A long time ago, a boy loved a mermaid and heard a mermaid's voice...
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Release date: November 16, 2016 - January 25, 2017
Episodes: 20
Language: Korean
Characters:
- Jun Ji Hyun as Sim Cheong / Se Hwa
- Lee Min Ho as Heo Joon Jae / Kim Dam Ryung
- Lee Hee Joon as Jo Nam Doo
- Shin Won Ho as Tae Oh
- Sung Dong Il as Ma Dae Young / Lord Yang
- Lee Ji Hoon as Heo Chi Hyun
- Shin Hye Sun as Cha Shi Ah
Plot: The series centers on the love story between the newly appointed town head named Kim Dam Ryung, and a mermaid he named Se Hwa. Sometime during August 1598, Dam Ryung stays for a night at an inn run by Lord Yang. That evening, Lord Yang shows Dam Ryung a captured mermaid. Later that night, Dam Ryung releases Se Hwa into the ocean, and before she swims away, Se Hwa reaches out her hand to Dam Ryung which he briefly hods. In the present day, Heo Joon Jae is a smooth talking conman with magician like abilities. He works with Jo Nam Doo and Tae Ho. One day, while he was on vacation at an oceanside resort in Spain, his room was broke in by a mysterious woman. Little did he know, this woman whom he later named, Sim Cheong, was a mermaid and was accidentally washed ashore on the oceanside resort during a tidal wave.
*ﾟ⋅ ❀ ⋅ *ﾟDrama Tidbits *ﾟ⋅ ❀ ⋅ *ﾟ
⊱⁜⊰ Legend of the Blue Sea is based on a collection of mermaid stories by Joseon scholar, Yu Mong In. In them, a country magistrate released mermaids into the ocean.
⊱⁜⊰ This was Jun Ji Hyun's first acting role since giving birth to her son in 2016. She was commended by her co-stars for all her efforts, especially with the underwater scenes, despite her being 6 months post natal.
⊱⁜⊰ Cha Tae Hyun makes a cameo appearance as fake shaman in episode 4, marking his and Jun Ji Hyun's first onscreen reunion in 15 years since co-starring in the 2001 hit film, My Sassy Girl. Other cameos include; Lee Min Ho's Heirs' co-stars, Krystal as a flight attendant and Kim Sung Ryoung a conned CEO in episode 1, Jo Jung Suk as a merman in episode 7, Ahn Jae Hong as swindler Kim Bong Duk in episode 2, Park Jin Joo as hospital employee in episode 6, Jong Yoo Mi as Kim Hye Jin in episode 8, Kim Sun Young as jjimjilbang ajumma in episode 11, Lim Won Hee as doctor in episode 19, and Kim Seul Gi as mermaid in episode 20.
⊱⁜⊰ This was Lee Min Ho's last acting role before entering the military for two years.
⊱⁜⊰ Na Young Hee (Heo Joon Jae's mom) and Hong Jin Kyung (Sim Cheong's homeless friend) both acted alongside with Jun Ji Hyun in My Love from Another Star as her character's mom and best friend respectively.
⊱⁜⊰ The underwater scenes were filmed in Palau.
⊱⁜⊰ The drama was written by screenwriter, Park Ji Eun, the same writer as My Love from Another Star.
*ﾟ⋅ ❀ ⋅ *ﾟQuotes *ﾟ⋅ ❀ ⋅ *ﾟ
✎ "Wait" means something good is going to happen soon. Even when I go far away, like a wave, my friend will find me. It means when there's something scary, like a shark, you don't have to be scared, or look around. It means my friend hopes I didn't get hurt. A word that warms the heart. It means something good is going to happen. ~Sim Cheong
✎ It was summer, 20 years ago. A boy came from Hanyang to visit his grandma at the beach. After that summer, the boy returned to his home in Hanyang. But he tried his best to come back to the beach. He brought food from the land that I had never tasted before. And he showed me beautiful things on land that I had never seen. The two of us spent time together like that and grew up together. On the first night of their marriage, he left the nuptial room. Then he rode for several days and headed towards the ocean. He knew, since he couldn't swim, the mermaid would appear to save him. But he didn't know an important fact. Mermaids have a special ability. Mermaids can make someone forget them when they kiss the person. Just like that, the mermaid disappeared from his memory, like a sea foam.
✎ A promise should always be kept. ~Heo Joon Jae
✎ I will keep my promise. I'll go to you. even if there's a windy rainstorm, or when the sun shines down on me, when I'm lonely, and without anyone by my side, and even if it's somewhere I've never been before... I will endure it all and be sure to go to you. ~Sim Cheong
✎ You can only protect others after you protect yourself. Not the other way around. It's stupid to switch the order. ~Heo Joon Jae
✎ Good and pretty things disappear quickly, Joon Jae. Like this, look at it closely. Now keep it in your heart like this. Then, when you have a sad day, you can think about it. ~Joon Jae's mom
✎ A friend is a person who believes to the end all the nonsense is uttered. If he has a lover, a friend takes care of her too. ~Yak Sun
✎ Families are like bunggeoppang. They look just like each other, and they're warm and sweet. ~Sim Cheong
✎ In my dream, we were born again. We met again and were together. You came from a far away ocean to meet me. Though I could not remember you, you were already in my heart. ~Dam Ryung
✎ Divorce is when people who got married break up. Because they don't love each other anymore. ~Seo Yoon Ah
✎ Joon Jae: Listen carefully. The easiest thing in the world is to be disappointed with another person. Even after liking how someone looks and acts, we quickly get disappointed. No one overcomes disappointment. So loving another person is very difficult. Cheong: It's not.
Joon Jae: How so?
Cheong: For me, loving someone is very easy. Even when I tried hard not to... I wasn't able to not love. No matter how much I wanted to be disappointed, I wasn't. Love overcomes everything.
✎ A guy can't resist a woman who is good to his mom. ~Ahn Jin Joo
✎ If you are me in a future life, remember these words when you wake up from the dream. Everything will repeat itself. The fate in my world will continue in yours. The same goes for unfortunate events. Protect that woman from the dangerous person. ~Dam Ryung
✎ No matter how cold it is outside, there's always a warm place to return to. I was able to talk to you, laugh, eat, and have fun with you. The place where I could see you anytime. The place where I could love you as much as I wished. ~Sim Cheong
✎ They say that life is a series of chance encounters. If you value the chance encounters, then your life becomes filled with loving connectedness. If not, you will lead a lonely life. ~Beggar Friend
✎ She won't go anywhere. She'll continue to stay by me. Even if she goes somewhere else, I'll be following her. ~Heo Joon Jae
✎ Find a good man who can look into your eyes. ~Heo Joon Jae
✎ Despite knowing all of it, I just don't regret it. Meeting you was something I don't regret no matter how I look at it. ~Heo Joon Jae
✎ You should know by now, that even if I'm not by your side, I will continue to love you. ~Heo Joon Jae
✎ I don't like that you are that kind of person, but for me, once you become a friend, that's all. Whether you back stab or not is your choice. If you stab me in the back, then I will think what to do with you. Until then, you are my friend. ~Sim Cheong
✎ You said you would rather love and be in pain than not remember and not be able to love. ~Heo Joon Jae
✎ You hold on to the memory of love even if it hurts. ~Mermaid
✎ You never know what's going to happen to your life. Don't just look at your present situation. Even if people don't change, circumstances do. ~Ahn Jin Joo
✎ Some words are said without talking. ~Sim Cheong
✎ You should probably know this by now, even though I'm not by your sidem I'll always keep loving you. So, be happy in all of the moments I'm not in. Laught a lot and receive a lot of love. Like all normal people, I wish you to live comfortably for a long, long time. I don't wish to become your scar or some type of nightmare. I love you. ~Sim Cheong
✎ Once upon a time, a young man went to the sea, but the ship got overturned. He met a mermaid and he was saved. He married the mermaid and they had babies. They lived happily. Among the children who were born between the human and the mermaid, some returned to the water, some remained on land. They became like patron saints to the people of that vilage. While communicating with the mermaids of the sea, if a storm was likely to come, they told people ahead of time not to go out to the sea. ~Joon Jae's mom
✎ But life is short. My love will be longer than my life. My love won't end in this life. ~Heo Joon Jae
✎ Finally, we made our dream come true. In a village where not much exists, not much news occurs, in a small boring village with nothing special, we are living a very simple life. While crying and laughing at very simple things, we feel happy and sad. While watching quietly how our time together flows, each day, each hour, each minute, and each second... after making many detours, I treasure the love that finally came to me. As we remember our legend that's far off, beautiful, and secretive.
*ﾟ⋅ ❀ ⋅ *ﾟPlush Alert *ﾟ⋅ ❀ ⋅ *ﾟ
*ﾟ⋅ ❀ ⋅ *ﾟFangirl Thoughts *ﾟ⋅ ❀ ⋅ *ﾟ
This 2016 Korean fantasy/romance television series was nominated in various awards and won some of it in the 2016 SBS Drama Awards. This is a bit of a mix of genres. It is a love story between a mermaid and a con artist. You could boil the down the plot summary to: mermaid comes ashore for the first time, bumps into attractive man, and much hilarity ensues. Your literal fish-out-of-water story. But more than the romance, it's also a historical drama (leads living in parallel universe: one in Joseon era and one in modern day), a crime drama, and a family drama. All of those genres appear in both comic and serious guises. So basically, it is your modern retelling of the Little Mermaid.
There's a real charm to the early episodes. There's a lot of comedy, great acting and some stunning scenery. The humor was on point. Although I must say that some of this comedy and charm disappears when the plot got a bit complicated with family relationships, a serial murderer on the loose, lots of trust issues and some very earnest falling in love, I still get the laugh out of the subtle humor or not.
The drama certainly did an amazing job at stitching the present day to the Joseon flashbacks. The way they present just fragments of the whole story from the Joseon era was so good. The writers did an excellent job at connecting two timelines together. They have done an amazing job at patching up all the subtle clues they've shown to us and give us a couple of mind blowing twists in the process, leaving viewers to want more. I liked the folklore element, too. This show was apparently inspired by a historical tale about a mermaid contained in the short story anthology entitled Eou Yadam by Joseon-era scholar Yu Mong-in.
I really like the chemistry between Lee Min-Ho and Jun Ji Hyun. They look beautiful together. Both of them acted really well. They have shown excellent chemistry. Either romantic or ridiculous moments, they both nailed it. The female lead gave justice to the mermaid-on-land role. She can be funny and dumb but still look gorgeous. I love how she transitioned from an ignorant mermaid to a confident, pretty woman. It was really entertaining to watch her experience all the "ordinary daily routines" like it was something foreign and out of this world. She was a joy to watch all throughout the series. And you'll feel for her when she found out her inevitable demise if she stays out on land. All in all, he character is one which everyone will instantly love. Claps to all the cast! The actors and the actresses have done a great job to entertain the audience. The casts were on point with regards to their respective characters. Though, I wanted more screen time and character interaction for Tae-Oh.
Overall, the story, the setting, the legend, the cinematography, and all, are very well executed. For me, this drama is worth watching, and re-watching. A near-perfect magical romance story with a splash of Joseon taste best served fresh!
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