Customer Reviews

Damo: The Undercover Lady Detective

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Pros: Deeply touching; redefined television dramas.
Cons: Expensive

"Damo: The Undercover Lady Detective of the Chosun Dynasty" is a 14-episode Korean television drama about tea servant (damo) Jang Chae-Ohk (played to perfection by the beautiful actress Ha Ji Won) that takes place in the seventeenth century feudal Korea. Against the backdrop of a race to uncover an overwhelming conspiracy, Damo is an epic tragedy centered around the interactions of three main characters: tea servant Jang Chae-Ohk; her lord, Hwangbo Yoon, the police commander said to have no equal; and rebel leader Jang Sung-Baek, who aims to tear down the feudal system to create a world of equality.

As much Damo is a police drama, it is a star-crossed tale of love and devotion; and a poignant exploration of the cultural blinders and limitations imposed by Korea's feudal society - on hope, ambition, career, education, love, marriage, having children, and more. Yet this exploration is not an invitation offered by the drama to criticize a different society. It is the product of the different viewpoints that a Westernized audience may bring to the story. The characters (well, at least the protagonists) themselves accept society for what it is, and go about living their lives.

Damo starts with a wuxia style fight scene reminiscent of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Although the opening sequence may feel imitative, Damo is very much its own story. The wuxia film style is expressive of the three main characters, and makes the main fight scenes powerful, poetic, and suspenseful. Unlike the cosmetically perfect characters of other dramas, Damo's characters are caked in blood, sweat, dirt, and tears. They are easy to empathize (and sympathize) with, because we have all experienced situations and losses in our own lives caused by circumstances beyond our control. They are easy to cheer for because they try their best, even in the worst of circumstances.

Like most other television dramas, Damo is not without fault. There are some story elements that make the conspiracy less plausible; and there are a few scenes that drag or are overdone. The latter issue detracts from the drama's overall experience in that Damo may be emotionally exhausting to watch. Whereas most other television dramas may induce a casual acknowledgement of sympathy for their characters, witnessing Chae-Ohk's cruel fate may dry out one's tear ducts.

Damo may be challenging to watch for general American audiences, as inherent cultural differences may require viewers to watch parts of the story several times to fully understand them. American audiences may initially find it difficult to distinguish between several male characters because they are similarly bearded and clothed; to keep track of the different character names; and to understand some decisions the characters make. But for those open to experiencing another culture, Damo is a captivating story that is well worth watching, and an incredible introduction to the "Korean wave" of television dramas that are very popular across East Asia and in ethnic Asian communities across the United States.

These outstanding episodes of action and love seduce you into the feudal world of ancient Korea. Any fan of House of Flying Daggers will soon be hooked. Damo is a title of a tea lady who also serves as an undercover warrior for government elite forces. Treated as a member of the lowly servant class, she develops an impossible love of the police captain but this is complicated by an irrestible attraction to the criminal who they must capture - a man who turns out to be Damo's long lost brother. Engagingly romatic, beautifully photographed, and even comic at moments, you will not be disappointed. (If you enjoy this series, an even better Korean episodic film is "Dae Jang Geum" Vol 1-3. Check that out too.)

Korea makes some of the best films in terms of quality and depth. The Lady Detective is set in the distant past. The charactor development is great, the plot, timeless. This is a film the family can enjoy without it being too childishly mindless or too light or brief in scope.
If you speak English, the subtitles are well done. I suggest that you do not dub English into this film as it destroys the depth of the charactor interaction.

Just want to say I have never cried so hard after watching the movie on TV. The storyline, plot and action is better than crouching tiger.

Set in 17th Century Korea, undercover policewoman Jang Chae-Ohk leads the investigation of a counterfeit ring. As she digs deeper, a conspiracy to overthrow the king is revealed.

This set features excellent ENGLISH subtitles, with 14 episodes on 7 disks.

Koreans make such beautiful,romantic and very passionate historical movies,but why do they always have to be so tragic?
If you do not want your heart to be broken I would advice not to watch the last episode.
The movie doesn't look cheap at all! It has good special effects, although it might look to some as a television type of movie. But the scenery is beautiful, the costumes and colors are breathtaking and all the actors are very attractive. The plot is very good, it has plenty of intrigue and romantic moments, some funny moments also but mostly the movie is about a very romantic and tragic love story.

My final say is that I absolutely loved it, I will watch it again and I wished it to have many more episodes!!

For those who are interested in other movies like this one you should try and see "untold scandal", "emperor of the sea" (you can find it on ebay since Amazon doesn't seem to have it)and "musa the warrior"

Another exquisitely told story featuring highly skilled actors/actresses. Special effects (crouching tiger/hidden dragon), amazing plot twists. As a woman of course I got pretty teary and I believe that even guys would become so. Channel 41 (previously Channel 28) is a best-kept secret and the dramas, both historical and contemporary present extraordinary quality that is not seen on local network TV. I found DAMO to be such a high-quality production that I invested my American Dollars and added it to my DVD library. I watched it again early this year and was just as touched as when I viewed it the first time around.

I'm actually a bit surprised to see this on Amazon.com. This is a great Korean series. It has it all...action, romance, and a bit of comedy once in a while. Like most famous Korean series, this will create a deep ache in your heart because it's soooo depressingly romantic. Just watch it.

this Korean soap opera (called 'drah-ma' in Korea) begins with a fight/chase scene and abruptly goes back to a prior time. It's confusing as you have no idea what is going on. As you begin to watch, you begin to understand and, of course, the ending scene of the drama picks off where the beginning sequence ends. A common movie technique but it works - kinda.

I liked this drama; I liked it a lot. It's on the same level of Dae Jang Geum in terms of scope, breadth of story and excitement. It's def. worth watching. I watched the beginning episodes and fast-forwarded the rest until the last few episodes.

My biggest beef is the unbelieveability of some of the story: I don't understand how the main female became so good at fighting. I mean she NEVER loses! She's literally invincible. Not believeable. Plus people fly around like in Crouching Tiger-Hidden dragon. C'mon. Please.

Then there's the ending. It was a poor ending; somewhat Shakespearean. It made me angry for some reason. I don't want to spoil the plot so I won't go into details. The bottom-line is that if you enjoy grand mini-series-type stories with some fighting and a tragic love story, this is a good one to watch. As other people have mentioned, there is also a very poetic and romantic scene of the main female character being bandaged by her male superior as it's lightly snowing - they both love each other but do not admit it as they are of different classes.

After seeing the surreal but gorgeous DUELIST, I was surprised to find a Korean miniseries with roughly the same plot (a lady policewoman involved in pursuing counterfeiters in Korea of the 1600s) altho I would find that the series has a vital twist that the movie doesn't. Made a couple years before the movie, it had the same actress in the lead -- the beguiling Ha Ji Won, who gives a much more naturalistic performance here compared to the one in the movie which I blame on the director of the movie.

Like many Korean films, it uses rich colors and striking lighting. It emphasizes beauty -- while Hollywood emphasizes ugliness. With picturesque Korean landscapes, architecture and fashions, this series is a feast for the eyes.

The story starts off promisingly with the clever damo (a lowly female tea servant in a police bureau who can act as a police agent when necessary) deducing the killer of a woman and even preventing his escape. Unfortunately, there was little of that thru out the rest of the 14 episodes. Instead it focuses on the entangled lives of the main characters -- the damo, a police officer (an excellent performance by Lee Seo Jin) and the young leader of the rebels (tall, dynamic Kim Min-Joon).

Because of the emphasis on character development, this moves slower than most of today's American series. However, it clips along until about Episode 10, when the story slows to soak in the tearjerker aspects of the story. I haven't seen so much crying in a long time -- by men as well as woman.

It didn't live up to the promise of the first scenes, but thanks to the actors, the visuals and the exotic-ness of this show, it was still a worthwhile experience.