Tangeum (2025)

Sibling or Imposter?

"PREVIEW SCREENING REVIEW"

The first three episodes of Dear Hongrang hit the ground running, drenched in a moody, sprawling atmosphere layered with mystery and deeply personal tragedy.

At the center is Jae-i, the daughter of a concubine, despised by her stepmother Min Yeon-ui, and treated like an outsider in her own home. She’s haunted not only by isolation but by the childhood memory of her gentle half-brother, Hongrang, the only person who ever showed her kindness, before mysteriously vanishing twelve years ago.

The drama opens with an almost mythic abduction: young Hongrang is kidnapped by a towering, white-haired stranger in the forest. His disappearance unravels the family, pushing Yeon-ui into grief-stricken madness and the household into spiritual desperation, even summoning a shaman whose ritual demands blood.

Now, twelve years later, a man claiming to be Hongrang returns, with no memory of his disappearance. While the family - especially Yeon-ui - is swept up in joyous belief, Jae-i and her “placeholder" stepbrother, Mu-jin, remain wary. What unfolds is a tense, chilling tug-of-war of suspicion, trauma, and identity tests.

The show masterfully builds dread without relying on overt horror. There’s something rotting in the air - from Yeon-ui’s cruelty to the simmering warfare between Jae-i, Mu-jin, and the man claiming to be Hongrang. Every character carries unspoken truths and buried wounds, and the pressure is building.

The chemistry is electric:

- Jae-i is toughened yet fragile, caught between reason and emotional yearning.
- Hongrang (or the man pretending to be him) is unsettlingly calm and composed, though moments of genuine softness threaten to emerge.
- Mu-jin is quietly unraveling as a tragic figure trying to protect the woman he loves, all while sensing he’s being pushed to the margins of his own story.

Visually, the series is a triumph. From the opulent halls of the Min household, the supposed grandest estate in Joseon, to the dark forests and candlelit interiors, "Dear Hongrang" offers aesthetic richness without ever losing emotional grit. The hanbok designs, jewelry, and props are meticulously curated, and Jo Bo-ah, in particular, commands the screen with an elegance that reinforces the show’s refined yet haunting tone.

And while it ambitiously tries to blend multiple genres - action, melodrama, suspense - it does occasionally struggle to prioritize, risking a lack of sharp identity. But where it falters in singular focus, it compensates in thematic layering: class resentment, gender oppression, emotional alienation, and buried trauma all bubble beneath the surface.

Ultimately, Dear Hongrang is not a fast-burn thriller. It simmers - rich in atmosphere, eerie silences, and morally ambiguous characters who seem just as haunted by themselves as they are by each other. Something dark is coming… and no one will emerge unscathed.

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