Saimdang, Light's Diary aka Saimdang, Her
Story
사임당, 빛의 일기
SBS 28 Episodes (Pre-filmed 2015-16, Aired 2016-17) Masterpiece, Grade A+
Korean Drama Review by Jill, USA
~~~~~~~~~~~
Masterful, superb and fanciful
presentation of the life of an historical legend, 16th
Century Joseon female artist and noted calligrapher Shin
Saimdang (her face is on the most expensive currency in
Korea, the 50,000 Won bill and she
was the mother of the Confucian scholar Yi I),
in the context of a fictitious love story and modern day
art mystery, Saimdang, Light's Diary feeds the
hunger of the intelligent Korean drama viewer
for a production laced with spiritual beauty, a chaste
yet still passionate love story that will make one weep,
sublime writing and acting, and second to none
production values. In short an EXQUISITE Korean drama in
every way!
Coaxing the beautiful Korean actress Lee Young Ae out of
a 13 year K-drama acting hiatus
after her memorable work on 2003's Jewel in the
Palace, with a magnificent, poetic script, and
adding the handsome, dashing Song Seung Hun as her
leading man, plus hiring a great ensemble cast, all
created the foundation for a new classic Korean drama
that I will enjoy over and over again (and I hope
others will too!) for years to come. The colorful
costumes, scenic backgrounds, magnificent soundtrack,
colorful animation, and beautiful artwork are a feast
for the eyes and soul.
GORGEOUS FULL OST
Enough praise
cannot be lavished on the production for its exquisite
cinematography and the lovely country location
selections (with a short trip to Tuscany, Italy),
combining to give the viewer unique, spectacular
visual imagery that you won't find in any other Korean
drama, even other historical shows! In fact, after I
finished this drama I was depressed for days, missing
the characters and the beautiful, haunting story like
crazy. I never thought an historical drama whose theme
was Art would ever replace my love for 2008's Painter
Of The Wind, but I found it in Saimdang,
Light's Diary. It was so refreshing to enjoy a
drama not aimed at a teenage crowd as much as
a mature, thinking audience. The two leads being in
their mid 30's was a delightful respite from all the
teen idol based dramas we see too much of today. We
need more grown up fare like this show.
Minor glitches occur once in a blue moon,
mostly having to do with the modern day story
sometimes too abruptly being interlaced with the
Joseon story; the modern story wasn't the main
focus of the drama anyway, but these changes in time
periods do not distract from this Work of Art, unless
you as a viewer choose to make them so by preferring
the modern tale to the Joseon era story, or vice
versa. The intent was to have them blend in seamlessly
and for all intents and purposes they do.
The Joseon era story of Shin Saimdang's life is at the
heart of the drama, similar to the story of 14th
Century General Choi Young being at the heart of the
story in 2012's fictitious time travel tale Faith.
In fact, in the beginning of Saimdang, the
interlacing of past with present is done perfectly and
seamlessly, as you can see in the video, below, when
Seung Hun Song's character as a Joseon era ghost shows
up in modern day Italy!
The Most Remarkable Sequence
I've Ever Seen In Any K-Drama! It Could Be An Old Masterpiece Theater
Classic Scene From Britain
Add in a great musical soundtrack with a
beautiful "Close to You" song by "The One", and LYn's
plaintive "Whenever, Wherever", as well as a soaring
"Everlasting Love" by Lee Soo, plus unbelievably
beautiful instrumental pieces, and you know you are
about to watch (and hear) something very, very
special. Many times I would just sit back gaping
at my television screen, awestruck at this drama's
artistry. "I can't believe what I'm watching, this
must have cost a fortune! Every episode is like a
first run movie in a theater!" Because of my frequent
exclamations of wonder my children would come check
out particularly beautiful scenes with me.
Miss this drama and it's your tremendous loss! The
rest of the world is finally starting to appreciate
the remarkable high quality of films, shows, and
actors in South Korea, and this drama is one reason
why. Korea produces masterpieces, America produces
trash. Sorry, but it's the awful truth.
Yang Se Jong & Park Hye Soo
as the younger versions of Song Seung Hun & Lee
Young Ae
The Story: Beginning in modern day Seoul we meet
Seo Ji Yoon (Lee Young Ae) a Korean art historian and
lecturer who discovers on a trip to Italy (Italy, you say?
well stay tuned!) the diary of historical figure and artist
Shin Saimdang (also played by Lee Young Ae), an artist of
nature and mother of several children including future
Confucian scholar Yi
I. She also finds an ancient painting of Saimdang that had
been painted by her platonic lover Lee Gyeom (Song Seung
Hun as an adult, Yang Se Jong as a young man). However the
painting is the spitting image of Seo Ji Yoon herself! In
shock, the Italian caretaker of the estate lets Seo Ji
Yoon take the diary and the painting back with her to
Korea, saying it's obviously fate that led her to discover
them in the first place.
In Seo Ji Yoon's world,
Saimdang is a legend. In Joseon times, that legend was
still being formed and Saimdang was known as a bold and
talented artist, poet, and calligrapher.
Those qualities were enough to leave a lasting impression
on Lee Gyeom, a fictional character who is basically
representing the bold Renaissance Man of the Joseon
dynasty as a talented artist, writer, musician, and even
women's rights' activist! From the moment he meets the
young Saimdang (Park Hye Soo), he dedicates his life to
her with a pure and constant love.
As Seo Ji Yoon learns
more about Saimdang through her diary, she begins to
unravel the secret behind the painting of a woman who
looks exactly like her. We then go back into the past for
a considerable amount of time as the foundation for this
drama. Sometimes we return to the present day, where Seo
Ji Yoon is having marital problems and professional
problems due to the avarice of the most important men in
her life, her secretive husband Jung Min Seok (Lee Hae
Young) who puts the family into bankruptcy, and her boss,
the corrupt Min Jung Hak (Choi Jung Hwan) who tries to
pass off to the artistic community a fake painting as
authentic. Along for her bumpy ride back to normalcy from
chaos are her best friend Ko
Hye Jung (chubby actress Park
Jun Myun from Late
Night Restaurant), her mother-in-law Kim Jung
Hee (Kim Hae Sook from The
Suspicious Housekeeper), her young son Eun Soo
(Lee Tae Woo), her male student friend Han Sang Hyun (Yang
Se Jong in a dual role), and ultimately, surprisingly,
Director Seon (Kim Mi Kyung - Horseface!) who at first sided
with her corrupt boss but who changes for the better by
the end of the drama and supports Seo Ji Yoon.
Oh Yoon Ah gives a great
performance as Whieum Dang
Adding to the
drama's intensity in the Joseon story is Saimdang's
erstwhile "friend" Whieum Dang Choi (You
Are All Surrounded and Alone
In Love actress Oh Yoon Ah), a girl from a
humble background who once wished to be better than
Saimdang as an artist but who could not do so and
therefore blames Saimdang for the rejection she faced at
the hands of Lee Gyeom. Whieum Dang ends up giving
Saimdang years of grief, including several times putting
her life in jeopardy due to jealousy. Whieum Dang is
forced to marry a man who doesn't love her, Min Chi Hyung (Choi Chul Ho), but who only
sexually desires her. Her husband knows all too well she
carries a not so secret torch for Lee Gyeom and this
creates lots of dangerous animosity between the two men,
as is evident in this fantastic sword fight sequence,
below.
"You're vulgar!" Lee Gyeom Says
To Whieum Dang
A Great Swordfight Scene With Seung Hun Song
Fate intervenes to keep the loving,
artistic teenage couple Saimdang and Lee Gyeom
separate; she too is forced to marry another
young man named Lee Won Soo (played as an adult by Yoon Da
Hoon) otherwise there would be a royal command to kill
her beloved Lee Gyeom by the mentally disturbed monarch
of the time, King Jung Jong (Choi Jung Hwan in a dual role)
For two decades Lee Gyeom remains in the dark as to
why Saimdang abruptly married another man and moved
away, creating a home with him and having his
children. When he does discover the truth, that she
did it to save his life, he is able to drop his
bitterness by the wayside, even coming to her aid
several times when she is in trouble, and even caring
for her children who are not his own, for example
teaching her academically bright son Hyun Rong (Jung
Joo Won), and encouraging his brilliant mind at
academics, and then standing up for her daughter Mae
(Shin Shoo Yun, in a beautiful performance for one so
young) who wants to attend a royal art school designed
for men only.
One of the best parts
of this drama is seeing Saimdang relating lovingly
toward her children, teaching her children so many
valuable academic, moral, and life lessons. This is so
rare in Korean dramas, depicting such a high quality,
sacrificial mother, and I delighted in it. Saimdang's
husband turns out to be nothing but an oaf who can't
pass the civil service test even after trying
repeatedly for years, and he also cheats on her with a
bar maid. So she throws all the love she has into her
children. I especially loved her relationship with her
daughter Mae, who also wished to be an artist like her
mother, even disguising herself as a boy, trying to
get into the royal academy of arts that is the
exclusive territory of men. She wins the top prize but
when it's discovered she is a girl she is disqualified
from attending the school.
Her mother gives her hope for the future, that Joseon
may not always be a male-dominated society, by trying
out for an opportunity to paint the King himself, and
winning her objective. I just adored this beautiful
conversation between mother and daughter, in the video
clip below. Saimdang's decision to become a royal
painter, no matter what the personal cost to herself,
just so she could show Mae that there was hope for her
to achieve similar goals, was so inspiring. As a
mother of five children all these scenes touched my
heart tremendously.
When
Saimdang's silly husband gets his bar girl friend
pregnant his marriage with Saimdang is essentially
over. Lee Young Ae played these scenes
exquisitely, even asking her incompetent, cheating
husband why he couldn't be happy with her. He
replies he knows she never felt passionately
toward him, but being fond of him and being a good
housewife just wasn't enough for him. Saimdang now
becomes the major breadwinner for her family by
creating a new kind of art paper that is superior
to others on the market and she enlists the help
of the common people who love her to produce this
colorful paper.
Does all this send
her into the arms of the love of her life, Lee
Gyeom? No, it still doesn't. She comes to the
decision that she wants her children to respect
her above everything else, and that her children
wouldn't be able to hold their heads high in
society if she took up with another man. She comes
to this decision in the sequence the romantic
meeting at Mount Geumgang, one of the artistic
highlights of the entire drama.
Saimdang
is of such high moral character that she even forgives
the jealous Whieum Dang and helps her out when her own
husband is jailed and comes back out seeking revenge
against Saimdang and Lee Gyeom. The man is so evil he
doesn't even care that he is a terrible moral example
to his own two sons, whom he ignores. Saimdang
actually becomes the best moral example to Whieum
Dang's sons, a fact that shocks the boys' mother into
finally changing her mind about what is most important
in life. In fact there is so much forgiving going on
in this drama nearing the end that I think certain
scenes could be used to teach forgiveness in religion
classes! They are that powerful.
So why was Saimdang's diary
and painting found in Tuscany, Italy? Lee Gyeom had
escaped there after an order had been issued to execute
him for treason he didn't commit; living in Joseon was
no longer possible, and several important people help
him escape. This all leads up to an ending that is very
mystical and poignant and had me in tears several times,
but I won't give any spoilers away. Suffice to say two
worlds meet in the spirit and physical realms, two
fascinating women meet, and a loving couple meet again
who should have always been together from the beginning,
if the world were not such a sinful, violent place.
Magnificent Love Scene
As a huge fan of Song Seung Hun I believe this is his
finest performance, and Lee Young Ae impressed me so
much that I am determined to watch her in every other
drama or film she's ever been in. She is sublime, both
inside and out. Don't miss out on Saimdang, Light's
Diary, whatever else you do in life! It's totally
beautiful. If more people were like Saimdang and Lee
Gyeom what a better place the world would be. Don't
listen to any naysayers about this drama: they lack
beauty in their souls. This is just about the most
perfect Korean drama I have ever seen in my life. I
adored it.
