The Master's Sun

My So Ji Sub fix while waiting for week 3 of Agent Kim Reactivated

This review is being written in July, 2026, thirteen years after The Master's Sun aired. I understand it was a hit when it aired and catipaulted the most excellent So Ji Sub's career. To be fair to the writer, neither Netflix nor Viki had great subtitles. Sometimes, I was confused about what exactly Joong Won was saying to Tae Young. Maybe my review is stunted due to the subtitles because I know the Korean language has much more depth than English with fewer words, causing cultural nuances to be missed entirely.

Before I continue, I have to stop here and say So Ji Sub has aged very gracefully ;-). I did watch this for So Ji Sub so I wouldn't go through withdrawl between episodes of Agent Kim Reactivated, and I stayed not only because of him but because I am a die-hard watcher who seldom drops a KDrama.

The story itself was good but not great (noting the subtitling issue). I have watched many dramas from the same time period that were much better in terms of character development, acting and overall storyline. Most of the characters in TMS were 1-dimentional, with the exception of KHJ whom I felt brought much more depth to Gong Shil than Ji Sub brought to Joong Won. Having said that, Kong Hyo Jin and So Ji Sub were both good in their respective roles - acting as the writer and director wanted. However, because of the stiffness of Joong Won's character, I wasn't convinced of the chemisty between SJS and KHJ. Ji Sub was stiffer than I've seen him in other dramas so I had to atribute his peformance here more to the directing than to him. I also didn't see much of a change in JW's character arc even in the last episode. Love makes people do crazy things, some that are utterly contrary to their character. I was expecting to see, at least a couple times, where he completely crumbled in her presence, casting all fear and/or pride aside. I actually didn't feel any attraction to Joong Won.

I remarked to my sister a number of times how Gong Shil was fearful but bold; (1) in her fearful reaction to the ghosts followed by her absolute need to help them in spite of JW's objections; and (2) how she touched Joong Won out of shear desparation regardless of his efforts to push her away. She even endured JW's aunt's lectures and Yi Ryung's bullying without backing down. I loved how she was comfortable with Kang Woo. To me, they were the better match. Yes, I had Second Male Syndrome. His warm, loyal, protective personality was no match for the abrassive, needy, empty Yi Ryung (Kim Roo Yi).

Gong Shil's mysterious past was mentioned enough times raising more than a little of curiosity about her - and in my mind, full anticipation that we'd find all thar out. With 17 episodes, almost no time was devoted as to why she was able to see ghosts. That would have been worth parts of 2 or 3 episodes to see flashbacks of her in the mountains, being rescued, and the ensuing recovery. In Episode 15 or 16 we should have seen flashbacks of her spirit traveling with photographer Woo Jin Woo (where is the most hansome Lee Chun Hee these days??). We needed more details to feel greater empathy for and understand of her. It would have been nice to hear Kang Woo (good early acting by Seo in Guk) or Secretary Kim (by the wonderful Choi Jung Woo) tell Joong Won what really happened to her 7 years ago and to see his reaction when he learned she spent 3 years in a coma. Scenes with these details are what would have brough greater depth to our ML's. As it was Won Jin Woo's introduction into the story felt like a weak segway into yet another delay to the final climax of them becoming a couple. WJW's character was more than just a segway, he was critical to the next part of GS's growth journey. He almost gave me Third Male Lead syndrome, BTW.

There were plenty of flashback (teasers) aboutJoong Woon and his past, and yet. not enough understanding about the deeper reason why he had no relationship with his father who appeard to be useless to the plot. The actress who played Han Na was utterly unconvincing which made the entire culmination of the main plot about Cha Hee Ju also unconvincing. The poor acting for me caused this part of the story to fall completely apart - and then we came to the immediate segway of Gong Shil leaving with WJW.

The production itself (cinematography, sets, camera angles, etc.) lacked, as the settings appeard to be actual film sets and not true offices, living rooms, or bedrooms. The costuming was also not up to par with other dramas of the same period. It appeard to me this drama was in production as it was being aired (like 3 or 4 episodes ahead of airing). The music itself was good, supporting emotions as appropriate and not distracting to the story, I can get through a mediocre production if the story and the acting are both good. However, the story had a good premice but the execution was mediocre. The acting by the cast as a whole was mixed as I didn't feel most of the actors' performances and interactions came off as natural.

You might like it better than me. because, well..., So Ji Sub is still So Ji Sub.

7/10

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"The Master's Sun" is a romantic comedy about a strange woman named Gong Shil who has the ability to see ghosts and Joong Won, a cold hearted hotel owner. When she is with Joong Won, Gong Shil cannot see ghosts, so she basically becomes his stalker, to stay by his side and have a calmer and more comfortable life.

Gong Shil starts working at his hotel, but the place is full of ghosts and everyone wants her help. At first she tries to ignore it, but Gong Shil realizes that these people need to resolve their grudges in order to move on. Joong Won is only letting Gong Shil stay by his side because he wants to find out what happened to his first love, who is dead, but over time he falls in love with Gong Shil and as his nickname for her, she becomes his sun.

This is one of my favorite dramas, Gong Hyo Jin is for me the best actress in South Korea, every project she does is amazing and this one is no different. The romance is a bit weak, but that's not because of a lack of chemistry, it was made with a purpose, it's supposed to be light, but on the other hand, the humor is fantastic, you basically laugh throughout the entire drama.

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This one surprised me, in a good way

I love this show!! So Ji Sub could read the phone book and I would love it. Seo In Guk, pretty much the same thing. I love them both. Gong Hyo Jin was excellent - she was pretty over the top in the first few episodes and then kind of settled into her character. I've watched this multiple times and enjoyed it each time.

I really liked the paranormal aspects of the show. Normally, that might not be something that I'm drawn to, but I could really feel the FL's angst/fear/exhaustion of having a "gift" that she considered a curse. Her loneliness was another thing that was almost palpable - to be forced to keep yourself apart from everyone was so sad, and that emotion was demonstrated so well.

There was a lot of humor in this show as well. When you've got two characters that don't exactly know what to do with each other, that could go in either direction. Thankfully, the writers knew what to do with the characters and I enjoyed the ride.

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Usually, this is not my genre (the show is a bit on the horror side and, except for vampire stuff, I get scared quite easily), but I was so attracted by the cast (I love both So Ji Sub and Gong Hyo Jin) that I decided to give it a chance.
The show is overall lovely, although in my humble opinion it drags itself out too much.
So Ji-Sub and Gong Hyo Jin are simply amazing together, all my stars are for them. They really have great chemistry but, most of all, they're so good. The same story acted by someone else could've been much worse, but they can make any plot believable and enjoyable.

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Tae Gong Shil was the "Tae Yang" aka. big sun in her class. She was pretty, smart and had many friends until one day she had a terrible accident. She was in a coma and after she woke up, she could see ghosts. Being scared of them, she wasn't able to sleep and stayed at home all day to prevent running into ghosts that wouldn't leave her alone until she helped them. But this fact changes one day, when she meets Ju Jung Won. Whenever he touches her, the ghosts disappear. To use him as a shelter, she actually starts working at the shopping mall he owns and slowly he gets dragged into her world.

At first I was really scared of this drama. The ghosts look awful at first and I really understand why Gong Sil would be scared. But in the end, I got used to them and started to like the stories of the ghosts. They definitely are one of the good parts in this drama, since they never disappear. It's always about ghosts, not just some excuse or decoration around a main romance story.

Also, all the side characters are lovable. At first you might think you will end up disliking some of them, but it's really nice to see them come and go and add a bit to the story. They are all lovable characters.

What was lacking again is the ending. This drama was made by the Hong sisters, who also made My girlfriend is a Gumhio, You're Beautiful, Big, etc. and most of the time, I have a big problem with their endings. This time I didn't actually have a problem with it, it's just that it was lacking compared to the rest of the show. It might or might not be because of the one episode they had to add. They actually managed well to add one episode, the story still was interesting and cute. But I felt like it dragged and should've ended at some earlier point. Especially since the excitement level at the end was just too low for my taste. Where normally one episode wraps everything up, it felt like there were three wrap up episodes.

But on the good side, I was really happy while watching this drama. I would even say it's as nice as Greatest Love, since they didn't mess up the story (like in Gumiho or Big...).

My biggest reason for loving this drama is the acting. They are all just so great and lovely. My favorite part is when Ju Jung Won starts to talk to things he can't see. It just made his character 1000% more adorable and made him look so much in love with Gong Sil.

All in all, I don't regret watching it and even though it might not be as much a 10* drama as other dramas I've rated it still among them, it was still too good to rate it worse, especially after going back and comparing it with other Hong Sister dramas. Last but not least: please don't be scared of the ghosts in this drama! You will get used to them and they are all nice.

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Totally gripping with a wonderful performance from Gong Hyo-Jin

Came very late to this, watching it in 2025, just before it is removed from Netflix. I wish we'd found it before so that I could recommend it to all my friends. If I say it is all so Korean-drama in all the best ways I am sure you'll understand. As soon as I found out it was a Hng Sisters script I understood why it was so good (we LOVED 'Hotel De Luna!). We're watching it two episodes a night - not what I would normally choose to do - to beat the Netflix deadline, but it is so good the two hours feel like one. Absolutely captivated by Gong Hyo Jin's performance, so many layers to it, sometimes she seems, actually, nuts, sometimes quite clever and conniving, but most often as a kindly and good natured person trying to make the best of a difficult life. We're certainly going to try some of the tv and films she's in. And all the other cast are as good in their own ways. We've been watching K-Dramas for about five years now and I am confident to say this is one of the absoolute best, right up there with Hotel de Luna. And the music is great too - not so much the songs but the instrumental sections, all done I think by Oh Joon Sung, who also (surprise!) did the very good score for Hotel...!

K-drama, when it is this good, is so much better than most Western (I mean British and American) television; better production values, often very companionable characters, many times genuinely surprising storylines.

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For a while there, I thought this would end up being one of my favorite dramas. The acting was phenomenal. The characters were phenomenal. The story was phenomenal. It was all so phenomenal. It was also one of those rare dramas from my newbie drama days where the stories outside of the romance actually interested me. Normally, I didn't care about so and so's conglomerate or singing career or whatever other boring and cliché overarching story the writers came up with, because I was there for the romance, damn it. But not this drama. I loved the whole idea of there being this woman who could see ghosts, but she doesn't know how to make them go away, and then meeting a random man who had some unexplained ability to get rid of them. It was compelling and tightly plotted, full of the kind of twisted logic only a drama can deliver.

I even got some enjoyment out of Joong Won's kidnapping and betrayal story. The idea of him being kidnapped and simultaneously betrayed by his teenaged girlfriend/teenaged girlfriends evil twin was overdramatic and unrealistic and filled with plotholes, but it had such a great initial setup that I couldn't help but be drawn in. I was excited to see what was going to happen. I totally called the whole thing falling apart long beforehand, so I wasn't surprised when it veered off into left field towards the middle of the drama, but it was still disappointing to see. The whole plotline was total makjang, confusing and silly and hard to follow. Hee Joo, Han Na, Anna, Falanna, Fee Fi Fo, Banana, let's forget about the fact that a teenage girl could not plan out a kidnapping like that (or really any kidnapping) by herself, we were also given very little explanation for Why she did it. At least not a strong one. So your nice twin stole your man without him realizing that was what was happening (although I don't know just how 'nice' that makes her.) Why you gotta kidnap Him for it? It wasn't His fault. The more logical option would have been to just kill your twin and take over her life so you could date Joong Won. Still messed up, but at least the logic follows.

It's in the four main characters and the romance where this drama really shines though.

I liked pretty much all of the leads (minus one) equally. Gong Shil is adorable, hilarious, full of emotional depth, and dogged in her pursuit of relief from ghosts. Her plight was both comical and heartrendingly sad. When she batted away a ghost or reeled back from one in fear, I laughed and felt for her at the same time. Joong Won is obsessive compulsive, highly intelligent, full of emotional depth, and dogged in his pursuit of relief from Gong Shil. His journey of self discovery and growth is superbly done and kept me very invested in his character. He's the same man at the end of the story, same quirks and mannerisms, and yet...he's a completely different person in so many ways.

Kang Woo was too precious for words. Loyal, sweet, adorable, intelligent, in possession of one of the most beautiful faces ever gifted to man, basically the perfect secondary male lead. He doesn't experience any kind of growth, but he doesn't really need to. He's Kang Woo. And once again, let's acknowledge the obvious. Man is DOUBLE FINE. (It's like a double rainbow but better.) Yi Ryung was the only one of the main four that didn't wow me. Spoiled and snobbish and hilarious in the most unintentional ways (intentional on the part of the writers, unintentional on the part of the character), I liked her. But I never loved her. She never experienced the amount of emotional growth and maturity I wanted her to.

Han Na and Hee Joo's teenage versions were interesting (despite the utter insanity of of the kidnapping and betrayal plot). Unfortunately, adult Hee Joo does not get a pass from me. I'm sure it was explained at some point and I just missed it, but I never understood why she showed back up. What did she want? What was her goal? She'd killed her sister, ruined Joong Won's life, and stole an expensive necklace for fun. (Or did she? I've actually forgotten now.) Did she just want to gloat about it?

In what is a rare turn me for me, I found myself experiencing some heavy second lead feels with this drama. This was particularly distressing to me, as I loved the male lead equally as much. Joong Won and Kang Woo were both perfectly acceptable romance options for Gong Shil, having equally compelling chemistry and relationships with her that were very carefully developed and thought through.

Some people would consider Joong Won a jerk and not worth Gong Shil's time, but I wouldn't classify him that way. If I were in a similar situation as him and someone I'd never met started following me around trying to touch me all the time because the 'ghosts' wouldn't leave them alone...I'd call the police. You really can't call Joong Won a jerk for trying to make a weird, kind of creepy woman leave him alone. Yes, his way(s) of avoiding his feelings for Gong Shil later on in the drama were unfair and not particularly kind, but they weren't intentionally malicious either.

Of course, Kang Woo filled the role of perfect second male lead to perfection, and that's the whole reason I had so much trouble squashing my second lead feels. If he'd had the ability to make the ghosts disappear rather than Joong Won and Gong Shil had shown romantic interest in him, I would have rooted for him instead. But Gong Shil and Joong Won liked each other, and he was the only one who could make the ghosts go away, and I really wanted Gong Shil to not have to see them anymore, so Joong Won...won...in the end. (That is a name ripe for puns.)

Intense second lead feels aside, I would say this romance is very well done. Gong Shil's constant need to be in contact with Joong Won contrasted with his desperate desire to get rid of her provided us with a hilarious give and take situation that I thoroughly enjoyed. And then when the tables were turned and it was him who needed the constant contact, it just made my heart go awwwww. The whole 'I love you, so you have to make sure I don't love you' thing was a surprisingly brilliant and effective plot device, even if incredibly silly character wise. Watching him try to deny his feelings was like watching those kids who take part in those experiments where they have to not eat something for a certain period of time in order to get something better. Only in this case, there was no reason for him to wait for something better, because Gong Shil was already perfect for him.

But the 'I love you. Don't let me love you' plot device eventually turned into a double edged sword, and it soon became obvious to everyone that all Gong Shil and Joong Won really wanted was to be together, and no matter how many reasons they came up with as to why they Couldn't be together, there was just no longer a legitimate reason for them Not to be together. Then it became a waiting game; a long, drawn out, waiting game where the only way to pass the time was to place bets on who would give in first.

And what better time for a third quarter shake up then right when our leads are on the cusp of admitting their undying love for each other. (That is a joke. It was not a good time. It was a bad time. It was terrible. I want my money back.) No, I'm not talking about Joong Won dying and then coming back with no memory of Gong Shil. Surprisingly, after sitting down and working out my feelings about it, I realized that that actually happened at the perfect point in the story.

I'm talking about Mr. 'I can see ghosts too.'

I understand why he was there. The drama was extended unexpectedly, and they needed to fill the extra time. But the characters presence is ultimately unnecessary. He adds nothing to the plot, he doesn't help Gong Shil find any answers, and he has it in his head that he has some kind of romantic claim on her because he met her ghost once. Nah, son. That ain't how that works.

In the end, our leads do still get a happy ending, but they also have to suffer through some rather unnecessary heartache before getting there. And they deliver to the audience what is a super weak-sauce kiss. Maybe the writers thought all the casual touching would be enough to satisfy the audience, but they thought wrong. Lame kiss was lame.

Despite it's faults, this drama does have a lot to commend itself, and I would recommend watching it.

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