Our Blooming Youth is just as special as Hwarang and Strong Woman Do Bong Soon or perhaps even more so. The reason is at the end of the day if it weren’t for Our Blooming Youth, I wouldn’t be a Sikkie Fangirl right now, I think I would still be a Kim Bum fangirl……Thanks to Viki constantly doing Our Blooming Youth promo and the design of the promo looked kinda catchy so I took the bait and VOILA! I’m now a Park Hyungsik super fangirl!

Our dear Sikkie plays the crown prince of Joseon/Choson. Certain people in the royal court constantly want to dethrone him, especially the right state minister named Jo Wonbo.

The Crowned Prince gets this thing called the Ghost Letter saying things like people that trust him and follow him are gonna betray him, and cross him, he’s gonna be dethroned and the Song family will overthrow the Yi family then become the owner of the state of Joseon!

Min Jaeyi played by Jeon Soni ends up escaping from her hometown Gaesung cus her parents all end up getting killed by being poisoned. Min Jaeyi runs for her life after discovering that her parents and her older brother are dead. She also found the ghost letter and headed to HANYANG…MODERN DAY SEOUL THE CAPITAL CITY OF SOUTH KOREA!

Meanwhile, the crowned prince was having a hard time because Jo Wonbo was telling the King, the father of the crown prince, to dethrone him. There was a lot of plotting going on from the beginning and it never ended until the show was over.

Hyungsik looks so good in the traditional KOREAN ATTIRE called HANBOK!

Min Jaeyi was chased by a bunch of bad guys and the crown prince was being attacked too around the same time. Min Jae Yi is on her way to the palace to go seek out the crown prince while the crown prince is in danger by the people that want to get rid of him by dethroning him as the crown prince of Joseon/Choson.

The crown prince couldn’t use his arms because he got injured and in Joseon the crown prince has to know martial arts and also be able to use the bow and arrow. The king decided to test Lee Hwan, the crown prince, and he was able to pass.

The ghost letter and the head shaman of the nation were being talked about. There were weird things happening, very paranormal but it was all trickery.

When the crown prince meets Jae Yi he tries to send her back because he is in no position to deal with the unknown, he just couldn’t trust someone that he doesn’t know. Jaeyi felt things were unfair to her because her whole family was murdered, she was being chased and framed for the murder as well….she became a fugitive even if she didn’t do anything wrong….like murdering her own family.

The crown prince first met Min Jae Yi when they were small children. Jaeyi not only saw the crown prince when she was a child but she also met Sergeant Han who is supposed to be her husband later on in the future.

Min Jaeyi was played by an actress Jeon Soni and Sergeant Han was played by Yoon Jong Seok. Min Jaeyi was Sergeant Han’s bride to be because the two families wanted them to get married. Arranged marriage was a big thing in the Joseon Dynasty, especially among the royals and the noble families.

Sergeant Han takes his arranged marriage with Min Jaeyi pretty seriously. The crown prince helped Min Jae Yi to be secure although at first he was very rude to her and he wanted to kick her out of the palace. However, Lee Hwan the crown prince is a nice guy so he couldn’t do that but in order for her to be safe in the palace he had to put her in disguise. She also needed a name and she had to disguise herself as something different….So that’s why she dressed up as one of the Eunuchs and the crown prince gave her a name that he remembered from one of the recorded books from an incident from a while back.

Min Jaeyi starts working for the Eastern Palace, meaning she dresses up as Eunuch Go Soondol and helps out the crown prince. Even though she/he just got there, he gets to take care of the Crown prince while being so close to him. Some Eunuchs thought it was unfair for the crown prince to do this. This is why the two Eunuchs gave him/her a hard time.

I love how Lee Hwan the crown prince and Min Jae Yi/Go Soon Deol start to build something once Min Jae Yi the daughter of a scholar and Lee Hwan’s teacher turn into Eunuch Go Soon Deol. Min Jae Yi has a lot of mystery to solve and so does the crown prince. They say that the crown prince is cursed and Min Jae Yi is running from the law cus she’s been framed for a murder crime that she didn’t even commit involving her own family.

I love the little scenes like when Jaeyi puts on his prince robe on him. You can totally feel that energy of love blossoming already. But the thing is Hyungsik is so tall that when Jaeyi tries to dress him, it’s kinda funny how she struggles.

Also, speaking of disguises…..I love how the crown prince goes incognito when he’s out and about as SCHOLAR PARK…He is tall and handsome and looks good in not only the Prince robe but also the noble scholar robe with the Gat on. Gat is a Korean traditional hat that men wore back in the Joseon Dynasty.

The show gets fun and interesting when the four get together to solve crime. The crown prince in disguise is Scholar Park, Min Jaeyi/Go Soondol, Kim Myungjin played by Lee Taesun and Min Jaeyi’s lady servant Garam played by Pyo Yejin. By the way, Lee Taesun was in a drama with Hyungsik several years prior to this called Suits…In that show they were rival lawyers….but in Our Blooming Youth they solve crimes together…so strange.

The main antagonist is Jo Won Bo played by Jeong Woong In, who’s been planning and plotting to kick the crown prince out for good but things just keep on getting in the way. Jeong Woongin is so good at playing slimy weasel characters that you just want to hate him throughout the whole drama. I’ve seen his characters in his previous dramas like that and he doesn’t seem to disappoint in this one as well.

Jo Wonbo is so obsessed with trying to gain power for himself. He doesn’t really care about the King, he just wants to use him to gain power for himself in the end. He doesn’t care about the people, the people in the palace, the king and the prince and even his own family members?

I loved the cute banters between Lee Hwan and Go Soondol/Min Jae yi. Min Jae Yi wanted to stay and serve the crown prince as Go Soondol and he/she expressed wanting to be the head eunuch to serve him for good. I think Min Jaeyi started having feelings for the crown prince as early as this.

Byeokcheon is such an important village in this show because everything kind of starts from there. Byeokcheon people were known as bandits or even criminals in the royal court. However, these weren’t bandits or even criminals, they were just regular commoners trying to survive.

All the crimes were pretty much set up by the one main villain of the show, Mr. Jo Wonbo. His ultimate goal was to come up with a way to dethrone the crown prince and also finally dethrone the king as well so he could be the ruler of Joeson. He was using the Queen played by Hong Soo Hyun and also her child the Grand prince to get closer to his goals.

Jo Wonbo has a cousin Jo Won Oh who is a criminal judge and is played by Jo Jae Ryong and he helps his psychopathic cousin do his bidding. This actor is kinda typecast too because he either plays a weasel or someone helping the weasel. In this show he is doing the latter.

By the way, I gotta mention the actor Heo Won Seo who played the twins; Tae Gang and Tae San because he did such a phenomenal job cus I was so confused as to what the heck was going on, at first. The actor played the good twin and the evil twin by himself so at first I was confused if they were actually twins in real life.

The crown prince before Lee Hwan (Lee Hwan’s older brother) died because The Grand prince gave the previous prince a peach that had poison in it. Lee Hwan basically lost a good brother that he got along with . They both talked about how they would reform Joseon into a place that’s good for everyone to live. Lee Hwan and his brother that passed on had similar dreams, which was to make Joseon a great country for all its citizens but unfortunately the brother didn’t make it cus of the evil people that are up to no good. 

Before I forget I want to briefly mention Hyungsik on a horse, him shooting bow and arrows, also some cool kick ass action sequences, and swordplay were so cool and hot! My favorite scene with him riding a horse was when he was competing with Sergeant Han, on a game of Polo. Of course the Crown prince team won. Min Jaeyi was cheering for Sergeant Han at first because he was on her team per se but then her eyes are all on the crown prince, that’s when you know for sure that she’s into him. Even sergeant Han mentions that to her later on saying that his/her eyes were all on the crown prince. At this time Sergeant Han doesn’t even know that Eunche Go is really Min Jae Yi in disguise so mentioning that to him/her was a bit weird. 

Sergeant Han and the Crown prince go way back. They have known each other since they were children. These two men consider themselves best friends and confidants. Sergeant Han and the Crown prince met Min Jae Yi when she was a young girl.

Both of the men went to visit Min Jaeyi’s dad when they were just young boys because Jaeyi’s father was their teacher. Min Jaeyi’s father is someone that the crown prince really respects. Jae Yi’s father’s philosophies matched with his own since he had a different vision in mind for his beloved nation of Joeseon than how things are now.

I think that Min Jae Yi, the crown prince and Sargent Han see things similarly. At the very least, they have a similar vision to what Joseon should look like as a country. 

Sargent Han’s father is the left state counselor, Han Jung Eon. This gentleman is one of the few government officials that the King trusts and also the crown prince Lee Hwan thinks highly of him as well.

I really enjoyed the action sequences in this show. A lot of the times when these kinds of dramas make an attempt to do action sequences/action scenes, they looked really awkward to me but in this one I really enjoyed the choreography between the different actors. And of course I have nothing but praise for my dear Sikkie. Sikkie was so hot doing martial arts, sword fighting, and also shooting bow and arrow. My Sikkie is so talented in everything he does on this show and beyond.

Like I mentioned in the earlier part of this article, my favorite thing about this show was the foursome that solve crime together. Crown prince incognito as Scholar Park, Min Jae yi/ Go Soondol, Kim Myungjin the scholar that studied pretty much everything from around the world, and Min Jaeyi’s servant girl Garam. These four characters make the show fun to watch when there’s a lull. 

The crown prince wants to show compassion to the commoners and the poverty stricken. There was a scene where a little kid steals something because he was so hungry, not because he wanted to be bad. Lowly people commit crime a lot of the times because they are desperate so in order to have less of these people, the governing officials need to be able to make an environment for the people to be able to be self-sufficient in a way….

Lee Hwan showed compassion to the people that were down trodden and this is one of the qualities that Min Jaeyi liked about him. He is tall and handsome, he is well read…..very book smart and also with a heart of gold…I could totally understand Min Jae Yi falling for him.

There was a scene in episode 4 I believe, where the crown prince rewards Jae Yi for doing something for him. He wrote a little note on one of the shelves in her chambers, along with a nice but a simple gift. Lee Hwan rewarded her with a nice looking apple from Daegu. Daegu has been the place where they grow delicious apples in the whole Korean peninsula. That’s what they are known for. The crown prince might have a hard time expressing himself but he is kinda romantic in his own quirky kinda way.

I enjoyed the banters between the crown prince and Min Jae Yi besides the foursome that I mentioned above. I really love the part where Jae Yi tells the crown prince that she’s in love with someone and that’s the reason why she can’t go back to her so-called fiancee, Sargent Han. However, the crown prince would constantly ask Jae Yi who she’s in love with.

The crown prince is book smart but when it comes to the matters of the heart he is a bit of a dimwit … .Min Jae Yi even calls him that without Lee Hwan even realizing that he’s being called that. 

I think Hyungsik really proved his acting skills with this one and I have to say that after he got discharged from his mandatory military service, he really grew as a person and actor…He became a real man after coming back from the military. Not only do you see that in his physique but also in his attitude and how he is in the drama world. He plays characters that seem more mature, much more refined and something where he has to actually play a role instead of playing himself.

Park Hyungsik always had potential and his career looked so promising cus he actually has the chops along with his good looks. A lot of the times good looking actors that don’t really have the chops kinda lose their way and their acting seems to get worse and worse but with Hyungsik it feels like he is getting better and better instead.

The crown prince is such a hard character to play alone but I think it was a lot harder for Hyungsik to tackle this role and there’s a reason for that. Hyungsik is a very friendly, sweet, playful and an expressive guy but Lee Hwan the crown prince is the opposite of those traits. I think that out of every character that Hyungsik played thus far, the character Lee Hwan must have been challenging for him the most cus he actually had to act, instead of playing himself that’s a little bit tweaked up. I can’t help but to praise Hyungsik with Our Blooming Youth. Besides….I watched this show for Hyungsik more than anything so I guess it’s natural for me to focus on him more than anyone. Hyungsik is the main character in this, not the second or the third…He is the most important character in Our Blooming Youth but he was able to carry the show very well … .So talented indeed.

I really liked how the show was able to balance everything out. It wasn’t too much of Lee Hwan and Min Jae Yi romance and it wasn’t too much of solving crime either. I like the way it’s edited to keep me focused and intrigued. 

The Shaman and the weird monk were interesting as well. The show was able to pull off romance, drama, crime solving, mystery and even a little bit of the fantastical. The shaman and the weird monk certainly made you feel creeped whenever they were on screen.

I really felt bad for Sargent Han. He really wanted to marry Jae Yi … .It’s funny because a lot of the times arranged marriages happen between two families so the two people that are actually getting married don’t have any emotions invested in it. However, with Sargent Han, you can tell he was really in love with her. That’s kinda understandable since they have known each other since they were children. 

When Sargent Han finds out who Min Jae Yi really is and who she is in love with, I feel sorry for the guy. I mean, I certainly ship Lee Hwan and Min Jae Yi but still I couldn’t help but to feel sorry for him. However, the crown prince’s younger sister, the princess, has a thing for him.

I also felt bad for the queen too. She had so many weird mysteries about her…The twist for her story was very intriguing as well. I had a feeling it was gonna be dramatic but I didn’t think that the queen’s story was gonna be that twisted.

I really loved the music too. The background music, the intro, the songs that they play at the end of each episode were great. I liked how they used Korean traditional instruments blended in with western orchestra type stuff. 

I really love one of the OSTs sung by our dear Sikkie. Bud..is such a beautiful song and of course Hyungsik’s wonderful voice makes the song even prettier.

I totally recommend this show. And I kinda thank this show too because if I didn’t watch this show I wouldn’t be sitting here writing a whole bunch of stuff about Park Hyungsik……This show is gonna be very special to me cus of it!