the power of gratitude
I'm not even going to say too much about this drama, it is simply beautiful and demands to be watched and appreciated.
This drama is about the redemptive power of simple gratitude, how the words 'thank you' have the ability to change your outlook and ultimately your life's path, no matter what your circumstances are.
The cast as a whole is superb, there are no stars here, just a well rounded ensemble of gifted storytellers, such is the power of this story that stars like Gong Hyo Jin and Jang Hyuk, although they delivered wonderful performances, they still managed to blend in with the other relatively unknown cast seamlessly.
I do. however have to give special mention to Seo Shin Ae and Shin Goo; Seo Shin Ae's precocious portrayal of Bom is stellar and amazing, she elicited tears and laughter in equal measure and was an absolute joy to watch.
Shin Goo's portrayal of Mr Lee or grandfather was awe inspiring, he injected such pathos into his character that I was completely engaged whenever he was on screen.
This drama is amazing and is definitely worth watching, you will not regret it. It reminds me of why I watch Kdramas in the first place, it is so full of HEART.
I give it 10 out of 10 in all categories. SIMPLY SPLENDID!!!!!
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Thank You, But No, Thank You
When it's 2021 and you decide to watch a drama from 14 years ago, you really have to go into it with an open mind. Unfortunately, not even the most open mind can save Thank You, which, despite having some value, is almost entirely a dismal, dull, and directionless experience with only sparse amounts of real entertainment value to be found throughout its 16 episodes.STORY
The concept of the story here is a good one: writing around an adorable little girl living with AIDS (Lee Bom, played by Seo Shin Ae) is a brave premise, and using it tackle head-on the overwhelming fear and superstition surrounding AIDS that the Korean population at large struggled with at the time is very interesting. As if that wasn't enough, Thank You also tries to take on dementia/aging as main themes as well, so you get a cornucopia of uncomfortable subjects to chew on here.
The problem is that the show doesn't surround these themes with enough heart, and the entire plot is told with all the joy of a funeral service. Make no mistake: this is 16 hours of miserable people being miserable. Every time you think they will break the agony up with some joy, they ruin it in short order, usually with one or more characters behaving idiotically with zero justification.
Another huge problem is the problematic portrayal of paternity and the rights of fathers presented here. One of the characters in the show is, in fact, the biological father of the Lee Bom character, but at no point does the show address or explore his rights as her father. Indeed, it seems that the audience is meant to view it as *a matter of course* that he has no rights at all. This is not exactly a balanced view of the subject, and an omission in the writing made all the more glaring by the fact that much of the rest of the drama does actually achieve a level of nuance and thoughtfulness in some of the themes.
Overall, though, there is a LOT of wasted time in this drama: characters behaving like idiots for no reason, characters who don't matter *at all* and have nothing of interest to contribute getting entirely too much screen time, and of course lots and lots and lots of the main characters just staring at each other endlessly.
The best part of the story is Lee Bom, not just because she is achingly precious and easy to love with your whole heart, but because she is the most genuine and straightforward character in the show. She is almost an audience surrogate, saying and doing the things we all wish everyone else was saying and doing but aren't because they are deeply stupid (and/or poorly-written). Lee Bom is an excellent communicator in a drama full of some of the worst communicators in the medium.
And the stupidest and most infuriating character of all? The female first lead, Lee Young Shin, played by the wonderful Gong Hyo Jin. This character takes the "woebegone doormat" trope of first-leads and cranks it all the way to 11: she consistently takes every possible abuse with head bowed and a "thank you" on her lips (the title of the drama is literally a reference to this), and yet whenever literally anyone even attempts to offer her some actual support and love, she responds with anger and rejection. And what is her justification for this? There is none, and she makes no attempt to have one. She is just painfully, terminally stupid. That's it.
While the story does indeed build to a few moments of beauty and emotional payoff, it is on the whole a letdown and a test of patience to get through.
ACTING/CAST
The one "saving grace" of this show, if you can call it that. The four lead characters are all perfectly cast and they all do their best, but even though three of them are absolute legends, even they don't quite live up to their potential. Or rather, perhaps they have not yet fully mastered their craft. I will say that Gong Hyo Jin is pretty much exactly as good as you'll ever see her, but both Jang Hyuk and Shin Sung Rok haven't fully captured their famous magnetism and charisma just yet. Jang Hyuk is very far along in his maturation by this point, but Shin Sung Rok was exceptionally poor here. He honestly barely acts at all, and the few times he pulls something real out on camera, the poor directing and editing nearly ruin it. It should be pointed out, though, that he doesn't have a lot to work with in the script.
Of course, the real shining star of this drama and the one thing that kept me watching until the end is Seo Shin Ae as Lee Bom. At the tender age of 8 years old, it's absurd how engaging and genuine her performance is. Consistently funny, consistently heartbreaking, and believable throughout, Seo Shin Ae brought to life the most perfect little angel, and if you decide to watch this (don't) despite reading my review (don't watch it, really), I can at least guarantee that you will love and adore and want to protect little Lee Bom every time she is on screen (but don't bother watching this unless you hate yourself). Despite being an 8-year-old, she does the fewest stupid things out of everyone in the show, so very little gets in the way of fully and deeply adoring her, like I did.
MUSIC
Even the music in this show was annoying! There's a song that plays for basically *every* "sad scene" and it is incredibly obnoxious. It's just a man humming something that is supposed to sound mournful, but it's annoying the first time you hear it and then so overused that it actually made Wife and I *laugh* during sad scenes. I imitate the song at home now whenever I want to get a reaction from Wife. It's literally become a meme in our home.
The rest of the OST here is.... forgettable, and far too many sequences go by with no music at all. Overall, not great efforts here.
REWATCH VALUE
Why in the name of all that is good would anyone watch this a SECOND TIME??? I know the answer to that: Seo Shin Ae is stupidly adorable and could merit going back to gawk at how good she is here (hence, all 5 points of the 5/10 score I gave this here). There is also a scene where Jang Hyuk chops firewood where he is clearly doing a lot of ad-libbing and it's pretty great. But that's about it for memorably good scenes.
But seriously, this drama was painful enough the first time, I cannot imagine having such a small amount of respect for your own limited lifespan as to waste finite hours on REWATCHING this deeply flawed, largely boring, and ultimately miserable show. I'm annoyed enough at myself for not only finishing it, but taking the time to even review it. Ugh.
OVERALL
Thank You can really be summed up in one of its final scenes: the two lead characters, still not having communicated anything of importance to one another at any point, stare at each other for what feels like a solid two minutes. And they say nothing. And nothing is resolved. It is the final infuriating missed opportunity that this show lets go whooshing by without utilizing.
Do not watch Thank You. Don't. Just don't. Unless you want to hate watch, or you just *really* want to see some of your favorite actors doing their thing except 14 years younger. If that describes you... fine, give it a shot. But if you want good kdrama? Skip this, forget it exists, and watch these amazing actors in literally anything else.
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The acting was so much on par with their characters especially the actor that played Lee Bom. The feelings of any child finding out that she has an illness and that nobody would want to go close to her was portrayed flawlessly. The relationship between mother and child will tug at your heart because they are just that good.
In my opinion, the music wasn't memorable for me and i can't remember anything distinctively bad about it.
This is the kind of drama you would watch once and feel so sad while watching it that you wouldn't want to watch it after again. Its not that its not good or anything but you just have some dramas that are too painful to rewatch and this is one of them. Its the norm 16 episodes, 1 hour each so if you're really into it then its worth watching it again.
I can't imagine a child having to go through knowing she has HIV (she doesn't know at first) and having her friends, neighbours distance themselves away from her but this drama has so many strong feelings about that. Don't watch this for the romance but watch it for the very impactful story. If you like touching stories you won't regret watching this one.
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Truly one of the best written dramas I have ever seen, if not THE best. Plus lovely performances from the always awesome Jang Hyuk and Gong Hyo-jin. I didn't want to watch it at first because it sounded like a depressing, low-key "message" drama, which is not my style. But thank goodness my mom forced me to watch it, because it's one of the all around best watching experiences I've had since I started getting into kdramas. It made me weep with joy and sadness, sometimes at the same time. I promise you will not regret investing some time into this gem of a drama.
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Personally, I was not into pre 2010 drama as I'm afraid the plot will be different from my taste. But this drama changed my view. It's surely an underrated drama without all the post 2010 nuisance. Yes, it has cliches but bearable. Gong yo Jin is superb and I liked her acting skills.
I'm not sure if I will recommend this drama but if you like Coffee Prince, you can go for it.
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This review may contain spoilers
Jang Hyuk and Shin Sung-rock
I was so conflicted throughout the whole series about who should end up with Young-shin. Even though it took Seok-hyun eight years to finally return home I really like him with Young-shin. I was disappointed there were no flashbacks of them when they were young and in love. I kept rooting for Seok-hyun to fight for her. In the end though I have to say Jang Hyuk didn’t disappoint me in his performance as Gi-Seo. I think I could watch anything he starred in.Kudos to Shin Gu for portraying a person suffering from dementia.
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Retro cool drama!
What a Cast! What a Story!It’s an old drama so actors have a retro hair style and old-school outfits. They walk and run around the island a lot. They smoke cigarettes and often lost their phones. The weather is sunny and windy, the ocean is shining, it’s an exciting trip due south of Korea.
It’s a beautiful, heartwarming, well played family story, but it also a melodrama and sliced of life, with a bit absurd humor. It’s so beautiful that it took my breath away.
Every protagonist has a flaw: Jang Hyuk is a jerk, Gong Hyo Jin is dumb and irresponsible, Shin Sung Rok is greedy bad boy, Ryu Seung Soo at this time is not a gangster, but eventually everyone reveals the other, deeper face. The busiest is 8 years old actress Seo Shin Ae who has a lot of lines to recite.
The pace is rather slow but never boring, because it’s for presenting the multidimensional relationship between members of family and neighborhood, especially around the little girl Bom. The character of Gong Hyo Jin is so dumb and pushover that not only you are nervous about it but also other protagonists, they were nagging her: be impudent! Be brazen! Don’t be silly! But some episodes later you start to wonder what is important and value in life? To be clever and cunning? Really?
There is the most interesting kaleidoscope of characters I have recently seen in dramas: Mr Lee – about his character you can write a book! Budda-nim – the worried matchmaker, the first and eternal love of innkeeper, the scenes with them are just wonderful.
If you like other dramas of screenwriter Lee Kyung Hee “Chocolate” or “I’m Sorry I Love You” – you may love this one too. This reminds me “When Camellia Blooms” in both there is a single mother played by Gong Hyo Jin, at the small village near the ocean, and in both the bright star is a child actor!
If you want to watch something good and classic, watch "Thank You". It’s a Masterpiece. Definitely.
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Un cœur en larme et une âmebrisée se trouvent, et s'aident, classique, mais parfait !
L'histoire en quelques mots : Min Gi Seo est un médecin et chirurgien réputé (fils d'une présidente d'une grande société immobilière) dont la fiancée meurt sans qu'il puisse l'empêcher. Doté d'un caractère autoritaire, arrogant et passablement sûr de lui il ne supporte pas cet échec , basculant dans une telle culpabilité qu'il renonce à la médecine. Sa mère l'envoie alors comme "homme de main" sur l'île Bleue où elle a entrepris la construction d'un centre de loisirs, avec le directeur du projet Choi Suk Hyun. Là il va rencontrer Lee Young Shin, mère célibataire d'une fillette de 8 ans porteuse du HIV et chargée en plus d'un grand-père sénile. Cette femme est reliée à la fois à Min Gi Seo par sa fiancée décédée et à Choi Suk Hyun qui n'est rien moins que son amour de jeunesse le père(absolument non déclaré) de sa fille.Tout cela semble augurer du drama classique avec son triangle amoureux de base et dont la question essentielle serait : qui va rester avec Young Shin ?
Eh bien c'est cela et aussi beaucoup plus.
Parce qu’il y a la réaction populaire devant le HIV, et le chemin de rédemption d’un homme à travers la tendresse d’un enfant, et alors chapeau à Jang Hyuk qui est magnifique, tout en retenue, et en intensité, je suis absolument fan de cet acteur !!! Gong Hyo Jin est parfaite, toute en tendresse, en émotion, (sauf que j'aurais aimé qu'elle rentre dans le lard de certaines bonnes femmes, mais, ce n'était pas le personnage !!)La relation de ces trois adultes avec la petite Lee Bom est extraordinaire de simplicité et d'authenticité, et l'enfant qui l'interprète est vraiment remarquable (elle m'a rappelé le petit garçon de "Automne concerto")
Un mot pour les seconds rôles : le grand-père sénile, remarquable, la mère de Suk Hyun , partagée entre sa bonté naturelle et ses préjugés sociaux, le docteur de l'île, l'infirmière qui, à la moindre alerte court partout en criant " que faire ? que faire ?" les habitants, tous sont très bons.
Un autre bémol : le personnage de la fiancée était inutile à mon sens, sauf peut-être pour montrer que Suk Hyun est un arriviste froid.
Un mot sur la musique : tout ce que je peux en dire c'est que les chansons sont rares, ne viennent pas sans cesse polluer l'histoire, pour le reste comme elle est discrète (et que je ne la remarque jamais) je dirai que c'est très bien !!
La réalisation est soignée, il y a peu de flash-back, et sont très bien utilisés, ils expliquent principalement les scènes qui se sont passées pendant celles que nous avons vues, ainsi d'ailleurs que les débuts d'épisodes, qui reprennent la fin du précédent, mais vu par quelqu'un d'autre et sous un autre point de vue.
Il y a aussi un zest de surnaturel, très peu, très léger, mais qui marque bien l'atmosphère un peu hors du temps de l'île !
Enfin, j'ai adoré ce drama, qui m'a touchée, émue, (sans pathos) et maintenant je regrette bien qu'il soit fini !!! et donc c'est un plaisir que de passer une heure à le présenter !!
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THE BEST KDRAMA I EVER SEEN !!!
I had this (old) drama on my list for a long time, but I was afraid it would be bad! I was so so wrong...Of course, there are difficult, painful moments, but above all there is a strong message, laughter, courage.
The story focuses on the struggles of a single mother, who lives on a remote island, with her senile grandfather and her HIV-positive daughter. The neighbors are very human: they have their temper, their faults, their anger, and are mostly uneducated. A totally depressed doctor arrives because he has just lost his girlfriend (a female doctor who had transmitted HIV to the child during an emergency transfusion).
The actors, all of them, but particularly the 2 leads (Jang Hyuk and Gong Hyo Jin) and the actress who plays the child, use their infinite talent, their sensitivity, to convey intense emotions. Censorship was still very present in 2007 and this drama is very humble, but these two great actors make us live this situation in looks, in sensitivity, in micro-expressions,... They are absolutely brilliant!
The screenwriter (for once) is correct in terms of psychological analysis:
- Relationships on an island are well developed. Proximity, gossip, life in a closed place, the brutal changes of the weather,...
- The strength, the fears, the will to keep a low profile of this mother who (rightly) gives absolute priority to her daughter.
- the depression and then the slow healing of the doctor
- parents' anxieties about HIV
This drama is a bit vintage (hairstyle, costumes, sets, long frozen scenes when the director wants to emphasize emotions, OST) but the characters are so strong that it's impossible to leave them.
Don't miss this masterpiece! You will laugh, cry, be outraged, ... and like me, want to watch this drama again.
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