"Boksoo hyuljun" the mini series first aired on MBC on December 12, 1997 and immediately became a hit drama on the eve of Korea's worst economic crisis in the country's history since 1945. Frankly, I'm still wondering to this day why and how it became such a hit, especially since the story lacks the imaginative plot to hold you in captivity for any meaningful time. But for those who are Ahn Jaewook fans, who cares right?

Baby-faced Ahn Jaewook (I can hear the screams of women in the background) plays a handsome charming womanizing "saki-kkun" named Kang Jun-Ho, who's sole purpose in life is to score. And I'm not talking about basketball here. One day Jun-Ho unwittingly saves the life of a bulldog face hotel owner named Jumong (Juhyun) by fighting off the gangsters who were hired by Jumong's closest friend, Chunsam. Chunsam (who also happens to be the one who bumped off Kang Jun-Ho's father, decades prior) is the one who schemes to bump off Jumong so that he can take over Jumong's hotel, with the help of head gangster named "Ssang-Kal" (Huh Jin-Ho). The story also focuses on Ahn Jaewook's love interest, Lee Min-Ju played by Oh Yon-Su. Ms. Lee is a naive attractive young woman who works as a helper at one of Seoul's fashionable hair salons for the rich. She gets sucked into the irresistible charm of Kang Jun-Ho and falls for him. Miss Lee also has a close friend/co-worker/room-mate named Chung Mi-Kyung (Kim Hye-Soo). Miss Chung is a hot-tempered woman who dreams of one day of getting out of the dreaded life in the salon. To accomplish her goals, she schemes to seduce and possess Lee Hyun- Soo (Song Chang-Min) Chunsam's son and right hand man.

From the beginning, I didn't know what to make of this drama. If I have to categorize, I'll hesitantly say this is a quarter comedy, a quarter romance, a quarter serious drama, and a quarter action. I can only describe it as a "jjam-ppong", a mixture full of mostly unfunny slapstick jokes, lots of carefully staged but cheap fistfight scenes (standard in Korean gangster movies), and the constant references to the IMF crisis, which all turns it into a weird mixture of pandemonium.

The problem is the plot, plus the way characters are portrayed. One big problem is the lack of credible villains that would make you cheer for your hero/heroine. Chunsam is basically a loud-mouthed imbecile. Ssang-Kal is basically an incompetent idiot, more reminiscent of a dumb neighborhood bully rather then a ruthless gangster. All the gangster cohorts, except for Lee Hyun-Soo played by Song Chang-Min, serve well as practice punching bags that make skinny Ahn Jaewook look good with his Taekwondo moves. Another example of a bad script gone haywire is when Kang Jun-Ho dresses up as a woman to carry out his plan to revenge his father's death, fooling all the bad guys. These laughable gangsters shame Korean mob society if they hope to compete against the likes of the Yakuza or the Italian mobs1x Surely, the writers of the script could've been more imaginative1x

But behold, there is actually a good part to this script, and it's the on screen sexual attraction/romance between Chung Mi-Kyung and Lee Hyun-Soo. The love/lust chemistry between Kim Hye-Soo and Sohn Chang-Min is so sizzling on screen that my TV belched hot smoke. When Hyun-Soo growls to Mi-Kyung "kka-bul-ji-ma..", it made me giggle. Kim Hye-Soo keeps on doing what she does best - playing a purrrrriiinnnggg sex kitten, while Sohn Chang-Min does an excellent job in making his role very credible as a lustful, greedy, cold calculating evil man helplessly enchanted by Mi-Kyung's bold sexual approaches. Unfortunately very well done roles by Kim Hye-Soo and Sohn Chang-Min are not enough to save this drama. Any semblance of a seriousness of their relationship is ruined by intrusion of comedy that just does not work smoothly. It coould have worked out better iif the writer had a clear goal as to what he wanted to accomplish, a slapstick comedy or a serious drama.

Finally, I asked my wife to tell me one good thing about Boksoo hyuljun. She answered "Ahn Jaewook". Ahn Jaewook fans shouldn't be too disappointed with this series, but for those who want more, I'm afraid there isn't much here to be excited about.