The Price of Peace meets 'Allo 'Allo meets The Great Gatsby

Warning: Spoilers ahead!

A show with elements of all three of the above? Yup. With a stupendous stroke of creativity, someone has come up with this superb (so far) serial.

Scandal in Old Seoul (a.k.a. Capital Scandal) is set in the 1930s, during the Japanese Occupation of Korea. The romance and humour do not trivialise or detract from the fight for independence. Well, not for me, anyway. There are also other underlying social themes such as modernisation/westernisation versus tradition, wealth versus poverty, decadence versus purpose in life, men versus women, etc. The action is exciting from Episode 1, and there's not really been a boring moment for me so far. This is quite unlike all other K shows I've watched, which take a while before the action really begins. Even Sam Soon, I'll have to say, took about 2-3 episodes to warm up, and some others, well, only warmed up towards the end! I'm glued to this one!

And I've not even talked about the music and wardrobe yet... This being the 1930s, the soundtrack is so suitably jazzy and swingy, and the clothes, hats and hairstyles, and those party and dancing scenes a la The Great Gatsby are great. There are also quite a few lovely hanbok on parade in this show.

Almost every character deserves a mention. But first, I want to mention that something unique(?) about this show is how the funny characters only have funny parts while most of the serious characters only have serious parts. It's just the main actor who really needs to do serious crossing from the funny to the serious to the romantic. The two girls and a few others only need to do it sometimes.

The always funny

Sachiko (right), the wife of the police chief, and these three stooges (left) are just priceless. I found the actor who played Yoon Eun-hye's (Crown Princess) father in Goong rather annoying in that show but he is so much better here as the chief editor of the trashy magazine. The other two stooges are funnier, though.

The always serious

These two police officers. The one with the mean streak (right) will fit right into any serious Price of Peace type show. The other guy (left) is the perfect foil for the three stooges whenever he has to interrogate them.

The always silly

The police chief who invariably looks and sounds silly even when having a serious conversation!

Main characters

Yeogyeong, played by the Entertainment Relay girl, Han Ji Min (below), in her signature black and white hanbok. She is as sweet and innocent as she looks but oh so garang, too! She's a freedom fighter, what. And she's so cute whenever she tells the guy, 'Drop dead!' and when she lectures him about proper behaviour.

The main guy, Seonu Wan, played by Kang Ji Hwan (above). I recently found out that he's the male lead in Be Strong, Geum-Soon, of which I watched only the first episode, so this is the first time I'm seeing him. He's such a natural. Sorry, Lee Dong-wook, but this guy is head and shoulders above all the other actors I've seen in romantic comedies. I think he has the hardest role here because he has to be the playboy, funny guy, romantic and kind-hearted man, passionate and loyal protector as well as independence fighter in 16 episodes. I saw a couple of his interviews on Youtube and he seems a rather mild-mannered and affable guy, quite unlike his on-screen fast-talking, smooth-talking dramatic persona.

The other main girl is Cha Song-ju, who is the head gisaeng (something like a geisha) at this Myeongbin place, the hive of a lot of intrigue and plots, and also the lead assassin! This actress' expressions, voice, and her smirk and cynical laugh are perfect for this role. I believe she shows more of her emotional side in the episodes to come.

If there's a weak link, it's the police inspector, which is such a shame because my favourite character in 'Allo 'Allo! was the pelooceman. However, I have a sneaky suspicion that he's actually anti-Japanese and very possibly the hitherto unseen head of the resistance, so maybe that explains the stone-faced expresssion and ramrod- straight posture which he has assumed in every episode so far.

Best sequence so far: Yeogyeong's torture ordeal

In an early episode, Yeogyeong reveals, in a drunken stupor, that one of her greatest fears is getting caught and interrogated. The actual interrogation/torture is thankfully not too long drawn out and it ends with her hallucinating that Wan is holding her. After that, Song-ju says, according to the subtitles anyway, that she has 'lost all the expressions on her face'. She is shown hiding in a corner when she tells Song-ju that what she feared most was caving in and betraying the resistance. Even the steely Song-ju can't help but cry...

And it's so sweet how it is Wan who helps her get through the trauma, because he is the one who knows most about how scared she was.

Without too much gore, Yeogyeong's scenes show the severe tests resistance fighters had to go through and how she triumphed through her grit, strength and belief in the future of her country. Beautifully and powerfully done.

So... I'm waiting to see, among other things, if Wan will wear the hanbok which Yeogyeong's mother made for him. Everyone seems to have forgotten it.

All these cool pictures are from here.