Sungkyunkwan Scandal Drama Review

     
       During the Joseon Period in Korea, females were not allowed to be educated or employed. Yoon-Hee's father has been killed by a gang and her brother is sick so she is forced to dress as a man and act her brother's part in order to earn money for her family. She's a bright girl but because she's a girl her knowledge is useless, as a boy however she can scribe and do homework for the Scholars at Sungkyunkwan. The man who employs her offers her a higher paying job, to become a substitute test taker(an illegal act) for lazy scholars trying to get into Sungkyunkwan. At first she declines but when it becomes clear that she'll have to be sold in order to pay off her family's debt she takes the job. Unfortunately she mistakes the handsome and brilliant scholar Lee Sun Joon as the student she's supposed to take the test for and is forced to take the test as herself. Sun Joon however sees the talent Yoon-Hee possesses and forces her to take the Sungkyunkwan entrance exam. Still acting as a man, she is commanded to attend, study, and live a Sungkyunkwan; there she has to deal with Lee Sun Joo as her roommate, she meets the eccentric and mischievous Gu Yong Ha, and her other roommate Moon Jae-Shin who has severe mood swings. She has to put up with the cruel student body president Ha In Soo, all while keeping her true gender a secret. Lee Sun Joo and Yoon Hee become close friends which is unfortunate as she begins to fall in love with him.
         Observant Yong Ha quickly believes her to be a girl and tries to find ways to out her secret, shortly after Moon Jae Shin too finds out she's a girl and starts developing feelings for her.  Lee Sun Joon remains ignorant but begins to struggle with his own feelings for Yoon Hee, whom he still believes is a girl. Poor Sun Joo wrestles with his belief of what is right and his growing affection for his now close friend.

Most Memorable Moment:


This was difficult for us to pick because there were so many, though only a couple were relevant to the plot. We chose most of Episode 7, mainly the Archery Contest, which was pretty much the entire episode. I'm not going to summarize the entire episode so I will just point out a couple key points.
In this episode we see Yoon Hee's strong side. A professor has found out she's really a girl and threatened to expose her secret which would end in her and her family's death's; rather than be a pitiful, typical girl, Yoon Hee presents the teacher with a bet: he has to keep quiet if her team wins the archery contest and if they lose he can tell everyone. Yoon Hee wants to prove that men and woman can be equal, not only in wits but also in strength. At the start of this episode Yoon Hee's team has been disqualified because one of their members, Jae Shin, didn't show. The very last second Jae Shin shows up and the trio can compete in the competition. This scene shows just how much Jae Shin really cares about his roommates, though he'd never admit it, because he was severely injured in the previous episode but still managed to show up so his roommates can compete.
In this episode we officially get the Jalgeum Quartet (Joseon F4) consisting of Gu Yong Ha, Moon Jae Shin, Kim Yoon Hee, and Lee Sun Joon!! I love these four guys, they're amazing. The bonds these four form are so strong and make the show worth it to watch.


Fun Facts: Song Yoong Ki actually attended Sungkyunkwan.
Not only did actors Yoonchun and Park Min Young (Lee Sun Joon and Kim Yoon Hee) earn an award for best couple, but Song Joong Ki and Yoo Ah In (Gu Yong Ha and Moon Jae Shin) also won an award for best couple. I'll be honest here, those two guys, I was secretly hoping they'd end up together through most of the drama. They're so cute together. Yong Ha is Jae Shin's first and only friend and though Yong Ha is a trickster, he deeply cares for Jae Shin and you really see that through the drama. He constantly frets over Jae Shin, teases him, and is always touching him, no in an awkward way though. What I love is how you can tell Jae Shin cares just as much for Yong Ha because he puts up with it with little to no protest.


Last thing about this drama: Jae Shin's hiccups. Whoever came up with this idea was brilliant. Whenever Jae Shin (nicknamed Geol-Oh aka Crazy Horse) is around a woman, he gets the cutest hiccups! You can only imagine how many times this happens when he finds out Yoon Hee is really a girl.


Rating: Out of 10 I give it an 8. I would give it higher but the last two episodes lost the flair the other episodes had. Though I'd suggest watching this drama purely for Yong Ha and Jae Shin. It's kind of sad when you're more excited for the bromance than the actual romance, nothing against Yoochun and Min Young they did a great job, but these two boys really stole the show, in my opinion. These two are just wonderful and I got so excited whenever they were in the same scene!

Are these two not so cute? Simply adorable!

Okay, this is the last picture of these two, I swear.