Jewel in the Palace (2003)

How much do we need to put this poor girl through?

I stumbled upon this Sageuk in my constant search for something new, and found out that not only was this drama rated really high, but was also historically important for South Korea. Internationally-speaking, it was the very first historical K-Drama to really gain notoriety outside of SK's borders, and one of first one to give an accurate perspective of what life was really like for women under Joseon (a lot of Sageuks, especially nowadays, sugarcoat the Neo-Confucian ethics that dominated the region, sometimes very embarassingly). Knowing all of this, I was quite excited to watch a show about Joseon's first female Royal Physician: Jang-geum.

The series actually started out really strong, showing the inner-working of the palace kitchen and the relationships between the women working there and the importance of this department in the whole grand scheme of the Joseon Bureaucracy. More than for "story", I wanted to watch this series to see how an early 2000s-era production of a Sageuk would translate today. Honestly, it looks great! Of course, it doesn't have a glossy sheen that all new Sagueks have, but I feel that if it were remastered into 720p/1080p, it would definitely work out even in today's production.

However, despite me being quite impressed with the production, acting, music, and script-writing initially...something started to make me dislike the series more and more as it went on. The show was no longer about a woman's struggle to realize her passion through a completely male-dominated Neo-Confucian world. It slowly became...almost a torture p*rn of some sort? I don't mean to crude, but really, how much do the scriptwriters want this poor woman to go through? I don't want to spoil anything for anyone who wants to watch this, but let it be known: you will have absolutely no breathing room. Every second, every scene, every sentence, is somehow connected to some woman or some man conspiring against Jang-geum in the most horrible way. Jang-guem suffers through so much in this show, and with absolutely no reward. It's an unforgiving show that will keep you at your seat, constantly trying to keep up with all the schemes people throw at this woman. I understand, what Jang-geum did was legendary and immensely (damn-near impossibly) difficult in the world that she lived in; however, I feel they could have portrayed her troubles in a different manner. The issue ultimately stems from this: were the script-writers trying to be *brutally* honest about Neo-Confucian ethics and hierarchy, or was this more for "show". My later sentences will show why I feel confused about this. Even if you wanted to be brutally honest, I think there could have been a much better way to portray it, with making the runtime of the show less tedious. The only thing that made this tolerable for me was the loyal group of friends Jang-geum kept with her throughout the episodes. Lemme tell you, if you had these kinds of friends in real life, they are 100% worth-keeping for their undying loyalty. Unfortunately, even Jang-geum's friends can't escape the curse of having everything bad happen to them as well.

In a nutshell: from the moment Jang-geum is born to the end of the show, everyone is conspiring against her. And this even applies to her inner-circle of friends as well. Not to mention, is it me, or is nearly every stranger Jang-geum interacts with automatically hostile to her in some way?

Again, I want to stress, I know how difficult things were for women back then, but I feel that this show goes a bit too far, or, at the very least, doesn't give you nearly enough time to swallow what's going on. It's a constant barrage of schemes, pain, and suffering towards Jang-geum. If you think I'm exaggerating, please watch the show yourself.

Also, this show has afforded waaaay too many 'conveniences' for my liking. Everyone seems to be at the wrong place at the wrong time (or the right place at the right time), everything that could go wrong does go wrong, the character constantly runs away only to end up right back where they started, Jang-geum is always right (and never wrong) and the villains are always wrong (almost a cut/paste Mary Sue character), objects that are supposed to be 'hidden' are always found by the villains, the super drawn-out 'forbidden love' in which the male is unable to help the female in much capacity, justice is somehow swift and harsh for our protagonists but the villains are always afforded some leniency, there's always some villain that happens listen on to a 'secret' conversation our protagonist is having with someone else, etc etc. It's tiring. How many tropes can you throw in one drama? I know it's hard to avoid using them, so if you're going to use them, use them sparingly and wisely.

If that wasn't enough, the ending is a complete waste of time. Believe me, once you go through all the episodes of this drama, only to see what this drama's ending has to offer, you will feel like you wasted your time.

I justify my 5/10 rating for this reason. It's a historically important Sageuk with incredibly competent production, with great acting and a sweeping soundtrack. I appreciate the history this drama tried to portray, and I have a lot of respect for the actors/actresses and scriptwriters as well who took on this massive undertaking. A story like this isn't easy to write, especially with a genre that is typically romance-driven or fantasy-driven. The story starts off good, but starts veering off into lunacy somewhere near the middle. The ending, is a complete bomb. There are too many 'conveniences' and cliches for me, and the main character gets abused to a sickening degree. It's a great show and a bad show at the same time.

Proceed with caution.

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