Jang Geum's Dream Commentary: Episode 1, Season 1

Season 1, Episode 1: Jang Geum's Dream

View Season 1, Episode 1 here!-  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x-jSwALXZk

Watch the opening theme- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDcto37agWg

Watch the ending theme- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRWeD2iWXtA  

Hello, readers! Katie here. I wanted to keep my writing skills up to par during the summer, so I decided that I would record my thoughts and inferences in a commentary about my favorite Kdrama, Jang Geum’s Dream. Since this is my opinions and research I would recommend watching the video first, since I might include spoilers. I will try hard to stay professional, but honestly quite a bit of it is just writing little rants and nitpicks, with the occasional history lesson. Before I begin though, I’d like to give some background  information. “Jang Geum’s Dream” is a sort-of realistic historical fiction anime released in 2003 in South Korea, and has spread widely to surrounding countries, including China and Japan, and Saudi Arabia. This animated production is based on the hit drama Dae Jang Geum, also translated as “Jewel in the Palace,” a live action tragedy drama about a real-life historical figure named Dae Jang Geum, who was one of the few successful female doctors during the Joseon Dynasty(somewhere between 1392 to 1897).

Jang Geum’s Dream is intended for everyone of all ages, about Jang Geum Seo as an ambitious, happy-go-lucky young teenager aspiring to gain a high rank in the royal kitchen to support her family. But the path to a successful court lady is very dangerous; Jang Geum and her friends must blaze a path through treachery, countless false accusations, near-impossible tasks, and assassins; both bumbling and frightening. Subtitles have been released in English, Japanese, Chinese, and Arabic.

I’ll include a link to the episode in each commentary, and each episode has English subtitles. Special thanks to Cartoonbus_Kids for posting the whole series on Youtube, you’re awesome! Feel free to check out their other videos and subscribe so you can find their videos easily. Note: Please check my earlier Jang Geum commentaries frequently as you're waiting for the next episode, as I update them with new information and revisions. Yikes, I took up a lot of room already. We better get started!  

It starts out with a really pretty forest-y environment, and I’m thinking already that this is going to be beautiful work. It looks like something out of a Studio Ghibli production, which shows maximum quality and effort. Fast forward to the end of the hunting scene, and it’s King Joseon talking to his bodyguard-or-something-like-that Jeong-Ho Min, decked out in blue. Because of that, I'll just call him Blue. So Blue is clearly a bodyguard of the king, but I'm not sure what exactly his occupation is. He's not only well trained in martial arts, but also delivers messages to the king and a detective, as well being a palace guard. In the Silla Dynasty(57 BC – 935 AD) There was a caste system called the Bone Rank System, based on inheritance and bloodline. In this time, level-six officials wore blue. This caste system continued until the Joseon Dynasty where Jang Geum is, so what I'm saying about the Bone Rank System is kind of irrelevant. But I'm just putting it out there to try to figure out what the outfit colors mean. Back to Jang Geum! Blue seems to be the good-looking, strong and silent type, so he’ll probably have a major role in the series. Confession: I thought Blue was a girl until I heard how deep his voice was! So King Joseon’s telling that the two of them can look for the giant boar again when they go to the wedding of Joseon’s cousin together. That might have been hard to understand, because whoever made the subtitles sometimes mixes up the pronouns. If you need anything clarified, tell me in the comments.

Transition to the wedding scene, and you get an eyeful of Korean culture in just 15 seconds. The stunts, music, and dancing seems a lot like medieval entertainment, which makes total sense. This 15-second eyeful is known as jeongjae. After this, two more characters are revealed: Jang Geum herself, and her foster brother, Dongi. Or Dongi-oppa, as the kids on the teeter-totter and Jang Geum call him. I don’t want to go off-topic anymore, so I’ll clarify the Korean terms in bold at the end of the commentary.  Then we have Jang Geum’s aunt/foster mom, who appears to be “cooking” pajeon. When the dog, Mongmong, makes the court ladies drop the noodles, I was sort of disappointed that Jang Geum didn’t step in and catch all the baskets before they hit the ground. But Mongmong was the whole reason Jang Geum got to know Sanggung Han, so I forgive them both.  When Jang Geum ran past Jeong-Ho and King Joseon with the bowl tilting in front of her puppy-dog eyes, I almost died from an overdose of cuteness. She looked, like, six years old! Little did those two men know, that adorable little girl would be a bigger influence on them than they realized.

Nain Min, the crabby court lady, seemed offended by the tadpole noodles, but I thought that they were pretty cool and better than no noodles at all, like Sanggung Han said. Therefore, I'll call the grumpy court lady Court Crab. Plus,the King himself said he never had anything like it before, so that’s got to be something. Fast forward again to the end of the day, the noodles a success. Jang Geum tells Sanggung Han that she wants to work in the royal kitchen, and I was as astonished as the court ladies because that was a huge request. She wants to train hard in order to make food for royalty, and she’ll have to study like she’s in college for many years. Once you’re in, you can’t leave unless you break a rule. If you break a rule just a little severely in the palace, you would be lucky if you were sent far away from the palace for the rest of your life. In “Dae Jang Geum,” a court lady was killed by several other fellow court ladies behind the king’s back. Yikes! Don't worry, it's not really a spoiler. It was too much for me two-thirds through the first episode. See what I mean when I say that Jang Geum is brave?

Next, we have a shot of the creepy assassin and the apparent mastermind in a hideout. I knew this meant really bad news for the king, but I couldn’t help but laugh after seeing pumpkins on the roof; that made me think of hobbits. The creepy assassin's hair, though! Believe it or not, it is a rather common style to have depending on where you live in Korea. I guess most of the hairstyles we see so far are tidy braids and updos because all these people are living in Hanyang, the capital city of Korea at the time, later renamed Seoul. I've noticed from other historical Kdramas that boys and men living around the countryside and smaller cities wear their hair loose, and it's pretty much regarded as normal. In bigger and wealthier cities, this is rarer unless you are a warrior or official who might have that hairstyle as their uniform.

Young men diverse as their hairstyles from the new Kdrama HWARANG.
             Wait, why are you looking at me like that? I'm watching it for the plot, I swear! *Blushes*

Back in the Seo family’s home, Uncle Deukgu is introduced. He heads home merrily, singing like he might have had one too many to drink. I suppose that would make sense because he’s a wine caterer; a lot of times on TV, character's occupations match their personality. Jang Geum learns that she can try out to work in the kitchen and immediately goes to talk to the moon and the rings that were once her mother’s, which really hit me in the feels because she still looks for a way to talk to her deceased loved ones. Kinda like she's talking to the moon via her ring walkie-talkie. I also think it’s really clever that the rings fit together like a BFF necklace.

Though Deukgu is a wine caterer/merchant, which seems to be a decent job(he delivers to nobles!), the aunt wants to get money however she could, exchanging the corn powder for money and encouraging Jang Geum to work in the palace. So I guess the aunt's just a bit of a miser. Their clothes are rather colorful and Deukgu has one of those cool horsehair hats, and they wear shoes-shoes; not straw sandals. So that has to mean that the family's not all that poor. They live in the capital of Korea, for goodness sake!

We’re finally back to hunting, and more of Blue's awesomeness is up ahead. Firing two arrows at once, and effectively using a fan as a weapon! Who would have thought that it would hurt to be hit by a fan? He must be as strong as he’s good with martial arts, seeing him palm-strike an assassin so hard that he flies backwards at least seventy feet(about 20 meters) and hits a tree. Ouch! Being the king’s bodyguard, however, I was surprised that Blue chased after the assassins instead of seeing if the king was okay, because the king's horse was panicking and Blue didn’t seem to notice. You had ONE JOB, Blue. Just keep the king company and protect him, THAT WAS ALL.

I think Mongmong is overlooked, because not only she got Jang Geum interested in the royal kitchen in the first place, she can smell a rat before anyone else can. Plus, she tore the mask off the creepy assassin, so that’s fantastic. That lap dog has the ferocity of a rottweiler! I had no idea who the female ninja was, but I had a feeling she would show up later in the series as one of the least suspected people. Because, cliches!

Even though Dongi and Jang Geum were in a hurry to get to the palace, they still helped the king even they didn’t know it was him, and even brought him to a doctor. They’re really good kids, and I hope that there are lots of compassionate people like them out there in the world. I also think it’s really clever and touching that Dongi is pulling Jang Geum to the test in the cart. Being the hefty guy he is, it seems he couldn't run for long. But he loves his foster sister so much that he does it anyway. Here’s some food for thought: Dongi taking Jang Geum to the test as fast as possible via a wine cart to reach the palace on time. Now imagine yourself in the same situation. Would your dad/big bro pull you all the way there in a wine cart so willingly? Come on! That just shows how devoted Dongi is to his sister.

I am also very impressed with the ending theme; not just by how cute the characters are, but how the way each of them walks is so unique. Like I said, Studio Ghibli-worthy effort was put into a lot of things here.

Thus endeth my first-ever commentary. My goal is to make a commentary on all the episodes of both seasons, and I'll update as often as I can. I hope you enjoyed this, and if you have feedback feel free to tell me. Constructive criticism only, please! If you can't wait for me to finish, read a commentary on that's already complete here. It's okay, my feelings won't be hurt! Besides, that's how I got the idea anyway. Whoever wrote the blog on thepinksylphide, I'm really sorry if I stole your thunder! I would have asked your permission if I could, but I couldn't find a way to communicate with you.

Korean Terms and Vocabulary:

Jeongje(JEONG-jae)- Dances and various stunts performed in courts for celebrations
Oppa(oh-PAH)- a name for an elder male friend or big brother, or an admired older male

Pajeon(PAH-jon)- a Korean pancake mainly made of green onion, meat and seafood can be added

Sanggung(sang-GOONG)-a palace matron in this case, as Sanggung Han is a high-ranking kitchen maid
Nain(NAH-een)- A court lady who hasn't yet earned the title "sanggung"

Vowel Pronunciations

A- “ah”

Eo- “oh”

O- sounds like "ol," but don't say the L sound(sorry, that's the best description I can give.)

I- “ee”

Eu- “oo”

U- “oo," but sounds more like "oh"