Dear Hongrang - Netflix Series

Dear Hongrang | Official Trailer | Netflix [ENG SUB]
Netflix K-Content

Korean historical drama, complete with confused would-be lovers, murdering psychopaths, grisly tortures, treachery, double dealing and beaucoup de swordfights. Near the end, one woman pulls out a gun and shoots a traitor. Only gun in the whole show, and she only fired one shot. It looked like a flintlock. As is typical, the plot is confused by the number of people who may or may not be dead.

The story begins when Hongrang, the young son of a wealthy merchant, disappears. He had a penchant for wandering around in the woods, so everyone assumes he has gotten lost or been kidnapped. His  doting mother, 2nd wife of the merchant, slowly sinks into a drug and alcohol fueled psychosis. The merchant's daughter by his first wife is like a non-person in this household and is the target of the 2nd wife's abuse. We're pretty sure that the first wife is dead, but you can never really be sure about this. Supposedly dead people show up all the time in these shows.

Over the years numerous boys have shown up claiming to be the missing Hongrang. They are proven to be imposters and suffer grisly fates for their perfidy. Then one day a man who the merchant employed to search for his missing son returns with a young man he claims to be Hongrang. The young man himself makes no such claim due to having lost his memory of his younger years. He is superficially examined and seems to be the real thing. The 2nd wife accepts him as her son, the daughter, who had a close relationship with the young Hongrang, does not, but since she is persona non grata in this house, no one listens to her.

Since Hongrang disappeared, the merchant has taken another young man into his inner circle and has been training him to take over the mercantile operation. So now we have two handsome young men and they are both falling in love with the daughter. She likes both, but she is eventually going to have to choose.

Since Hongrang has reappeared, he is being trained by the adopted son to take over his role and when that is complete the adopted son will be shunted aside, perhaps even cast out. Naturally he is not too happy about this, so he exerts some effort to unmask this imposter.

The new Hongrang is in fact an imposter and has the backing of another clan that is working from the shadows. This clan is run by his adopted mother, who is seeking vengeance against the merchant for . . . something. Turns out the merchant has been running some kind of scam that has defrauded the prince of considerable wealth over the years. 

The prince seems to be a typical royal, bemused by the commoners antics, but we're not really expecting any trouble from him. It is only late in the series that he is unmasked as a really nasty villain. He has been collecting children that he keeps in a dungeon where he paints their backs using tattoos and red hot pokers. Nice guy. Six of these children are now adults and have become talismans for a ceremony that will turn him into a god. The climax of this ceremony is when the talismans dumped, one at a time into a cauldron of boiling bronze. Very nice guy.

There are at least four factions competing here, and they all have their own squads of swordsmen to enforce their claims - the merchant, his wife, Hongrang's real mother, and the prince. The prince has the army at his command, so he has the largest force, but the others are all about equally matched and slaughter each other with abandon.

With the forces of evil closing in, Hongrang and the daughter run away. They find an abandoned house on a mountain and consumate their love. The only evidence we get is he unties the bow of her top. Life is lovely for a short time but eventually they are betrayed and the forces of darkness close in and they are captured.

Turns out Hongrang is one of the prince's talismans. Our girl somehow ends up with Hongrang's mother, which you might think would be good, but mom wants her dead just like the merchant's wife. The adopted son rescues her and confesses his love, but she rejects him, and attempts to free Hongrang.

Soul Reaper's Tattoo Episode 10, Mark 1:40

This tatoo is the most risque scene in the show. Typically, these shows show absolutely no skin and only rarely is any physical affection, like a kiss, shown.