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They called him ?Mireuk,? Korean for Maitreya, the future incarnation of Buddha, born to save us all from oblivion. In the Later Three Kingdoms period, that was the moniker attached to Gung Ye, one of the biggest names to eventually pave the way (at his expenses) for the birth of Goryeo. But I guess Lee Mi-Reuk?s (or, if you prefer the slightly sinicized version of his name, Li Mirok) parents didn?t have such grandiose plans when they gave him that name. Born into a family of noble literati, Lee witnessed the disintegration of that Joseon (and the following Korean Empire) which had held strong for five centuries, finally collapsing in the name of Japanese imperialism. Unable to find his voice in the increasingly changing colonial Korea of the 1920s, young Li crossed the famous river dividing the Korean peninsula from Manchuria, the Amnok (Yalu, as they spell it on the other side), and set sail for what he considered the promised land, Europe. What he found wasn?t exactly a paradise, considering his new home away from home was the same Germany which would soon begin the path to the Gro?deutsches Reich, better known as the Third Reich, with the infamous Fuhrer Adolf Hitler on top. But what Li Mirok managed to do was impressive: his memoirs Der Yalu Flie?t, where he narrated stories of his childhood and all the peaceful atmosphere which painted his early days, was one the biggest literary shock in Germany at the time, enough that parts of the novel were added to German textbooks, giving him a place in the pages of history. The first co-production between Korea and Germany, made to celebrate the 125th year of diplomatic relations between the two countries, ???? ??? (Der Yalu Flie?t) is not only a very faithful adaptation of the original (the first episode is more or less the novel?s content, while the remaining two talk about the rest of Li?s life in Germany), but also a throwback to the great period dramas of the early to mid 90s, like ????? (Kareisky) and ??? ??? (Eyes of Dawn). Its slow paced and poetic prose might feel out of place in today?s K-drama industry, so preoccupied with shallow glitz and glamour, but it?s with substance and narrative fundamentals that this drama succeed on almost all accounts, as one of the best overlooked gems of the year.

Indian Army officer Lieutenant General Nikhil Bakshi addresses a group of Indian soldiers aboard the INS Viraat, detailing a woman's exploits while serving as an undercover agent of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India's external intelligence agency, in Pakistan. The story flashes back to events preceding the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Hidayat Khan is an Indian freedom fighter and agent posing as an informant for the Indian government against Pakistani government. He wishes to make his 20-year-old daughter Sehmat an agent and continue the family tradition of being in service to the country before his impending death from lung cancer. Sehmat is willing so she is trained by senior RAW officer Khalid Mir and his assistant, a young Bakshi. Khan uses his friendship with Brigadier Syed of the Pakistan Army to get Sehmat married to his younger son, Iqbal Syed, another military officer. After migrating to Pakistan, Sehmat settles into her married life, adjusts to a new country, and establishes the trust of her in-laws. Brigadier Syed is promoted to Major General, which results in crucial documents and members of the country's defence forces passing through his house. Sehmat establishes communication channels with her handlers back in India and starts relaying information. Meanwhile, she falls in love with Iqbal and they consummate their marriage. Sehmat spots information related to the planning of an offensive against India and is able to pass it on. One of the servants, Abdul, discovers the truth about her and Sehmat runs him down with a car to avoid exposing her cover. The event takes a heavy emotional toll on her. The information points to the planned attack on the Indian aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, then deployed in the Bay of Bengal. Sehmat reluctantly kills Mehboob Syed, Iqbal's elder army officer brother after he finds her suspicious. She is distraught at having widowed Munira, Mehboob's wife, and saves her from police interrogation. She is eventually discovered as a spy by Iqbal, who is heartbroken by the revelation. He confronts her but dies from a grenade. The grenade was thrown by a member of Mir's team to kill Sehmat should she be caught. Sehmat is alive; the woman Iqbal confronted was actually another burqa-clad agent who switched places with Sehmat and died by the grenade along with Iqbal. Shocked by her husband's death and the fact that Mir was willing to kill her, Sehmat realises the insignificance of relationships and humanity in this line of work. Broken by the destruction of a family by her hand, she returns to India and discovers that she is pregnant with Iqbal's child. She decides to keep the child. With Sehmat's findings, the INS Rajput sinks the Pakistani submarine PNS Ghazi off Visakhapatnam's coast.[N 1] Nikhil Bakshi concludes his speech, with Samar Syed, Sehmat's son, among the officers. Meanwhile, an aged Sehmat is seen sitting in her chair and staring out of the window of her house in the middle of nowhere.