oyceter | Damo, ep. 01-02

shewhohashope pimped this as "like CSI: 16/17th Century Korea, mixed with some elements of wuxia, Sherlock Holmes-style deduction, a 'cop goes undercover' storyline, and possibly a star-crossed romance or two to come."

Then she went and posted a lot of pretty screencaps of the first episode.

Have I mentioned before that I used to watch historical dramas in Chinese back in Taiwan? I am addicted to anything with historical costumes and swordfighting, particularly when wuxia is in the mix. Or Qing Dynasty court drama.

So far, Damo reminds me why I loved them so much. Jang Chae-Ohk is a damo (tea server?) for the Left Police Bureau. Her commanding officer is Hwangbo Yoon. It is Chosun Dynasty Korea. So far, Chae-Ohk has solved a crime with her spiffy forensic skills, crossed swords with a lot of pepole, stoically defended her honor, attempted to stoically defend other people's honor, stoically faced her commanding officer, stoically killed some she likes for honor (not a spoiler; this is the first five minutes), and stoically dressed as a boy and wandered off.

I love her to pieces.

Her commanding officer has also honorably and stoically done many things, often with swords, and I love him too, but not as much as I love her. Part of this is because everyone wears very similar hats, clothes, and beards, and they are all roughly the same height, age, and build. I think I have managed to identify his eyebrows though, so all is well.

There is another curly-haired rogue type character who is clearly the other (other other) corner of the love whatever-shape, along with another woman who has yet to be identified. I am guessing some more complications will also come in.

I am not quite sure what the plot is about so far. Chae-Ohk and Yoon solve crimes, swordfight, honorably and stoically stare at each other, and honorably and stoically have heart-tugging flashbacks together. In historical costume! I love it! I am attempting to figure out the significance of assorted hats; some of them have peacock feathers and others have long strings of large brown beads, and yet others have wreaths around the top. I also need to read up on Chosun Dynasty history, because I think there is a whole lot going on with court politics that I do not know, and it is driving me nuts.

Also, Chae-Ohk and Yoon and curly-haired rogue fly around on concealed wires with swords!

I will try to have something more coherent later, but all I can say now is: Swords! Wuxia (um, at least I think it is taking off on Chinese wuxia tradition? is there Korean wuxia tradition?)! Stoic and honorable suffering! Historical costumes! Girl-dressing-as-boy! Stoic and honorable heroine! Flashbacks!

For anyone interested in watching, try to at least get to episode 2, which has the flashbacks of extreme cuteness and swordfighting in the rain, as it is excellent.

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rodl. "Stoic" indeed. The flashbacks of incredible cuteness were what sold me on the show, honestly. I mean, that little girl has to be the absolute cutest thing ever. And the guy who plays young Yoon also plays the younger version of the lead in Emperor of the Sea. I long for him to grow up a little more so he can start playing the lead in these shows already)

Damo is actually probably what sent me off into wuxias and period dramas.

BTW, curly haired rebel leader is Jang Sung-Baek.

OMG! The flashbacks! So cute! So cute! Especially the little girl!

I am now very tempted to go through all the wuxia you have been watching too. Any particular recs? I haven't seen many wuxia movies at all, but I really miss the cdrama ones.

i actually kinda did a wuxia recs post not long ago. I shall dig it up for you when i get home.

Yay! Thank you!

Here's my post: http://meganbmoore.livejournal.com/tag/wuxia+primer (though the stuff before the second post you don't really need, as you're already familiar w/ wuxia series) it also has my favorites at the end. the only one I've watched since is Twin of Brothers(raymond lam's character and his story are great, but ron ng cannot act and his character sucks and is boring in addition to that...he has the cool villains, though...the best part of his story was the bad girl who fell for him...sadly...he'd rather be boring and sanctimoniousd with the good girl)

only on ep 6 of Romance of Red Dust...it's fun, but i don't know how good it'll be overall yet.

Yay, thank you! I actually haven't seen much wuxia at all -- I think I watched Yi Tien Tu Long Ji (Heavenly Sword, something Dragon?) in like, 1993 on Taiwan TV, and I randomly caught a lot of Asia Undefeated when it played. But I am a total sucker for Chinese historical drama stuff.

Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre. I'm told it has one of the worst of the Wandering Eyes Heroes.

Ah, got it! I don't even remember! I think the version on

jdramas is the remake, which is not as good as the version I remember, but that may just be my memories...

I'm still hoping that the guy from the first five minutes isn't dead!

My DVD's arrived yesterday and I'm incredibly excited to watch eps 3-7 as soon as I have time.

Me too! Though I continue to hope that the requisite romance will be between Chae-Ohk and Yoon. My sister was worrying: "But he's the nice guy! The nice guy in dramas never get the girl!"

I am so tempted to get the DVDs! Especially because the scenery is so gorgeous.

I'm as unspoiled as you, and I think it's going to be Chae Ohk and Hwango Yoon for the main couple. Did you not see their flashbacks?!

Chae-Ohk and Yoon are very, very much the otp.

*will not give any spoilers*

I know! They have piggy-backing! It is clearly a sign.

Well, you've got me curious. Thanks! ^_^

Yay! *ahem* If you can't find it, email me! (oyceter, gmail)

Next time we hang out you totally have to bring this over. I've been craving some period piece goodness, but don't have the money or any idea of what to get into next. The last one I got into was Tsui Hark's The Seven Swordsmen of Mt. Tian, which irked me for the complete uselessness of the female character in it.

I will! I have mostly been watching it online, but I am trying to dl as well.

...Joseon Dynasty? Where do I find this??? Korean historical dramas can be so fun!

I email you!

So let's say, hypothetically, a person is interested in checking out this series. And the said person has visited the usual haunts but the series, being a few years old, is not grabbable in the usual fashion. How else might the person get her (or his! The hypothetical person could be a guy!) hands on the series? Hypothetically, of course. *cough*

Are you aware of

jdramas?

No. The community sounds neat! Shall go forth and join (hey, it's not like I alreadt have many gigabytes of yet-unwatched media sitting in my hard drive or anything... *facepalm*) Thanks for the tip!

I am not sure if I should say you rock or to bemoan the link, as I am already planning a Christmas kdrama marathon with my sister! Oh, my poor hard drive space.

I am amused by the fact that [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] and I in combination are now the cause of woe for hard drives other than my own.

The only thing my sister will watch with me are KDramas. I seriously think I have some freaky KDrama-pushing powers. Now: whether to use them for good or evil?

Clearly you should use your powers for world domination! I think you have some pretty good kdrama-pushing powers too! Though I am betting those will also extend to your other recs, once I get around to them.

I ask for nothing for myself, I only wish to provide quality entertainment/crack to the masses.

You need to start watching Bollywood. I think you'd love it. And you'd understand my forthcoming posts about 'Om Shanti Om', aka 'the one with 1970's Bollywood, unrequited love, murder, reincarnation, present-day Bollywood and the quest to avenge murder from a past life'. Films within a film, musicals, self-parody!

I can't wait to see it at the cinema.

!! You! You are why I recognized the name Om Shanti Om! It's out in theaters here! I will go see it now! Yay!

Damo, ep. 01-02

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Swordfighting in the rain!

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Both Iand jdramas clearly rock.

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