MattPeddlesden
Kent, UK
This one starts out with the actress Oh Yeon Seo taking on a 3 month role as a legal secretary to get experience for an upcoming drama she has been cast in. Her lawyer boss is forced to take her on and initially sparks fly, he comes off as a somewhat impetuous child and rather mis-treats her without any training expecting her to understand their telephone system and other processes. Yeon-Seo looks, sounds and acts like someone who has no life experience having been an actor for her entire life, bubbly, weak and essentially childish.
Yeon-Seo's character partly develops but is also partly revealed to be much more than you will stereotypically assign her at the start. You see some of the challenges that face actors, and that she's actually led quite a challenging life through much adversity and yet remains positive. Someone who starts out looking like a weak character, transpires to be quite a strong one. The scene where she's waiting with part excitement and part fear for the reviews of the drama to start coming in, along with comments from viewers, reminds us all that actors are just regular people who are hurt and rewarded by the things people say, just like anyone else.
The cast were great, I particularly appreciated that Lee Dong Wook's character wasn't as rigid as some ML's - often I see them delivering purposefully flat performances at the start but then as the drama continues, their attempts to loosen up really don't sit well - in this case LDW looks perfectly natural as he opens up and begins to smile more.
Side characters were all good too. The wacky characters of Choi and Dan were fun to watch as they stumble around their lives.
Music was great, several good tracks to enjoy when I pull the OST up later.
Overall a really heart warming drama with a positive note, there is the obligatory "stupid breakup" but they don't drag it out too long. I really appreciated that there are one or two times where "breakup-inducing-misunderstandings" could have happened but through simple communication they are easily handled.
Yes this one is full of cliches but... they worked, so...
Definitely worth a watch and makes for a good re-watch too, there's no real surprises to be spoiled on further re-watches, you can just sit back and enjoy the fantastic chemistry between the characters over and over :)
Was this review helpful to you?
Across the board, outstanding!
Time travel that works?Amazing music?
Brilliant cast?
Amazing story?
Great Humour?
Life lessons?
Not all in one drama at the same time, right? Yep!
Bottom line, ya just need to watch it, brilliant.
OK, Mr/Miss/Mrs Sceptic who is still here, why...
First up - time travel stories are hard to do well and this one nails it. It doesn't go overboard, and its respectful of the timeline. Is it perfect? No, because it's never going to be - time travel doesn't exist right? - but it feels right and not over done.
There's some great humour here, a towards the start (and a little again at the end) there's these fun little riffs on the Back to the Future sound track and some familiar facial expressions and reactions from Eun Gyeol that you might recognise from it too. But - true to everything else, they don't overdo it. Get it out of the way, have a quiet chuckle with the audience, and move on. This isn't back to the future, it has its own story to tell (probably a more meaningful one, if we're honest here - and I'm a BTTF fan).
The cast are utterly brilliant in every respect, different characters portrayed really well. I loved the deaf angle on this one, it makes it stand out - who'd have thought to make a heavily musical story, about musicians, and then make key characters deaf? Takes a bold team, and Jin Soo Wan (writer) and Son Jung Hyun (director) pulled it off.
The music, throughout, is fantastic. I'll be getting some of these on my spotify play list as soon as possible. Fun, upbeat, something to sway to.
Broadly, the main character is the only hearing-able person in his household and this weighs on him constantly, his passion is music but he's afraid to share it because it's something the others can't do themselves so it feels selfish. After his dad discovers him performing in a band and careless heated words are spoken in both directions, the main character finds himself wandering into a music store to sell is beloved guitar and give up on his dreams. The owner of the store takes the guitar and after they talk for a while, the main character leaves - and finds himself back in 1995, where he soon meets up with his younger father - who can hear just fine.
OK back to the waffle / gushing...
I really enjoyed the storyline elements involving Cheong-ah (main characters mother) and the journey that, in particular, her father took. There's a moment where the main character says to him something like "I really want you to see your daughter smile, she has the most beautiful smile" and later when he does see it, it pays off big time, Kim Tae Woo who plays her father nails the scene perfectly.
Our two main characters learn and grow through this journey in different ways, they each get different things out of this but they get what they need to put themselves back on the right track.
Enjoy it, the title is wacky, the drama is a bit wacky, the characters are completely wacky, the music is fabulous and the end result is one of the most fun dramas of the year in my view.
Was this review helpful to you?
Detail:
This is the second drama i've seen with IU, the first being Hotel Del Luna - and the second of her dramas that's gone right to the top of my "so glad I watched that" list. It also introduced me to Lee Sun Kyun who was an excellent actor in this, he has such a unique bass to his voice.
Whereas in Hotel Del Luna, IU is loud, proud and a bit of a brat, in this she's quiet. She probably doesn't say as many words throughout the whole drama as she does in the first episode of HDL but she doesn't need to, she proves beyond any doubt her acting skill through her actions and expressions, combined with the amazing story.
Ji Ahn (IU) is downtrodden, she's in the gutter, when you're the lowest you can possibly go you learn to distrust and dislike everyone around you. Everyone has let you down, discarded you and hurt you in the past so you learn to expect it from everyone else. She's in trouble with a Loan Shark who beats her up, and she has a no-good brother that she supports. Worst case scenario.
And yet... she soldiers on. If there was ever a story about a strong woman then this is it. She's lost the will to trust others, but no matter what life throws at her she just keeps pushing on. She hasn't lost the will to live.
Dong-Hoon seems to have it all, high flying in the corporate world all he wants to do is a good job, to put safety first in his role as a structural engineer. Corporate politics come knocking and the knives come out in his direction, suddenly he's being attacked from all fronts and then finds out even more devastating news that rocks him to his core.
This story is about these two completely different, but equally broken people who find and heal each other.
There are other characters such as the two brothers, I loved the relationship the three of them had together, they were good moments in the story.
There were a couple of side plots that just seemed extraneous for the most part, the actor and the monk - the actor I guess I kinda get as a motivation for one of the brothers but the monk was just out of left field and I don't think the story would have really differed if it wasn't there, so it was a bit odd.
The music in this drama is excellent, several really top quality tracks that were good to hear each and every time they came on and were on my mind even when not watching.
The general tone of this one is quite slow, it has a mix of high and low points, but overall I found that I wasn't wondering how it was going to end. For me that's always a high mark for a drama, if the journey is so good I just don't care how it ends that's a great thing and I put this one in that list.
Highly recommended.
Was this review helpful to you?
First couple of episodes are a bit awkward because they're focusing on all the "prettyness", pretty boys and pretty girls and even at the introduction ceremony at the university they are openly talking about how pretty the new freshmen are, it just felt a bit uncomfortable for me and I was happy it didn't last - but it did serve to set a tone initially.
The main female lead, as a child, was considered by her peers to be ugly and overweight. When she stepped up to fix the weight problem and became slim, they just found other names to call her and focused on their opinions of her face. This kind of long term bullying has a big impact on kids and you can see it has had a huge impact on her throughout the entirety of the show - any time you're thinking "oh jeez just say it already" or something, you need to reflect back on this history very carefully because it's completely undermined her way of thinking throughout her life.
As she gets older and looks to go to University she gets cosmetic surgery and completely changes her look - coming out the other side of that, she's now stunningly beautiful and that's essentially where the story kicks in.
Throughout the story, a lot of complex issues are covered, mostly those facing young women relating to cyber bullying, dieting, peer pressure, self confidence and many more.
The characters are great, even the one that starts looking like the nasty girl proves to have layers upon layers and a very detailed backstory that explains how someone gets to be the way they are today and some of the underlying non-obvious reasons for it. Towards the end when they were focusing more on that character, I was desperate for that character to just reach out and ask for help.
There is some irony that as I understand it, the female lead in reality also had plastic surgery and there are those commenters online who have been sadly shaming it. I've also seen comments that they felt the male lead was quite wooden but I actually liked the representation of that character - the put a shy guy inside a handsome body, someone who didn't know how to socialise and didn't know how to be around others because he always kept to himself. As someone who has always been that way myself (the shy bit, certainly not the handsome bit) I can only say I saw a lot of his manner reflecting my own personality and the way I would have reacted.
I also really liked a lot of the secondary characters, and the ML's mother was probably my favourite, the storyline of her reconnecting with her son and daughter was very touching and handled superbly by the author.
The OST didn't have any particularly memorable tracks to it unfortunately.
This story has a lovely slow burn romance throughout and I was utterly hooked from the start to the finish, watching it in two days flat. I totally recommend this one if that's the kind of story you're looking for.
Was this review helpful to you?
Detailed:
This story is all about grief and its many dimensions. When Yu-Ri is suddenly killed in a car accident leaving her husband and newborn baby behind they, her family and her friends struggle. Yu-Ri exists as a ghost, unwilling to move on to her next life until she sees that everyone is doing well. One day, suddenly, she becomes a real person again, and has 49 days back in the real world.
The story goes through a number of phases as more people discover she's alive again, you find out back stories about how each person dealt with their loss and the feelings and emotions that led up to it. No stone is left unturned, no matter how painful.
Performances from the cast are amazing, particularly the two leads but honestly nobody gets left behind in this one, and when you have someone like Kim Mi Kyung on board you already know you've got a strong cast.
It's not all sad moments, there are some moments of great hilarity like when the three ladies decide to even the scores with the busy body rumour spreading mums at the school, these kinds of moments are dotted around and are just the ticket between some tougher parts of the story.
When I say sad, I don't mean that it's all bad stuff either, it's uplifting in its way and tries to talk about how you deal with grief, it recognises that it's just all ok, however you handle it.
I found myself drawn to watch every episode as it aired but knew each one was going to leave me in a funk by the end because it's just that good.
I loved every moment of this drama, but if you're not in the mood for what this has to offer skip it and come back when you are.
Very much something you can rewatch too, if you need something to trigger (or cover...) the tears to help you get over something else, put this one on and binge it until you feel better. I found the plot generally predictable but not in any negative way, this one's about the journey, and that just makes it all the better for rewatching.
Was this review helpful to you?
Brilliant fun!
Short: If there was ever a role that suited Hwang Jung Eum, this is it. Many good fun moments, general warm message of helping people through their "grudges". Some good music, and an original story with interesting characters played by a superb cast make this one an easy win.Detailed:
So much fun :)
It's 12 episodes, which allows it to remain punchy and stay on point. Many amusing moments come out of Wol joo's character being something of a brat, constantly acting up and bossing people around, particularly her faithful sidekick.
It just looks like the cast, directors, writer had a blast - there's a lot of energy in it and numerous times that some interesting scenes were in there that perhaps didn't even need to be (like one scene where she turns to face the camera, breaks the fourth wall and sends out some facts to the viewers, or another where they subtly introduce 'the new guy in heaven' - Steve Jobs of Apple, who's sitting there taking one bite out of an apple in just *that* place) - but the presence of them just made it all the more fun.
It has a good message, everything you do reflects on you later, whether it's big or small, good or bad, it will come back to you later.
If there was ever a role that Hwang Jung Eum's very extrovert acting style suited this one is absolutely it, even if you haven't appreciated her as much in other roles give this one a shot, it's spot on :)
I particularly enjoyed Jung Da Eun's character, Yeo Rin, the security guard. She takes no prisoners, she's tough, but she's still a person and shows warmth as well.
Highly watchable, definitely recommended :)
Why only 9.5 and not 10? It's not "goblin" good or "crash landing" good, but I can't bear to give it even a 9, so i've gone for 9.5 :) There's no science there at all! :)
Was this review helpful to you?
Detailed:
So, the tags for this one include things like Infidelity and Corruption, and I saw others using words like "Revenge" - I must admit I hadn't seen this one as a likely hit for me. I like positive dramas and after watching a couple of Revenge ones I found they're just not to my taste at all. But... it was listed on a recent article on this site in a list of five dramas, four of which I had seen and agreed wholeheartedly with the article author - so I felt that surely this one must be a good bet. I thank the author, Devil's Advocate, for their recommendation!
The infidelity topic is a sensitive one, it's not something I'm normally interested in watching either because often it's somewhat sleazy or purely sexual - and while i'm certainly no prude, it's just not what I come to KDrama for. I was interested to see how this was portrayed, and also because dated in 2014 before Adultery was decriminalised (Korean Penal Code 241), how/if they would handle the criminal aspect of it.
This is a slow paced drama, it's about the imagery of what you're seeing, how you take in the emotions and feelings of the characters and understand what they are going through. Where this one takes it a step further however is through the use of music, particularly the Piano - my favourite instrument. It was a joy to watch the actors perform on the Piano, I don't know if they are as classically trained as it appears but at the end of the day that doesn't matter, they are believable in their performances with keystrokes matching the sounds and the raw emotion of the pieces expressed throughout their whole body movements as they played. When a musician plays a piece of music, they don't just play the Piano with their fingers or hands, it's played with the entire body, and that's exactly how they portrayed it. There was a particularly brilliant scene early on in the drama where the two are playing a two-person piece together on the same Piano and it's super obvious that it's a sexually charged scene with all the energy that implies and yet there's just two people playing the Piano.
Throughout the drama there are many times that you'll be sitting and listening to the music, whether it's because that's what is happening in the story or because there's something else going on and the music is accompanying. You're going to want to like slower contemplatory scenes with the music to listen to or you may find your focus drifting away, personally I was captivated.
The director has also done a magnificent job, the scene where they first get together in his home, with some seemingly random stationary camera shots at various objects around the room you almost feel like you're in the room looking around at anything you can to not look at the two, but you can't help but hear odd things that they say. It was probably one of the better ways i've seen of expressing that "they hooked up" without going anywhere near anything traditional for this. The rest of the drama continues with a similar quality approach.
The FL goes through a personal journey of discovery about what is important to her, and where she is in her life and her status. While the ML's character is great he is there to shine a light on her life, this is her story more than it is theirs.
They DO cover the criminal aspect of Adultery as well just to resolve the point I raised earlier.
Many recognisable faces in the cast but I absolutely felt that Kim Hee Ae was glorious in her performance and I shall certainly be looking out more from her (and indeed the director).
Only minor dent for me? and it really is minor given the weight of the rest of the story - I just like them to end a little longer, it was a nice ending but I wanted more. Maybe I just didn't want it to end. I'm like that when I get into good characters in a good story though.
I loved it and certainly recommend it.
Was this review helpful to you?
This one is going to take you into the offices inside a school and you'll be taken on a journey as the teachers go through their behind-the-scenes work to provide education for the kids and all the challenges they face.
Starting out with a horrible accident that changes the life of Ha-Neul forever as it inspires her to become a teacher, the story follows her early career as she joins a school as a contract temporary teacher and is immediately thrown into the middle of intense office politics.
While this drama takes place in a school, it's more of an office drama - the politics between departments, the power struggles of the power hungry, those who are going above and beyond to try and provide the best education to the students and those who come to work for a pay check.
I picked this one up because of Seo Hyun-Jin, i'll watch anything she's in because I enjoy her acting - but I'd re-watch it because of the story and all the other characters without a doubt.
It's really interesting to see the school situation from this perspective, as they are a struggling school that is really struggling to get universities to accept or even consider their students they start coming up with strategies to take their top students and push them further - but then this has other consequences. From an outside perspective you would no doubt share the students and parents view of them being single minded to the top 1% of students but seeing all the discussions, meetings and debates you see that things are always more complicated than that.
There's no romance here, not even the slightest whiff of one, so don't come here expecting it :)
Worth a watch!
Was this review helpful to you?
The Waffley Bit - The two main leads were amazing, having already seen Shin Hye Sun in "30 but 17" I was already expecting great work from her, but hadn't seen "L" in anything before. Shin Hye Sun was just fantastic showing a wide range of her character work from the stone cold ice queen, mean and cruel at the start, to the warm, loving and friendly character later and then to the hysterical, crying and pitiful character further on, with plenty in between. It's worth rewatching just to remind yourself how her character progresses so much - after you've seen her "lights up the room" smiles and "nervous breakdown" crying it's worth reminding yourself of the emotionless cold hearted character she rendered at the start. L was fantastic too, and if i'm honest I appreciated his work more than I expected I would, nothing wooden or plastic about his performance at all, it was spot on. Other characters were largely as expected, though I did appreciate the butler played by Woo Hee Jin, an interesting character who makes out that she is constantly put out of her way by Yeon Seo, but is always there beside her protecting her.
Music was just stunning, this one is all about a ballerina so you can expect some fantastic ballet performances and lots of classical music to go with it (but not enough to put off those who don't enjoy it, don't worry :) ). Where the normal OST style tracks are they were mostly brilliant, some really notable tracks i'm looking forward to hearing again separately. The only exception for me was one track that starts with "1, 2 and 1,2,3.4" in the vocals - at least a couple of times this was played over the top of someone talking and its mere presence simply highlighted to me just how often it got played (at least for a while anyway until they seemed to stop using it at all). Producers - don't talk over your actors!
Story - this bit is a bit mixed. Overall I really enjoyed it. It's not without its issues though. Some times things are just glossed over - you go from one state of relationship to another in the blink of an eye and there's no reason or explanation as to how it happened. One minute characters are at loggerheads and the next they've figured it out and made up... There's more good than bad, and the bad isn't really that bad it's more just a case of taking something on faith really. There's a heavy Christian religious theme to it - but that ought to be expected - and one of the things I was hoping they'd develop was the burden humanity places on God, why does He permit bad things to happen to good people? The question comes up, but it never really gets any kind of answer or development. There's plenty of fist shaking to the sky but then later on when Angel Dan narrates his final views it's verging on as "thats just how it is, and i'm suddenly fine with that where i wasn't before". I think this would have been a great opportunity to explore these elements further even if only in the context of discussing thoughts and views (I should say I'm not a religious person myself perhaps, but I still appreciate religious elements in stories, whatever religion it might be).
There's some similarities that can be drawn between some of the key elements of this drama and "You who came from the stars", particularly the two leads who get together but inevitably know there's a clock ticking where they will be ripped apart. Another element that I found good in this similar to "stars" was where the couple are joyously happy, but you, and they, know they are racing towards that cliff - it's a bittersweet time and represented well.
The conclusion is... there? But it wasn't particularly clear and as with numerous other times in the story - lacking even simple explanation, I mean they're standing under the tree, how about a leaf falling with a simple note from God to Dan and Yeon Seo just to put a "bow" on it. I also don't like how they left the butler's view of Dan shredded to pieces - given the final few minutes i'm sure it would have repaired, but that just left a sour taste.
So... finally? Yep, worth a watch, it's not flawless by any means, but it's still worth the time to watch it in my view. Rewatch is quite high because I don't think knowing the ending really affects your enjoyment too much, and in fact as I said earlier, watching the full range of Shin Hye Sun's performance again has to be worth the time.
Was this review helpful to you?
First major thing I noticed is that while this is a somewhat-medical drama, it focuses on a branch of medicine that is rarely covered anywhere - Psychiatry. Dealing with a range of characters that have a variety of different challenges to face in their lives, getting help is a key part of the message. You're never alone, no matter what, you can always ask for help, and the amazing people in Psychiatry are the ones to provide it.
The pacing on this one is absolutely perfect. The main lead couple is amazing, the chemistry between them is spot on. They have their disagreements and even misunderstandings - but there's not a stupid breakup in sight. They solve their problems by talking to each other, being straight forward and honest. On the one or two occasions they don't, a character is nearby to smack them upside the head and get them to deal with it right away and be honest. It was refreshing and allowed the author time to go into other more interesting areas.
One of the second couples - which had Lee Sung Kyung (whom I seem to be watching an awful lot of lately) was really good too, showed some good development in both the characters particularly hers as she moves from school girl to young woman and decides what she wants out of life.
Various mental issues are covered but primarily the topic of the show is the highly misunderstood Schizophrenia (which is NOT the same as Multiple Personality Disorder). Much like any medical drama, various patients will come by our characters and their stories will unfold over two or three episodes as the doctors help them to work through problems and open up their emotions.
There's a large message throughout this story about clearing up misunderstandings about mental illness and how Psychiatrists can help. One of the characters has Tourette's Syndrome and there's an exceptionally touching moment when Lee Sung Kyoung's character kisses him first - something that always triggers an attack - and where you're expecting the youthful and barely mature girl to freak out at what looks like a "eww" type response, she places her headphones on his head with some soft music and holds him - and he calms down in no time.
Haven't listened to the OST yet but the music throughout sounded great so I'm looking forward to having a proper listen.
Overall, I can only recommend this as something that must be on your "must watch" list somewhere near the top.
Was this review helpful to you?
This story was amazing, until it wasn't. It was gripping, and I really enjoyed the twisty paths the author takes us on trying to figure out who did what, who is who, who is who in the past, who knows who already and who knows what other strange questions are unravelled throughout. Really clever, a complex unravelling that I really enjoyed.
The acting was superb, Seo In Guk - who i'd seen previously in a radically different role (goofy, light hearted etc) in Shopaholic Louie was amazing in this role as a much darker character with clear "damage". He keeps you on your toes throughout trying to work out if he's just got baggage from the past, or if he's actually missing some key parts of his humanity. Jung So Min I saw previously in Because this is my first life, and in many ways it's a similar type of character so was instantly familiar. The third main character was Park Sung Woong who I saw last in "Remember" - plays Jung So Min's older brother and police officer, always delivers a strong performance and is key in all the unravelling that goes on, his character has to resolve and handle a number of complex things in his past and how he copes with them and I really believed in his character.
I was totally hooked on this all the way through, it made a nice change from some of the lighter fluffy ones (which this most definitely is not) and has quite a lot of depth - it's not just solve one mystery and all done, there's layers upon layers.
However after the 16 episodes are done, i'm left with a feeling verging on anger and frustration at the ending. For me that's why the rewatch score is so low, otherwise this would have been a definite rewatch. The ending just seemed unnecessary, there were options going forward hinted at earlier in the story that could have been used to make a better (IMHO) ending. As I warned at the start, the area I have the most critical feedback on I can't because otherwise it's a spoiler.
All I'll say is - watch it, it's definitely worth the watch, but brace for the conclusion.
Props for some supporting characters / actors - Tak (Jang Yun Nam) provides a great sounding board for Park Sun Woong's character, and I liked that she was a strong character in her own right (though I can't imagine anyone not being strong who gets to any kind of position in the police force). Im Yoo Ri (Go Min Shi) was another interesting character to watch and I really liked the journey of improvement she went on ultimately - which is kinda why I was more let down by the ending as I was really expecting that this was the blueprint for the way forward for the final ending as well... not to mention a flash forward x years to see her "reborn" and doing well with good support around her. Ah well.
Was this review helpful to you?
Cat/Person/Cat/Person/Cat/Person and "desperately needing the loo" are probably my favourite two funny-scenes but there are numerous sprinkled throughout.
The whole premise is a bit silly, the idea that a human could consistently fool another human by pretending to be a robot, however they do kinda nod to that at the end when things come out so it works out in my view.
Put that to one side and you end up with a funny story of Chai Soo Bin's character needing to pretend to be a robot (which was modelled on her in the first place) when the robot stops working. All sorts of shenanigans as he "tests" her abilities and her and the team try to cope with everything happening.
The male lead has a nasty condition that means coming in to physical contact with another person brings him out in a horrific life threatening rash, he's basically allergic to people, leading a life as a recluse - which starts to hint as to why having this "robot" in the house with him begins to mean so much to him
But wait - it's not a robot, it's a person, doesn't that mean he's allergic to her too? Sorry you gotta watch it to understand that but it was a really nice element. Related to it, I particularly liked when he got the watch that told him of his "allergy levels" and you then could literally see how much he valued being around the "robot" - even if he doesn't understand it, we're all nodding and winking at the screen going "uh huh" :)
As you'd expect with deception storylines, it all comes to a head and I thought they handled this very well, along with how this then develops to the conclusion of the story.
Brilliant, my first drama with Chai Soo Bin (Where Stars land was my second :) ) and i'll be looking out for more, she has a unique voice and presence that I enjoy watching on screen.
Was this review helpful to you?
A Giant Game of Go
I very much enjoyed this - I had just finished My Dearest a couple of weeks ago and this overlaps in time with Captivating the King starting with the end of the Qing invasion and the prince being sent to Shenyen, followed by the gradual collapse into some insanity of the reigning king (they each take a slightly different lean on this aspect though). Translator Jung is also present in character as well (different actor of course and with different motivations compared to My Dearest). If you've watched one, watch the other, it's interesting seeing the common bits as well as the different takes on things.The standout for me is the male lead - this is the first time i've seen Jo Jung Sook in an entirely 100% serious role, all of his others have allowed him to bring his brilliant light heartedness and comedic sense but there is nothing comedic about this role as he starts as the prince and progresses to being the King it's all serious all the way.
I enjoyed the interplay between the characters, the scheming going back and forth, and the strategies that the two leads were employing even independently of each other. It's like watching a pair of grand masters at work. The writing here was exceptional I felt.
I was absolutely hooked on this from start to finish - binged the entire thing in fairly short order.
Shin Se Kyung is someone I always enjoy watching and I thought she delivered well in this, does seem like she's a marmite attraction to many viewers but for me, I thought she was great.
As the bad guys start to get taken down there are definitely a number of "punch the sky" "yess!" moments to be had, especially with the big-bad :)
Well worth the watch in my view!
Was this review helpful to you?
Finding yourself
Originally picked this one up because of the cast - Ji Chang Wook, Shin Hae Sun, Kim Mi Kyung, and more, what an amazing cast! Special shout out though to the younger of the three sisters and her daughter, I loved some of their interactions, really well written and performed. I'm a massive fan of Shin Hae Sun's work so I'd have watched this regardless to be honest!I recall there were fears online about it being a bit like Hometown Cha Cha Cha but honestly it's nothing like that at all, this is very much its own story.
Predominantly set in Jeju-do we see our three sisters return there after Sam-dal's career goes up in flames and they each go on a journey of reflection and growth to find their real path in the world. Sam-dal had been under a pseudonym while in Seoul and wasn't really being her true self, her elder sisters marriage had ended and she'd not really found her place or any direction following that and the younger sister who has a daughter, her husband had died.
Being set in Jeju-do means that you've just got non-stop beautiful scenery in this drama. It's also good to see the Haenyeo's (female divers) feature prominently in a drama too, it doesn't happen too often, but in this one they're fundamental to the whole story. Lots of fun banter and interactions, they're fun, fierce and loyal and will go to the ends of the earth to defend their own.
I never thought the story wandered, it always seemed to be continuing in a direction, and I didn't get bored watching it. For me, from the start this was a must-watch each episode that came up.
It's a pretty light easy going story on the whole, there's no violence (well, beyond what could only be described as comedic violence) or abuse, there's no murders, just people figuring out their path.
There are numerous moments that will dampen the eyes as things progress.
I think of all the journeys undertaken, the father of Yong pil is probably the most meaningful, dealing with bereavement for 20 years and never getting past it, creating a huge rift between two families that were closer than blood and how that all intertwines fundamentally in the whole premise of the story, as well as its conclusion. It's not an easy answer, there's no magic button moment, you're on this journey with him and his performance is superb throughout (even if you do kinda want to throw things at the TV sometimes...)
The daughter of the youngest sister is brilliant, she's going to be an amazing talent to watch develop as she gets older I think, the future is bright for the cast of dramas to come!
Definitely worth a watch if you're in the mood for something a bit lighter, some occasional tears (assuming you're wired that way, not all are!), some good laughs and a feel-good trajectory throughout.
The drama also does a fairly good job at supporting Jeju-do tourism - I really want to go do the Jeju Olle Trail now...
Is it entirely perfect without flaw? Well, the final bits of the ending where they cut to the various people in "The Power Rangers" (the name of their group) is a little silly, things that didn't work before suddenly work magnificently at the end, but, I'll allow it, it really doesn't matter to the story and fits with the up beat tie-a-bow-on-it ending.
Interestingly, I thought this was a much better "weather" drama than the "Forecasting Love and Weather" which just fell flat for me - this one has some actual weather-moments and you feel like you're a little more involved in the KMA's work. I really need to dig a little and see if anyone's actually managed to pull off a good drama based entirely around the KMA.
Was this review helpful to you?
Detail:
The writer was clearly bullied, or knows someone who was bullied, there's too much in here that I painfully recognise as someone who experienced elements of it myself at school. It's well told and presented, with a story that moves at a really good pace throughout, constantly adding more elements and threads and then progressively resolving those threads (and sometimes, adding a few more to resolve later too).
This one carries a strong message for high schoolers who will be experiencing turmoils of emotions and pressures from all sides, it explores the student who is under ridiculous pressure from his parents, loneliness of being the outcast, the pain of constant torture and beratement, humiliation - and just how calculatingly and appallingly mean school kids can be. It's easy for those who don't know to dismiss just how evil some kids can be.
Kim So Hyun plays as twin sisters, with the bullied orphan twin Eun-Bi who lives in a hospice, involved in an incident and losing her memories and finding herself in her sisters life, a sister she never knew even existed, with everyone calling her by her sisters name and she's got new friends and an entirely different place in the world, she even has a Mom now and is living life like it's a dream.
I've got to be honest and say my main reason for watching it was simply that it was another opportunity to see the amazing Kim So Hyun do her work - but I was hooked on the story from pretty much the first episode and had more than one late night squeezing in one more episode as the producer and writer deliver excellent (darn you) endings to each.
Honestly this one has had more of an impact on me that I probably realise, it's dredged up old memories and feelings and while they're not the best time of my life at all it's healthy to reflect that I got through it and that's the message in the drama, it gets better.
I liked the characters, and as painful as it was to watch, I enjoyed the evil machinations of So-Yeoung, a master manipulator who can find any situation and turn it to her advantage.
I liked how the story wraps up with one exception, there's one victim here who is left and it feels like the story creates a brand new outcast and leaves her in a terrible situation, and I was really hoping the story would find a way to more positively close her thread too. It's difficult because of who she is, but the underlying message of the story needs to apply equally to everyone or else you're leaving someone in the dark with no means of escape except something permanent and terrible.
I definitely recommend this one!
Was this review helpful to you?
