Dear Hongrang (2025) [-]
Apr 29 2026
Dear Hongrang is a South Korean drama-romance running 11 hour-long episodes.
Jae-yi (Jo Bo-ah - Tail of the Nine Tailed, 2020; Military Prosecutor Doberman, 2022; Destined With You, 2023) is the "cursed" daughter of a prominent merchant clan. Her brother Hong-rang disappeared when they were both kids and after 15 years there have been many impostors but no Hong-rang. Until one day Hong-rang (Lee Jae-wook - Alchemy of Souls, 2022/2023) appears and seems to fit all the physical marks but claims amnesia and Jae-yi instinctively knows it's not Hong-rang.
Jae-yi's adopted brother Mu-jin (Jung Ga-ram) agrees though on the other hand it's in Mu-jin's best interest that Hong-rang be fake as he would then become the heir presumptive over Mu-jin. As the three do battle socially there's also a bigger battle between Merchant head Shim Yeol-guk (Park Byung-eun), who favors Mu-jin, and his wife Min Yeon-ui (Uhm Ji-won), who favors her returned son Hong-rang and whose family owns the merchant house (Yeol-guk married into the family so even though he's the head of house he's not head of the clan).
Besides Shim Yeol-guk and Min Yeon-ui there are two other factions (with warriors and there are a lot of fights and dying in this series). Hong-rang has a secret patron with ninja-like warriors and they're set on taking over the Min Merchant house. Prince Han Pyeong (Kim Jae-wook - Her Private Life, 2019; male lead's older brother in Melo Movie, 2025) is a bit mad and obsessed with painting and has the royal army and is nominally allied with Shim Yeol-guk.
With four factions it does get confusing as to who is fighting who in a particular fight scene especially when it starts out as two factions and then a third joins in. The romance that occurs is very hurried to the point it's not as believable as usual (I guess with 11 episodes something had to be shortened). The ending is kind of a rough bloodbath and nobody wins.
Jo Bo-ah is pretty and good. The costumes are sets are good. Fight scenes are fine. Wasn't crazy about the complicated plot made worse because it's telling a story in 2/3rds the usual episodes. So overall this is not a series I recommend.
Jae-yi (Jo Bo-ah - Tail of the Nine Tailed, 2020; Military Prosecutor Doberman, 2022; Destined With You, 2023) is the "cursed" daughter of a prominent merchant clan. Her brother Hong-rang disappeared when they were both kids and after 15 years there have been many impostors but no Hong-rang. Until one day Hong-rang (Lee Jae-wook - Alchemy of Souls, 2022/2023) appears and seems to fit all the physical marks but claims amnesia and Jae-yi instinctively knows it's not Hong-rang.
Jae-yi's adopted brother Mu-jin (Jung Ga-ram) agrees though on the other hand it's in Mu-jin's best interest that Hong-rang be fake as he would then become the heir presumptive over Mu-jin. As the three do battle socially there's also a bigger battle between Merchant head Shim Yeol-guk (Park Byung-eun), who favors Mu-jin, and his wife Min Yeon-ui (Uhm Ji-won), who favors her returned son Hong-rang and whose family owns the merchant house (Yeol-guk married into the family so even though he's the head of house he's not head of the clan).
Besides Shim Yeol-guk and Min Yeon-ui there are two other factions (with warriors and there are a lot of fights and dying in this series). Hong-rang has a secret patron with ninja-like warriors and they're set on taking over the Min Merchant house. Prince Han Pyeong (Kim Jae-wook - Her Private Life, 2019; male lead's older brother in Melo Movie, 2025) is a bit mad and obsessed with painting and has the royal army and is nominally allied with Shim Yeol-guk.
With four factions it does get confusing as to who is fighting who in a particular fight scene especially when it starts out as two factions and then a third joins in. The romance that occurs is very hurried to the point it's not as believable as usual (I guess with 11 episodes something had to be shortened). The ending is kind of a rough bloodbath and nobody wins.
Jo Bo-ah is pretty and good. The costumes are sets are good. Fight scenes are fine. Wasn't crazy about the complicated plot made worse because it's telling a story in 2/3rds the usual episodes. So overall this is not a series I recommend.