Korean title: 성균관 스캔들
Aired on SBS2
From 2010 August to November
20 episodes
Main cast:
Note:
I watched it just after Coffee Prince and I had seen Micky Yoochun as a nobleman previously in Rooftop Prince.
At the beginning, I expected this drama to be a Fav! Alas...
Review: +/-
Title: Not sure about the scandal (it makes me think of the superior drama Capital scandal) but it takes place around 1791 at Sungkyunkwan, a school that trains future members of government/public servants.
Girl: She has to make a living for her mother and sick younger brother. Since she's educated, as girls are not supposed to, she pretends to be a boy and writes letters, homeworks for students etc. She's warm, responsible and likes to study. The only negative is that I find that she is passive on several occasions and that Boy makes decisions for her.(+)
Boy: He's a strict, law-abiding, moral, big-on-principles nobleman. I like that type though he was a bit too stoic for my tastes. (+)
Other Boy: Hot-headed rebel. He's on my very short list of guys who look good with long hair. (+)
Other girl: She's a spoiled young girl but her love is pure and sincere. She's funny too. (+)
Relationship: I like how it developed but watching the character confused and tortured over his sexual orientation for nothing was frustrating. Moreover, since not much was happening on the "plot" side, it dragged. Meanwhile, you're just waiting for him to find out so the drama will get some momentum again.
Plot: The overarching arc is about the King wanting to build a better society by getting rid of the noble families' influence. For that purpose, he needs the McGuffingest McGuffing I've ever seen. I liked the depiction of a good King and of families' rivalries but this is never really developped. It's just talks in the background about how the McGuffin would fix everything. Yeah, sure.
Then, there are shorter arcs with more urgent stakes for the characters, the villain being the President Student. At first, these were interesting enough and yielded character developments. But at one point, I realised that the good guys were always doing the good things and the bad guys bad things and SPOILER ALERT failing. So in the end, there is no suspense and the stakes lose their power.
Other characters: There is a character who has an interesting trajectory. Side characters are also pretty good. The villain, however, is a terrible character. He's one-dimensional and has two expressions throughout the drama: expressionless - so is it actually just one? - and frowning menacingly.
Bonus factors: Period! Hats! Politics of that time!
Funny factor? Not much.
Music: OK. There was one song I liked.
Most egregious clichés: Girl pretending to be a boy. McGuffin.
What the... ? I will go with opening a very secret and big box in plain view. And hugging instead of running. Wait, I almost forgot... Other boy gets hiccups when he's with a girl. I have no idea why and what was the purpose of giving him that trait... Also, (trying hard not to spoil here) one character learns something important but never discusses it with anyone.
Bottom line: There are a lot of things to like in this drama (some characters, some developments about their relation to their family, the 18th century setting, the promising beginning) but then my interest withered away.
Oops! I forgot about one important character. It's telling that I forgot about her even though she's featured in several storylines. I think she's interesting but a bit "random". She's likable but in the end feels like a composite of several traits that don't totally add up.
