Wild Chives and Soy Bean Soup: 12 Years Reunion (2014)

from usa, and into asian dramas for last 2 years..this was one of my first, and still one of my favorites. especially loved the 1st part as the young love developed...lots of tender moments.

I thought all characters were great..although didnt care for the antagonist tough guy so much. i did like the female antagonist.

there were a lot of scenes that i really loved, but my favorite was a very innocent part after she finds out she is pregnant and they talk together on the phone.
they have a sweet conversation and then he says 'I miss you'- her reaction is awesome. sometimes you don't have to say anything to make a touching moment. my other favorite scene is when he buys her the necklace and she says, before they part, 'you belong to me now' and he smiles. so sweet.

in watching these dramas many of the same themes are in each one. the importance of food, reverence for parents etc, but i am not tired of them yet. one thing i do find curious is that many of these young people, very attractive and seemingly successful stay single so long. it sometimes seems ironic to me that a young pretty doctor for instance, is not married, or has a boyfriend. was she waiting around for him all that time.

nonetheless, really loved this one.

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I know there was a cut on the episodes and you guys think it had an incomplete ending, but I think it did have an ending, the directors worked it out quite alright, the ending is they will continue to date and look forward to their future without letting their mothers stand in their way( not quite the best decision) but its a happy ending too if you really think about it, this drama was really good, I don't know why it has such low rating, its heart warming, a little dramatic but it has comedy too, and the characters had chemistry, both young and old.


I recommend anyone who sees this comment to watch this drama and forget about the low rating, this other people just don't know how to watch a drama and think about it carefully, they have an ending to a story before they even start and when its not what they expect they degrade it. Trust me and watch this drama then rate it yourself, DON'T BE LIKE THIS OTHER PEOPLE :) :) :) :) :)

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Okay here's my go on this show

Overall I like the story line, there are a lot a of great elements that make up this show. The actors did a great job in expressing their characters, even after the transition to the other set of actors doing the older characters, it's stil on point and I really like how the story progresses throughout the entire show.

There are however some things that I don't like and some things that I absolutely can't live with--

(1) In the first 10 to 12 episodes there is a lot of crying. I mean it's a drama, I get it, but for most of the time you're wondering why they are even crying, because most of the time I did not have any feelings of compassion towards character in question. I think they could have done with a little less tears and more talking or something. In fact the first episode, I was even close to dropping the show as the crying kept on going for almost 10 minutes, then the scene transitions and there was even more crying.

(2) Music overlay on Karaoke and performances in cafes/clubs.
At some point there is a karaoke party going on, but we can't actually hear the characters sing or perform their karaoke. Now I'm not a big fan of karaoke but how they did it here is overlay some music that seemed like it had nothing to do with the scene, which distracts you from the show and pulls you out of the zone. It's like watching a movie without sound. Same happened with this girl in the cafe and on some other occasions in the show. I'm not sure why they've done this, maybe it was for legal reasons, they perhaps couldn't put on the actual song or something...

(3) Incomplete and rushed ending.
Everything up to episode 25 was super, apart from a few things that could've been better, as mentioned above. Episode 26 is in my opinion a complete disaster. It looks like the crew ran out of money and rushed the ending, leaving a lot of threads open. For instance, what happens with Kang Ham Cho and Jang Hoon at the end? or what about Joo Chul-soo? Did they (main leads) actually get married? What about their Mothers? What happens between Da Hae and Jun Sung? Or to the father of Da Hae? For a moment I thought there would be a second season but since the show was aired in 2014 I doubt there will ever be one... Maybe I'm looking it at the wrong side. Maybe the creators wanted an open ending?

(4) Music (stolen) or borrowed from Boys Over Flowers (S-Korea 2009)
If you've seen Boys Over Flowers, you'll instantly recognize the song they used in some episodes.

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To be honest, I really enjoyed the first half or the first 12 episodes where the main characters were still young. Young Jun Su and young Guk had more chemistry than the actual main leads. Like what other people said, the plot had potentials, but later on, after 12 years and 12 episodes, ALL SCENES WERE JUST ABOUT PEOPLE BICKERING AND SHOUTING and to be honest its quites annoying and painful to the ears.

The mom of Guk and Dallae started as a humble human but later on she became a villain who chooses a wife for her annoying son Hun.

Hun who also started as adorable became a womanizer and very annoying character who had nothing to do but to complain.

The mother of Jun Su was still an annoying mom trying to control everything with her emotion.

Da Hae, a spoiled brat remained a controlling spoiled brat till the last episode I've watched.

What's more annoying is that the two main characters have ni characters at all! They just go with the flow and everything that is thrown to them, they just catch it. THEY DON'T STAND FOR THEMSELVES. It's infuriating that after 22 episodes, there's not even at least a bit of character development. It started off really really great and the latter half was just too different.

I KINDA HOPED THAT THEY DID NOT GREW UP ANYMORE BECAUSE YOUNG JUN SU AND GUK WERE SO CUTE AND GREAT ACTORS.

And don't get me started with the womanizer father of Da Hae. He is such a loser, and I don't even feel a bit of sympathy for him.

The only thing that kept me going was that... none, at all. I won't bother to finish this. Especially that people say it got cut off and was not properly tied. I was rooting for Ham cho to become a princess that Hun will drool over.

If there is one thing that I liked about the second half, it will probably be Jolie and the foods they eat.

I hope I see more dramas of young Jun Su and young Guk because they are really cute omo

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Classic Korean society always blaming the woman. Anyway, there are two major problems that completely ruined the drama. The first being the writing. The writer was creating new plot threads and doing nothing with them while having other plot threads left loose. Some major events and actions left without a follow up. No consequences were applied. The other major issue is the pacing. I can say with confidence that no one working on the project had any idea how many episodes they were making. This is why the major incident mentioned in the synopsis took 14 episodes in the past before moving to present day. It didn't leave a lot of room for the characters to develop in the present. What's even worse, none of the development from the past characters carries to the present. The only thing that was carried over is the fact that the incident happen. This created an irreversible disconnect. What's even worse than that is how every story doesn't progress or resume from the past until episode 25. The way they concluded every story is actually moronic. This drama didn't need more than 8 episodes to tell its story from start to finish.

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Everything about this drama killed me. It had a sweet relationship that grew gradually in school and was fleshed out immensely with a real feeling of chemistry between the two leads before the time skip they introduced. The time skip was done well as well. The creators of this show stayed their hands at almost every point, and created a tension that was really rewarding when it paid off.

And honestly, I've never known a show that's made me pause it because I was crying so hard that I couldn't read the subtitles.

I promise it ends nicely, and I promise it's well worth the watch. It's perfect.

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I feel empty after finishing this. There were so many unresolved issues at the end of this drama I felt completely cheated. The young actors did a great job but when they changed actors it felt like I was watching a completely different drama. We got so much background stories of problems that were never resolved so I’m really questioning why the directors/writers didn’t cut the “past” episodes into a maximum of 5 instead of the 12 they gave us for nothing. Some of the secondary stories we’re underwhelming and so much focus was put on them that we barely get to see the main couple/storyline. This had the potential to be really good but somewhere along the line they lost the purpose of this story. Additionally the casting team did a terrible job with these actors. The two actors portraying Junsu couldn’t look more different from one another and the older version’s acting was not that great though he did a better job than the older version of Guk. They could’ve just aged the “youn” actors like they did with Junsu’s uncle. Overall I feel a lot of potential was lost due to the excessive plot lines that amounted to nothing.

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Young to older was not a great transition - hard to believe it was same people

7.5/10 is how I would rate this. A 2014 South Korean drama spanning 21 episodes. A new girl from the country, Jang Juk (Yoon So-hee), moves to to the big city and falls for one of the most popular boys in school, Yu Jun-su (Lee Won-keon). They spend one night together and Jang Juk winds up pregnant. After securing reluctant approval from their parents to marry, it seems the two might find some happily ever after. However, an accident causes Jang Juk to lose the baby and, in the parent's eyes, their reasons to remain together. Jang Juk is sent to the United States and Yoo Jun-Sun stays behind. 12 years later Jang Juk/Jang Dal-lae (Lee So-yeon) is back in Korea after a near complete physical and life transformation and Yoo Jun-Su (Namkoong Min) and Jang Juk wind up in the same work place.

Spoiler ? One thing I really did not like about this was the difference between the young characters and the aged characters they were not only different in appearance but also in personality. I had a really hard time getting past that. I was also disappointed that there was not some long lost child to bring back into the picture. To me she also gave up on love a bit too quick. I understood the scandal and the heart break but I did not get just leaving. I also wanted, at some point, for “the big evil” to be revealed, in terms of how jealous girl ultimately caused the tragedy that led to Jang Guk leaving. Despite all that I did still enjoy it but, for me, I really felt like I watched one romance (the youngins) that ended in tragedy and another one (12 years later) that felt rushed but was happily ever after. This was the first movie that revealed, to me, an aspect that I never fully realized, and I was like, Dang – Asian mothers be harsh. It made a lot more sense to me growing up with Asian friends and having Asian friends also as an adult, certain things they said when they would refer to their family. I think the level of respect and compliance displayed would be more in line with American culture maybe up to the 50's. And I am not implying that is bad – balance in all things. I didn't feel like I ever got enough of the story of what had happened with the two in the 12 years. Would I recommend it? Yes, just not as a top choice maybe down the list quite a bit. But I don't think would watch it again.

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Lots left unexplained.

I'm still unsure about this. I've watched it several times on Netflix and viki but still having the feeling that the ending was not where it was really to end. It should have shown what happened to Jang Guk and Yu Jun-Su.
Should have explained more on why Yu Jun-Su at 19 was like his own father by getting a girl pregnant at 19 as well.
Should have explained more in detail on the reason why his father was so strict on his uncle Yu Su-Han (otherwise should be known as half brother).
Plus should show the other relationships between:
Kang Ham-cho and Jang Hun.
Yu Su-Han and Park Mu-Hui.
Heo Se-Min and Jang Go-Sun.
Ju Da-Hae and Yu Jun-Seong.
There's just so much that's left unexplained like did Jang Guk and Yu Jun-Su get married? Have kids? Did their moms finally chill out and let them be?

And still trying to understand how Wild chives and soy bean soup has anything to do with the storyline. I get 12yr promise.... but not the other.

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I really looked forward to watch this drama, mainly due to the plot. It was my favorite kind of drama: Couples madly in love separate and fall in love again. I binge watched the drama and 26+ hour drama took me just 2 days to complete.
Actors potraying the young couple did an excellent job, story was good, acting was good and everything was perfect. Jang Guk's mother was annoying though, it was really frustrating to watch her. The rich mom was better, typical rich mom, but not evil and really wants whats best for her sons.
But the story took a turn when the older couple reunites. Acting was not as good specially the girl acting as Jang Guk. Jang Guk's mother was more frustrating than before but I really liked Jollie. She was a sweatheart who understands Guk more than her own mother.
I really liked the way the writers wrote Ham Cho's story, it was nice to see the little girl grow up to be a beautiful woman. But I would have loved a better partner for her.
What I really hated about this drama is the way the drama ended. It was so sudden and felt rushed. It was like the director decided to end the drama midway without wrapping up the story. Specially the story of Da hae and her parents ended abruptly. I would probably rewatch the story of the young couples again, but not the olded ones. If the ending of a drama is not satisfactory, it ruins the whole show, even the parts you enjoyed.
This was a good drama, ruined by the crappy ending. But the drama is perfect for a lazy weekend.

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