TV series review: Mr Sunshine
It starts out as a love story, but then turns into an even bigger love story. Love for one's country, for your people around, and for freedom. Mr. Sunshine is the story of Eugene Choi, a Joseon (Korean) child who had fled to the US, and now comes back to his homeland. Initially just to exact revenge for what had happened to him in his childhood. But then he meets a noblewoman, Go Ae-Shin and his life changes. As it does for a few other people, for Gu Dong Mae, a Japanese samurai, for Kim Hui-Seong, a lost nobleman, and for Hina Kudo, the owner of the local hotel. The story takes you through the events that happen in each of their lives from 1902-1907, driven by the political intrigue of the time when Japan was taking over Korea. There are hosts of other characters around them and you get to see all their interactions and lives during this period.
It is a 24 episode series, with each episode being more than an hour. They show a lot during the series, so much happens in those episodes. You feel as if you have lived a full life with these characters. And there is so much to love, talk about, discuss in the series. I read many fan pages after each episode, there was just so much to take in, feel, like, not like, be curious about, wonder about and so on. Lot of events happen in the story, and it's not possible to comprehensively detail it. Maybe all I will talk about here is how the series touched me.
First of course, is the cinematography. Absolutely mind-blowing. Of a Joseon of the 1900s, where nature and rivers and forests and simplicity and traditional clothes and old Korean houses and palaces are all part of life. I cannot say enough about the production value of the series. You can watch it just for that, even if you forget the cast and story. I fell in love with the 'Korea' of old - simple, traditional and so very beautiful.
Then come the characters and they will blow your mind. There are 100s of small and big characters in the show, all of which play their part in the history of the country. You also see how each of them develops over time, affected by what is happening around them as Japan takes over Joseon, bit by bit. There is comedy, romance and light moments everywhere. But most of the series is about pain, as everyone realises slowly how their country is getting sold and destroyed bit by bit. This shapes everyone around. And the choices they make for their lives is what this series is all about.
Every character in the series is someone you will remember, for a long time. They will remain in your mind, long after you have finished watching the show. A young brother and sister surviving the turmoil, a comic interpreter, the rebel tailor and blacksmith, the lonely innkeeper, a patriot rickshaw puller, a taciturn potter, a teddy bear gunner, two all purpose slave hunters, a Korean geisha rebel, a hopeful English student, an American teacher, two loyal servants, the loving but strict grandfather, the samurai second in command, a mute fortune reader, the helpless emperor, the emperor's fighter minister, the traitors, the evil Japanese - the list is endless. Each small and big character leaves a mark on the story. And you. The acting is of course top notch but I think it is the writing which is the real hero here.
Third for me was the Joseon history, which hit me so hard that I couldn't but research about it. All the betrayals, the traitors who helped Japan take over the country. And the ones who tried with all they had to stop it. When you start watching the show, you know how it is going to end, still you root for everyone. And their courage. Their hope is what is the highlight of this show. The story of some people's love for their country, which can sometimes become bigger than the love for another person. You end up rooting for the commoners who become fighters fighting for their country's existence, the noblemen who took a stand, and an emperor who wasn't able to. You also end up disliking imperial Japan, a lot. I have always been a fan of the country and could not even imagine a country as peaceful as it is today, could have been such a ruthless imperial power. The story was such an eye-opener for me, and its worth seeing this series just for this unknown history too.
And last but not the least, comes the love story. Three men loving one woman, and she loving one of them. And three other women loving these three men. It was a bit convoluted there 😊. It was sometimes difficult to understand these different types of love, stoic, obsessive, respectful or one-sided. And I think this added to the beauty of the show. Eugene and Ae-Shin's love was so pure, so simple, so deep and so sad in the end. It is after a long time I have seen a love story like this, where they loved each other so much but from afar, as they knew they could never be together. So Eugene kept protecting her and helping her in her love for her country whenever and however he could, always. [spoiler alert] I cried in the scene he put the ring instead of the O in 'Love', and changed it to 'Live'.
So many times their love felt stupid, why would someone love this way when they can have an easy life, why would they give up on everything for the cause of the person they like. It was very difficult to understand this for sure. (I read somewhere one of the reasons for this could also be because gender roles are reversed here, as the man sacrifices everything for the woman who has one goal in her life. And this is something we don't see often, so its tough to sometimes 'get' it). And I must say here, I loved Eugene Choi. What an actor Lee Byung-Hun is. So quiet, so stoic and so subtle in his acting. Everything was conveyed with his eyes and face. Oh my god, his pain still haunts me. And I must add, he was so swoonworthy even at 50!!
The other three leads of the series also go through big arcs, and have a big (and passionate) fan following - Gu Dong Mae, Hina Kudo and Kim Hui-Seong. But somehow I didn't feel the same connect to them as with Eugene and Ae-Shin. It just goes to show how people are different, the same thing can be perceived differently by different people, can emotionally touch different people differently.
Of course, the series wasn't perfect. In the middle episodes, the story felt too slow and dragged a bit. And too much happened, countless incidents, some of which could have been avoided. But for me, it did not matter. At all. All I took away in the end, is this beautiful story of these people; of their love story, towards their country and for its freedom. It's so much bigger than everything else, even the love story of Eugene and Ae-Shin. It emotionally touched me a lot, with its good writing and characters. Just brilliant.
Comments
Post a Comment