The Return of Iljimae (2009)

44% User Rating

Drama

The Return of Iljimae is a 2009 South Korean historical action television series, starring Jung Il-woo in the title role of Iljimae, Yoon Jin-seo, Kim Min-jong and Jung Hye-young. It aired on MBC from January 21 to April 9, 2009 on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 21:55 for 24 episodes. The series is based on comic strip Iljimae, published between 1975 and 1977, by Ko Woo-yung which was based on a Chinese folklore from the Ming dynasty about a masked Robin Hood-esque character during the Joseon era. MBC bought the rights to the comic strip for their adaptation, which was to star Lee Seung-gi in the title role of Iljimae. However he pulled out and was replaced by Jung, which makes him the third Korean actor to play the hero following Jang Dong-gun and Lee Joon-gi for Iljimae.

Hwang In-roeDirector

Cast

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Jung Il-woo

Iljimae

Yoon Jin-seo

Dal-yi / Wol-hee

Kim Min-jong

Koo Ja-myung

Jeong Hye-young

Baek-mae

Cheon Ho-jin

Hong Taiji

Lee Hyun-woo

Cha Dol-yi

Oh Young-soo

Yeol-gong

Kim Dong-seok

Lee Yoon-jeong

[Han family's daughter]

Reviews (1)

All Reviews

ParkMin

Rating 30%

January 5, 2024

Watching a drama with so much narration was kind of weird. It didn't help it case when the leads were whispering all the time with this monotone voice, almost like they were just reading lines off a script. Moreover, both of their performance was quite poor in general, I know they have the talent but not in this drama. The story itself felt like it was dragging its feet endlessly. The ending was a weak attempt at redemption. It rushed major sections with too many skips to rush progression and conclusion but ended up creating even more problems, leaving major gaps to what could have been a very simple wrap up. Releasing another version of Iljimae within 1 year turned out to be a poor decision when they have had learned nothing from the previous one.