Fantastical time travel, political conspiracies, and a villain who mustache-twirls just a little too much, make up the major plot points of the epic, alternate-history K-Drama Faith. Despite the sometimes annoying villain, this show is a lot of fun. The fight scenes in this show are just beautiful, and I love the interactions between the characters. If you’re looking for great action, sword fights, vast political intrigues, characters with supernatural powers, and time travel antics all mixed together, this show will not disappoint. Faith is a sweet, escapist fantasy that will suck you in. It’s especially good for a weekend where you can totally forget about real life for a few days.
The opening credits of the show depict a beautifully drawn and haunting legend about “God’s Physician,” named Hwa Ta, who could cure anyone by cutting them open. However, a warlord became jealous of his abilities, and the physician escaped the world though a mystical portal called “Heaven’s Door.”
Here’s where our first main character comes in: Choi Young, played by Lee Min Ho, is trying to escort the newly appointed King of ancient Korea or “Goryeo” (played by Ryu Deok Hwan), and his wife, Princess No Gook of Yuan, (played by Park Se Young) back to Goryeo’s capital. The king is returning to Goryeo after a long stay in Yuan as a royal hostage. Recent Kings of Goryeo haven’t lived very long, and when the caravan stops at an inn to wait for a ship, they find themselves surrounded by assassins. One of the assassins manages to land a glancing sword blow on the Princess, endangering her life. The court Physician, played by Phillip Lee, does everything he can to save her, but informs the King that he has only slowed her inevitable death. If she dies, Goryeo will once again be at war with Yuan.
One of the court retainers remembers the Legend of Hwa Ta, and that Heaven’s Door, where Hwa Ta disappeared, is supposed to be somewhere close by. Even though the new King feels it’s a lost hope, he commands that all efforts should be made to find the door and save the Princess’ life. As the head of the King’s guards, Choi Young leads the search, and when he finds the door open, vows to go through and return with one of Hwa Ta’s disciples to save the Princess.
The other side of door leads to modern-day Korea. Hijinks (which I will not spoil here) ensue, but he eventually finds Yoo Eun Soo (played by Kim Hee Sun) giving a seminar on modern plastic surgery techniques at a medical convention. He verifies her medical skill with brutal efficiency and then basically kidnaps her, taking her back through Heaven’s Door.
There are a few plot elements that stretch the credibility of this show– for example, our modern-day, time travelling miracle-worker is actually a highly specialized plastic surgeon and not any kind of general practitioner who’s dealt with disease or broken bones before– but since the series also features a mystical portal that connects Goryeo to present day, and characters who can freeze or burn people alive using their bare hands, that discrepancy really wasn’t too distracting for me. I just treated as if our time traveler also had a subconscious super power that allowed her to know all things regarding modern medicine. Once I did that, I could ignore her sometimes far-fetched knowledge of complex procedures, because there are so many fantastical things in this show. And anyway, the story itself was good enough that it managed to carry it.
I also think this show has a little bit of an edge over Time Slip Dr. Jin (which came out the same year) because the fantasy elements are much more developed and the time traveler is female, which allows them to plunge her even deeper into the culture shock between 1300’s Korea and modern-day. Not only is a female doctor unheard of in Goryeo, but women’s lives and movements in the period are very restricted. A woman by herself is not safe in Goryeo’s streets, and even if she manages to convince people of her skill, she has to get permission before she is allowed to do anything. Also because women in this time period are so dependent on their male counterparts (colleagues? bosses?) for safety, it allows warring factions to fight over her skills with very little regard for what she might actually expect to be able to say about it. She can’t strike out for Heaven’s door on her own, because she is likely to get killed or worse.
I enjoyed this show so much because while it is obviously a fun, fantasy romp, it also deals with some really serious themes such as abandonment, kidnapping, gender roles, and the nature of power. Again, highly recommended to all fans of history and fantasy. I’m sure we’ll get around to shows I didn’t like so much eventually, but for now, I’m starting with my giant list of shows I liked best. This one doesn’t have as high a re-watch value as say, King of Dramas, but I still dust it off when I want to watch time travel fun and beautifully choreographed action.
Please support the Korean cast and crew by watching Faith at official sites. You can find it here:
Faith originally aired on SBS.
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