Asian Addicts Anonymous

성균관 스캔들

Romanized title: Seongkyunkwan Seukaendeul
English title: Sungkyunkwan Scandal
Broadcast station: KBS2
Broadcast dates: 30 August – 2 November 2010
Episodes: 20

Synopsis :: Main Cast :: Supporting Cast :: Review :: OST :: Releases

Synopsis:

Kim Yoon Hee poses as her ill brother Kim Yoon Shik in order to help support her family after her father passes away. Her main source of income comes from copying notes and homework for Sungkyunkwan scholars and for doing the occasional banned, illicit book. Desperate to pay back a debt owed to the Minister of War, Yoon Hee decides to do the unthinkable and become and substitute exam taker. At the exam site she confuses the upright and uptight Lee Seon Joon with the person she is supposed to substitute. Seon Joon manages to get Yoon Hee kicked out of the official exam, but the words she wrote on the back of his clothes intrigued him and made him see the potential she had. Thus, Seon Joon decides to trick Yoon Hee into taking the exam with her “real” name instead of as a substitute.

On the day of the exam, the king comes to officiate and give the question. Yoon Hee is called out by an angry king for her answer and Seon Joon steps up to help her. Thus the king declares that the two must enter Sungkyunkwan and study together. Yoon Hee refuses as she is a girl posing as a boy, but she cannot defy a royal decree. This way Yoon Hee can escape a forced marriage to the Minister of War, support her family and her sick brother, and get the learning she has always craved, but that is denied to women.

Once Yoon Hee enters Sungkyunkwan, it makes her life tricky and dangerous and she is introduced to a wide variety of characters. Sparks fly between her and Seon Joon and the more they get to know each other and the more they learn, the more they begin to fall in love. What will happen to the couple?

Main cast:

Park Min Young as Kim Yoon Hee/Yoon Shik
Yoon Hee is very passionate about learning and about supporting her family. She is quite fiery and is constantly butting heads with fellow scholar and roommate Lee Seon Joon. At the start, she is very realistic about her role and future in Joseon, but Seon Joon’s idealism begins to rub off and she dreams of a Joseon where she can be free to learn and do as she wishes without worrying about being sold into marriage to a wealthy, older man. When she first enters Sungkyunkwan, she is looked down upon because of her low social status, but she is soon accepted as a scholar and earns the nickname “Dae Mul.”

Micky Yoochun as Lee Seon Joon
The son of the Noron Left State Minister, Seon Joon grew up sheltered from the reality of life in Joseon and slowly begins to learn just how ignorant he is. Despite this, he holds true to his beliefs and ideals, often making him appear stuck up or naive in front of fellow scholars. As he begins to fall for his roommate Yoon Shik, he opens himself up to new experiences and learns the truth about his father’s past and decides to stand up for what he believes is right, not what his father wants.

Yoo Ah In as Moon Jae Shin
Jae Shin has a huge chip on his shoulder thanks to his older brother’s death. He is from the Soron faction, so he automatically dislikes his roommate Seon Joon who is a Noron. Nicknamed “Geol Oh,” he drinks, gambles, rarely attends class, and disappears from Sungkyunkwan quite often. The arrival of Yoon Shik also changes this unapproachable young man and he begins to soften towards his roommate. When he learns that Yoon Shik is really a girl, his like turns to love. He and Yoon Hee share a connection – her father and his elder brother were killed while trying to bring the Geum Jeung Di Sa to light.

Song Joong Ki as Gu Yong Ha
Yong Ha is not a serious person at all. He constantly is looking to be entertained and gets easily bored. At first it seems like he is one of the Jang Hui’s men, but he soon joins forces with Seon Joon, Yoon Shik, and Jae Shin and the four become known as the “ravishing quartet.” Nicknamed “Yeorim” (ladies man) He is highly materialistic and into fashion, but is Moon Jae Shin’s good friend. Yong Ha is convinced Yoon Shik is really a girl and spends the first half of the series trying to expose Yoon Shik’s real sex. Despite his attitude, he has a serious side and is great at getting people to talk and talking himself and others out of trouble.

Supporting Cast:

Jun Tae Soo as Ha In Soo
The son of the Minister of War, Ha In Soo is also the  Jang Hui of Sungkyunkwan (the student council president). He is a twisted young man who believes more in power than in right or wrong or education. He is in love with the gisaeng Cho Seoun and thus hates Kim Yoon Shik even more when Cho Seon announces her preferment of Yoon Shik over In Soo. He does his level best to split apart the quartet of friends and to become lord over all. Only a few glimpses of humanity can be seen and they are very rare indeed.

Seo Hyo Rim as Ha Hyo Eun
The daughter of the Minister of War and In Soo’s sister, she is lazy and addicted to reading romances. When a prank brings Seon Joon her way, she immediately falls in love with him eventually leading to their engagement. She tries to become more ladylike to win his heart and even goes to Yong Ha for advice and help.

Kim Min Seo as Cho Seon
She is the head gisaeng in the area and is sought after by many men. She despises the Minister of War who made her a gisaeng and does her best to avoid the unwanted love of his son. When she meets Yoon Shik she instantly falls for his kindness and the fact that he treated her with respect. It is thanks to Cho Seon that Yoon Shik was given the nickname “Dae Mul.”

Ahn Nae Sang as Jung Yak Jong
A good friend to the king, he is sent to Sungkyunkwan to help discover the whereabouts of the missing will of the king’s late father. He is the first to discover Yoon Shik’s real identity and he keeps it a secret and watches over the girl. He was good friends with her father and really looked up to him. He teaches analects and believes greatly in the Western ideal that all humans are created equal.

Kang Sung Pil as Im Byung Choo, Kim Dong Yoon as Seol Go Bon, Chae Byung Chan as Kang Mo
These three are the loyal lackeys of Ha In Soo. Byung Choo’s mother is ill and so he stays by In Soo’s side for help and does all the dirty work he can, often screwing up and earning wrath versus favor. Go Bon follows along, but seems to be reluctant to help In Soo with all of his dirty schemes. Kang Mo is always beside In Soo like a private guard. He rarely speaks and is quick to go for a knife to defend his friend.

Jo Sung Ha as King Jeongjo
He dreams of finding his father’s will and building a better Joseon where the people are more on equal footing. He opes that the transfactional quartet will help show that there is hope for a non-factional future.

Kim Gab Soo as Left State Minister Lee Jung Moo
He is the current head of the Norons and the one that they all look up to. He instilled virtous values in his son, but is displeased when Seon Joon starts making friends outside of the Noron faction.

Lee Jae Yong as  Minister of War Ha Woo Kyu
He is usually cowed the the cunning Minister Lee, but is in reality very sneaky. He doesn’t care about other and thinks only of himself. He became fascinated with Yoon Hee’s beauty and feistiness and tried to buy her, thus he is part of the reason she goes to Sungkyunkwan.

Choi Dong Joon as Minister of Justice Moon Geun Soo
He and his youngest son do not get along, but little does Jae Shin realize that his father is biding his time to get revenge on the Norons that killed his son an Jae Shin’s hyung.

Kim Mi Kyung as Ms. Jo (Yoon Hee’s mother)
Ms. Jo was disowned by her family when she married the scholar Kim. His early death brought hardships to the family and she had to endure watching her daughter dress as a boy to make a living. She always discouraged her daughter’s studies knowing they could get Yoon Hee into trouble, she she does her best to support her daughter and Yoon Hee’s decision to attend Sungkyunkwan.

Han Yun as Kim Yoon Shik (Yoon Hee’s little brother
The real Kim Yoon Shik – he has a weak constitution and cannot help Yoon Hee support the family. He encourages her dreams of study and helps convince their mom to let her go. He is really kind and gentle and reveals a secret to Yoon Hee in regards to their father whom both can barely remember.

Review:

Sungkyunkwan Scandal had a slow start, but was amusing. Although, sometimes the relationship between Seon Joon and Yoon Shik became tedious. The two always constantly bickered and fought and misunderstood each other to the point of ridiculousness. And I must say that when Seon Joon finds out that Yoon Shik is in fact Yoon Hee and really a girl, his reaction was not all that convincing.

As for plot, there really isn’t anything too new. Cross dressing is a trend in popular dramas like Coffee Prince and Hana Kimi and historical cross dressing has been done before as in Painter of the Wind. Plus, we have the overly bad rich guy which seems to appear in a lot of dramas. Ha In Soo sets out to make Yoon Shik’s life a living hell because he is poor and because the woman In Soo likes is in love with Yoon Shik instead. We also have the faithful friend who stays beside the leading lady, protecting her and loving her from a distance but who can never obtain her. At least we didn’t have the overly bad boy who is reformed by the good girl. That would have made the plot a little too shallow and overdone. Having the feisty realistic girl take on the rich, sheltered, arrogant but not bad, know-it-all was a welcome change.

While I did enjoy the school drama aspects and watching the budding “forbidden” relationship between Yoon Shik and Seon Joon, I find that the drama lagged. It wasn’t uninteresting or boring necessarily, it is just that so much back story and subplots are involved and only get minimal screen time just to help come to a rushed resolution at the end. Another problem often found in Korean dramas. And in other Asian ones as well. The main moment is put off until the very last episode wherein you are hard put to resolve everything in the mere hour left for the series. While it was indeed a “happy” and amusing end, it was not satisfying in its rushing. Yoon Shik is discovered to be a girl and the Norons will use that as a trump against the king who wishes to present his father’s lost will, Cho Seon finally screws up the courage to defy Minister Ha, and In Soo finally becomes a real human being. Way too much going on and there was the potential to go places and do things that just never happened.

This is a fun drama worth watching, but with 20 episodes, not much is actually going on. What with Yoon Shik and Seon Joon dancing around each other while Jae Shin actively protects and does his best for Yoon Shik is the main focus, plus the little lessons thrown in and the tests that the students must suffer through on their way to become officials. It is interesting to see the process and to know what scholars went through back then.

Acting wise, Micky Yoochun did a fairly good job for his first big acting gig. He has the potential to be even better. It didn’t help that the character was very static to begin with and always had a dignified manner and face. When he had to open up and express emotions, he showed that he had depth as an actor. Park Min Young did a wonderful job as Yoon Hee posing as a male. She has a shine to her and her acting is very realistic. Song Joong Ki was a riot in the role of Gu Yong Ha. He showed very versatile skills in playing someone fun-loving and not serious who actually had a more mature side and could be quite calculating. And I can’t forget Yoo Ah In who did a wonderful job as the rebel Moon Jae Shin. He played the serious parts well and did a nice turn at some of Jae Shin’s funnier moments.

I can’t say I’m too thrilled with Jun Tae Soo’s character, but that is because of the character’s flaws itself. Ha In Soo is too evil and too heartless. His scenes showed an almost maniacal single-mindedness that was over the top and frightening. I do love the comic relief of the trio who always yo-yo back and forth trying to help the quartet, while also being afraid of In Soo and his cronies.

I would have loved to have more of the bestowing of the secret mission by the king and finding the lost will, but that was relegated to the last few episodes. It would have been nice if the show was more evenly paced and if we could see some parts that are just left to the imagination. We never learn what happened to Cho Seon and the jilted Hyo Eun. We never learned what became of In Soo after he took a stand against his father. The ending was left too open. But it was nice to see how Seon Joon’s and Yoon Hee’s relationship never really changed at all. They still bicker over the little things. It’s quite cute.

Soundtrack:

Currently available from YesAsia.

1. 성균관 스캔들
2. 찾았다 (3′ 20”) – Song By. 유천, 준수, 재중
3. 그대를 그리다 (3′ 02”) – Song By. 연정
4. Too Love(3‘29“) -song by 준수
5. 너에겐 이별 나에겐 기다림(3‘30“) – song by 재중
6.청춘스캔들(3‘41“) -Song By. 이민영
7.Sad To Say( 3′ 35″ ) -Song By 동욱
8.사랑이란(3‘35“) -Song By 정선아
9. 그대를 그리다 Acoustic Ver. (3′ 02″) – Song By 나라
10. 너에겐 이별 나에겐 기다림(3‘30“) Voice Ver. – song by K
11. 자운영
12. TROUBLE MAKER
13. 유생들의 나날

Releases:

Complete series available streaming on KBSWORLDi and DramaFever with English subtitles.