MBC / 2013 / 24 episodes
Genre: drama
Written by Kang Eun-kyeong
Directed by Kim Jeong-hyeon, Sin Woo-cheol
More information: Wikipedia / HanCinema
Gu Family Book:
The Deity and the Rogue
Is there anyone who doesn’t love a fairy tale for adults? Here we find a magical story where humans behave like monsters, and monsters long to become human.
Gu Family Book is a fantasy drama that, while featuring mystical characters, embeds one of its threads into an imaginary chapter of Korean history. It invokes the real historical hero, Admiral Yi Sun-shin, around whom the struggle of covert organizations is arranged. At stake is the construction of the famous Turtle Ship, for which supporters secretly gather the necessary wealth, while their opponents do not shrink from selling out the country by collaborating with the Japanese enemy.
However, strange as it may seem, this plot is merely a pretext for the series' much more interesting central theme. The love story of the mythical deity that opens the drama is breathtaking, both in its beauty and its cruelty. The story of the half-human, half-gumiho Choi Kang-chi (Lee Seung-gi) is embedded within the history of his father, Gu Wol-ryung (Choi Jin-hyuk). The love, fate, and choices of father and son reflect one another.
Once upon a time... In the Moonlight Garden of the rugged Jiri Mountains, inaccessible to humans, lived the guardian deity of the mountain, Gu Wol-ryung, who alternated his attractive human form with the monster dwelling within him. The lonely gumiho had observed the world of humans for a thousand years but never interfered in their lives. But once, his heart spoke upon seeing a beautiful girl, Yoon Seo-hwa, and he could not resist helping her in her distress. A deep love blossomed between them, and Wol-ryung surrounded the girl with fabulous magic in his Edenic domain, wishing for nothing more than to leave his unknown monster-self behind and live as a human. The Gu Family Book contained the description of a severe ordeal, by completing which he could hope for transformation. Wol-ryung steadfastly fulfilled the tasks, but shortly before completion, he had to choose: reveal his true nature to save the girl's life, or fulfill his mission but lose his love. Wol-ryung transformed into a bloodthirsty gumiho, from whom the girl not only fled in terror and loathing but also called upon his pursuers, who mortally wounded the god-man. Thus, Wol-ryung lost the chance to become human forever and, as punishment, was transformed for another thousand years into a mindless, killing demon that feeds on human souls. He could escape his terrible fate in only two ways: if Seo-hwa could still love him while seeing him as a monster, or if Wol-ryung pierced the heart of the girl who denied their love with a magic dagger. But neither occurs.
Seo-hwa discovered with horror that she was pregnant with Wol-ryung’s child. She first wants to destroy the newborn boy, but then, hoping that he might not have inherited his father's monstrous nature, she leaves him alive. Enemies of her former family mortally wound the woman, and Wol-ryung’s monk friend leaves the boy to his fate, setting him adrift in a small basket on the waves of the river.
Twenty years later, we meet Kang-chi again, whom the head of his adoptive noble family, Park Moo-sol, regards as his own lucky charm based on the monk's prophecy. To ensure his luck doesn't leave him, he must raise the boy as his own until he is twenty; however, his wife drives the boy away when she realizes that tender feelings are awakening between Kang-chi and their daughter. The family's fate immediately turns for the worse, and almost exactly everything that happened to Kang-chi's mother's family repeats itself. To seize the estate hiding fabulous wealth, the head of the family is killed, his wife and son are imprisoned, and their daughter is sold as a kisaeng.
Kang-chi is taken under the wing of Admiral Yi Sun-shin, who hides the boy from his enemies in Dam Pyeong-joon’s martial arts school. However, mysterious murders occur in the surrounding forests, and Kang-chi is suspected, as the bracelet he always wore to prevent his transformation into a gumiho was once accidentally cut from his arm. The boy then learns of his true nature and the secret of his origin from the monk, also hearing about the Gu Family Book. But his heart is full of hatred for his parents who abandoned him.
Love blossoms between Master Dam's daughter and Kang-chi, shadowed by a prophecy: if they do not flee from each other, one of them will die. Since Kang-chi is a demi-god, the real danger lurks for the girl, Dam Yeo-wool (Bae Suzy). However, Yeo-wool has a strange effect on the boy; she is the only one who can keep Kang-chi’s transformation into a monster in check. The boy slowly discovers for himself how to master his transformation. But there is one thing he does not know: that Master Dam was his father's killer.
The main villain, Jo Gwang-woon (Lee Sung-jae), gains increasing power. His greed is boundless, and he is about to make a pact with a Japanese delegation whose leader is a mysterious lady. Meanwhile, Wol-ryung, revived as a thousand-year-old demon, begins a frenzied destruction.
Kang-chi faces the same dilemma his father once did: if he wants to win his love, he must become human. However, he is also aware that if he does so, he will be unable to save the girl, so he might be making a pointless sacrifice. It also becomes clear to everyone that Kang-chi is the only one capable of killing Wol-ryung.
The drama provides an answer to the question, and we also learn whether redemption will come for Wol-ryung. We also discover through what cooperation and at what sacrifice Admiral Yi Sun-shin's grand plan is brought to fruition.
However, this wondrous story was only partially successfully brought to the screen, and the obstacle was not solely the tight budget typical of series. There is a surprising difference in the cinematic storytelling of Wol-ryung’s and Kang-chi’s histories. Wol-ryung’s story is tight, rich in magical visuals, and the backdrops of the deity's world are realized with incredible ingenuity. These visuals are not expensively executed, but they are simple and rich in imagination. It feels as if they were directed by someone other than the rest of the drama; even the music is different, sometimes sounding with an angelic voice (My Eden), sometimes with somber tension.
At the same time, the telling of Kang-chi’s story is characterized by the clichés of historical dramas, and in an exaggerated way. The rhythm of actions and reactions between characters becomes unnatural, following each other like a performance by a student drama club: everyone stands around awkwardly, waiting for the other to finish their speech before starting their own. During action scenes, the fighters lower their swords and peacefully wait for the opponent’s tactical discussion to conclude. If someone says something referring back to previous events, the scene is repeated for us, just in case we’ve forgotten. If we are meant to be shocked, the shocked expressions of all the characters in the scene are pushed into our faces one by one—if there are eight of them, then eight times. If emotion or tension is generated between two characters, we watch for an agonizingly long time as the characters stare at each other while unbearably pompous music plays.
The static use of cameras is completely incomprehensible; the price of this is that they cannot contribute to enhancing the acting performances through any visual means, neither in combat scenes nor where it is even more needed: in making the monsters truly terrifying.
Therefore, the transformations of Kang-chi, who has a boyish and mischievous personality, cannot become truly frightening; his gumiho is a kitten compared to Wol-ryung’s. Yet Lee Seung-gi's performance leaves nothing to be desired; he is an enjoyable, playful rogue, a sweet lover who is also determined and heroic when necessary. However, at one point in the drama, he says to his father, "You are talking like a real divine being now"—and with this, he expresses the exact difference between the two of them. Choi Jin-hyuk, in the role of Wol-ryung, is a noble being in every fiber, a large-scale figure with a divine aura. He is a devoted lover in a non-worldly way, and terrifyingly demonic in a non-worldly way. His smile shines as warmly as his empty-souled demonic face is icily emotionless. The actor’s extremely deep voice was easily turned blood-curdling with a few effects, and the right sound effects were found. Yet Choi Jin-hyuk can convey the enervated sadness of timeless loneliness even through the void of the monster who doesn't remember himself, which makes Wol-ryung so memorable. And the sequences evoking Romeo and Juliet, or rather Philemon and Baucis, grant him such a beautiful death as perhaps a monster has never died in all of time. And let me not forget to mention that Choi Jin-hyuk showed us the first male gumiho, as it had traditionally been a female character until then.
The visual world of the drama compensates for the aforementioned cinematic shortcomings. The costume designers and stylists did a magnificent job. Beautiful costumes and rustling silks are everywhere, and special mention must be made of the hairstyling masterpieces worn by the kisaengs, often completely reimagining traditional braids. The landscapes and lavish interiors of the drama, set in many different locations, are also a sight to behold.
The acting performances are too numerous to list, but the great portrayals of the female characters must be highlighted: the boyish yet femininely romantic Bae Suzy, the fragile and delicate but revenge-thirsty Lee Yoo-bi, Yoon Se-ah, capable of multiple emotional transformations, and the strict, authority-radiating kisaeng, Yoon Hye-young. The male characters are generally all strong and well-crafted, though for me, two leading figures seemed weaker than necessary: Yoo Dong-geun in the role of Admiral Yi Sun-shin, and Jo Sung-ha, whom I otherwise like very much. His Master Dam became a confusing figure whose character traits showed no consistency.
The music has already been mentioned, but it must be highlighted that the instrumental music consists almost without exception of great, expressive compositions. Most of the insert songs are indeed overflowingly emotional, but it is noteworthy that three protagonists—Choi Jin-hyuk, Bae Suzy, and Lee Seung-gi—all sing, and not just in any way, considering they are professional singers. The acting performances of all three were recognized with several awards, and for Choi Jin-hyuk, the role of Wol-ryung brought further leading roles.
With all its flaws, Gu Family Book is a special drama that echoes in one’s soul for days. And the source material is so good that a technically souped-up version with more exciting direction could be made. Of course, with much more divine Wol-ryung in Choi Jin-hyuk's divine performance, and I would gladly keep Lee Seung-gi too.
As for the contemporary ending that destroys all the magic of the drama, I would impose a severe punishment on the creators.
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