Asian Addicts Anonymous

신이라 불리운 사나이
Shinira Bulriwun Sanai

• English title: A Man Called God
• Broadcast network: MBC
• Broadcast date: 6 March – 23 May 2010
• Episodes: 24
• Cast: Song Il Gook, Han Chae Young, Kim Min Jong, Han Go Eun, Chu Ja Hyun, Yoo In Young
• Based on the manga A Man Called God by Park Bong Seong
• Synopsis: After his family’s murder when he was a child, Michael King returns to Korea bent on taking revenge against the murderers and their families.

A Man Called God has started it’s drama run on March 6. And boy, it started with a bang. (Well, more like the first episode kind of ended with one, but whatever.) This drama stars actor/model Song Il Gook who is known for his award-winning roles in the dramas The Kingdom of the Wind, The Book of Three Han, and Sea God (notice how they are all historical dramas and not modern…); Han Chae Young who is known more recently for being Kim Hyun Joong’s unrequited love in Boys Before Flowers and who gained popularity in Delightful Girl Choon Hyang; and Kim Min Jong a singer/actor who has thus far starred in more movies than dramas (but he’s still got quite a bit under his belt), his most recent drama role being that of Goo Ja Myeong in The Return of Iljimae playing opposite Jung Il Woo.

If I had to relate this to recent dramas, I would go with East of Eden due to the revenge plot and the fact that Song Seung Hun’s character had some more criminal ties that he also used to help him along his way and IRIS for all the kick-butt action and espionage going on. If you liked those two dramas, then you just might find this one interesting as well.

25 years ago a young boy witnessed the murder of his parents. He grows up vowing revenge and gets involved in some pretty risky business (such as eliminating terrorists). In his scheme for revenge, he comes across reporter Jin Bo Bae (Han Chae Young) who is trying to do a special story on one of the men who killed his father, a prominent oil conglomerate. Of course, entanglements ensue (or will in a few more episodes).

In this episode, we are also introduced to Hwang Woo Hyun (Kim Min Jong). He is Jin Bo Bae’s sunbae and also works in law enforcement, probably at the government level as he was giving a briefing on terrorists. He raises the alert that Peter Pan (AKA Michael, AKA Choi Kang Ta) has shown interest in Korea and was most likely behind the assassination of the oil conglomerate on his trip to Hawaii. We are also introduced to a female cop (Chu Ja Hyun) who has incurred the dislike of Hwang Woo Hyun for ruining his undercover investigation. What role she will have remains to be seen. There is also a vixen of an assistant to Michael King (Song Il Gook) named Vivian (or Bebe Ahn) played by Han Go Eun.

There are gadgets galore and a great opening fight sequence. I like how the fighting is more realistic, not the weird suspension, wire work which, although cool, I find annoying. We start out in Hawaii and see the basic setup of the oil guy by Michael, eventually leading to his confrontation and death. All-in-all, I think it was a good start to the series. I can’t wait to see where it goes.

Best fight scene:

The opening sequence, which was actually a computer simulated training game. Meaning the surroundings and bad guys were fake, but Song Il Gook’s character does all the fighting and work. Hmm, it was nice.

Funniest moment:

To get Jin Bo Bae out of the way, Michael propels her on his surfboard and strands her (he was supposed to be helping her catch the camera “thief” who was really one of Michael’s men)

Best quote:

“Boss, it’s a good score, but it’s not perfect.” (one of Michael’s associates)
“I am not a god,” Michael replies.
“You are to me,” his vixen assistant, Vivian, iterates.

Don’t know why, but I loved that conversation which occurs after Michael’s training exercise at the beginning. It is ironically funny if you take into account that the English title of this drama is A Man Called God

Question I want answered:

What happened to Michael’s little sister? In the flashback sequence, Michael was with his little sister when he witnessed his parents’ deaths and when he was confronting the oil chairman, he mentioned how his parents were killed and left out his little sister. So, is she still alive? Were they separated when he was adopted and brought to Hawaii?

What I want more of:

Oddly enough, the music! It’s only the first episode and I am already in love with the soundtrack, especially the song played in the opening fight scene.

Here’s looking forward to episode 2 where it looks like characters will start to converge again. And I wonder if we’ll learn any information about the little sister?