Dear Hongrang Review: A Twisted Fate Full of Heartbreak and Longing

Dear Hongrang Review: This South Korean mystery melodrama sageuk follows Hong-rang and his stepsister Jae-yi. When Hong-rang goes missing at 8 years old, Jae-yi continues to search for him. Twelve years later, when a man claiming to be Hong-rang appears out of the blue, Jae-yi desperately tries to find the truth behind this mysterious man and prove that he is who he claims to be. Of course, this brings up power struggles and family secrets that she was previously unaware of.

The series is based on Tangeum: Swallowing Gold by Jang Da-hye and has 11 episodes, each with a runtime of 60+ minutes.

Dear Hongrang Review

This Netflix series’ mammoth runtime might give most people pause – at over 60 minutes per episode, it’s not an easy feat. However, with the weekend just around the corner, it might just be a binge-fest. And for good reason. This mystery drama saeguk will leave you stumped and make your heart flutter in the weirdest of ways. There’s some surprising romance that leaves you questioning yourself, but also rooting for, while the question of the young prince disappearing and the subplot of young women being sold draws us to more thrilling ventures.

The slow-burning relationships themselves require a separate show, and maybe that’s why the 11 episodes are necessary. Nevertheless, these relationships form the main focus point of the series and take forever to build. It’s not a bad thing, especially if you like deep, intricate stories that make you drown in their world-building. And Dear Hongrang gives us just that – unending lore and characters & situations that feel so deep that it’s often hard to remember.

The story features Hongrang returning from the dead after 12 years, much to the suspicion of his sister Jae-yi. She refuses to believe that it’s him but feels something else for this mysterious man, whose intentions she is unsure of. The story is a saga of deceit, backstabbing and lies and a blossoming romance that goes beyond convention. The story pulls you to it, thanks more so to the fantastic performances and the beautiful cinematography, along with the soul-stirring score that ties the (frankly insane) story together.

Much like every other saeguk, there’s a ton of politics in the series, which gets hard to keep track of, especially after you have consumed 11+ hours of it. There are a myriad characters, and everyone seemingly wants to kill the other, but maybe that’s what makes this deliciously bingeable. I liked how everything is somehow connected to each other, as well as the fact that everyone hates everyone. The romance in the middle of it, thus, feels like a flower in the middle of a desert.

Coming to that, the romance forms the crux of this story, without which I think the series would’ve been really tiring. The chemistry between Lee Jae-wook and Jo Bo-ah is commendable. The moment they come across one another, you feel a tension in the air that never lets up. It’s almost claustrophobic, in a way. It consumes everything around it. I think it’s more so because of Lee Jae-wook’s intensity on-screen, which I found to be hard to escape in every show he is in. Jo Bo-ah presents as the perfect yin to his yang, and together their romance is delicious.

I also found Jang Ga-ram to be fantastic; his character takes a detour towards the end that may (or may not) take everyone by surprise. Other than the lead cast, Uhm Ji-Won, who plays Min Yeon-ui, the matriarch of the family, is absolutely fantastic. She goes from hysterical to authoritative at the blink of an eye, and made me hate her and pity her in equal measure. Everyone else in the cast is also fantastic. I thought Kim Jae-wook’s character had a deplorable zing to it that we don’t usually find in these dramas.

That being said, I thought 11 episodes were a bit too much, bordering on pandering. I acknowledge the necessity of using the time to build a believable world to make it more hard-hitting, but the series goes overboard with the story and the situations sometimes and makes you want to skip forward a bit. It’s not the worst thing in the world, but it does affect your watching experience. I guess you can not be a maniac like me and binge it in one day – it will be more palatable in that case.

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Moving on, the twists and turns are absolutely deliciously brought forward. Other than the politics, there’s also a mystery element regarding a “White Ghost” that will keep viewers guessing at first. We get rid of that soon enough, but what takes its place is truly deplorable and might give you goosebumps. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and the revelations were quite great. Will you be able to figure it out from the start? Maybe, if you look close enough. But that’s neither here nor there.

Final Thoughts

Dear Hongrang is definitely a journey that feels like it spans lifetimes. There are a lot of intricacies in the plots and relationships that you need to pay close attention to in order to enjoy the true flavour of this drama. It holds on to both the mystery and the searing romance till the end, and the bittersweet goodbye will hurt your heart. It definitely has an effect on you; just be sure to take breaks in between binging!

Also Read: Dear Hongrang Ending Explained: Who is Hongrang? Is Jae-yi Finally Able to Find Her Brother?