King of Baking, Kim Tak Goo
The Baker King (Baker King Tak-gu) is the most recent Korean drama to hit the Philippines by storm. It is about the experiences of Tak-gu, the illegitimate son of the Chairman of Samwha Enterprise, as he strives to be the best baker in South Korea.’
KBS broadcasted The Baker King (Baker Kim Tak-gu) from June 2010 to September 2010 in South Korea and during its finale, the Korean drama got a record viewer rating of 50.8%. The Baker King was also accorded presidential honors in the 2010 Republic of Korea Content Wards Ceremony for its contribution in the overseas popularity of Korean popular culture.
The star of The Baker King, Yoon Shi Hoon, is a very young Korean actor who debuted in 2009. He was also in the drama High Kick Through The Roof and the Korean movie Gosa/Death Bell 2. Other stars in Baker Kim Tak-gu include Kim Eugene (Wonderful Life, 3 Dad 1 Mom) and Joo Won.
Also called Bread, Love and Dreams, The Baker King is currently aired in the Philippines by GMA Network.
Well, I started watching it a few days ago, and the verdict is in: it’s because it’s good. I can’t believe it either, but Baker King is incredibly solidly written, and after speeding through the first 12 episodes in the past few days, I’ve come gradually to the conclusion that it is in fact one of the better Korean dramas I’ve ever watched. I wasn’t too fond of the first few episodes – the first 2 episodes were decent but unexceptional and childhood stories, especially in dramas, bore me to tears, so I skipped episodes 3-6 entirely, re-entering the drama with episode 7 when the child characters grow up. And that’s when Baker King got unexpectedly good. The premise is (relatively) simple: A wealthy, unhappily married couple is desperate to have a male child and heir. Seo In Sook or Sandra (played with cold brilliance by Jun In Hwa) is a neglected society wife to cold, business-obsessed husband Goo Il Jong or Conrad (the equally good Jun Kwan Ryul), the president of a major baking company. (If you’re wondering what exactly a baking company is, he owns factories that produce bread). What’s interesting about this dynamic is that it would be easy for the drama to show In Sook as the sympathetic figure here – and indeed we do feel sorry for her at first -but In Hwa’s performance, portraying In Sook as a brittle, calculating wife and later a ruthless mother, turns the tide of favor inevitably away from her and toward Il Jong, who comes across as deeply flawed and selfish, but not consistently cruel or ruthless. The premise is very cliched – straight out of a soap opera – but the actors’ performances here lift it into something more.
As the program aired continuously on GMA Network, I’ve actually watched the other episodes UP TO THE END of it. Knowing the story makes me feel that “Life isn’t fair, even there’s some obstacles to take if you’ve worked hard on it, your own “HARDSHIPS” can make it to your GOAL”. That’s was life meant to us and even also the program took this message. Knowing that viewers likes it too much even ME.
THE MAIN CAST:
And now I really can’t go any further without mentioning how absolutely fantastic Yoon Shi Yoon is in this drama.
I haven’t seen him in High Kick Through the Roof, his only previous drama to this one, but all I can say is, if he was half as good in that drama as he is in this one, then the High Kick series has lived up to its reputation as a career-starter for young acting talent. As an occasionally cocky, mostly warm-hearted, streetsmart ruffian who grew up on the streets surviving on his wit and fists, he grounds and centers the drama, refusing to yield an iota of screen presence to the older, veteran actors surrounding him (Jang Hang Sun being a notable presence). He’s not perfect – he was a little awkward in several of his first scenes in episode 7, and tends to over-act when portraying rage/anger in particular, but he steadily improves over the course of the drama. An incredibly charismatic actor, especially for someone so young, he’s possessed of a crazy grin that lights up the whole screen, and absolutely throws himself into his role as a boy who has spent most of his life cheerfully beating other people up and getting beaten up himself on his quest to find what he’s looking for.
Joo Won as Ma Jun (Matthew) is also great – another complex figure brought to fascinating life by a good actor. Ma Jun is cool, collected, icy by nature and upbringing, prone to cruelty and ruthlessness, driven to bring Tak Gu down – and yet it’s so clear that barely skindeep underneath that poised exterior is a lonely little boy just craving his father’s approval and an ounce of genuine warmth and attention from anyone.
Eugene as YuEugene as Yu Kyung is possibly the most complex figure of these four, and while I’ve said before that she’s not a great actress, she has a natural warmth and screen presence that generally carries off her characters, and that is the case here. Kyung is possibly the most complex figure of these four, and while I’ve said before that she’s not a great actress, she has a natural warmth and screen presence that generally carries off her characters, and that is the case here. When next we reconvene, Tak Gu and Ma Jun have all grown up, Tak Gu on the streets and Ma Jun in the somewhat less-than-loving bosom of his rich family. When the two meet again, they quickly become rivals, not least for the affections of Tak Gu’s childhood love, Yu Kyung (Eugene).
Lee Young Ah (Melissa) as the baker girl he eventually falls for is also quirky and adorable, though I have some major issues with the romantic denouement of this drama. She is the one who accompanied on the Pal Bong Bakery and a competitor on the said event on the bakery. She’s very cute on every scene when Tak Gu tease her as “Falling Soy – beans” , she makes funny on her face. At the end of the drama, the one man that her dreaming of will be ended to that situation when, Tak Gu propose to her as her boyfriend.
Baking has surprisingly little to do with the drama’s themes – this is not a cooking drama at all. Rather it’s a drama in which bread is a kind of motif and occasionally a metaphor which runs underneath all the other story-lines, drawing them together when necessary, and often reflecting back on the characters truths about themselves. There’s a lot of themes at play here – family, poverty, class and social injustice, courage, persistence – and they’re all deftly handled and woven in through the characters’ lives. If there’s a drama that Baker King reminds me of, it is, oddly enough, Shining Inheritance – both dramas are premised on a fairly standard plot, but lift it above that plot through excellent writing, acting, and directing. More importantly, both dramas strike a perfect balance between light-hearted and tragic elements, and in the process become wildly addicting. I highly recommend Baker King to be watched over and over again.
