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JIRISAN KDrama (& My Spoiler Impressions of first 2 episodes)



"Jirisan" depicts the story of a ranger of the Jirisan National Park, Kang Hyun-jo (starring Ju Ji-hoon) who discovers that he could see incomprehensible visions of deaths occurring on the mountain. Because of that, he works hand in hand with his senior, Seo Yi-kang (starring Jun Ji-hyun) to unravel these unknown stories.

The female lead, Seo Yi-kang, is the top ranger of the Jirisan National Park while the male lead, Kang Hyun-jo, is one of the coworkers of Seo Yi-kang. Be it dirt road, rock wall, or cliff, Seo Yi-kang instinctively knows how to navigate the trails of the mountains. She could track down a lost hiker based on just a single leaf or blade of grass. Nicknamed “Devil Seo” by her coworkers, she is nevertheless the most passionate ranger among them.

As her parents passed away in a torrential flood, she views the mountain as a dreadful place but she eventually stays in the mountain and becomes a ranger as fighting against the Death God and rescuing the victims is her dream.

Kang Hyun-jo is involved in a mishap whilst he is having a training in Jirisan. His comrade dies in the mishap. After encountering the accident, he discovers that he could see incomprehensible visions of deaths occurring on the mountain. Believing this is the mountain's calling for him to save them, he goes back to Jirisan and works with Seo Yi-kang to rescue the victims. However, as time passes, the terrifying secret behind the beautiful mountain slowly unravels...". (iq.com)




"Jirisan" is a brand new Korean television series starring Jun Ji-hyun who starred in "My Love From the Star" and Ju Ji-hoon who starred in "Kingdom". Directed by Lee Eung-bok ("Goblin") and is written by Kim Eun-hee ("Kingdom"), this Kdrama is labeled as a "tvN's 15th Anniversary Special Drama" and it will be available for streaming on iQIYI worldwide (www.iq.com).

Launched Oct 23rd, with 2 episodes per week, 16 episodes in all, scheduled to end December 12th, 2021. "Jirisan" takes over tvN's Sat. & Sun. 21:00 time slot previously occupied by "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha."

I've had the opportunity to watch the first 2 episodes off my cable channel, and these are my SPOILER impressions based on my watch.



The visuals are stunning, with great care given in the color grading and contrast, featuring breathtakingly vivid and dangerously stunning visuals of forestry and mountains, supported by ample top-shot drone footage. Upon my untrained eye, I could not distinguish between what was "real" and what was CG (only by watching the behind-the-scenes video posted below when I realised some scenes WERE CG goodness lol), which of course would be the action scenes LOL



I am by nature, not what you would call a "person drawn to nature", and is in fact is FAR from it (FFS), but even I can recognise that perhaps this would appeal to nature lovers, with treks, rock climbs, and even bird watching all thrown into the first two episodes. I do not actively watch "National Geographic" to compare otherwise, cheers.



Written by Kim Eun-Hee ("Kingdom", "Kingdom Season 2", "Kingdom: Ashin of the North", "Signal"), and directed by Lee Eung-Bok ("Descendants of the Sun", "Goblin / Guardian: The Lonely and Great God", "Mr. Sunshine", "Sweet Home"), the cast is what I personally thought this was quite a splendid line-up of (recognisable) character actors (Screengrab below via IMDb)!



Gianna Jun and Ju Ji-Hoon (also Jun Suk-Ho) are alums from "Kingdom" ("Ashin", "Lee Chang" and "Beom-Pal", respectively). And I enjoyed Go Min-Si's "Lee Eun-Yu" in "Sweet Home".

A ever dependable cast of Oh Jung-Se ("Moon Sang-Tae" in "It's Okay to Not Be Okay"), Jo Han-Chul and Kim Young-Ok (both of whom were only just seen in "Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha") and Sung Dong-Il brings heft and anchors the Kdrama.




Storywise, it is more than your "mountain rescue"-stories (for which there are plenty of action packed edits and camera angles), with handy tips and guides to glean from, and as well a ongoing "mystery" involving possibly spiritual aspect, with waking prophetic visions, and mountain ju-ju ... mixed in with North Korean spy-craft, and also a more devious "human" aspect.

Frankly I started Episode one missing the first 20 minutes (of the 1 hour 10-minutes duration), and had to figure out the sequence of events, having two timelines happening concurrently, with 2018 flashbacks showcasing a utterly ravishing Jeon Ji-hyun / Gianna Jun as a wonderful competent and clever ranger (see how she sorts out the missing "Lottery Ticket" ish), and as well in current day 2020, where the continually gorgeous Gianna is in a wheelchair, after waking up from a year being unconscious (her "rookie" partner is still in a coma) .... Now THAT was something that intrigued me!



EPISODE 3 PREVIEW:



(Additional info via asianwiki.com)
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