Mr. Sunshine

What kind of drama it is

The story begins when a boy born to an enslaved family, who left Joseon as a child, returns to his homeland as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. The Joseon he finds is a land where foreign powers compete for concessions and the country's fate shifts by the day. At the centre of it stands a woman who looks every bit the proper daughter of a noble house, yet secretly takes up a rifle and joins the armed resistance. It wears the shape of a romance, but at heart it asks what people standing in very different places tried to protect as their country was falling apart.

The makers and the cast

The writer is Kim Eun-sook, known for Goblin and Descendants of the Sun, and the director is Lee Eung-bok, who worked with her on both. Her memorable lines and his wide, carefully crafted images meet again, this time in the larger vessel of a period drama. The leads are Lee Byung-hun and Kim Tae-ri, while Yoo Yeon-seok, Kim Min-jung and Byun Yo-han play characters with their own circumstances and convictions who drive the story alongside them. The backbone of the show is that these five do not revolve around a single hero; each passes through the same era for reasons of their own.

• Aired: tvN, 2018, 24 episodes
• Writer: Kim Eun-sook (Goblin, Descendants of the Sun)
• Director: Lee Eung-bok
• Cast: Lee Byung-hun, Kim Tae-ri, Yoo Yeon-seok, Kim Min-jung, Byun Yo-han

The era as the stage

It is set in the years when Joseon renamed itself the Korean Empire and pressure from abroad was mounting. Legations, soldiers and merchants from America, Japan and elsewhere fill the streets of the capital, and new foreign goods sit in the same frame as an old social order. One of the show's great pleasures is that a period many people know only from a few lines in a textbook turns into faces and daily life. Many of the main characters and events are invented, though, so it is best to keep the drama separate from actual history. If a moment sparks your curiosity, reading a history book afterwards will deepen the experience.

Same era, different places

The main characters differ in rank and in how they feel about their country. For someone Joseon once cast aside, the homeland is not easy to love, and for those who have much, there are things to protect and things to give up. The show does not rush to decide who is right; it takes the time to show why each person chooses as they do. Follow the moment when a character who first seems cynical or selfish changes their mind, or never does. The differences in how each character speaks and dresses also quietly reveal where they stand.

Things to watch for

Both the images and the dialogue are crafted with great care, and keeping the points below in mind brings out the texture of each scene.

• How the characters' forms of address and levels of politeness shift
• Shots that frame traditional houses and Western buildings together
• Contrasting props such as guns and swords, suits and hanbok
• Short lines that recur and return across episodes

Kim Eun-sook's dialogue in a period setting

Kim Eun-sook is famous for short, rhythmic lines that come back again and again. In her contemporary dramas this repetition created a light, playful fun; here, tied to the weight of the era, it resonates more heavily. Words traded like a casual joke often take on a completely different meaning later on, so it is worth remembering lines you might have let pass at first. The mix of old-fashioned speech and modern expressions can feel odd at the start, but after a few episodes it settles into a voice that belongs to this show alone.

Worth knowing before you start

There is a good deal of violence, including gunfights, executions and torture. Because it deals with a country slipping away, the overall mood is heavy and tragic, and if you were expecting a light romance it may weigh on you more than you thought. Episodes run long and there are 24 of them, so take the first few slowly, treating them as a chance to get the relationships straight. If the large cast gets confusing, jotting down the main names and how they connect can help.

Who it suits

It suits viewers who enjoy long dramas set in history and are drawn to stories in which a person's choices collide with their times. If you liked Goblin, by the same writer and director, you can feel a similar flavour of dialogue carried with an entirely different weight. It is also worth recommending to anyone who loves lavish visuals. If you prefer short, brisk storytelling, the slow early pace may feel long, so watching a few episodes at a time over a weekend may suit you better. Once you finish, branching out to other works or books about the period is a good way to keep going.