Dear Hongrang

good concept lousy and rushed execution

As a premise, this drama was very promising , but alas the execution was lousy, the story began to go all over the place, weird pacing, rushed conclusions to some story arcs, and even inconsistencies with some of the flashback events.

The drama opens to an intriguing mystery with a touch of fantasy and horror elements. The story then offers the familiar yet promising aspect of second guessing and doubting whether our main lead is an imposter who is deceiving everyone, or is he/ might be genuine. Was he a tormented soul that is good at heart, or is he simply a conniving evil person. If executed well such a tool be highly advantageous to building a mystery thriller, where a degree of doubting the true intentions or nature of a character gives extra depth to the story, keeping us watching doubting each and every word or action they take, always in anticipation of the moment the truth comes out. This drama even added an extra layer to that mystery; our main male lead might be truly the person he believes he is conning people into thinking that he is. That premise was good on paper, but unfortunately I have to say I felt the execution was somewhat sloppy and riddled with question marks, and the reveal was eventually rather anticlimactic.

The romance was poorly done. The Enemies-to-lovers card was just so rushed we were not shown enough to be bought on their love story, a couple of swoon-worthy moments or a couple of heroic actions can not make the viewer believe how she could shift one moment from despising and doubting him to all of a sudden falling madly in love with him. And I want to stress, that the issue with the romance was not owing to lack of acting skills or chemistry between the actors, rather it was just an issue with writing and script itself, it felt like the writer just decided at one point maybe due to time constraints with the air time and the progress of the story to just advance the romance to the next level.

Now, addressing the elephant in the room, which was the faux-incest aspect of the romance plot. I'll put it this way, showing us signs of attraction between the main leads at a point when we were still highly doubtful whether or not he was her brother was one thing, but when there is outright flirtatious skin-ship AFTER he supposedly convinced her he was her long lost brother that is a totally different thing. Let's just say that was a bit too much for me.

As for the pacing of the story, the drama wasted a large chunk of its short airing time on the "guild" power struggles or whatever that was, which to put it bluntly was boring and never managed to interest me as a viewer. I never really managed to wrap my head around what the whole guild and stake thing to begin with. and I felt like even the writers were being indecisive as to how much they wanted to build this story, they were always hinting at things like the gift of deed or whatever but never properly explaining anything. And even after we were introduced to the backstory of our lead and his motivations to approaching the guild master, the writers managed time and time again to lose the viewers attention toward the main mystery that our main lead was risking his life to uncover (i.e. the painter and his snow man), and left us trying our best to follow the inner machinations of the power struggle between the husband and wife fighting over control of their precious guild, and we were only ever introduced to their background story too little too late. It is hard to be interested in a plot that involves characters that we were not properly introduced to, with just one quick rushed scene to give you the gist of their background story. That may cut it if it was just a side character with a side plot that didn't consume most of the drama, but here at least one third of the story was about the god da*n thing! They managed to lose my interest completely to the point that whenever there was a part where different factions sent their henchmen to hunt down our leads which tended to happen a lot, I couldn't care less to recognize who was on which faction's side and who was fighting who, I was like whatever just get it over with. I found myself a couple of times literally checking how many episodes were left, and wondering when will the story address the mystery of the painter already, or just focus on our main lead's story.

The ending was super rushed, and I do not think that the shorter format was purely to blame, the story with its different plots could have progressed with a different pace and more balanced way so as to give more time for the main plot to progress without feeling it was just haphazardly executed like that.

Like many people mentioned on here, the OST was nice and memorable, the main song gave Indian vibes with dark and ritualistic sounding vocals I felt matched the story.

If you're a huge fan of the actors, it would not hurt to check it out, other than that I would not recommend this drama.

Read More

A Beautifully Heartbreaking Ride

This drama is a deeply emotional journey, woven with a gripping storyline and a well-crafted script. It's been a while since I've seen something this sorrowful yet captivating. The narrative is rich with love and action, keeping you emotionally invested throughout.

One of its standout elements is the OST — so powerful and moving that I found myself watching episodes just to hear it again. The cast delivers strong performances, bringing authenticity and depth to every scene. It's a drama that tugs at your heartstrings and stays with you long after the credits roll.

Read More

Hauntingly beautiful

I personally like saeguks so I watched this . Ngl the plot felt weird at first but when u keep watching it gets better and somehow gets u hooked . This is one of those drama which SHOULD have been at least 16 eps. The romance build up needed a lil more time but was understandable if u can connect with the characters.
Cinematography,ost and action scenes were top notch. Jo boah ATE as jaeyi , LJW never disappoints and KJW oml he was on different level on the last episodes. Personally didn't like the love triangle but it added some volume to the storyline. And ofc the ending,it was beautifully painful.

Would I recommend? Yes 💯

Read More

A Beautiful Love is born within a tale of Torturous Depravity and Revenge

At first the story and its main plot is hard to follow. It weaves in and out giving us details to set the stage of what climaxes in the last 4 episodes. I have to be honest and say there were times where I didn't stick with it. Mainly because the writing and this "weaving" in and out the main plot to establish the cast of horrible villains was confusing. Scenes would change suddenly without much transition. Certain characters were meant to throw us off. This provided twists and turns, but it also made staying with the main plot frustrating. Luckily I came to kisskh and read a couple of reviews that said to stick with it to the end. I have to say, although this started somewhat slow, it ended with a bang. You won't regret watching it to the end.

What did I like most? The acting was amazing. The actors were put into the right roles, and really brought their characters to life. The ML and the FL had amazing chemistry. The production was top notch, especially the lighting and music which added drama when it was needed. I loved, loved, loved the costumes!! For a period piece, it was nice not to have to see the usual palace apparel. This was still set in the Josean era, but the series was about a wealthy merchant family. Most of the actors were servants to this family, merchant trades people or guards. There was a lot of white and cream colored garments, that looked to be made of cotton or linen which was more true to that period (as opposed to the polyester palace garments that are suppose to be silk). The hats and head pieces were amazing. After seeing so many Kdramas set within the palace, it was nice to see a period piece set outside the palace walls.

As slow as this started out, by episode 8, I was glued to the story. The last 4 episodes reveal what everything was leading up to, all the pieces fell into place, and I was on the edge of my seat until I was crying at the end.

Read More

Excellent acting and production but needing more time to flesh out the stories.

Subjective Gut Rating: 8.25

To everyone’s delight, Netflix dropped all episodes of “Dear Hongrang” for us to enjoy. This drama boasts an excellent cast of actors who can actually act. I’m particularly looking forward to Lee Jae Wook’s performance, as all the comments and reviews were praising him. Moreover, the other Jae Wook, Mr. Kim Jae Wook is one of my favorites as well. Despite a very interesting plot and excellent acting, “Dear Hongrang” failed to slam dunk due to its writing and execution.


Acting
Without a doubt the acting for the whole cast is excellent. There’s no weak link despite a very large supporting cast. Lee Jae Wook and Jo Bo Ah have two roles that are memorable and hard to portray, yet they did a fabulous job. Despite the outward strong and proud personalities, our main leads suffer from tremendous trauma and torture. The inner struggles and pain were acted well during subtle and non-subtle moments. Kim Jae Wook gave such a chilling and eerie aura as the prince, Jung Ga Ram as the devoted and obsessed brother, and the veteran cast of parents. One thing I found with Korean serious historical dramas is that their acting rarely disappoints. The standard is just so high.

Plot
It’s nice to see a historical drama that is not about fighting for the throne/crown or palace politics. “Dear Hongrang” has such an interesting premise, not only a long-lost son returning to reclaim his rights, but the mystery surrounding his disappearance that led to a much larger and complicated conspiracy. Since there are only 11 episodes, the story moves really fast, actually a little too fast in the last few episodes. The drama spends more than half of the episodes on figuring out whether the returning son is the real Hong Rang and all the family drama. It did not leave enough time for the romance to develop (more on that later) and on the mystery/thriller part of the drama. The last few episodes felt rushed with many things left unexplained and unanswered. Who is the Snow Man? What is his background and deal? How can he fly around like that? Who is the crazy painter and his connection to the villain? Why are those secretive places not guarded heavily especially when important rituals and illegal stuff are happening in there. I also want to know more about the secret agency. Where do you get the funds? How did you train the assassins? There’s so much I want to know, yet there’s just not enough time. Despite me complaining that dramas are too long sometimes, there’s enough for the story here to make it last 16-20 episodes.

Romance
I should be really moved by this forbidden love, but unfortunately, it didn’t quite hit me with all the feels. The fault lies on the writing and the time restraints. There’s not enough time for the drama to show us how they fall in love. One minute, Jae I is questioning the identity of Hong Rang, next minute she starts to believe he might be her brother and the next she’s in love already. During those middle episodes when they were supposedly falling in love, I do not feel any chemistry between Lee Jae Wook and Jo Bo Ah. Even though Hong Rang fell first, and he said he missed her, something is just missing for me. On the other hand, the second male lead, Sim Mu Jin has a better unrequited love written. I believe in his feelings for Jae I, and why he loves her and can’t live without her.

Production
Great production with beautiful cinematography, realistic sets and costumes. This drama has a lot of violence and abuse, thus, it’s not for the faint of heart. But I applaud the drama for having realistic fights and scenes of torture, because the plot really does call for them. I don’t recall a revenge on a villain being so fitting and satisfying. It was a surprise, but how thrilling it was to see the villain’s end. The OST is hauntingly beautiful and complements the scenes so well.


Despite my criticisms, overall, I had a great time binge-watching this. I really wish “Dear Hongrang” could have been longer and certain plot lines could have been written and developed better. As a romance lover, I am sad that I am disappointed as this could be an epic forbidden love. The drama fell short of excellence.


Completed: 5/26/2025 - Review #583

Read More

HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!

Jo Bo Ah kills her role all the time!!! This was really good. I always to see Lee Jae Wook fighting. You could tell he liked her the first moment he saw her and fell for her because of how caring she is despite his identity. We most time see these married celebrities in dramas and their drama character either has no chemistry or limit the kissing/intimate scenes but this was not the case, she came to work lol and I admire that.
It was a good storyline and each character played their role well especially Kim Jae Wook (might be my 5th drama I have watched with him).
What I didn't see was what happened after the Prince situation in the final episode - I thought they would try to find who did it? But maybe adding more characters would have made it draggy even though the focus was on Hong Rang and Jae I.
I am h@ater because I thought she was going to be pregnant to give us that bittersweet ending lol
Overall, it was a great watch. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

Read More

Devasting. Devastatingly beautiful. Devastatingly dreadful.

Let me begin by saying that it has been quite some time since a K-Drama has kept me up well into the wee hours of the morning, but here I am at 5 in the morning, having just finished the final 4 episodes of Tangeum.

I watched Tangeum over three days, and each episode made me want to quickly cast aside my work and sleep to see what happened next. Unfortunately, I was only able to cast aside sleep in favour of Tangeum, work gave me no such pardon. The story was heavy with complex themes of grief, love, betrayal, and loyalty, expertly delivered through strong acting and substantially supported by an incredible OST. I felt each moment as though I were a part of it. I desperately wanted Jae-Yi to find out Hongrang was truly Hongrang, while contradictingly hoping against all else that he wasn't, for her and Hongrang's sake.

I could easily write a dissertation about why I loved this drama down to the bare bones, how it broke me, how it renewed me, how it filled me with equal amounts of hope and despair and how devastated I felt at the humanity of it all. But, I want each viewer to experience this drama as authentically and unencumbered by reviews as possible to feel every emotion that this masterpiece demands.

I will say that it is not what I would consider "light watching". Tangeum demands your full attention, engulfing the senses with unrelenting intrigue. I wouldn't rewatch it in a hurry because this is a story I feel the viewer needs to sit with for some time, hence the rating of 8. I am going to sit with this. However, while I do so, my advice is to run, don't walk, to watch this drama.

달리다

Read More

exquisite storytelling with a masterpiece Ost

the story is narrated beautifully and captures the characters progression clearly through the episodes.
even if you feel that the story is a common fable, I ensure that it isn't.
the story, the characters, the twists and the plot only seem to get better throughout the story.
I this is a thriller of its own kind.
it shows grief, aching, longing, sorrow
the cliff hangers very not bearable for me because I was very enraptured by the story.
the actors did an amazing job portraying their roles.
the entire Dear HONGRANG team deserves huge credit for bringing forth such a masterpiece.

Read More

Turn out it is pretty impressive and touching to watch

I did not expect much at first but now I am writing a review for this movie but here I am. I have to admit it leaves a remarkable impression watching this show, the whole series can be obsessive.

Lee Jae Wook in Alcemy of Souls grown up to Lee Jae Wook in Dear Hongrang....Made it looks like he fits in historical drama perfectly.

Obviously, the culture and historical background of the Joseon era can be strict but this is another one to appreciate how much of a blessing we have living in this era.

The 1st time watching left me feeling unsettled with the sadness, darkness, tragic and gloomy. But the acting of Lee Jae Wook and Jo Bo Ah made me re-watch couple of times. Every time re-watching, another layer of meaning is peeled off. Lee Jae Wook and Jo Bo Ah projected lively, subtle and authentic chemistry between Hongrang and Jae Yi. Somehow from suspicion and doubts in the beginning developed subtly to deeply and passionately in love with each other at the end. They both suffered from deep trauma and abuses, is that the reason why they fall for each other? Lee Jae Wook portrait Hongrang's trauma and pains so well to the point I wonder how he would be able to get out of that character. Hopefully it is not too deep for him to get out.

The plot contained so much blood, gore, violence and child abduction that was the part I don't appreciate. I understand they try to show how much of the greed and madness human being can be... Hopefully it is not too harsh for some people. In terms of harsh topic, I think this one can be compared with the Painted Skin (2008) but Dear Hongrang is no doubt a next level. From acting, actors/actress to soundtracks, culture, background aesthetics... From the white hanbok in the fight between the assassins to the subtle beauty of the background...are perfectly fit.

I reckon Yoamjae by Kwon Jin Ah is the best soundtracks among this list. Her voice delivers the passionate remarkable part of the series. The moments when Jae Yi floated in the rivers and their intimate moments in the cave next to the firewoods. It was really touching when Jae Yi was about to see Hongrang shoulder but his tears shed showed how much of the pains, disgust and agony he had carried such scars on his back. He did not want to reveal that part of himself to Jae Yi just because he cares about her. It is painful and tearing to see that moment.

Soundtracks successfully delivered the heavy, dark and gore theme of this show... even though I hope it was not that dark and heavy...

The prince by Kim Jae Wook is pretty impressive. His ugly, distorted mindset with deceptive obsession and illusion for torturing children, distorted arts and dark magics are well masked underneath the angelic, scholar and royal look outside. Kim Jae Wook somehow delivered these character from one side to the other very well.

The beautiful part of Dear Hongrang is the tragic connection and chemistry of the main characters from my point of view, it worth watching for that reason. I think if we expect the pink-roses and happy ending to satisfy us then it would not deliver the harsh truth of life. That is somewhere somehow someone are suffering from mistreatment of lunatic, psycho, ignorance people. Everyone deserves to be treated kindly and equally. Somehow I wonder how much of suffering those people had to go through... Well, karma works, the ending was reasonable enough to make sure it does not leave sad ending even though I wish a worth ending for Hongrang and Jae Yi - perhaps wishing for one in their next life.


Even though I was hoping for a better ending or a season 2 for this series. I have to admit the 11 episodes packed enough details and explanation.

Read More