Capital Scandal – Rewatch

Capital Scandal aired on KBS around summer 2007, consists of 16 episodes. I just loved this drama from the very first time I watched it.
This drama has four lead roles, they are Kang Ji Hwan as Soo Woo Wan, Han Ji Min as Na Yeo kyeong, Ryu Jin as Lee Soo Hyun, and Han Go Eun as Cha Song Joo.
Capital Scandal theme is of the struggle towards independence of Joseon (Korea). The setting was about 1930s, during the time  when Japan colonized Korea, called the late Jeoson era. But the drama was far from the scene of war battles, that’s one of the unique things about the drama. It tells about nationalism, patriotism, intrict, politic, childhood trauma, sweet romance, tragical romance, and they’re all packed in comical scenes.
Soo Woo Wan, a “prince”, rich, handsome, intelligent, and most importantly, he convinced his ability to conquer women in just 10 minutes. But he was troubled when his co-worker challenged him to conquer a girl who was way too far from his type: Na Yeo Kyeong, a freedom fighters. While all the women in Jeoson have followed the western lifestyle, she still wore black and white hanbok. She’s cute but stubborn, a bit extreme when talking about the invaders and often criticize the lifestyle of the Jeoson youth makes no man want to touch her, she was even nicknamed Jo Ma Ja (Jeoson Majimak Yeoja), which means the last female of Jeoson era.
Lee Soo Hyun, a Jeoson-born Japanese police officer, handsome and intelligent but stooge defected to the invaders. And least important profile is his expressionless face.  His life was full of mystery, carrying all the loads of everyone’s past all by himself. He’s the key of all answers, but yet he refused to say a word. Cha Song Joo, most famous gisaeng at the time, classy lady, pretty, full of mystery and can conquer anyone, from the nobility Jeoson men to Japanese officials.

At the beginning, we’re served by a silly scene when Soo Woo Wan tried to win a bet. The “three muskeeteers” were awesome. They’re a package of silly actions and scenes that always made me LOL. And the friendship between Soo Woo Wan and Cha Song Joo was a very cool thing in my opinion. She’s the only pretty woman who didn’t intend to be conquered by him ever. Lee Soo Hyun, who was referred as an arch-betrayer, for me was a very confusing and mysterious character. From the beginning until the end, I just couldn’t find any reason to hate him … I think Ryu Jin’s acting was very clever to stirr my emotions.

The four main characters carry out their jobs really well done. Their acting skills were no doubt. Kang Ji Hwan is an expert in this kind of drama. And for me, the most interestingly unique things was his outfits. Don’t be surprised when seeing him wearing clothes with extreme colors like purple, yellow or pink! But weardly,  he looked just fine with those colors, he even looked…so bright.
The greatest thing about this drama is that it can show the bright side of Jeoson gloomiest era. The dynamic emotion was I think the strength of this drama. It is able to put humor within even the toughest time of being colonized. And the most important is, why you should choose between the loving, the pleasures, and the revolution when you can do it all together, as long as you’re not alone? This drama show you how love for the country resonanced with all other kinds of love.

I give five stars out of five stars for this drama. All 16 episodes and I never missed a single one. Really worth watching (For those who haven’t watched it, trust me you really need to give a try)

Oh yeah… as a girl, I love the Cha Song Joo’s clothes, very stylish…

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