New Tales of Gisaeng 신기생뎐 is the thirty-first drama I've watched. I found about this drama through the promotional advertisements after Secret Garden broadcasted. Many people may not be familiar with the word 'gisaeng' but may recognize the Japanese term 'geisha' which has a similar meaning. I got interested in this drama when I watched an episode of Running Man where the main female lead, Im Soo Hyang, made a guest appearance. I thought she was very pretty and wanted to know what dramas she has acted in. Afterwards, I saw clips of an episode of Strong Heart where Im Soo Hyang and Sung Hoon came on the show as guests. I was immediately interested and decided right then to watch this drama. New Tales of Gisaeng has 52 episodes, which makes it the longest Korean drama I've ever seen to date.
Dan Saran (Im Soo Hyang) is a traditional dance major. Saran comes from a poor background and lives with her father who remarried, bringing in an over-materialistic stepmother and stepsister that Saran has trouble getting close with. Despite having friends from rich families, Saran is able to uphold her pride around them. One day, Saran goes over to an elderly grandmother's home to perform traditional dance for her as a part-time job. When Saran leaves, she meets Ah Damo (Sung Hoon), the elderly woman's grandson. Damo takes business administration training at his father's company. Damo dislikes his father a lot because his father shows hardly any attention to his wife and son, instead showing an exceptional amount of affection for his dog. Although Saran and Damo meet briefly, both are instantly attracted to each other. Saran is initially hesitant to tell Damo how she feels because of their large difference in social status. While at a cafe with some friends, a head gisaeng at Buyonggak notices Saran and invites her to enter Buyonggak. Buyonggak is the last gisaeng house in Korea, a place only top VIPs are able to enter. Saran is initially skeptical because of the negative connotation linked to a gisaeng's job. However, Saran decides to enter Buyonggak as a gisaeng after learning a secret about her past.
New Tales of Gisaeng shows a modern perspective to the gisaeng house. In a way, this drama is like watching a historical drama and a modern drama at the same time. Honestly, I enjoyed the uniqueness of this drama. If the portion of the drama related to the gisaeng house was taken out, New Tales of Gisaeng becomes a drama about the 'first world problems' of rich people. This was the case for the first couple episodes. The drama focused on introducing the numerous characters, in which the gisaeng house barely contributing any significance to the story. As a result, there were times where this drama was really boring. The director of the drama changed after the ninth episode due to low ratings. Since then, the drama got increasingly interesting to the point where the final ten episodes or so had to be seen in succession. The fact that New Tales of Gisaeng has a total of 52 episodes at an hour each plays a large role in the way the story is told. One of the most interesting things I found about New Tales of Gisaeng was how quickly dramatic plot twists are shown. Initially, I felt the plot was being was rushed. Later, I realized that this drama had a lot of story to cover. In fact, the family trees connecting every character in the drama has shifted completely by the finale with the addition of characters getting married to each other.
One of the main reasons why I decided to watch New Tales of Gisaeng was for one of the songs featured in the drama. "That Coalition 연정가" is the ending theme to the drama, a ballad with powerful vocals. There are two versions of this song, one by Oh Hyun Ran and another by Kim Shin Ah. The version by Oh Hyun Ran is sung at a higher pitch than the version by Kim Shin Ah. Regardless, I felt both are sung very well to the point where I could not pick which version of the song was my favorite. Towards the final episodes, the ending theme changes to Rumble Fish's "Love is Cruel and Written 사랑은 잔인하게 쓰여진다". This theme is slower and more of an emotional ballad.
This drama certainly gave me a better appreciation for the traditional Korean culture. All of the Buyonggak gisaengs featured in the drama are amazingly beautiful to watch them perform. An issue I had with New Tales of Gisaeng was the presentation of the scenes in a single episode. While the story focuses on one scene with one group of people, it would immediately change to a different scene with other people and then back in period of two minutes. The reason I disliked the rapid changes to the scenes is because the changes break the tension of important scenes with irrelevant ones, simply to fill in the gaps of a ongoing timeline. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed watching New Tales of Gisaeng. New Tales of Gisaeng is not a drama for those seeking to watch their favorite idol actors and actresses. Nearly all the actors and actresses were rookies, yet you could see the genuine effort they put into their roles. I felt that the depth of plot and themes are really deep and that a casual watcher may not appreciate this drama. Luckily, this drama had a very satisfying ending. I'd recommend New Tales of Gisaeng as a hidden, but surprisingly good watch.
