Welcome to Kdrama and Ramen

A talented painter and a blind astronomer, born the same day, share a common fate that involves imprisoning an evil spirit to save the country from destruction.  Together the couple must discover the key that will enable them to bind the spirit before he unleashes his evil chaos.  But little do they know, the spirit is lurking even closer than they imagine and he will stop at nothing to keep them from fulfilling their destiny.

Ahn Hyo Seop as Ha Ram

Ha Ram comes from a family blessed by the water god.  He is chosen to take part in the royal rain ritual used to stop drought.  But when the ritual errupts into chaos, Ha Ram ends up losing his sight and being possessed by the evil spirit, Ma Wang.  While the spirit lies dormant for years, no one realizes he is there, but attempts to capture him in a divine vessel make his situation more urgent.  Now the spirit plans to fully take over Ha Ram’s mind and body so that he can rule the kingdom.  The only thing missing are his eyes, which have been given to Chun Ki.  As Ha Ram finds out about the evil that lives inside him, he is ready to sacrifice himself for the good of the kingdom.  But Chun Ki insists on finding a way to trap the spirit and free Ha Ram to live a life with her.  

Ha Ram is reserved and intelligent.  Believing that his father died at the hands of the royal family, he has lived his life waiting for a chance to take revenge on them.  But his plans falter when he discovers that the king was as much of a victim as his father.  Ha Ram has always loved Chun Ki, but he knows that his revenge will end in his own death so he tries to keep her at a distance, for her own sake.  Lucky for him, Chun Ki doesn’t give up easily.  Ahn Hyo Seop is a good actor, but I found this particular role very flat.  There is very little character development and even the chemistry he shares with Kim Yoo Jung early in the drama seems to fizzle out as the series goes on.

Kwak Shi Yang as Prince Yi Hoo

Prince Yi Hoo is the middle son of the King.  His older brother, the Crown Prince, has been ill for years and Yi Hoo hopes to inherit the crown from his father.  Yi Hoo is responsible for helping release Ma Wang and he bears a scar from the fire that is the evil spirits mark.  Yi Hoo plans to use his connection with Ma Wang to take power and feed his greed.

♥ Guardian Spirits

I loved the character of Sam Shin and Ho Ryung.  The costumes and graphics surrounding these two characters were the strongest in the drama and their magical presence gave a good break from the main storyline.  It was also fun to watch Ho Ryung and Chun Ki form an awkward and slightly tenuous friendship.  And while Sam Shin was involved in the story from the very beginning, it was sweet to watch Ho Ryung get swept up in the human love story and try to protect the two of them.  

♥ Baekgyu Institute “Family”

Another friendship I enjoyed was the interaction between Chun Ki and her art academy “family”, especially Young Wook and Painter Jung.  Their familiar camaraderie was touching, and seeing how protective all of them were of Chun Ki seemed very natural.  I looked forward to the scenes where the group of them interacted together.  And the lengths that Chun Ki went to to save them from Prince Yi Hoo made perfect sense.  

Woman Artist

I don’t know a lot about artists during this time period, but it doesn’t take much to imagine that women artists were incredibly rare, if not unheard of.  And that would be proven by the fact that Chun Ki is the only woman in the academy or the art competition.  And yet I only heard one passing comment that anyone found it noteworthy.  That seems strange to me.  It seems like more should have been made about how rare it was for a woman to be a painter at all, let alone a “divine” painter.  

Blindness

The blindness element of this drama is not handled well at all.  First of all, for someone who spent some of the formative years of her life blind, Chun Ki seems strangely clumsy at dealing with Ha Ram’s lack of sight.  In both speech and actions, she seems to forget that sight isn’t something to be taken for granted.  But maybe that is partly because Ha Ram didn’t really act like someone who couldn’t see.  Wandering the town alone and moonlight horseback riding were treated as normal occurences.  While he would have learned to live without sight, there should have still been times when certain tasks would have required some extra effort.

“Lovers of the Red Sky” ends with a hard-fought happily ever after.  Ha Ram shows up at the sealing ceremony but Ma Wang has managed to take full power over him.  As Chun Ki rushes to put the finishing touches on the painting, the demon confronts her and takes back his eyes, leaving her blind once again.  With the help of Hwacha and her father, she finishes the painting, but Ma Wang seems impossible to beat, now that he has his eyes again.  In the end, the spirit is defeated, but it cost the lives of both Mi Soo the shaman and Sam Shin.  Flash forward five years, to Ha Ram and Chun Ki’s birthday.  They are living in the country with their young son.  The Baekgyu artists and the now Crown Prince, Lee Yul, make the trip to visit.  Everyone is pretty much the same with the exception of Lee Yul and Painter Jung’s promotions.  Ha Ram and Chun Ki make a trip back to the peach orchard for a romantic birthday date, which ends once again with them running away from the angry owner.  In a strange last scene, we see Prince Yi Hoo, who is still alive and in prison, leading a coup against Lee Yul and his supporters.  The final credits roll as we see a bloody fight breaking out in the palace.