“Ireland” – Finding Your Roots (An Underrated Gem)

“Ireland” is a 2004 Korean TV series (also known as “Aillaendeu”), with 16 episodes, categorized as Melodrama, Romance and Family; streaming on Viki.

SUMMARY: A Korean child who was adopted by an Irish family returns to South Korea. She may or may not reconnect with her biological family because she has so very little to go on that will help her find them.

♦ Can I Find My Real Family?

In “Ireland”, Lee Jung-A (Irish name: Georgia Shaw) is a Korean child who was adopted by an Irish family as a infant. She has continuous flashbacks of a traumatic incident. Her entire family in Ireland was killed. Her memory shows their bloody bodies and she has blood all over her. She believes that her Irish family was part of a terrorist organization and that it was best for her to return to South Korea. She does not have very much to go on, but Lee Jung-A hopes she can discover her roots and unravel her past. Of course, her main question is: Why couldn’t she stay with her biological family?

On the plane, Lee Jung-A meets Kang Gook. He works as a bodyguard for a wealthy man. There was something about her that made him want to be compassionate and protective. Eventually, they become romantically involved and marry.

Lee Jae-bok is her brother. It’s a family tie that Lee Jung-A will have to discover. Lee Jae-bok has several emotional scars but one of the main scars is the memory of his mother giving away his baby sister. Why? Why did she have to do that? For the most part, one would consider Lee Jae-bok a deadbeat. He rarely works at a steady job. Were it not for the fact that he cooks and cleans wherever he lives, one might be tempted to kick him into the streets.

Lee Jae-bok meets Han Si-Yeon who acts in sleazy movies (she’s an adult film actress). But she is the only one in her family who brings home a steady paycheck and supports them all. One day she brings home Lee Jae-bok. Why? She kind of likes him. Other than her family, she has no love in her life. Also, his mother kicked him out of her house and he had no place to live. He persuaded her to let him stay at her place.

One night, Lee Jung-A is out with Kang Gook and Lee Jae-bok is out with Han Si-Yeon, and they physically cross paths with each other, but they were going in different directions. Of course, at that moment, they did not realize that they might be brother and sister. It gets even more complicated when Lee Jae-bok falls in love with Lee Jung-A and becomes close friends with Kang Gook. Han Si-yeon accidentally meets Kang Gook and develops feelings for him. Lee Jung-A and Han Si-yeon also meet and develop a relationship.

This isn’t a typical love triangle. It’s a questionably indecent love quadrangle. (O.o) Family ties and other ties get very tangled and complicated. Will the ties get unraveled? Talk about ill-fated. Maybe DNA test results might help. (???)

Main Characters:

• Lee Jung-A (played by Lee Na-Young)
• Kang-Guk (played by Hyun-Bin, “The Swindlers”, “The Fatal Encounter”)
• Lee Jae-Bok (played by Kim Min-Jun, “Durian’s Affair”)
• Han Si-Yeon (played by Kim Min-Jung, “The Devil Judge”, “Mr. Sunshine”, “Man to Man”, “The Merchant: Gaekju”)

Where to Watch

Viewership and Rating:

• IMDb: 7.6 out of 10 stars
• My Drama List: 6.5 out of 10 stars
• Viki viewers rated this series 7.6 out of 10 stars

My personal rating is 8 out of 10 stars.

This Korean drama series is like finding a hidden treasure. The scriptwriter really toyed with my emotions. “Ireland” is so old I couldn’t even find a trailer on YouTube. Nobody looks for a K-drama with the name of a European country. This twenty-year-old gem popped up in my search when I was looking for something else. It was such a surprise that I forgot what I was looking for. As soon as I started watching “Ireland”, there was a bloody scene where the young girl’s family had been massacred and she was the only one standing with blood all over her. It reeled me in. How could you not want to find out what happened?

Hyun Bin is on several lists of favorite South Korean actors, especially since “Crash Landing on You”. I was curious to see some of his earlier work before he became so popular. “Ireland” is the first drama where he was a male lead.

• NOTE: K-dramas that mention or are set in European countries reviewed on PopGeeks Reviews: “Finland Papa” and “Memories of the Alhambra” (Spain).

LINKS OF INTEREST:

Ireland: Korean Drama Review | Dramas Whoo!

K Drama Review: Ireland (2004) 3 | Oppa Noona

10 Best Hyun Bin Dramas & Movies To Check Out | The Review Geek

The 25 Best K-Dramas on Viki Right Now | Marie Claire (Last update Nov 2023)

TRAILER/TEASER:

Salvador, Hyuanne. “( ENG SUB )Hyun Bin 현빈  IRELAND (2004).” YouTube, 7 Aug. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyIEtedsD4o.