Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-sin (Korean: 불멸의 이순신; RR: Bulmyeolui I Sun-sin; lit. "The Immortal Yi Sun-sin") is a South Korean television series based on the life of Yi Sun-sin, a Korean admiral famed for his victories against the Japanese navy during the Imjin war in the Joseon period.
The series, starring Kim Myung-min in the title role, aired on KBS1 on Saturdays and Sundays at 21:45 from September 4, 2004 to August 28, 2005 for 104 episodes.
The series filmed on location at the actual battle sites. It made extensive use of rendered images and a reconstruction of a turtle ship. Due to the preparation needed, the show took many months to produce.
Plot
It is late 1598, shortly before the Battle of Noryang, the final confrontation of the Imjin War. The remnants of the Japanese invasion force are desperate to go home, but are also driven by personal motivation to beat their greatest adversary, Admiral Yi Sun-sin, once and for all. Self-serving Ming generals and Joseon officials also fear Yi's growing popularity and its impact on their personal base of power. These incidentally combining ambitions fan King Seonjo's paranoia and make him eventually fear that Yi might come after his throne, and after a series of what he calls acts of high treason, he decides to have Yi arrested.
Yi, on the other hand, is determined to teach the Japanese a lesson for the atrocities they committed on the Korean people, and despite orders to remain quiet while the Japanese are to pull out without anymore bloodshed, he rallies his naval force and prepares for the upcoming engagement. The battle commences and the Japanese are dealt a crippling blow, but Yi is fatally wounded by an arquebuse bullet. As he lies dying, the plot backtracks on the important events of Yi's life, from his boyhood to his military career, his efforts before and during the Japanese invasion, his disgrace at the hands of his king, and his reinstatement, back to the battle of Noryang, where he succumbs to his wound just as victory is declared.
The drama has been the focus of some attention due to historical inaccuracies, explained away with artistic license, though it concerns some that it may be promoting itself as based on fact.[2]
When Admiral Yi is portrayed as a boy, he is shown to be a weak, shy, and lonely boy though common belief is that he had leadership and creativity at an early age. Nevertheless, he is portrayed to display those qualities as a growing man, unable to avert his eyes from social injustice.
Instead of vilifying Won Gyun, a Korean admiral who contributed to the jailing of Admiral Yi out of jealosy, Won Gyun is portrayed as a strong and smart, but very hot-tempered man who befriends and leads Yi throughout his early life. This deviates from the common belief that Won Gyun had always conspired against Yi. In the show, his jealousy and rivalry is portrayed in his later years as a veteran commander when he begins to show his arrogance as one of Joseon's strongest warriors, refusing to follow along with what he deems to be Yi's cowardly tactics and treachery to the king. His betrayal to Yi is explained through the show's ongoing politics and his inability to distinguish military merits from protection of the people. There is much debate about this positive portrayal of Won Gyun as recent research suggests that he may have been excessively vilified during the Park Chung Hee administration.[3] Reception and reviews have since been positive with much praise for the show's emphasis for humanity and their portrayal of Won Gyun.
