Fountain of Memes: The series is a major source of memes in South Korea since the mid-00s and hasn't quite stopped since. Some of the scenes which kickstarted a wave of memes include "Gojarani!" (Roughly "I'm an eunuch!" or "I'm dickless!") note A scene where a secondary character learns in the hospital that a bullet has hit his genitals, known for its exaggerated acting and odd choice of words. A western equivalent could be Darth Vader's memetic Big "NO!", "Sa dala!" (Four dollars!) note A scene where Kim Du-han negotiates the gauges of Korean laborers working for the US Army by stating the salary they want... The point of the scene is to show Du-han's Street Smart skills, but since his "negotiation" against the US Army consists of repeating a single phrase in Engrish and gaining 400% of what they had in less than a minute, the protagonist comes off as a Comically Invincible Hero or "Ttong-ina cheomeog-eo saekkideul!" (Gorge on this shit, bastards!) note The scene where Du-han throws human excrements at a bunch of politicians. Mostly known because, well, it really happened... And to say that these are the only memes would be an understatement.
Just Here for Godzilla: A huge part of its audience, especially amongst children and teenagers, watched it mostly for the fights, not caring about the more down-to-earth historical second half.
Signature Scene: Kim Du-han throwing a box of "saccharine" (i. e. human excrements) at some Ministers, including the Prime Minister, in the National Assembly during a debate about a corruption case scandalnote Samsung's illegal smuggle of 55 tons of saccharine from Japan, with the covert approval of the ruling party's higher-ups. As could be expected, none of the involved were harshly penalized. Needless to say, this Real Life gutsy act was the main reason that brought Kim Du-han into the spotlight, and was pretty popular (despite Du-han's otherwise controversial history) as a protest to an extremely corrupt governmentnote The motive behind the act seemed to be less about following the people's will for justice, and more of a grudge against his party's brief incarceration for falsely-alleged treason while getting the limelight. YMMV if his imprisonment was about stopping a War Hawk criminal from getting power, an oppositon-censoring act from an increasingly authoritarian government, or both. This scene, which is predated by a Rousing Speech that ends in a This Means War! statementnote The show's version is a highly revised version of the real speech, save for the climatic phrase. The original speech was an incredibly long rant about Du-han's rough upbringing, time "unjustly" spent in prison, never-ending fight against communism, struggle for a wealthy capitalist Korea, anger at any supposed remaining Japanese influence and a few phrases vaguely linking those issues to the corruption case. The only reason that Du-han was given that much time to talk is because his Meaningless Meaningful Words were rather amusing to the audience, serves as the first scene and the final chapter of the show.
Spiritual Successor: The show was clearly patterned after the fame of the 1990s South Korean movie trilogy Janggunui Adeul (translated as The General's Son).
" (Roughly "I'm an eunuch!" or "I'm dickless!") note , "Sa dala!