Iljimae came along in 2008, and at the time, I was still wary of sageuks of any kind. But, I was also at the height of my Park Shi Hoo fangirl love, and decided that I had to watch anything and everything that Park Shi Hoo was in, sageuk or no.
Of course, my watch of Iljimae was heavily colored by my Park Shi Hoo fangirl lenses, but I did notice that Lee Jun Ki could be pretty cool when he was being badass. I rather liked it when intensity was blazing from his eyes and when he was demonstrating all his martial arts swordfighting prowess.
I didn’t appreciate his character’s rather OTT campy comedic side, though, and I was also rather aggravated by the ending of Iljimae (also something that I eventually changed my mind about, and also, another story). Which means that I walked away from Iljimae still feeling fairly neutral towards Lee Jun Ki.