The Return of Iljimae

Title: 돌아온 일지매 / Dolanon Iljimae / The Return of Iljimae
Chinese Title : 一枝梅归来
Also known as: Iljimae Returns / Moon River
Previously known as 일지매 / Iljimae
Genre: Historical, romance
Episodes: 24
Broadcast network: MBC
Broadcast period: 2009-Jan-21 to 2009-April-09
Air time: Wednesday & Thursday 21:55

Synopsis
The story is about a man fighting against the selfish and corrupt government to save the ordinary peasants. Iljimae was abandoned by his birth father and adopted by a Chinese couple. He returns to Korea to find his birth family and realizes how unjust the world really is. He watched as his first love, Dal Yi, was wrongfully put to death. Iljimae then vows to help the commoners from the corrupt government officials.
Cast
Jung Il Woo as Il Ji Mae
Yoon Jin Suh as Dal Yi / Wal Hee
Kim Min Jong as Goo Ja Myeong
Jung Hye Young as Baek Mae
Extended Cast
Lee Kye In as Jeol Chi
Park Geun Hyung as Kim Ja Jeom
Park Chul Min as Wang Hyeong Bo
Oh Young Soo as Monk Yeol Gong
Kang Nam Gil as Bae Seon Dal
Kim Yoo Hyun as Princess Mo Ran
Lee Hyun Woo as Cha Dol Yi
Sandara Park as Rie
Jun Soo Yeon as Soo Ryun
Lee Ho Jae as Kim Joong Hwan (Iljimae’s biological father)
Jung Joon as Kim Joon Seo (Iljimae’s half brother)
Seo Hye Won as Choon Wol
Hwang Jung Ri as Miyamoto Masai
Harisu as Ki Seon Nyeo
Yoon Yoo Sun
Park Chan Hwan
Production Credits
Original work: Comic by Ko Young Woo
Production Company: Group Eight
Director: Hwang In Roe & Kim Soo Young
Screenwriter: Kim Kwang Sik & Do Young Myung
Episode Ratings

Date	Episode	Nationwide	Seoul
2009-01-21	1	18.5 (4th)	20.1 (3rd)
2009-01-22	2	17.1 (4th)	18.4 (3rd)
2009-01-28	3	16.6 (5th)	17.1 (4th)
2009-01-29	4	15.1 (5th)	15.6 (6th)
2009-02-04	5	13.7 (9th)	13.7 (11th)
2009-02-05	6	15.3 (10th)	15.2 (9th)
2009-02-11	7	10.7 (11th)	11.5 (9th)
2009-02-12	8	13.1 (10th)	14.1 (10th)
2009-02-18	9	10.0 (13th)	10.6 (12th)
2009-02-19	10	11.0 (11th)	12.1 (11th)
2009-02-25	11	10.8 (11th)	11.6 (11th)
2009-02-26	12	10.5 (12th)	10.5 (13th)
2009-03-04	13	8.9	9.4 (16th)
2009-03-05	14	9.1 (16th)	9.7 (14th)
2009-03-11	15	8.1 (20th)	8.2 (18th)
2009-03-12	16	7.6	(<8.4)
2009-03-18	17	8.7 (19th)	8.8 (17th)
2009-03-19	18	8.5	8.7 (19th)
2009-03-25	19	6.9	(<8.0)
2009-03-26	20	8.5	8.7 (19th)
2009-04-01	21	7.8	8.5 (16th)
2009-04-02	22	8.2	8.8 (17th)
2009-04-08	23	7.5	(<7.8)
2009-04-09	24	8.2 (18th)	8.9 (16th)

Source: TNS Media Korea
Notes
- Both MBC & SBS will air their own version of Iljimae in 2008 & 2009.
- MBC has the copyrights to the original comic book.
- The director of this drama is Hwang In Roe, who directed both Goong and Goong S.
- The title was changed from “Iljimae” to “The Return of Iljimae” to avoid confusion with the SBS version.
- Drama will be filmed in Japan.
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