Title: 빛나거나 미치거나 / Shine or Go Crazy
Chinese Title: 辉煌或疯狂
Genre: Historical, Romance, Fantasy, Comedy
Episodes: 24
Broadcast network: MBC
Broadcast period: 2015-Jan-19 to 2015-April-07
Air time: Monday & Tuesday 22:00
Synopsis
This drama is based on the web novel “Bitnageona Michigeona” by Hyun Go Woon which was first published from 2014-March-17 via “daum.net“. It takes place during Goryeo’s early years, when various clans jockeyed for power.
The drama centers on Prince Wang So (Jang Hyuk), who later becomes a king pivotal to Korean history. The story is about how Wang So meets and weds his leading light, Shin Yool (Oh Yeon Seo), the last princess of Balhae.
The narrative begins in 943 AD, with Goryeo’s founder, Wang Geon, still in power as the first king, Taejo. Taejo sees how the jockeying clans threaten the newly unified nation. To counter this, he recalls his 4th son, Wang So, from exile, as his potential heir. Exile has toughened Wang So and taught him to think independently. To help his heir, Taejo plans to wed Wang So to Princess Seo Won (Lee Ha Nui), who has a star-like omen as a birthmark.
Balhae, an empire to the north and east of Goryeo, fell to the Khitans in 926 AD. In the story, Princess Shin Yool is born with a fate to shine for a nation. The Khitans learn this and see her as a threat. They throw baby Shin Yool into an icy river. Her nanny secretly saves her. They flee to China, where Shin Yool grows up to become a successful merchant. But she too has a star-like birthmark.
Cast
Main Cast
Jang Hyuk as Wang So
Oh Yeon Seo as Shin Yool
Lee Ha Nui as Hwang Bo Yeo Won
Im Ju Hwan as Wang Wook
– Lee Hyun Bin as Wang Wook (young)
Lee Duk Hwa as Wang Sik Ryum
People around Wang So
Ryu Seung Soo as King Jeongjong
Kim Roe Ha as Eun Chun
Shin Seung Hwan as Gil Bok
Ji Soo Won as Empress Dowager Yoo
People around Shin Yool
Huh Jung Min as Yang Gyu Dal
Kim Sun Young as Baek Myo
Ahn Kil Kang as Kang Myung
Jung Woo Shik as Kyung
Lee Eun Woo as Chun Ah
Jung Jae Hyung (정재형) as Na Moo
People around Hwang Bo
Na Jong Chan as Se Won
Kim Young Sun as Yum Shil
People around Wang Shik Ryum
Kang Ki Young as Wang Phoong
Park Hyun Woo (박현우) as Park Sool
Ho Jok and administrations
Kim Byung Ok as Ji Mong
Woo Sang Jun as Hwang Bo Je Gong
Seo Bum Suk as Wang Gye
Kim Jin Ho as Park Soo Kyung
Lee Jung Hoon as Yoo Kwon Yool
Song Young Jae as Yoo Mok Won
Ahn Suk Hwan as Kim Jong Shik
Choi Jae Ho as Hwang Gyu Ui
Kim Kwang Sik as Baek Choong Hyun
Princes
Ji Eun Sung as Wang Won
Park Sun Ho as Wang Wi
Yeo Eui Joo as Wang Jong
Wol Hyang Roo
Jin Seo Yun as Geum Sun
Na Hye Jin as Chun Ok
Hwang Ji Ni as Ryung Hwa
Others
Nam Kyung Eup as Wang Kon
Kim Bup Rae as General Kwak
Jo Jae Ryong as snake eye man
Wi Yang Ho as gambler
Choi Kwi Hwa as administrator
Production Credits
Chief Producer: Lee Chang Sup
Director: Son Hyung Suk, Yoon Ji Hoon
Screenwriter: Kwon In Chan, Kim Sun Mi
Note
The main character name “Wang So” is based on personal name of “King Gwangjong of Goyeo“.
Episode Ratings
| Date | Ep | TNmS | TNmS | AGB | AGB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationwide | Seoul | Nationwide | Seoul | ||
| 2015-01-19 | 1 | 7.6 | 10.1 (16th) | 7.9 | 8.7 (19th) |
| 2015-01-20 | 2 | 8.0 | 10.4 (13th) | 8.2 | 8.8 (18th) |
| 2015-01-26 | 3 | 8.6 | 11.9 (9th) | 9.8 (14th) | 11.4 (8th) |
| 2015-01-27 | 4 | 9.9 (16th) | 12.7 (7th) | 10.2 (15th) | 11.7 (9th) |
| 2015-02-02 | 5 | 8.6 | 11.0 (13th) | 9.8 (15th) | 11.8 (10th) |
| 2015-02-03 | 6 | 9.1 (19th) | 12.2 (11th) | 9.4 (16th) | 10.8 (9th) |
| 2015-02-09 | 7 | 8.7 | 12.2 (11th) | 9.3 (18th) | 10.8 (11th) |
| 2015-02-10 | 8 | 9.4 (18th) | 12.7 (9th) | 11.0 (10th) | 12.3 (7th) |
| 2015-02-16 | 9 | 9.4 (19th) | 12.9 (8th) | 11.2 (10th) | 13.1 (6th) |
| 2015-02-17 | 10 | 11.5 (9th) | 15.7 (6th) | 10.9 (8th) | 11.9 (7th) |
| 2015-02-23 | 11 | 11.5 (10th) | 15.5 (5th) | 13.1 (8th) | 15.1 (5th) |
| 2015-02-24 | 12 | 12.3 (8th) | 16.1 (5th) | 14.3 (6th) | 16.4 (4th) |
| 2015-03-02 | 13 | 9.9 (14th) | 13.4 (8th) | 11.9 (8th) | 14.4 (6th) |
| 2015-03-03 | 14 | 12.4 (7th) | 16.7 (6th) | 13.2 (6th) | 15.4 (4th) |
| 2015-03-09 | 15 | 10.2 (14th) | 13.9 (6th) | 11.6 (9th) | 13.1 (6th) |
| 2015-03-10 | 16 | 11.7 (10th) | 15.6 (6th) | 12.9 (7th) | 14.9 (5th) |
| 2015-03-16 | 17 | 11.3 (11th) | 14.7 (6th) | 11.7 (8th) | 12.9 (6th) |
| 2015-03-17 | 18 | 11.4 (8th) | 15.2 (6th) | 12.9 (6th) | 14.2 (6th) |
| 2015-03-23 | 19 | 10.7 (14th) | 13.9 (6th) | 11.4 (8th) | 12.3 (8th) |
| 2015-03-24 | 20 | 11.4 (11th) | 14.4 (6th) | 13.9 (6th) | 15.3 (5th) |
| 2015-03-30 | 21 | 11.2 (12th) | 13.6 (6th) | 12.1 (7th) | 13.2 (6th) |
| 2015-03-31 | 22 | 9.5 (14th) | 12.2 (7th) | 10.2 (13th) | 11.4 (8th) |
| 2015-04-06 | 23 | 10.8 (14th) | 13.5 (6th) | 11.5 (9th) | 13.1 (6th) |
| 2015-04-07 | 24 | 11.5 (10th) | 14.2 (6th) | 13.0 (5th) | 14.4 (5th) |
Sources: TNmS Media Korea & AGB Nielsen Korea
*** Different between TNmS Media Korea & AGB Nielson – Here
Poster
Related Photo
(Other Photo from Official Site)
Trailer
– Trailer (Jang Hyuk)
– Trailer (Oh Yeon Seo)
– Trailer (Im Ju Hwan)
– Trailer (Lee Ha Nui)
– Trailer I
177 Responses to “Shine or Go Crazy”
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April 8th, 2015 at 5:15 pm
bad ending, instead of ending it properly the writer opted for another open ending. This is the weakness of a lot of korean writer, good in the beginning but can not finish story in a way they really want to convey.
They should have the mentality of either you hate me or love me i’ll end it the way i want. instead of becoming a great drama with resale and rewatch value, it loses all.
April 8th, 2015 at 7:21 pm
I trust everyone’s watched the ending
I agree the ending could have been better. It is fiction after all. As a work of fiction, the pleasure of the audience comes before the hollow compliance to historical records.
April 8th, 2015 at 9:48 pm
Great drama and acting! Kudos to Jang hyun for his performance. I do not quite understand the ending though. Can someone explain.
April 8th, 2015 at 10:54 pm
I love this drama…..and I’m satisfied with the ending…great job every!!!
April 9th, 2015 at 9:35 am
what a waste of time, the story started and centered with the love story so it should have concentrated on finishing the love story, what happened to them was not answered properly and who was the 3 kids. This is why this will not be sold to other countries for it has no ending
April 9th, 2015 at 8:43 pm
it’s a very good watch. the writer bridged the gap between the fiction written of wang so and shin yool’s love story with what was recorded in history. clearly shin yool could not be queen, and being a proper woman, she decided to leave and told wang so that when the opportunity would come in the future that they would meet, she’d be happy to meet him and say hello. wang so, as king, could not leave goryeo as he had big dreams and plans, abdicating was out of the question. the children were his by his queen, as how succession to the throne is secured. not all love stories end like we want to, so the ending is acceptable to me. leaving wang so with the chance to meet him in the future is very better than if shin yool died, as there’s hope to be happy.
April 9th, 2015 at 8:45 pm
,,,,so with the chance to meet him in the future is much better than if shin yool died, ……
April 10th, 2015 at 12:31 am
Finished the 20+ hours of this series. I’m not crazy about the 5 minute good bye between the man who would moved mountains for Yool to let her go with a 5 minute ‘I’m leaving now’ scene! The ending was confusing; what I gathered, is I think when Wang So said to Yool looking like they did at the time they separated: “Sorry it took so long” meant how long it took him to die to go to heaven to see her; which, we assume means Shin Yool died first. But who the heck knows. I felt like–WHAT–you drain my eyes dry throughout the series then I get a ‘what the heck’ chuck it all ending! Booo! I find it a let down that the 20+ hours of build up only gave us 5 minutes of good byes with no tears or protest from other lovers of loosing the other forever. BAD call on the writters and director. So that’s the trick, the life mimicking start, the emotional ride, and an ending with flat tires. They wasted all that time and effort of the actors and the audience to leave us with flat tires to fix. The ending was pretty much a 5 minute “Hey, it was fun, good bye, and good luck!” They could have saved the last three episode of how they go through the break-up and save the final decision to separate for the last episode. Okay, bad ending but I did enjoy the movie–Jang Hyuk was doing his usual magic–BUT he has to change his movie laugh, it’s getting too be the “same” type of laugh in every movie.
April 10th, 2015 at 12:49 pm
Jang Hyuk performance super good, specially in the expression of love and emotions. Great drama
April 10th, 2015 at 6:12 pm
well the story is great but the ending is sucks…
April 10th, 2015 at 6:58 pm
@korean movie fan. Good analogy with the flat tires.
Drama writers have yet to come up with a method to solve this very real problem of leaving the audience to fix the flat tires. It happens too often. I think the problem is they do not believe it is something that requires a method.
Perhaps it is fated that Korean dramas are not to receive anymore than the popularity that it is accorded to date. Lol!
April 11th, 2015 at 5:02 pm
Well, I thought it’s going to be a happy ending since it’s a fantasy historical drama and Shin Yool character is fictional but it is following history in the end. Although the ending doesn’t satisfied me. But I like the drama story and the acting of Jang Hyuk and Oh Yeon Seo is good. It’s quite a good drama for me. The best drama for me this year is still: Kill Me Heal Me, Pinocchio and Healer.
April 13th, 2015 at 2:30 am
i manage to finish the 20 episodes drama.
Jang Hyuk is a good actor – so are the rest in this drama. Yes, his laughter is the SAME as fated to love you. ha ha ha !!! 😛
April 16th, 2015 at 6:53 am
I knew that Wang So and Shin Yool had to part because Bo Yeo Won became his queen once he ascended to the throne. It would have been better if writers had written the script where they depart in the 23rd episode and use the 24th to focus on So’s ascension to the throne, not just the last few minutes, (at some point he had to reconcile with Bo Yeo Won, she worked hard to help him to become king.) I did like the scene where his children slipped into his private chambers. It would have been nice if his advisor, when he caught the childen tell of Wong So and Shin Yool’s love story and at that point we see the flashbacks especially some of the tender kiss scenes. This was a great drama.
April 22nd, 2015 at 3:29 pm
Jang Hyuk is really a great actor. I enjoy watching this drama. All the actor and actress put their effort for the best.
April 22nd, 2015 at 6:50 pm
I like Jang Hyuk but in this drama he was very bad I heated the way he laughed he look like a crazy!! I don’t know what the main actress (Oh Yeon Seo) did for him that he loved her so much!! I think the princess in the beginning was sort of wicked but she later be the queen of the country and helped him more I liked her(Lee ha Nui) she did much better than the main actress.
April 29th, 2015 at 6:49 pm
In all the drama’s that I have seen Lee Deok-Hwa (Wang) he always play and extremely evil person. I have not seen him in any other role.
I saw him on Immortal Songs once and he is a nice singer, but there is something about him I don’t care for for some reason.
Lim Ju-Huan = I have seen him in another show. He has a quiet voice. I kind of felt bad for him, he couldn’t have the girl he loved and wanted to be King and that didn’t work either.
May 16th, 2015 at 11:40 am
I saw billions of dramsa. That is one of the worst and boring dramas I saw realllly.
May 18th, 2015 at 10:06 am
I really like this drama but I am not satisfied how the story ends and it made me feel sad.
May 28th, 2015 at 2:54 pm
I enjoyed this show – I thought it was good and I liked all the characters, except Lee Duk Hwa. I am not fond of him. I have only seen him portraying mean and hateful characters. I saw him on Immortal Songs – he is not a bad singer, but I was not all that crazy about him even as his real self.
I saw Jang Hyuk for the first time in “Thank You.” I really liked the character he played in that movie and the story also. It seems he manages to select good dramas to be in.
Think he and his wife had a baby girl recently.
May 30th, 2015 at 3:45 pm
It is wasted all my times to watch this drama, try many times to stop watching it but once into it, become curious to know how the ending? Kill me, the endings is so sucked. Waste of my precious times, the main actor don’t even look attractive to me, he more looked like a beast to me. Lousy drama still got good ratings, really cheated me to watch it.
June 11th, 2015 at 10:05 am
Just finish watching…..nice drama,happy ending.worth for watch…..jang hyuk was cool….
June 22nd, 2015 at 8:53 am
Im Ju Hwan looks like a real prince. He’s cute. it does suit him. i like he’s role in this drama. the actor’s and actresses of this drama suit their role very well. congratulations to all.
July 6th, 2015 at 1:48 pm
Lee duk hwa played the good guy in the Iron empress aka lady chunchu. he had extreme loyalty to the queen up to te last to the last scene. For once, i saw him as not the evil guy
August 23rd, 2015 at 11:10 am
im addicted hoho..
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:14 am
Enjoyed!
Was bored after Moonlight n came upon this cos of Jang Hyuk. He’s really good.
Watch it!
Found Legend of the Blue Sea boring
May 8th, 2017 at 8:37 am
It’s a travesty how the writer ended the drama. It makes no sense that she just picked up and left him only to reunite after their passing, decades later. She could not handle being away from him, falling ill after separating from So, at times in comatose state for days.
Makes no sense at all they’d separate especially when Wang So became king and can properly protect her.
I’m peed-off at the writer. It proves that they learned the methods but fail to understand what the audience want in a fictional romantic tale.