Dear Hongrang: Episode 1 (First Impressions) » Dramabeans

Dear Hongrang: Episode 1 (First Impressions)

by SailorJumun

Years after a merchant’s young son goes missing, he comes back into his family’s lives like a ghost — no explanation, no memory. His return is a cause for celebration, but it only brings on more mystery. It’s possible that he’s not the long-lost boy at all, but an imposter hungry for power. Or, perhaps, this supposed Hong-rang is just an unlucky stranger… who has no idea what he’s in for.

Editor’s note: This is an opening review only. For a place to chat about the entire drama, visit the Drama Hangout.
 
EPISODE 1

Netflix’s new historical series Dear Hongrang has a lot going on, promising power struggles and complicated family dynamics — some of which may turn romantic. Every character seems to have their own secret agenda, putting them in harm’s way, which immediately makes the stakes feel high. So, questionable fauxcest aside, I’m going into this with relatively high expectations.

We open to a dark forest, as a young boy is desperately running away from something. He’s soon caught and looks on, terrified, at the mysterious figure with long white hair. We come to know this boy as SHIM HONGRANG, who’s a part of the wealthy Min Family’s Guild. Back at Hongrang’s home, everyone is frantically searching for him, including his older half-sister SHIM JAE-YI.

We jump to twelve years later, and Hongrang is still missing. There are rumors that Jae-yi is a demon who devoured her brother and continues roaming the area for other children. In reality, the now grown Jae-yi (Jo Boa) refuses to believe that Hongrang is truly gone, and she spends most of her time hustling money for her search efforts.

Meanwhile, Hongrang’s mother MIN YEON-UI (Eom Ji-won) has been holed up in her quarters, her grief turning into a drug addiction. She resents her stepdaughter Jae-yi, who she views as bad luck, as well as her husband SHIM YEOL-GOOK (Park Byung-eun), who adopted another son in Hongrang’s place.

Though Yeol-gook has been acting as a doting father to his adoptive son SHIM MOO-JIN (Jung Ga-ram), he’s on the lookout for Hongrang too. He’s had numerous men come in claiming to be Hongrang, and he’s had every imposter punished severely, the latest having their fingers chopped off.

With Yeon-ui being unstable and there being no sign of the real Hongrang, Yeol-gook has trained Moo-jin to take over as the head merchant. On the day Moo-jin is supposed to step up to the plate, however, Yeon-ui’s shaman pushes her to get a hold of herself and finally gets her out of her room.

Wanting to show Moo-jin who’s really in charge, Yeon-ui has him kneel down and act as a stepping stool for her. Yeol-gook is furious that Moo-jin let Yeon-ui walk all over him like that, but Moo-jin argues that they have to be more strategic when dealing with her.

Later, when Moo-jin meets with Jae-yi, he promises to help with her search for Hongrang once he has more power. But she’d prefer if he didn’t get involved, joking that no one will want to marry him if he’s associated with his crazy sister. Moo-jin doesn’t exactly look at Jae-yi like a sister, though… the boy’s been making lovey dovey eyes this whole time.

One of Yeol-gook’s scouts arrives, informing him that he’s finally found Hongrang. The scout explains that this young man grew up as an orphan, later a soldier, and that he has no memories of his childhood. And though Yeol-gook shows doubt, Yeon-ui is adamant that they bring him in. So the young man makes the journey over to the guild, while news of Hongrang’s return quickly spreads.

The man (Lee Jae-wook) comes walking in, with no real emotion on his face. He doesn’t seem to recognize his surroundings or his supposed family, but Yeon-ui immediately faints at the sight of him. They have to be sure, though, so Yeol-gook has his servants evaluate him. After confirming his appearance and scars, as well as mixing his blood with Yeol-gook’s, they’re positive — this man is indeed Hongrang.

At this point, Jae-yi hears the news and hurries over to see if it’s true. She approaches the man cautiously, and when he turns around to face her, her expression darkens. She accuses him of being yet another imposter, ignoring her parents’ insisting that it’s really him. She bombards him with questions (“What are your hobbies?” “What’s your dog’s name?”), but he’s unable to answer any of them. And seeing how she’s speaking to him, he doesn’t exactly feel like they’re family either.

No matter what Jae-yi or the man thinks, the parents and everyone else are already convinced. Our new Hongrang is moved into his quarters, along with his friend and right-hand man IN-HOE (Kim Min-ki).

I find it interesting, and smart on the drama’s part, that we don’t get a good sense of what Hongrang is thinking throughout all this. If he is a con artist, like Jae-yi assumes, he could be thinking that everything is going according to plan. Or he could be innocent and just thinking that he’ll test the waters, see if this really is his family.

Whatever the case may be, Hongrang does seem amused that Jae-yi is so hostile towards him. When he catches her glaring at him, he pretends to shoot an arrow at her and laughs when she flinches. “Who wouldn’t want to forget an older sister like that?” he muses before sauntering off.

The next morning, the parents, Jae-yi, Hongrang, and Moo-jin all eat breakfast together, making for an awkward family meal. Yeol-gook asks Moo-jin to train Hongrang about his duties, seemingly giving all the power back to his birth son. A dejected Moo-jin figured this would happen, but Jae-yi won’t stand for it. She later tells Moo-jin that she’s determined to find out the truth and protect both him and the real Hongrang.

Jae-yi finds Hongrang checking out his abandoned childhood quarters, and she remains hostile towards him. When he passes by, however, she notices a familiar birthmark behind his ear and reaches for it. He grabs her wrist, insisting that it’s just a scar. Then, Moo-jin appears and grabs Hongrang’s wrist (the double wrist grab!), urging him to let go. Hongrang scoffs and obliges, saying that he’ll play nice for now, since Moo-jin won’t be here for long.

That night, as a servant is leaving, the mysterious white-haired figure appears before her. The figure closes in on her, and she screams. It’s a perfect way to end the episode, bringing back what seems to be a supernatural element and leaving us hungry for more.

I don’t have any solid theories on what’s going on just yet, as I’m not sure what this ghostly figure is all about, but I do think that Lee Jae-wook is not the real Hongrang. I want to hope that he doesn’t have any ill intentions, but it’s hard to get a read on him. All I can say is that he and Jae-yi definitely don’t give off sibling vibes. Thank goodness for that, because I actually like the enemies-to-lovers rapport they have going on.

The story has many layers to it, having every character fighting another. There’s “Hongrang” versus Jae-yi, Jae-yi versus Yeon-ui, Yeon-ui versus Yeol-gook. Then there’s Kim Jae-wook as the grand prince, who somehow established his own layer with only two short minutes of screentime. What will his part be? Who knows? There’s so much to unpack here at the Min Family’s Guild, and I can’t wait to see how it all comes together.

 
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