In Short: A fabulous melodrama about people who are horrible to each other. Soong Joong ki is great. A bit too much amnesia for my taste. I wanted Eun Gi to be restored to her former glory, but she never actually did.
Pros: Song Joong Ki is wonderful, and portrays our anti-hero well. Great melodrama.
Cons: Enough amnesia to power dramaland for centuries.
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I liked the fact that there's no notion of white and black for the goodness....the lines are blurry and grey....There's no definite right or wrong....
Secondly, the acting is so accurate, every single emotion is right where it should be. Nothing is wasted, every single detail is there for a reason.
And all the characters feel real.You can relate to everyone of them.Even the bad Han Jae Hee. You can feel that the persons have this full range of emotions. They can feel different things.
So overall and before i get too emotional to finish this review, i think that this drama is the one. The one korean drama that i've been waiting for...
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This is the only way to catch your attentions from all of those comments given from others. The truth is, this is the best Korean drama I've ever watched. The characters, the plot (this was quite expected actually, but the arrangement was beautifully made), the acting. Everything is almost perfect in this drama. The way how Joong-Ki convey his emotions, it almost got us pity to Kang Maru, the character he played himself in the drama.
Here's one of the comments on Youtube about this drama that managed to get my attention;
"I've watched all the popular dramas, EVERYTHING, but this honestly is my fav. THE CHARACTER, I CAN'T. I JUST CAN'T. I love Kang Ma Roo, the way he's so complex but simple, so weak but strong, wanted to die so much but loved his Sister, so evil but kind, so desperate but never show it. The way he loved everyone but himself. The way he's trying really hard. He's an angel, but a devil too. The way he's so done with the world, the way he just follows the flow and lies of the world even though he knew the truths. I wish the Lonely Kang Ma Roo will be happy." - Little Meow Meow.
I realized most of the negative comments were about the ending, about how they expect something more impactful for the closing of the plots. Well, to be honest, I haven't watched this drama until the last episode yet hahahah. This might sound stupid, but the way how this drama was played will leave you unprepared for the following storyline, which is why this had hindered me since the beginning. And I have watched this drama repeatedly, since 2012! Can you guys imagine?
Oh by the way, at the time I was writing this review, this was my I-can't-remember-how-many-times I've watched this drama. Rewatch value? You decide. 1 star drama? Lets just call it A1 masterpiece.
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Whilst I do hold this opinion, it is a very typical drama about getting vengeance on people who do you wrong, as well as of course the amnesia (most fans of the series may hate me for saying this). The use of amnesia specifically became annoying for me towards the end of the series especially. The ending gave me quite some confusion on how I felt that I couldn't particularly put my finger on whether I liked it or not.
On the other hand, there were many positives about this drama. Of course, Song Joong Ki is forever the ultimate bae (the reason why I watched this) and I believe he played the role of Ma ru well, even the character himself - showing how much people can go for doing something for someone they have an adoration for, and how much prison and isolation can change a person. However, definitely what stood out best to me was the soundtrack. By far, I believe Nice Guy/The Innocent Man has one of the best and most underrated OSTs in all of k-dramas.
Nonetheless, this drama kept me watching until the very end, even if it became a chore, and I cannot help but recommend it since it does find its way to having a soft spot in everyone's hearts after they've watched it. :) x
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This review may contain spoilers
Engaging drama ended in a frenzy
SPOILERS ARE THERE.Recently,after watching SKJ in vincenzo ,DOTS and MCW in FOE , got interested in their previous works. So came to watch this drama. Will write down a few points , completely my personal opinion. Absolutely no issues if someone agrees or disagrees with it.
CAST- SJK as ML was good and the most engaging part of the show. His character looked well written and darker than other dramas. MCW's character Eon Gi looked somewhat vulnerable in parts. The character depth of Jae Hui was lost somewhere around the mid part of the drama . Other cast looked decent also. SJK is the most engaging part of this drama and his performance can keep you hooked.
STORY- Started off well , ended in a horrific manner with keeping many loose ends. It seemed that the ending was written in a rushed way. The Group of Companies just vanished into thin air with a stab injury leading to memory loss LOL. Around episodes 7-8 this revenge thing was cleared and then memory losses came into picture. But yes it was engaging till the penultimate episode.
MUSIC- OSTs were good along with background score.
ENJOYMENT - YES , definitely enjoyed it watching , there were very less boring scenes or episodes. Its the last episode or ending that messed up my viewing experience. Not only the ending was rushed, but also it seemed meaningless to have such ending in a revenge drama.
OVERALL - Decent one time watch . Will not watch it again.
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Story with emotion complex. While Watching this drama you will face different emotions as a viewer.
This drama have several types of genres added not specifically one genre is focused and each genre was equally added to every scene for the proper scenes. Honestly for me at the beginning the drama was a bit boring but after continue watching the curiosity of the story starts to grow higher, the situations of the story are unpredictable and starts craving to binge watch the drama.This drama is not only based on entertainment it also gives us life time lesson such as:
1. not to be greedy
2. importance of love
3. how strong should the love between the two people
4. Importance of trust on a relationship
Although if you tried to quit the drama in a certain episode your mind wont let you because in end of each episode there will be a questions pops up in to your head which make watch it continuously.
This story shows how the male main lead overcomes the huge barriers which he faced on his life at his 20s. No matter how good he is the people around won't let him be in peace and drag him down to hell. Every scenes are shot wisely there are no empty gaps between the drama in my opinion. This drama may not be that romantic but the story is based on true love and trust on each other.
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Picked this one up because having just watched Descendants of the Sun I wanted to see more of Song Joong Ki's work and it's also one of a small number of dramas with Moon Chae Won who I thoroughly enjoyed in Good Doctor.
Leading lady is played by Park Shi Yeon and I found her character to be an almost non-stop sense of annoyance if I'm honest - which is probably what was intended so I'm not saying that's an issue :) The smirky sneer expression on her face almost the entire time just wound me up.
So, this is a revenge story essentially. Starts small, gets bigger. The premise is interesting enough, I can believe that he's so in love with her that he's prepared to put her life ahead of his, love can have a strange affect on us all, though doing so at the expense of abandoning his sick sister who urgently needed taking to the hospital felt immediately like it was a step too far.
My main issue with this one is that the characters just seemed wobbly in their commitment - the leading lady is trying to be vindictive one minute and considering the possibility of giving it up all up for the leading guy in the name of love, and then back to vindictive, and - I couldn't keep up with whether the she was honestly flapping around (which didn't seem in-character for someone so apparently driven) or if it was setting up betrayals - which is sometimes how they worked out. I suspect a bit of both, which just makes it more confusing.
The same was true of the leading man - it was difficult to work out sometimes what HIS intentions were though it wasn't as bad as the lady.
Moon Chae Won's character and performance I am quite conflicted by because I really like her presence on screen but this script just had her flat most of the time. Other reviewers have noted that she starts out looking like a real strong lady in the story but the air is let out of her character and she ends up just flowing along like the rest. A real shame, Chae-Won is a great talent that, in my view, wasn't fully allowed to shine in this story at all.
Memory loss makes for some good tense elements to the story as you wait for the inevitable moment that memory returns and what's real and what's not come to the fore- but until then I did find that the positive happy moments between the leading man and Moon Chae Won's character were very nice to see.
Last couple of scenes are the "years later" conclusion and - well, it was ok. It was a nice "book-end" to finish with.
Second couple - the sister and friend - however - were gloriously brilliant, scenes with either or both of them in were fantastic and one of the highlights for me. I especially liked their conclusion :)
My conclusion? I'm glad I watched it because it did have some great moments however I have zero intention to watch it again
Would I recommend it? If you like the revenge stories then perhaps - they're not my favourite genre (I like them soft and fluffy darn it) - but even then i'd say there are probably better things on your "plan to watch" list. Don't discount it, but don't rush either :)
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The joy you get when you watch it for the first time.
I'll have to say, this drama was really a rollercoaster ride for me. The joy I got in watching this for the first time, I am willing to lose my past 2 days memory so that I can enjoy it again like I did.16 episodes, but as soon as I started the first episode I was shocked by first half of the drama. I finished the first episode and realised, so many things have already happened in the first episode alone! I'm impressed at how they managed to show so much in just 59 minutes. They explained the whole betrayal part and already 6 years past.
Kang Ma-Ru :- I love how calm, intelligent and loving he was, he would've scored a big score in his career if not that incident in the first episode. He always protected his love but he got betrayal in the end, It broke my heart after seeing Maru's situation. He really endured it all, i thought maru would literally explode from anger at some point. BUT he never lost his coolness, he never lost his temper. The way I expected him to blow up, he didn't which was really impressive. The number of times he was framed really wanted me to throw that women in a well of fire.
Seo Eun-Ki :-. Her character was shown as an arrogant, rude, confident, smart, inteligent, good judge of character and a person who does not trust anyone easily. As she was good at recognising human character, she must have trusted herself while falling in love with Maru, as she only trust herself in that house. She indeed was a good character judge, all those who she started to trust was really loyal to her. I really like when female leads are strong, physically and mentally. Eun-Ki was strong both physically and especially mentally. So strong that she even tested her alleys at some point in the drama.
Han Jae-Hui :- I just hate her to an extent where I can pull her hair one by one, and throw her into the pits of hell. THATS IT
re-watch value - the reason why I gave re-watch value such less points because it won't be fun if you watch it second time as you already know what tricks are going to be played and what's the main protagonist's step to protect himself/herself. It only takes you to a rollercoaster ride when you watch it for the FIRST time.
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During the first few episodes I did not like the female lead's acting and looks, I also don't feel good watching Joong Ki's pathetic role in the first few episodes. It took me 10 episodes before enjoying the drama as a whole. I was worried at first of how Kang Ma Roo's love and affection be transferred from Han Jae Hee to Eun Gi, but Song Joong Ki pulled it off in spite of some lacking aspects somewhere in the story. During the last few episodes, Kang Ma Roo's character became attractive so as his face, with those cool outfits and all. I was worried about what the ending would be, there were some flaws but al in all I'm ok with it.
If you are a Song Joong Ki fan, watch this.
If not, give it a shot if you have the luxury of time to watch.
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