Il Ji Mae

Aside from the obvious writing problems, the story itself felt like it was dragging its feet endlessly. Everything became tiring and dull after episode 4. The male lead was on a life mission to become more and more pathetic with each passing episode. Romance? A pale imitation. There was no spark, no cosmic alignment of hearts, just a void where chemistry should have ignited. And then, to compound matters, they slapped in a love square (pentagon?) that was infested with poorly written love interests between any and every one of them. The ending was a weak attempt at redemption. It rushed to tie up loose ends but ended up creating even more problems, leaving major gaps to what could have been a very simple wrap up.

Iljimae is an amazing story about a kid who goes out at night to rob from the rich and give to the poor. He is also trying to avenge his farther's death at the same time. He dresses up like a ninja while on the job and he uses his martial arts skills to help him become the most famous thief in Joseon (Korea). You could say he was a "Korea criminal"! OK no more attempts at jokes....

The story is entertaining and cool from the first episode. The characters are varied and colorful. You'll end up liking all of them. There is tons of action but there is a lot of depth too. There is plenty of love interests, cruel twists of fate and murder mystery drama.

I would recommend this show to anyone with a face. You have to read subtitles but it is totally worth for this one.

There is a sequel called "return of iljimae" which is not as good but also worth checking out for people looking for more ninja thief drama.

I really enjoyed watching this serie and fell in love with Korean cinema. Definitely recommendable.

Lee Joon-gi plays Lee Geom who has a secret identity, Iljima a thief who rights wrongs and injustices. It is a period drama based in the Joseon dynasty and the main plot is Iljima searching for who and why his father was killed. It is an enjoyable series but the story is slow and could have done with less going on and more focus on character development.

AMAZING, FANTASTIC DRAMA!!! The plot is awesome and all the characters were great!

Lee Joon Gi is HUGE as an actor and his performance was out of this universe! He's above the top! He is one of a kind!!! Wherever he appears he conquers the scene! I'm totally speechless!!! He is pure MAGIC!!!

All the rest actors were awesome, and especially his father and his brother! I adored all of them!

This series was great!!!! I feel that I still didn't have enough of it! I just want to watch it again!!!

LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!!! And... LEE JOON GI, I LOVE YOU!!!!