Following is our very first guest post by Miss Fifi 🙂

Hello everyone, I am Miss Fifi and I’m obsessed with Kdramas, KShows and Kmovies. I don’t know what I was thinking barging in on a blog dedicated to Mainland and Taiwanese shows, but I’m super glad to have Kate and Marian be so nice and take me. 🙂 Today, I’ll be writing a first impression post on Jackpot. The first two episodes have already aired and sadly, I only got to watch the first episode today. *sighs*

Title: Jackpot (literal title)
Revised romanization: Daebak
Hangul: 대박
Country of Origin: South Korea
Airing date: March 28 – June 14, 2016
Episodes: 24
Network: SBS
Director: Nam Gun
Writer: Kwon Soon-Gyu

Cast:
Jang Keun-Suk as Baek Dae-Gil
Yeo Jin-Goo as King Yeongjo
Jun Kwang-Ryul as Lee In Jwa
Song Jong Ho as Moo-Myung
Choi Min-soo as Sook-jong
Lim Ji-yeon as Dam-seo

For those who haven’t heard about this sageuk, here goes the synopsis:

The ultimate high-stakes gamble pits one person’s life against the entire kingdom of Joseon! Dae Gil (Jang Geun Suk) is a royal blood but is forced to grow up among the commoners. He becomes Joseon’s best swindler and gambler who harbors great resentment against the establishment. Dam Seo (Lim Ji Yeon) also has grown up with the sole purpose of seeking revenge against King Young Jo (Yeo Jin Goo) and methodically works her way into the palace to achieve her goal. When Dae Gil is able to enter the ultimate high-stakes match with the cool-headed King Young Jo, will Dae Gil lose his life or will King Young Jo lose the kingdom?

As you can deduce from the synopsis, the 24 episodes sageuk replacing Six Flying Dragon is going to be about gambles and the throne. Just like other sageuks, this one is a complicated one too, stocked up with secrets and schemes and like always, revenge.

How was the first episode? Super pretty!

Everything looks pretty from the peasants to the nobles to the king and I really didn’t expect that. Kudos to the production for such an amazing work of art! The scenes are really beautiful, I tell you.

As for the content, the first episode simply focuses on building the stage for when Dae Gil (Jang Keun-Suk) faces King Yeongjo (Yeo Jin-Goo) in a game in the future. Everyone was related to everyone in some ways and I think the drama did a great job at introducing them in a fast but bearable pace.

The story began with an introduction to how the one sitting on the throne, King Sukjong (Choi Min-soo), is the apex of the power.

And there’s someone who’s protecting the throne, King Yeongjo. (King Sukjong’s Crown Prince)

However, there’s someone who wants that power too and that someone is In Jwa (Jun Kwang-Ryul), a noble man.

Injwa plans to take the throne but there’s someone who’s stopping him – Dae Gil, a gambler.

After all that simple introduction, we then got transfered to a time before Dae Gil and King Yeongjo were born. – Here starts the story of their parents and of course a bit of the story of the mysterious In Jwa too.

The background came in the form of:

• a palace maid desperate for money, Bok-soon, who later becomes Sook-bin Choi – she was portrayed as a desperate woman who needs an escape from her bitter life.

• a man making traps, In Jwa – he was the guy who wanted the throne for himself for some yet-to-be revealed reasons and his shrewdness helps him a lot in designing ways to help him achieve that dream

• a king who fell in love, – I’m not sure how to describe him other than the fact that he fell in love pretty fast

• and some gamblings. – the title of the drama is pretty self explanatory when it comes to this ‘theme’ right?

I find small plot holes here and there such as insta-love and a-tad-bit-too-smart-schemes but overall Jackpot is a pretty decent drama and I’ll be sure to keep watching it.

P/s : I am still not that used to watching Jang Geun Suk wear that traditional outfit but I don’t think he looked as awkward as I expected lol

These character from the teasers are yet to be fully introduced though:

Daegil is sure an interesting character because from the glimpses from the start of the first episode, he appeared to be someone who cares about the people, which is quite important when it comes to his role as the ‘hidden’ prince later.

King Yeongjo is a mystery I’d love to unwrap because in history he was portrayed as a genius, and Jin Goo playing that part is just one big handsome bonus for me 😉

As for Dam Seo, she’s a pretty mystery that I’m sure gonna be a fun addition to the drama.

Well I guess that’s all for this time. 🙂 Do leave a comment & tell me what you think!

(Pics Credit to: Soompi, Dramabeans & AsianWiki)