The thread is now open for *spoilers* and discussions.
This drama was formerly known as “Cliffhanger.” I’m glad they changed that title.
This is the JiHyun (female) and JiHoon (male) drama that some of you have been waiting for.
This was the synopsis from Wikipedia, back in early October. It must have changed now.
Set against the backdrop of towering views of Mount Jiri, it depicts the story of rangers and other employees of the Jirisan National Park who climb through the mysterious and unexplored regions of the mountain, trying to rescue the survivors and lost trekkers. The drama is centered around a mystery surrounding the mountain’s many visitors; those who come to kill, and those who come to end their lives.
Cast:
Jun JiHyun (“Legend of the Blue Sea” and “My Love From the Star”)
Ju JiHoon (“Goong” and “Kingdom”)
Episodes: 16
Start Date: Saturday, Oct 23
Airs every Saturday and Sunday
Where to Watch it: Viki (I hope that the subs will come out faster since iQiyi is co-producing this)
Network: tvN
What else should we know about this drama before the series begin?
1. A bit of geography
Jirisan is located in the southern end of the Korean peninsula.
a. According to wiki, it’s the tallest mountain in the mainland.
b. It’s part of the Jirisan National Park, which was the first national park designated in the country.
c. According to this site San-shin.net, the name “Ji-ri” means “exquisite wisdom.” It’s commonly believed that even a fool will be transformed into a wise one if he stays on this mountain.
d. “San” — as we knowing from watching “Start Up”– means “mountain.”
e. The mountain is one of Korea’s sacred sites because of its numerous Buddhist temples.
2. Character introduction from the Writer herself
Two supporting actors are familiar faces. The cafe owner in “Hometown Cha Cha Cha” and the “special needs” brother in “Psycho But It’s Okay.”
3. Is this about a serial killer hiding in the mountain forest?
Looks like it.
But there’s a hint of something supernatural going on in the mountain, too.
4. Is there an imugi?
There’s a legend about an imugi (or legendary Giant Serpent) associated with the national park.
You can read it here:
https://english.knps.or.kr/Knp/Jirisan/Intro/Legend
It’s a long and confusing read so I’ll rephrase it and add my usual tongue-in-cheek commentary.
Once there was a Leader Monk who visited a temple in the mountain. He heard that there was annual Buddhist rite where the most pious monk was selected and the other monks “prayed earnestly for his safe passage to paradise as a deity.”
— in other words, they chose the most pious monk and offered him as a SACRIFICE.
This Leader Monk became curious and wanted to investigate this ritual. He saw the sacrificial monk dressed in a silk robe “anointed with poison” and “linked by a silk thread” to the “Sinseodae Terrace.”
— I’m guessing that “Sinseodae Terrace” is the name of the cliff or precipice. The poor monk was tied to the terrace so he couldn’t escape, and even if he did try to escape, he’d die from the poisonous robe.
The Leader Monk hid behind a rock to watch. At 1 am, he saw the imugi (or giant serpent) slither up the Sinseodae Terrace from the valley below. An imugi is an “anaconda, which was sorry not to have been turned into a dragon.”
— oh! I get it now. An “imugi” is a dragon-in-the-making.
This big serpent “jumped upon the praying monk, bit him in the mouth and disappeared into the water.”
— The English here is confusing. Did the big serpent try to swallow the monk or kiss the monk??
Having witnessed what he came to see, this Leader Monk went back to the temple and waited till dawn.
— What? He didn’t even come to the aid of a fellow monk. What would Buddha do?
When morning came, this Leader Monk returned to the Sinseondae Terrace with a group of villagers.
— Great! He called the cavalry this time. Why didn’t he do that last night when the monk needed help?
They saw that the imugi died “having failed to swallow the whole body of the monk.”
— Since the monk was clothed in poisoned robes, wasn’t the imugi going to die anyway if it had eaten the whole monk? But it was both a failure for the imugi and the monk. The imugi failed to eat the monk. And because it failed to eat the monk, the monk couldn’t cross over to the afterworld and become a deity. It’s too funny to imagine the imugi’s digestive system, i.e, esophagus, stomach, and intestines, as some sort of path to deity-hood.
Or maybe the imugi and the monk loved each other, and this was sort of a murder-suicide pact? They both knew they had a hopeless love for each other so imugi tried to eat the monk to kill him and it died from the poisoned robes? lol.
From then on, the valley was called “Baemsagol” to designate the place where an imugi died. And the village at the entrance of this valley is called “Banseon” in memory of the dead monk because “he was sacrificed without becoming a deity.”
I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s an imugi story, too. It would be cool since JiHoon (the actor) and JiHyun (the actress) did a zombie drama “Kingdom” — although they didn’t co-star together.
Whoops! Did I spoil the show? lol.
Anyway, let’s hope it’s just an ordinary serial killer/mystery show.
Let’s enjoy the show!!
Yeayyyyyy a thread!!!! Thank you @packmule3 💕💕💕💕
Tonight I am so happy (and terribly hungry) watching Kim Hye Sook cooking bulgogi for the 99ers… seeing JKH x YYS x Mido indulging in the meal made me superb hungry at this midnight🤣🤣🤣🤣
Looking forward to Jirisan tomorrow. Let’s go!!
P/S: Dashman1010, are you checking in yet? 🤭🤭🤭
@packmule3, I detect a trend here.Korean actresses are now being cast in more action roles from the Kingdom franchise to Squid Game to My Name. It is fun seeing Jun JiHyun deglamorized in badasses roles. Korea does great noir with hard women like Kim Hyesoo and Kim Go Eun, so women breaking molds in dramas and femmes fatale becoming tough cookies is a welcome change.
It also has a killer supporting cast like Joo Jin Mo(a lead in a supporting role), the versatile Oh Jung Se (love him in Camelias and It’s Okay…), Jo Jung Chul,Sung DongIl and how does she do it at 83, Kim Young Ok. Ms.Kim can do no wrong in my book. May she live long and prosper. I just hope Viki doesn’t make us wait too long on the subs.
I will try it! The writer and the cast are promising.
Thanks for sharing the interesting about the mountain, @packmule3. This story of imugi reminds me of ‘Tale of the Nine-tailed’ where there was a villainous imugi too.
I don’t like Jun JiHyun, so I may skip this one.
Thanks @pkml3. I’d forgotten about this Show. I’ll try it for the mountain and because of the combination of actors. I like the murder-mystery genre and the supernatural genre too, but I do hope there isn’t too much violence and carnage.
Like @Phoenix, I too watched the Tale of the Nine-Tailed and that’s where I heard about the Imoogi/Imugi. In that Show, it ‘returned’ at the beach (so from overseas?) to be reborn in a human looking infant (which of course grew into a good looking fellow) while eating human beings from time to time. If I remember correctly, it was trying to merge itself or take over a specific individual (the female lead). The logic escapes me currently, ie, I’ve forgotten most of that Show!
Here’s a longer 8+ minutes preview of the series.
Mountain rescue, superstition/ghosts, murder and everyone looking serious. What a big change from HometownCCC LOL.
@packmule3
Thank you for reminding me about this drama, which begins late tonight. I’ll certainly watch it. I’m looking forward very much to seeing Oh Jung-Se in another role, and the other actors should be fine.
I was intrigued by your account of the imugi legend. It put me in mind of the Perseus/Andromeda myth (someone chained to a rock, waiting to be devoured by a monster). However, as you say, the story of the drama may turn out to hold only simple crime/serial killer content, although the setting does suggest something else.
Well, I’ll wait a few more hours and dip into the first episode before I go to bed.
@Miracle23 I’m here I’m here, marking my attendance! ❤️ Another official drama together on BoD, hope this doesn’t tank like the first one 🤭
I watched the trailer and teaser but didn’t understand much, then watched the Highlights video that @GB Unnie shared and am now more comfortable with the premise of the show (great visuals first and foremost!). I had been trawling Soompi about two years back when, immediately after Itaewon Class, Park Seo-Joon was in talks to play the ML (later Ju Ji-Hoon was finalised). So I’m super excited for this drama! Didn’t know about the imugi backstory but thoroughly enjoyed reading it (in classic @pm3 style) as I’m a sucker for folklore 😊
Hope there isn’t as much blood and gore or at least it’s all balanced out with a good story. Ju Ji-Hoon’s character seems like the rookie joinee who faces starting troubles with a well-oiled gang of mountain watchers. But he seems to have THE backstory that will trigger the whole plot, so he gives off super mysterious vibes to me in that 8+ minute video. There seems to be some comedy also going on on the side with Oh Jung Se, definitely a much needed respite from the majorly serious moments in the drama. All in all, this one looks like a roller coaster ride and I’m here for it 😃
Also, just before anyone even thinks about it, simply based on the cast and crew, how many of us wager that Jun Ji-Hyun will win next year Baeksang for this drama 🤭 *raises hand*
Also, have fun on the Goblin rewatch, lovely BODers ❤️
Thanks @dashman1010! LOL since I’m Unnie I’ll call you Dashman Doensaeng. 🙂 We’ll certainly have fun watching Goblin or any show with BODers together.
I know that Jun Ji Hyun (Gianna is easier!) is a good actress. This is a first time for me to see her in a serious, gritty role (although I did watch her in The Thieves) and she actually looks different, so much so I had trouble recognising her. I’m quite sure she’ll be nominated even if she does not win the Baeksang.
I guess I’m looking forward to something a little less sweety-cutie-aegyoey for a bit. LOL. Read ya again!
@GB unnie This is my first time watching JJH (both of them) in anything despite them being a veteran actors. As far as I can tell, this drama seems like a safe no-ageyo zone and I am so bloody relieved for that 😂
I’m also super tempted to join you guys for Goblin (re)watch — first time for me, but I may not have the bandwidth to do it today itself. More on the appropriate thread 🙂
@packmule3, thanks for the detailed background! Considering which drama to start after HCCC and Yumi’s cells. Am interested to catch this drama. Have not watched any drama with the 2 main leads. But the writer (who also wrote Signal) and solid supporting cast appealed to me ◡̈
BTW @Miracle23 how is the 99ers variety show?
I watch first ep, i Love it so much ! ❤️ I rarely watching supernatural mystery type drama, esp without romance. But i think this one will be my favorite.
And Jun ji hyun is my beloved ❤️❤️❤️ So happy she got pairing with ju ji hoon, my old bias.
I will have it on Viki, but it still shows it coming soon. Then, ugh, we have to wait for subtitles. I figure we’ll have it here in the northeastern US by Tuesday, if we’re lucky. Looking forward to Ju Ji hoon, who was the prince in The Princess Hours(Goong), a smug lawyer in Hyena (@packmule3, I know you don’t do legal but the first episode is worth watching for a fun twist and also the great Kim Hye-soo-very escapist), Antique, the movie,which is gay centric and the Kingdoms.
It is coming out almost a week later on Viki. I watched on IQIYI app. I really liked the first episode – unrealistic that search and rescue would put themselves in those circumstances (ranger save yourself!) but I am happily suspending disbelief. Beautiful scenery, beautiful and talented actors, tense action sequences and an intriguing supernatural plot. It must have cost a fortune to film!
Kalispera.
I just watched the first episode. It interesting. It looks promising and has a paranormal element. We shall see. I want to watch Episode 2 as well.
I can’t get access to IQIYI, so I’ll have to wait until the first episodes appear on Viki. I shall be some days later with comments than other people, but I look forward in the meantime to the normal insightful/stimulating/amusing entries from my respected colleagues. See you in the foothills.
First off, I still haven’t had enough sleep since last night.. get a 2 hours nap and I woke up again to eat and watched Jirisan. Why my guy is in comma???? 😭😭😭😭😭
Ok… there are bunch of things that make me question the action of Devil Seo…. and Hyun Jo. They are RECKLESSSSSSSS… ok.. so now Hyun Jo kinda has that six sense.. so does that mean his soul/mind is also roaming the mountain? Unable to return? Because he got hit at a very highly spiritual area??? 🤔🤔🤔
And whyyyyyy do you climb that dangerous mountain in heavy snow??!!! Grrrrrr… ever heard of avalanche? Do they have that in Korea? I am legit curious 🤓
Now execution wise, a bit slow… cinematography and action bit ermm slow… . not easy in the mind, as in my mind 😂😂😂, compared to some other natural disaster flicks I have watched where cgi output are much better. This drama reminded me of a recent movie, Father who moves mountain (a little too late) 🤧
One thing I picked up from there is don’t be reckless and end up jeorpardising the lives of your fellow colleagues because you are so stubborn.
Ok, thus far I am staying cos I am intrigued to know why and how he got injured. Alright, I am off to sleep!
😂😂😂
Watched the episode and liked it a lot! Everyone has got straight into their characters (esp. Oh Jun-se, so versatile!). Hyun-jo definitely has a mysterious vibe about him. Hope he gets a good back story and not something obnoxious like an afterlife/reincarnation dimension lol
The scenic shots are so so good, makes me want to go packing to Mount Jiri now itself. I can only imagine how strenuous shooting some of those scenes would have been. The production value is terrific and pretty modern (seems also less CGI-heavy but who knows, I may have missed the nuances on first watch). The broad/zoomed out shots of the mountains and characters are simply breathtaking (and distracting lol!). Sung Dong-il is great as usual (there any role this guy can’t pull off convincingly? 😊).
Now for the SPOILERY bits: legit thought that towards the end, the dialogues indicated at Hyun-jo winding up dead, so I breathed a sigh a of relief when he was shown to be in coma hahaha Are this writer/PD pair known to kill off major characters? Being coma is closer to being dead than alive so I just want to prepare myself 😂 It definitely looks like the main pair have deep-seated PTSD from a mission gone awry, so I’m anticipating the future episodes to oscillate between past (2018) and present (2020) narratives. It also looks like Hyun-jo has rubbed off some of his “sixth-sense”dness onto Yi-gang (which is bound to happen when you work/live with someone for a long time, their jobs seem particularly isolating to me), so now she is looking at the mountain ranges a lot more differently than her initial pragmatic approach. Like @Miracle23 said, Yi-gang and Hyun-jo are both shown to be reckless, but also inherently care about the lives that are lost in that remote place. Not really feeling Go Min-shi’s character for now but let’s see. The lack of romance is not bothering me much atm because I can still sense a lot of subtle tension between the leads, which is exactly how I like my endgame playing out 😌 (yeah ok, they may not be endgame in all fairness haha)
Can’t wait for tonight’s episode, going by the looks of things, we may be left with yet another cliffhanger 🙂
@miracle23 unnie get some rest! ❤️
Lastly, it’s a real shame that Netflix has not picked up this drama, seems like a show that will slot in with their current crop of original content well-enough. Methinks this MAY affect the show’s popularity globally (in terms of this being branded as Jun Ji-Hyun’s comeback drama where she plays a slightly different type of character), but I’m hoping that Netflix is able to procure rights for it in future so I can rewatch it in peace 😌
The drama opened to very good figures in SK apparently — 9.1% nation-wide Nielsens rating (bested only by HP S2 premiere 🙄 *duhhh*): https://www.soompi.com/article/1495026wpp/jun-ji-hyun-and-joo-ji-hoons-jirisan-achieves-highest-premiere-ratings-of-any-weekend-drama-in-tvn-history
Overall this one is off to a good start 🙂
Well the first episode has introduced us to practically all the ways in which disaster can strike one on a mountain. Falling rocks, flash floods, mudslides/landslides, being stranded and frozen. Jirisan is a beauty who needs to be respected.
What a plot twist immediately in the first episode. We have the two main characters, and both are no longer whole and hearty in the space of 1 year. Perhaps they failed to give Jirisan her due respect.
I’m glad that there’s a supernatural element in this because just watching one rescue after another will get boring.
LOL Jun Ji Hyun and maybe Joo Ji Hoon may be relieved that their mountain climbing episode is capped at 1. Those were some extremely grueling scenes that they had to get through, and it would have been hard to keep it up (stunt doubles or no) for multiple episodes.
Perfect rainy Sunday watch. SPOILERS ahead:
It’s pointing to Song Dong-il’s character as the serial killer (I think it’s a serial killer) – but I think this will be a red herring. I am guessing it will be one of the other rangers or the cop (he made a comment about being a low-ranked officer that I interpreted as deflection).
The Yeti at the end of episode 2 is perhaps Kang Hyun-Jo’s astral projection?
Questions: There were two hikers following the yellow ribbons in the beginning of the episode “62 days earlier” and then a third person wearing blue with black gloves tying and untying the ribbons. Presumably “black gloves” is the serial killer, but did he attack just the older hiker or the earlier one too? Did Seo Yi-Kang come across the injured lottery ticket hiker the same day she found the pine tree poacher’s body? The two incidents happened in quick succession but she wouldn’t have let the lost injured hiker hike out alone. She was also wearing different clothes. So perhaps different days. Does she always bring incense and soju to the site of a body? Peeves: #1 hiking in jeans is a big no. An experienced ranger wouldn’t do that; and #2 KHJ has been injured 3x in two episodes: 1)hit on the back of the head by a falling stick and knocked out while they were looking for the lost boy; 2) stabbed; and 3) attacked (presumably) and left in a coma.
@GoodTwin,
In Astral Projection, it is your spirit that comes out of your body. It is not solid matter per se. The best example of Astral Projection is in “Dr. Strange”.
That man was wearing real boots. He is not a ghost. I believe they leave deliberately this supernatural vibe because Kang Hyun Jo seems to be a Medium or a Shaman.
I think that we have a serial killer for sure and someone else who leaves the clues like the Partisans.
I am waiting for more info, hence my lack of posting today.
@Cleopatra you are wise. I take the littlest thing and RUN with it – hence deciding the affable cop could be the serial killer! And bloody boots at the end was KHJ! 😂
@GoodTwin,
I am waiting for more info since it is too soon! I get it though… 😂
I am also watching “Beyond Evil”, which is a masterpiece of how to be patient in order to find the true killer…
The Chief is not the serial killer. It is a red herring. He might look as bad, but that won’t be the case…
Also, the mysterious boots man had a different face. If you look closely his eyes and face structure were different than KJH.
We are in the very beginning and I have not a clear picture. Everything is vague, so I am keeping my hypothesis for myself and looking only for the evidence we were shown so far… 😊
@Cleopatra, I am about midway through Beyond Evil and have only watched it intermittently so I can make it go longer. It is so good. Don want it to end.
And now I’m frustrated because I am waiting on Viki to have Jirisan BEGIN!
Here’s an 9ld Jewish expression-We should all have such problems! 😉
@dashman1010, Netflix seems to pick up Korean content way after it has been broadcast o n Korean TV and streaming services like Viki. Beyond Evil and Her Private Life are examples. They seem to have contracted with particular studios like Studio Dragon. At some point, given the Korean and foreign non-American ratings, We’ll see more. Amazon Prime, Hulu, Disney + and Apple are also doing lots more K content. So please don’t despair our K Dramas are getting much wider audiences and are breaking through the American market. And one thing is for sure, American TV is copying Korean shows, eg., The Masked Singer and Thev gpGood Doctor.
Kalimera my dear @OAL,
I have stopped watching it for the past weeks. I have left the last three episodes for the same reason. I don’t want it to end…It is so so good!
Jirisan’s first 2 episodes are pretty good! I like the story telling that’s non-linear (timeline), keeps us on our toes. And there’s the curiosity of what happened to the main leads that led to their injuries. Will hyun Jo wake up from his coma? What’s the mystery behind the partisan signs?
Lots of good info on rangers and what they do and that those can be dangerous especially during rescues. I always feel bad for them when I hear news of missing hikers like in Yosemite.
The scenery were beautifully shot like the mountain mists, autumn foliage, drone shots of topography. Nature like this mountain can be both beautiful and dangerous and humans have to respect that. the leads are doing a convincing job of being rangers
But Jirisan is the main character and it’s getting the star treatment. I hope it continues that way.
Ep2 cliffhanger with mountain man looking like a zombie!!! LOL! I haven’t watched any of the Kingdom shows.
Sorry for the late comments on Ep. 2, was pretty busy until now 🙂 So, ep. 2 follows in the same mysterious vein as ep. 1 and leaves more questions in my mind than answers. I still am unable to pinpoint the genre of this drama, it has a bit of everything at the moment and that tends to get overwhelming at times. The pace has slowed down with this episode (in a good way, ep. 1 was just one crisis after another hehe)
Like @GoodTwin said, KJH has been injured quite a lot in the span of two episodes. I can only hope that he has enough recovery period in between lol! The CGI definitely seemed more prominent in this episode, esp. with the top shots or maybe my eye is getting more trained to figure these things out. I ain’t complaining, as long as it adds some value to the storytelling — in this case, patronising our hero, Mt. Jiri.
Final thoughts — the makers are utilising their time well. Not rushing with things whilst also not mulling over incidents for too long. There seems to be some sort of balance in all this mishmash (genre-wise) but also the mystery leads to a lot of questions in the viewers’ minds. I’m sure they will be resolved in episodes to come 🙂
@OAL such a coincidence with your comment, I just came across Apple TV+’s trailer of Dr. Brain with Lee Sun-Kyun oppa, so definitely the content is dispersing to other OTT platforms as well, which is refreshing to see. What bums me is that because Netflix & K-content is the magical duo at the moment (thanks to Squid Game), I feel like this drama is not creating as much buzz as it would have had it been on Netflix. Anyway, I’m just enjoying it in my corner of the world 🙂
Also, just as a last thought — shoutout to the OST of this show! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽