Nuestro Horizonte Azul

The Best Slice of Life K-drama I have ever seen

This is the 1st time I write a review about a K-drama, this series is not my type of drama as I love Rom-Com types the most, but to be honest this is the deepest K-drama I have ever seen, the writer really did a great Job, this series involves all kind of relationships that you can imagine, and they are really deep, connected and sincere and the script and the dialogue can't be better than this, the director and the actors really did an amazing job as all the main characters whose are so many shined brightly and made me feel a unique feeling I didn't experienced before, so even so this is not my type of drama, I was really touched by the story and it's development until the final episode, I didn't feel that I wasted anytime, and I would never regret watching this drama, whatever your drama preference when you see this gem, you won't be disappointed, I forgot to say that I cried a lot while watching many scenes without spoiling any of them but these scenes really touched my soul and made me feel better, finally about the rewatch value I would never watch this series again as I believe it's a one-time watch for the lifetime from my humble opinion

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Excellent Acting with different stories that can impact each of us.

Completed: 7/17/2022
Subjective Rating - 8.25-8.5
Objective Rating - 8.5+

This is my first omnibus-style drama and it took me a while to get used to it. And as a binge watcher, this is not the pacing that I am comfortable with. It was difficult for me to want to press "next episode" each time. It took me a long time to finish this drama and I have to watch one story at a time. Of course, this is very subjective and others might find all stories so compelling that they couldn't stop watching. Because of this, I am only rating this drama at 8.5. Additionally, a couple stories are not as interesting to me.

"Our Blues" takes place on the beautiful Jeju Island, a place I've been wanting to visit. Taking us out of the big city and into the more rural village provided us the opportunity to appreciate nature and this drama has beautiful cinematography and an amazing and soothing OST. I really enjoy the small town feel and the village lifestyle and community. However, it does take me a couple episodes to get used to the personality of the islanders. They are nosy, loud and rude, and just can't stay out of other people's business. But they are also kind and soft-hearted, and each character is ready to jump in to help anyone in a split second. That's the beauty of all the stories here and it's heartwarming to see there are people out there who truly cares. It's the perfect place for healing, to take a break or to ask for help.

Looking at the cast list, it's without a doubt that you do not have to worry about the acting performance of anyone. Everyone, from the youngest to the oldest, is excellent. This drama evokes so many different emotions that it's amazing how everyone is so good. I do want to point out a few that stood out to me:

1. Lee Byung Hun - the last drama of his I watched was "Mr. Sunshine". And what a different role he has in "Our Blues". I applaud him for taking such a different role and doing such a great job. You can't see a shadow of Eugene Choi in his role as Lee Song Seok.
2. Lee Jung Eun - I've seen her in so many other dramas in a supporting role and her acting here is off the charts. She plays the caring, loud-mouthed, nosy Jung Eun Hee so well. The first few episodes are about her, and I was mesmerized by her acting.
3. Kim Woo Bin - My first of his drama and I'm glad he's back after taking care of himself. I avoided watching "Uncontrollably Fond", so I'm glad to see him here. Kim Woo Bin's eyes can convey so many different emotions. I stare at his eyes and I am in love, and adding the fact that his character is so lovable, I've added Park Jung Joon to my "Ideal Man" list. LOL
4. Jun Eun Hye - Not only do I appreciate the fact that we have an actress with Down Syndrome in this show, but that she is not portrayed as the sweet and innocent girl. She is sassy and has a great personality. She is tough, will argue with you and keep you on your toes. And yes, people with disabilities do drink and cuss, and they want to be pretty and have a boyfriend/girlfriend.

As mentioned earlier, not all the stories touched me or that I find super interesting. Here's a quick recap (I tried to keep it without spoiler but read as your own risks).

Han Soo + Eun Hui
A very impactful beginning of a drama. Here we reminisce the past/first love, money issues and family burdens. The powerful confrontation scene in the hotel room was a big "WOW" moment for me. It was so quiet the whole time, no music and just letting two veteran actors duke it out. This story makes you wonder how you treat your friends and who are your real friends.

Yeong Ok + Jung Joon
This is when I fall in love with Kim Woo Bin. He's so warm and accepting that he doesn't care about Yeong Ok's relationship history. He believes in her and loves her, despite her lies in the beginning.

Young Joo + Hyung
What happened when Romeo and Juliet got together and have a kid? This story explores teen decisions and family support. How do we get parental approval when life has been so hard?

Deong Seok + Seon Ah
Postpartum depression is a difficult topic and not portrayed enough in dramas. This story explores the darkness of depression and how it affects everyone in the family, especially the child. It's important to have someone who doesn't give up on you and stand by your side until you are better.

Mi Ran + Eun Hee
When two best friends perceive their friendship differently, the result is a big argument and brawl. Eu Hee is the one that I wish she has all the happiness in the world. She's been there for everyone, her BFF and neighbors, but was hurt by her first love and BFF.

Yeong Ok + Yeong Hui + Jung Hoon
I love this story esp. the realistic portrayal of someone with Down Syndrome. Yeong Hui works, makes money, and wants what we all want. I love that she is the main character in this story and not just resorted to a few lines here and there. I love the complicated sisterhood and the friendship between Yeong Hui and Jung Hoon. The last scene when Yeong Ok was in the van alone was very touching.

Choon Hee + Eung Gi
What an adorable little grand daughter and what a fun duo she makes with her grand mother. They have such an interesting dynamic when they slowly learn how to get along with each other. I LOVE the scene with 100 moons!!

Deong Sok + Ok Dong
We knew from the start that there will be a story about this mother/son relationship. The reason why mom remarried was not surprising, but it's still heartbreaking nonetheless. Reconciliation and the acceptance/preparation for death are explored in this story. In the last episode, I am glad that everyone finds closure and we get to see all the characters back in a super fun way.

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If you ignore the last 3 episodes then it's a solid 9.0 but otherwise 8.0

I won't write a proper review. I'll just say the things I liked and the things I didn't.

First of all Ep 16 and 17 were the best! The whole cast was great but the little girl who played Eun-Gi stole the show! I cried for like 3 hr continuously! I wish we would have gotten more of her and her parents at the end. Eun-Gi and Beyol-I (the mute girl) were my favourite characters!

The emotions and struggles of the characters were captured very well. The relationships and dynamic between the characters were really good and pretty realistic. Felt like an actual village. All of their stories were relatable. Some you could even see happening to you in future. I am glad that the makers didn't just cast pretty people (like most other kdramas) and called it a day.
Jeju was beautiful as always. Cinematography was very good.

All over a great drama except for the last 3 episodes! Dong Seok and his mom's story could have been done in one episode. The interesting parts of Dong Seok's story were already shown in Ep 9. His mom's story was really boring and I had no interest in her character. Actually I really hated her character! They just kept going on trips without any story progression for 3 episodes.

The actual ending felt really rushed! They gave Dong-Seok's mom whole 3 episodes and kept only the last couple of minutes for the ending. The ending needed a whole seperate episode. I would have liked to see more of the old characters, the reunions and everyone interacting with eachother. I wanted to see more of Byol-I. They under utilised her. also Eun-Gi and her parents. They didn't even show her parents in the finale. Instead we got 3hrs of Dong-Seok's mom.

I guess I'll just keep pretending that the show ended on Ep 17. Great drama ruined by the ending!

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It tries to educate as if it were a TVING drama, otherwise it's quite good.

How do I even get started? Okay, so this drama has a so called omnibus style storytelling, which means that there are a bunch of very loosely connected storylines. It's almost like a family drama without all the family relations, but darker & at times far more serious and raw. The other reviewers have made a lot of great points. Our Blues is incredibly heartwarming, borderline magical at times, has a decent dose of romance, while bringing up topics that you typically don't see on Korean TV. The setting is great, the fish market of Jeju & those diving women were rather novel. The acting is absolutely top notch, probably the best you can ever expect in a kdrama.

So why is it not 10/10?
Well, the problem is that some characters & storylines are just plain bad, there were quite a few episodes that had nothing I was interested in. Some of the controversial topics in the drama are presented in a very fake, inorganic way. I guess the educational intent is just too blatant.

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Noh Hee-kyung cakkanim, terima kasih karena sudah menulis drama ini ?

Judulnya Our Blues, dan setiap ceritanya memang tentang kesedihan para tokohnya, dan memang bikin sedih dan berhasil menyentuh sisi emosional penontonnya.

Meski sedih gitu, cerita-cerita dalam drama ini tuh berakhir manis, sekalipun episode terakhir saat Kang Ok-dong halmeoni meninggal.

Mungkin cakkanim ingin menyampaikan bahwa hidup itu memang begitu: kesedihan dan kebahagiaan datang bergantian, tidak ada kesedihan yang abadi, begitu pula dengan kebahagiaan.

Cerita terakhir tentang Dong-seok dan ibunya adalah yang paling emosional 😭😭😭. Scene kematian yang sunyi, gak ada scene pemkaman tapi bikin penonton nangis sesenggukan.

Pokoknya, kalau suka drama slice of life tontonlah drama ini. Well executed, totally worth your time!

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Our Blues explores the story of Jeju islanders navigating the ups and downs of their communities as well as their individual live struggles. Struggles like mental health, childhood abuse, teenage pregnancy, disability and discrimination... This series took all of these and delivered them in a genuinely raw manner that tugs at the heart and showed the nuances of human nature in a realistic way. It can be gut-wrenching, funny, uncomfortable, uplifting, and heartbreaking all at once.

Often an omnibus-style dramas like this can feel episodic and mundane to a point, but the way it portrayed community spirit was authentic and that makes it very much worth-watching. It’s not a plot-driven drama, it’s a drama that leaves you pondering about the relationships you hold in your own life. Personally, some stories weren't as engaging as some others because I couldn't relate with them, but each story delivered profound messages. It is one of those intricate emotional series with hidden depth characters that show friendship, romance, community and reconciliation.

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Our Blues

Tenho um apego emocional com esse.
Foi meu primeiro dorama e eu achei ele incrível! merecia muito mais reconhecimento, amo demais a forma como a história desse drama é conduzida.

A história acompanha a vida de vários personagens que vivem na ilha de Jeju, e conta separadamente as questões de cada um de uma forma muito sensível.
E apesar de serem histórias aparentemente separadas todas elas estão meio que interligadas e eu achei isso genial, foi tudo muito bem escrito e coerente.

É um drama muito gostosinho de assistir, nele você vai se emocionar, relaxar, rir, vai encontrar personagens complexos e reais, e vai se apegar a eles facilmente, todos muito bem desenvolvidos e carismáticos, é um drama muito comfy, leve e profundo ao mesmo tempo, um slice of life maravilhoso! amo amo.

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Engaging from start to finish

I really appreciate this series that kept me interested from start to finish. He was able to draw into the lives of the individual characters, there was no shortage of tension as the plot will continue to develop, how the characters will deal with their problems, it offers many suggestions on how to cope with one's own life or understand the fate of others.
Thanks to him, I was transported to the island of Jeju, and I enjoyed it very much. The series shows the hard life of the islanders, fishing, the market, business, life's troubles, their solutions, and happy endings.. there is no shortage of romance, emotions, beautiful scenery.. The star cast was reflected in the quality.. I definitely recommend it.

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A drama past the happy endings

Our Blues is a nuanced drama that shows the nitty-gritty of humanity. The drama discusses various relationships, mother-son, friendships, siblings and lovers. The show does not make anyone the typical hero/heroine who is perfect but rather shows how good people can make bad decisions.
This show discusses themes I have not seen explored in previous dramas, such as teenage pregnancy, Down Syndrome, depression, suicide and domestic violence experienced by a husband. Our Blues is the best title for every character who experiences the blues of life. This isn't the drama to escape the dreariness of your life but the drama to watch to understand the complexity of humans. This is a drama filled with misunderstandings and conflict and love and joy. The contrast between the heavy storylines and the beauty of Jeju, which outwardly seems perfect and blissful, makes for enjoyable viewing.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that the casting for this drama is perfect, every character is brought to life, and I enjoy seeing Shin Min Ah play a role I have not seen her before.

Although this drama is not perfect, and it is nothing like Noh Hee Kyung's previous works, I encourage everyone to watch this drama in a way I feel like we can all learn something.

Music
10/10 - With you - Jimin & Ha Sung Woon

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I CRIED A LOT BUT LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF

I can't stand people that say ew that was just sad. Please take a breath and watch carefully the show that you choose, of course it's not a comedy one.

Definitely one of the best drama I've ever watched. Well first of all with a cast like this, things can't go wrong. The acting was great, I felt all the scenes and I cried at every episode.

I don't want to write a lot but I recommend it to everyone, cause they talk about many issues and situations that are taboo not only in Korea but in many other places. Overall, I believe that by finishing the series you will feel satisfaction and not sadness with how the situations her resolved.

I have to take my time tho and around 1 year to pass to re-watch it cause my heart ain't ready for it again, and ain't got not tears left to cry hahaha. ❤️

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(Manufactured) Story sadder than sadness…

So if the current state of the world isn’t enough to get you down, you found the right show. I was very much looking forward to this ever since it was announced. The possibilities seemed endless with such a stellar cast. Like, they put everybody in the show. But sadly, we were given sob stories after sob stories. I understand that Koreans are sickly obsessed with sad stories but, really? Just go watch the news. To make things worse, stories were so manufactured and phoned in, it was hard to have any empathy for anyone. Nothing seemed organic at all as if the writer wanted to one up the last scene and storyline. Let’s see how many different sad stories we can tell in one show! And all of that happen to just a handful of people who all know each other!

To be fair, not all plot lines were created equal. I liked the first story where Cha Seung Won played a desperate dad who wanted to vicariously achieve his lost dream through his daughter. It got frustrating watching him stubbornly hanging on but all in all, it was a nice start. The other standout was the high school kids’ story. Their storyline was a bit jarring and came out of nowhere but I really liked how Hyun didn’t give up on his unborn baby and ultimately convinced Young Joo to keep the baby. But her sudden change of mind happened a bit too fast in my opinion.

I’m a huge Shin Min Ah fan but she was terrible here. She’s just not an emotional actress, sad to say. Maybe Seo Hyun Jin would’ve been great for this role. She needs to stick to happy roles where she smiles and laughs. She couldn’t give us a convincing crying scene even if her life depended on it.

I don’t think other storylines were even worth mentioning. Some side characters were better than others but nobody memorable.

I think I have 5 more episodes to go. We’ll see what happens.

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The first step of change is to decide.

I didn't think I'd continue watching this drama after seeing first two episodes but I'm glad I continued because "Our Blues" takes on an omnibus-style drama, which tells the story of diverse characters that are somewhat interconnected, in one way or the other.
The storytelling is so rich in this drama, down to the little details.
The acting was quite amazing, especially the two teens in this drama. I feel like this show is getting slept on when the storyline has been getting better and better every episode.
Some stories will leave you like a sobbing mess after watching the scenes and seeing how it all unfolds.
It focuses on family arguments, teenage pregnancy, first love, broken hearts, depression and more. I personally got tied to Shin Min Ah's character 'Min Seon Ah' who seemed to struggle a lot with depression while being a mother to a small boy and a wife to a man that didn't exactly know how to handle the situation.
The cinematography seems to highlight these moments but with beauty and the sounds of them living in the sea side town, it's really soothing.
If you like any of the things I counted in along with Jeju, the beauty of sea and nature, sound of waves and voices of so many people gathered up in one place, then definitely dive in.

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