# Mr. Sunshine (2018)

> A Korean-American Marine officer returns to early twentieth century Korea and falls for a noblewoman fighting for her country's independence.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/65728

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 24
- Episode runtime: 75 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, romance, history
- Created by: Lee Eung-bok, Kim Eun-sook
- Network: tvN
- Cast: Lee Byung-hun, Kim Tae-ri, Yoo Yeon-seok, Kim Min-joung, Byun Yo-han, Kim Kap-soo, Choi Mu-sung, Lee Ho-jae
- TMDB rating: 8.7/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7094780/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: melancholic, sweeping, romantic, tense, tragic

## What critics say

Acclaimed for its sweeping production, emotionally devastating romance, and strong lead performances, with audiences rating the single season highly.

## Synopsis

Mr. Sunshine (2018) is a Korean period romance drama created by Lee Eung-bok and Kim Eun-sook for tvN, a Studio Dragon production and a tvN k-drama in the sweeping tradition of Korean historical melodrama. Lee Byung-hun plays Eugene Choi, a Korean-American man raised in the United States who returns to Korea as a US Marine Corps officer, while Kim Tae-ri plays Go Ae-shin, a noblewoman who is fighting for her country's independence. Yoo Yeon-seok plays Gu Dong-mae, a figure drawn into the same tangled political world. The engine of the story is a forbidden attraction between two people on opposite sides of class and ideology, and every episode pulls them through the shifting alliances, betrayals and street-level resistance of a country under growing Japanese control. The single season spans 24 episodes of roughly 75 minutes each, a complete serialized arc rather than a case-of-the-week format. Set in the early 1900s, the drama moves between grand palace intrigue and the dangerous ground of the independence movement, giving the romance a backdrop of colonial pressure and national longing. Its tone is melancholic and sweeping, with bursts of action and a lush, emotionally heightened style. Fans of Outlander and Dae Jang Geum will find resonance in its blend of romance, history and sacrifice.

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