East of Eden: watch it, someone!

[dangermousie]

Why, oh why is nobody* watching East of Eden? I have just finished the first 5 eps and it's official: it's the best kdrama this year. Even better than The Kingdom of the Winds and I love that one.

It's just...there is nothing I would change so far. It has the drama and the social edge, the eye candy and good acting, the complicated plot and relationships that work. It's just...AAAAAH. I am in so much love.

I would probably pick this one to recommend to people who normally are not into kdramas. So good. It really reminds me of a novel.

The plot is really hard to explain. It's a family/revenge/social/historical saga, which stars when Lee Ki Chul, head of the Union in a miserable and remote mining village, dares to cross the head of the mine, Shin Tae Hwan, and STH prevents the upcoming strike by a little judicious murder.

Lee Ki Chul leaves behind the two women who love him (who are friends. It is a very unusual relationship in drama world, but somehow rings true), and three children: the youngest child (a daughter), and two sons: Dong Chul (our protagonist) and Dong Wook, Dong Chul's younger and protected brother, who is unbeknownst to anyone, is not really Ki Chul's son, but was switched with STH's son at the hospital by a nurse who hated STH. The rest of the drama follows Dong Chul as he and his family try to survive, to wreak revenge on STH, and to come to terms with a ruthless world which makes DC an atheist, pushes him towards the gangs and becoming a criminal, interrupts any hope of a normal life, in order to survive and to support the family. All the while Dong Wook is the hope of the family: the star student who will become a star lawyer. And the person Dong Chul loves most and will do anything for is his adored little brother...

There are gangs, jail breaks, romance, sociorealism about evils of capitalism (all the well-off people are corrupt and complacent), student rebellions, and other awesomeness. It's set 1960s-1980s.

Seriously. It's amazing. First 7 eps have been subbed by withs2 and 1-10 have been subbed by vikii. Only 10 aired so far.

Here is an OST MV:

Also, on a shallow note, this is the lead:



And it also have Dennis Oh! Come on, I want someone to discuss it with!

* By nobody I mean nobody on my flist. It looks like a huge hit in Korea.

Comments

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I'm not watching it because it's 50 episodes. No matter how good I know I would never make it to the end. (Plus I currently have a huge backlog of old kdramas to watch, including Legend.)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

But it's not any longer than 3 seasons of SGA minus the space vampires :)

I do think it's insane of the station to underwrite a 50ep drama. It's doing great so it's all right, but they could have been stuck with 1/2 year's worth of poorly-rated, expensive drama.

There is a lot on poor being beaten down by the evil rich. And the hero is often shirtless.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

There is a lot on poor being beaten down by the evil rich. And the hero is often shirtless.

How well you know my weaknesses...

[mishane.livejournal.com]

I have it downloaded on my computer already but it's on the waiting list because I still want to finish The Devil. Once I finish that, I'll start East of Eden.

But my gosh, I have so many dramas on my hard drive that I've yet to watch and I don't know where to start. I've got Absolute Boyfriend, Coffee Prince, My Name is Kim Sam Soon and 3 old Korean dramas that I don't remember and about 2-3 Japanese ones plus Romantic Princess, etc. lol, where will I find the time??

[bodea.livejournal.com]

Absolute Boyfriend was so good! I love that my jdramas are never more than 11 eps. I never get too backed up with them, but the amount of kdramas and twdramas that are gathering dust while waiting for me to view them is simply a tragedy

[mishane.livejournal.com]

I must see then!

Yeah, Hana Yori Dango was my first jdrama and I was shocked when I finished it in a weekend. Although that's one bad side effect of short dramas, I didn't want it to end!

But ugh, so so many I have yet to see. And I don't want to watch too many at the same time because then it gets overwhelming.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I don't really like AB because I prefer the manga. Not a fan of RP either (started cute but went nowhere) but it was a big hit so I am in a minority :)

[lydzi.livejournal.com]

Oh you're watching it? Great ^^. I began so I'm only on episode 2. I have to admit that I started it because of the lead actor and his hotness (because frankly at first I thought that 50 episodes was quite something :/).
The beginnning totally looks like Germinal you are right about this ^^. But it's gorgeous. he landscape is breathtaking. That is something that Kdrama will always have on other asians-dramas. They know how to make everything so so terribly beautiful.

It seems that there is a long way before the story really began. I don't mind actually.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

They know how to make everything so so terribly beautiful

True. The cinematography in this one is gorgeous.

It seems that there is a long way before the story really began. I don't mind actually.

The lead actor finally appeared at the end of ep 5. I didn't mind the wait though because the guy who played the younger version was very good and the story grabbed me. But I am very much looking forward to shallow ogling :)

[sodahands.livejournal.com]

You're tempting me to start on it right now! And I'm in need of some epic kdramas! (I seriously need another Legend or Capital Scandal.)
I'm waiting until WITHS2 releases the first 10 eps so I can start. But that MV and the serious eye candy that is the lead is making it so hard to wait!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

http://www.viikii.net/channels/goto/eastofeden

has first 10 eps subs. so you can watch first 7 with ws2 subs and the rest with them :)

[sodahands.livejournal.com]

Thank you! &hearts

[prismatic-star.livejournal.com]

The only reason I'm not watching East of Eden is because it's 50+ episodes long. I have an attention span of a three year old. It's not gonna happen.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

LOL.

I don't think I could watch it if I had all 50 eps in a lump, but couple of eps a week isn't different from watching normal tv :)

[bodea.livejournal.com]

I've actually watched up to episode 10. I've just done all my squeeing in the soompi thread!

eta: Oh my Dennis oh .... he's so bad, but he sounds a bit cute (and talented) when he utters some korean lines.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Denis Oh wasn't [icked for his acting :P

I am in the middle of ep 6 and it's so good! Also, how is it possible to be as hot as SSH? :)

[joonni.livejournal.com]

I am waiting to be in the mood to actually sit down and watch the whole thing. As of now, I am just downloading and skimming. However, I watched enough to know it is a serious, epic story that is going to be long with twisty turns in the plot. This needs more brain power than I am willing to give right now.
But yes, the child actor was amazing wasn't he? And Song Seung hun is turning out to be good (although every time he cries, I am reminded of Joonsuh in Autumn Tale---have you watched this btw?)

I don't know how excited I am about this drama because it has an obvious storyline but doesn't. The writer is threading the line between giving the obvious and not. Do you know what I mean? For example, the station master granddaughter is probably going to end up in an unhappy marriage with the bad guy's son. DW is probably gonna feel betrayal (because the granddaughter left him, unbeknownst to him, for his own good) or feel guilty (because he left the granddaughter for that Lee Da Hae). See, this is an example of where I can probably predict the storyline but there is enough room for the writer to maneuver.

Also, for some reason, Song Seung Hun just doesn't pull me. He's handsome, has decent acting, but he just doesn't have chemistry with me. LOL.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Oh, I can tell the stationmaster's daughter will end up in a marriage with bad guy, but I am not sure exactly how, or what will happen to her at the end (the guy who plays him, btw, is very good. He is loathsome, but magnetically so. I want to keep watching him).

Re: SSH. I have never seen him in anything before (Autumn Tale is too weepy even for me), but I admit to a mad and instant crush. Sure, he is gorgeous, but so is Dennis Oh and he doesn't do anything for me. But with SSH, for me he has this star charisma thing going where when he is on-screen, the drama just gets irresistable.

The one I really have been impressed with so far though, is the teenage version of SSH's character. Wow, that kid was incredibly good for someone that young.