Gaksital @ Bridal Mask

Gaksital @ Bridal Mask

Cast :
Joo Won, Park Ki Woong, Jin Sae Yeon, Han Chae Ah, Chun Ho Jin, Jeon No Min, Shin Hyung Jun

Language : 
Korean 

Synopsis :
Two brothers - Lee Kang To and Lee Kang San – live in Seoul in the 1930’s, oppressed under the Japanese rule. Kang To, the younger brother, is a rising star in the police force and works with the Japanese police to capture “Gaksital" a mysterious freedom fighter who fights for independence wearing a Korean Bridal Mask. Later when Lee Kang To’s life is turned upside down, he dons the Bridal Mask and fights injustice and rights wrongs against the Japanese during one of the darkest periods of Korea’s history.

Kimura Shunji is a gentle Japanese teacher who has come to teach in Korea against his father's will. He is best friends with Kang To and shares a loving relationship with his Korean nanny. He also falls in love with the fiercely patriotic Mok Dan, a woman who is in love with Kang To, a twist that begins to change him into a darker person.

Remarks :
A.MA.ZING! And I approach this drama nonchalantly without fully knowing what is all about. And I’m glad I did!

The casts for this drama were stellar, though Mok Dan was the weak link—she wasn’t bad, but she didn’t quite have the same range as the rest, which was a shame. I loved her as a character though, so I don’t think Jin Sae Yeon did wrong by the character. She just lacked layers—the stuff underneath the obvious emotion and written words. Joo Won and Park Ki Woong have to be hands-down the best hero-villain pair I’ve seen in a long time. Their friendship-to-bitter-enemies story was the heart of the series, and they really carried every moment of that emotion, whether it was rage, betrayal, longing, or heartbreak. Theirs is the relationship that hooked me, and the one that broke me in the end. I still find myself agape that a show would stick to its guns and go as dark as it did with both of these characters, from beginning to end.

And what I love about this drama is that I can relate to it, though I’m not a Korean and I didn’t live there. History tells us that Korea didn’t find independence for another decade, but the people living in that time don’t know that—you fight for what you believe, not for assured victory. That’s something Mok Dan noted recently, and it bespeaks the spirit of the drama.

The fight goes on. And ultimately, what’s important isn’t who Gaksital is, as the drama’s final, powerful scene shows us. You’re all Gaksital, you’re all living in oppression, and you’re all fighting together. I love that: Unity, solidarity, independence.