 7, 2018

☆☆½
Dog Bird / Sun-Woo (played by Park Seo-Joon)
Ah-Ro (played by Go Ara)
Ji-Dwi / King Jin-Heung (played by Park Hyung-Sik)

↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.

“You get to decide what kind of King you are going to be.”

Don’t remember that line from “Hwarang”? That’s because it’s a quote from the blockbuster film, “Black Panther.” When the newly crowned king, T’challa, worries about how he will rule over his subjects, Nakia tells him, “You cannot let your father’s actions define your life.”

I watched the final episode of “Hwarang” around the same time that I saw “Black Panther.” And Nakia’s words could’ve applied to the young monarch in this Korean drama as well. The Queen Regent hid Ji-Dwi away from the public to safeguard him from assassination attempts. When he returns, ready to take control of Silla, he is unsure of how he will become a king who can help everyone, rather than just the ruling class. 

“Hwarang” is a beautifully-filmed, but uneven drama. The series tries to be too many things at once: a romance, comedy, historial period piece, swashbuckling adventure. The result is that the love triangle at the core of this drama is less intriguing than the bromance between the male leads.

Ji-So (the overly protective Queen Regent) doesn’t believe Ji-Dwi is ready to rule Silla. She also is reticent to let go of the throne. Whether it’s because she’s power hungry or worried that the opposing powers will kill Ji-Dwi is debatable. There’s probably a little bit of truth to both.

The Queen Regent comes up with the idea to form the Hwarang — a group of well-educated, handsome young men from the most well-connected elite families. Her theory is that the Hwarang will protect Ji-Dwi when he comes into power. And the Hwarang’s fathers won’t try to usurp the royal family’s powers if they know their own sons could die during the process.

The biggest threat to the royal family is Young-Shil, the ruthless adoptive father of Ban-Ryu. The latter is forced to become a Hwarang against his will, because Young-Shil wants to put Ban-Ryu on the throne and control the puppet strings.

It was never fully explained why Ban-Ryu was adopted, when his father, Lord Ho, is still very much alive. My guess is that Young-Shil didn’t have a son, so he took the child of the latter, who didn’t have the political power or wealth to protest. You can see Ban-Ryu is both heartbroken and disgusted when he watches Young-Shil berate Lord Ho, literally stepping on his back as if the latter was a stepstool.

Enter Dog Bird, a feral orphan who is cunning and known for being a fearless fighter who never backs down. When his best friend, Sun-Woo, is killed because he has seen the face of the sheltered king, Dog Bird takes over his friend’s identity and vows to kill the monarch.

He meets Sun-Woo’s beautiful sister, Ah-Ro, who at first doubts his identity. But as Dog Bird reminds her of the stories that Sun-Woo had told him countless times, she wills herself to believe that this strange man could indeed be her older brother.

📺The love triangle in #Hwarang is much less interesting than several subplots, including the heartbreaking relationship between an aristocrat & his “half-breed” hyung. Honestly, I would’ve preferred a series that explored that family’s dynamics. https://t.co/cPGgG7AQHV 🇰🇷 pic.twitter.com/pdl1kPGvsd

— Jae-Ha Kim 김재하 (@GoAwayWithJae) March 11, 2018

“Hwarang” doesn’t hold a candle to the superior “Moon that Embraces the Sun” (해를 품은 달). But the fault lies more with the weak script and poor direction than the acting.

Speaking of acting, much has been made of the K-pop idols in this series. BTS’ Kim Tae-Hyung is adorable as Han-Sung. Choi Min-Ho (SHINee) plays the always-ready-to-rumble Soo-Ho with just the right amount of aggression. And Park Hyung-Sik (ZE:A and ZE:A Five) cuts a regal figure portraying the boy who would become king

Initially, Kim didn’t have much to do but act young and cute. But playing an airy aristocrat with the weight of his family’s future on his slender shoulders, he showed that behind his wide-eyed smile, there was much pain and uncertainty. In the right hands, I can see this trio of idols being very good in a contemporary drama or something lighter, like “Ocean’s Eleven.”

They fared much better than the women, who were given thankless roles. The queen and her daughter are robotic both in mannerism and speech. As for lead actress Go Ara, she is given little to do but pout, scream and be rescued. It’s a shame, because she was so good as IU’s frenemy in “Producer” and wonderfully fearless in “Answer Me: 1994.” Heck — she even had a meatier role in Cho Kyuhyun’s music video for “A Million Pieces”:

What the series does do really well is delve into the class system that pits “half breeds” against aristocrats — sometimes within in the same family. Han-Sung, the youngest Hwarang, is also the pampered stepbrother of Dan-Se, who is a “half breed.” Though Dan-se is superior to Han-Sung both academicically and as a warrior, he cannot lead his family, because his mother wasn’t an aristocrat. Han-Sung wants nothing more than to study the arts, flirt with girls and spend time with his beloved brother. But he is forced to become a warrior. And when he can’t keep up with the physical demands, their grandfather beats Dan-Se for the younger brother’s failings.

In all honesty, theirs is a much more compelling story than the love triangle between Dog Bird, Ah-Ro and Ji-Dwi.

As for the ending, the finale is exactly as you would imagine it to be, which may be one reason I was left unsatisfied. I’ll talk more about that in the Spoilers below.

Airdates:

This 20-episode series aired on KBS2 from December 19, 2016 to February 21, 2017.

Spoiler Alert:

Ah-Ro’s brother, Sun-Woo, and their mother were banished into exile by the Queen, who was in love with their father.

Dog Bird, who grew up thinking he was a peasant, is actually the son of the Queen’s brother, Hwi-Kyung, who was the former Crown Prince of Silla. When Hwi-Kyung developed polio, he was removed as a royal family member, because it was unfitting to have a “cripple” as the King. After their father died, Ji-So became the Queen Regent.

Also, Ji-So killed Hwi-Kyung’s pregnant wife, because she was afraid that her brother’s son would be a threat to the throne. Dog Bird’s mother died, but he survived.

The writers dropped the ball with the ending. We see that Dog Bird and Ah-Ro are a couple. But what of the king and his half sister, to whom he was bethrothed? (Ewww.) He was in love with Ah-Ro and she was infatuated with Dog Bird. I’m guessing that they will go their separate ways, never finding love with anyone else.

There was also a brief flirtation between the Queen Regent and Soo-Ho that was left unexplored. I realize that it couldn’t have gone anywhere, due to their age difference being a taboo (although marrying your own sister apparently was just fine and dandy). But why did the writers even include that tidbit into the storyline? It did nothing to further the plot.

When Dan-se is ordered to kill Dog Bird, he inadvertently ends up killing his brother, Han-Sung, instead. The scene was bittersweet and well acted by all involved.

One of the best scenes occurred in Episode 10, when Jid-Hwi saves Ah-Ro from being killed by a royal guard. With the royal guard unsure whether to listen to the Queen Regent or to the young monarch, Jid-Hwi orders him and says, “Kneel before me. I am your king!” Yes! Finally. Use your power, Jid-Hwi!

Later, in Episode 16, Jid-Hwi reveals to Young-Shil that he is the king by nicking the old man’s throat with his sword.

© 2018 JAE-HA KIM | All Rights Reserved