| Iljimae | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Historical, Action, Romance |
| Written by | Choi Ran (최란) |
| Directed by | Lee Yong Seok |
| Starring | Lee Jun Ki Han Hyo Joo Lee Young Ah Park Shi Hoo |
| Country of origin | South Korea |
| Language(s) | Korean |
| No. of episodes | 20 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Comic by Ko Woo Yung (고우영) |
| Producer(s) | Lee Yong Suk (이용석) |
| Running time | Wednesdays & Thursdays 21:55 (9:55 Korean time) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | SBS |
| Original run | May 21, 2008 – July 24, 2008 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Iljimae (Hangul: 일지매, Hanja: 一枝梅; Il-Ji-Mae: The Phantom Thief) is a Korean drama broadcast from May to July 2008 on SBS. It is loosely based on a comic by Ko Woo Yung that was based on a Chinese folktale from the Ming dynasty. It was produced by Lee Yong Suk. The plot is different from the original comic because the production company could not get the rights to the story. The rights went to MBC who broadcasted its version of Iljimae 2009, called The Return of Iljimae. There have been several versions of this story, which first appeared in two Ming dynasty novels, including a 2011 Chinese television series, called The Vigilantes In Masks, 1994 Hong Kong film, and 2005 TVB series. Jang Dong Gun played Iljimae in TV series on MBC in 1993, and Choi Su Jong played him in a modernized version in 1990.[1]
Contents |
Iljimae is a mysterious, black-swathed thief who robs from corrupt government officials and gives to the poor. He steals not only material treasures but also people, be they wrongfully held prisoners or criminals hiding from judgment. At the scene of each robbery, he leaves a small painting of a branch of red plum blossoms called a "mae hwa". (His name reflects this act: il means "one", ji means "meaning" and mae means "plum tree".) The citizens support Iljimae while the king and the nobility try to catch him and find his identity.
Gyeom (겸) is the son of a virtuous nobleman Lee Won Ho (이원호), a trustworthy supporter and brother to the king and a central member of the secret organization Cheonwoohoe, composed of important nobles and with the king as their leader. He lives peacefully in a house with many plum trees with his wife, daughter, and son. However, the king has a conversation with a blind man, who tells fortunes. Looking out at Lee Won Ho's home, the blind man states that he sees a person who is as bright as the sun, and will be adored by the people. The king kills Lee Won Ho as he believes that 'two suns cannot exist on the same sky'. Gyeom witnesses the incident from the inside of a safe where his father hid him. Later, he is saved and adopted by a retired thief, Soe Dol (쇠돌), after he becomes stricken with amnesia due to the shock of losing his father and being forced to throw a rock at his mother's head to prove that he was not the son. 13 years later, Gyeom, now called Yong (용), starts to regain his memories and begins to search for his older sister, Yeon (연), only to see her being sentenced and hanged.
The murder of his older sister leaves Gyeom seeking revenge. With the emblem on the killer's sword he remembers from 13 years ago his only clue, he swears that he will find the one who killed his father and murdered his older sister. To find the sword and its owner, he disguises himself as Iljimae and breaks into the nobles' estates. During the course of his actions, he winds up fighting not only for himself, but also for the people; and so he becomes a fighter for the common people, jumping into action whenever the people are oppressed and wrongly exploited for the sake of the nobles, thus becoming adored by the people and one villager goes far enough to state "He is our sun!". At the core of his motives though, he still desires to find the person who destroyed his family, and bring justice to them.
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| Date | Episode | Nationwide | Seoul |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-05-21 | 1 | 14.8 (4th) | 15.4 (2nd) |
| 2008-05-22 | 2 | 17.6 (2nd) | 17.8 (2nd) |
| 2008-05-28 | 3 | 19.0 (2nd) | 19.1 (2nd) |
| 2008-05-29 | 4 | 18.9 (2nd) | 18.9 (2nd) |
| 2008-06-04 | 5 | 19.3 (2nd) | 20.5 (2nd) |
| 2008-06-05 | 6 | 18.6 (2nd) | 18.4 (2nd) |
| 2008-06-11 | 7 | 20.5 (2nd) | 20.7 (2nd) |
| 2008-06-12 | 8 | 23.0 (1st) | 23.3 (1st) |
| 2008-06-18 | 9 | 24.6 (2nd) | 25.0 (1st) |
| 2008-06-19 | 10 | 23.1 (1st) | 22.4 (1st) |
| 2008-06-25 | 11 | 22.6 (2nd) | 22.6 (1st) |
| 2008-06-26 | 12 | 24.6 (1st) | 24.0 (1st) |
| 2008-07-02 | 13 | 25.3 (2nd) | 25.0 (1st) |
| 2008-07-03 | 14 | 25.4 (1st) | 24.6 (1st) |
| 2008-07-09 | 15 | 26.0 (1st) | 26.1 (1st) |
| 2008-07-10 | 16 | 27.6 (1st) | 28.2 (1st) |
| 2008-07-16 | 17 | 28.0 (1st) | 29.3 (1st) |
| 2008-07-17 | 18 | 27.8 (1st) | 28.1 (1st) |
| 2008-07-23 | 19 | 27.1 (1st) | 26.8 (1st) |
| 2008-07-24 | 20 | 31.0 (1st) | 31.4 (1st) |
| Average | 23.2% | 23.4% | |
Source: TNMS Media Korea