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[REVIEW] KBS TV series "SungKyunKwan Scandal" - Finale Episode

A scene from KBS drama "Sungkyunkwan Scandal" [KBS

It was a dream I did not want to wake up from, something I have not felt for some time. By now it will be a waste of breathe to go on about how well the drama portrayed the friendship, love and lessons among young scholars, how well it incorporated serious political themes into the story and such. But to quote heroine Yoon-hee's words that "people can get lost amid dizzy tracks in life and forget what they originally came for" as happened to many good dramas in the past, let us check whether that had not happened to this drama in regards to its initial theme and message of hope.

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"Sungkyunkwan Scandal" was outstanding in the sense that even as it talked about an ideal society, it never turned its back on reality either. That was why every step taken by Kim Yoon-hee (played by Park Min-young) and her three gang members, the "Jalgeum" foursome, wavered and was filled with agony just like a compass needle that wobbles before pointing to a direction. Nothing was ever done in a sure stride.

If King Jeongjo had focused single-mindedly on finding "Geumdeungjisa", the memoirs of his grandfather King Yeong-jo that expressed regrets for executing his son Crown Prince Sado (also King Jeongjo's father) which would have left everyone happy, it could have been a clean-cut way to end the story, yet it would have also missed the real point to the story as well as ignore the historical facts. But the drama also gave the determined Jeongjo time to doubt himself. And thanks to this plotline, the king's dream of rebuilding Joseon anew was never realized but gave birth to another dream that could have been ruined in the process of pursuing the former.

To dream is a word that is in the present tense, not something that has been completed. Thus despite the unexpected ending scene that left many youngsters feeling anxious, the real story is not over for Joseon and the young scholars at SungKyunKwan Academy. The learning process simply goes on. After all, do we not all want to keep remembering their dreams and dream of them?

Reporter : Wee Geun-woo eight@
Editor : Heidi Kim heidikim@
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