Now, I gave it 10's straight through. I even ordered it on DVD straight from Korea. I found on eBay a replication of the necklace Dong Joo gave So Wan. However, IF I had two possible criticisms it would be these. One, there was basically two storylines running in parrallel. On one side you had Dong Joo and So Wan. Their meeting, falling in love, time apart reuniting etc. That provided ALL the emotion. The tears. Jung Hwa will capture your heart and everytime she is reflected upon you will bawl if you have a heart. Then the parrallel story, the unfortunate revelations that tie it together tha maybe are necessary more than I realize, but it became a slight nuisance because, for me, I wanted to stay in the enchanted love and world of Jung Hwa, Dong Joo, So Wan, Hye-Joo (Ellie) and Seungri (Teddy). The pure. But perhaps, we need the ugly to appreciate the love. The second would be when So Wan lost her vision again. It may be a necessary KDrama trope, but it was insufferable. Finally she was called out by, Enjelaizeu, the person she stayed with, but still UGH!
I want to conclude with my education to Korean Drama's and their expected tropes. Things like love triangles, time apart for the main couple, amnesia, higher class versus lower class and things like that. Yes, 'Angel Eyes' has pretty much all of them, but that's OK. I apparently am into the extreme melodrama. I have since watched 'Secret Garden, 'Take Care of Us, Captian (Ku Hye-Sun), 'Blood' (Ku Hye-Sun), and a few others that I haven't finished. The only other one to approach where 'Angel Eyes' took me is the last full series I watched, 'Beloved Eun-Dong' (though Netflix calls it 'This is my Love'. That one parrallel 'Angel Eyes' in so many ways, but it did not sub plant 'Angel Eyes' as my most cherished.
If you find a powerful cry cathartic, you have a soft heart and don't mind at all if a story is purposely jerking your tears...this one is for you! I have been trying SOOOOO hard to get anyone to watch it that I know and only one has done so sadly. It only garnered about a 10% viewership in Korea - in contrast 'Boys Over Flowers' and 'Secret Garden' were just above 40%. Still, this swept me away and evoked feelings I didn't know I could ever feel.
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This review may contain spoilers
If you are looking for an intense love story, you can try this
Actually, this is the second time(edited) giving a review for this drama. In the first time, I was misunderstood about the storyline of this drama and given negative feedback but it took me two days to digest this and to get it completely sober. The script is soo intense and the actors also performed well especially the young characters. Literally, I cried more than three times because the story is so intense to take it. Even though the sad scenes are more but those are really heartbroken ones. Of course, you can see some minor or unmatured directions here and there but if you compare it with the whole drama it's a worthy one. The story is easily predictable but I was so impressed it's because of the very impressive and intense script. Each word of the script reached my heart. The main disappointment is the story and the title doesn't match with the climax or after certain staring episodes.Was this review helpful to you?
At the beginning, the story seems boring. The plot was too fast as romance drama. But, I would keep watching.... Soo Wan, not the drama lol. Then I found the story went interesting when it reached episode 3. The plot conflicts are not complicated, still they are more complicated than JDrama, so you can feel the romance, and conflicts lol. For me, the plot gone as I wish. So, I can say this drama should have 8.5++ for the rating.
Story: +4. Somewhat, as romance, the plot gone too fast.
Ku Hye Seon is the main role actress: +2
Music: +2. I love the music, I think I'll sing and take my guitar haha. Anyway, finally I found english OST in Kdrama.
20 episodes, 1 hour each: +1
Yeah, for me, this drama should take 9.0
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The acting was not so bad except for the limited emotional range of Kong Hye Sun. I really believe she could have done better. From an audiece viewpoint, she was such a boring person. Her chemistry with Lee Sang yoon was very good though. Their younger versions did a very good job of fleshing out their characters making me want to get to experience them more.
I liked the music in that it set the melodramatic mood. There's only one that I remember though and don't know if there was more.
Overall, it is a drama worth watching if you are a drama addict like me.
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Story - (7 of 10):
I feel that SO many dramas start off strong and instantly capture my interest, but fail to keep up that intensity at any other point. This is one of those titles that is packed with drama, but the intensity of it is quite hit or miss for me. The setup is done very well, I am instantly in love with Miss Yoo Jung Hwa and her little ones! The first few episodes setting up the rest of the drama is done so well, and it's why I found myself sobbing like a baby when tragedy inevitably struck!
Even when we're taken into the future years down the road, I was really looking forward to the characters coming together again after so much happened. How did they grow? Were they still the same, or was their spirit broken? I had questions I couldn't wait to find the answers for. But sadly, as with many dramas, the tropes seem to water things down. As the mystery surrounding the set up begin to unfold, it's turns into a whole lot of "wtf, really?" and cringing and sometimes both at the same time. I'm not a fan of time lapses unless they are truly meaningful. The show does it well in the beginning, not so much towards the end. People were out of character, and the few last episodes felt drawn out. I feel like this series could've easily been 16 instead of 20 episodes and probably been a lot better for it. I think it's above average if even just for the beginning.
Having said all of that, I truly did like most of the characters and the actors are unquestionably great. Which segues nicely...
Acting/Cast (7.5 out of 10):
Gu Hye Seon as Yoon Soo Wan - I'm sure I'm not the only one who saw her first in "Boys Over Flowers" (2009), and I felt she fit the part very well. I then saw her in "The Musical" (2011) which I found very hard to get through, likely it was the writing, I don't know, but her acting was pretty awful in that. She was also in the Taiwanese version of "Absolute Boyfriend" (2012), but it's hard to judge her in that since she was dubbed over and I don't feel like the physical acting was likely very difficult. Then I heard how awful "Blood" (2015) was (though I still may give it a chance), so I was pretty hesitant when I first started this drama. However, I feel she did a great job in this one, and while her character had me face palming quite a bit towards the end, I fault the writing more so than her acting.
(Lee Sang Yoon as Dylan Park / Park Dong Joo) - While I may have been hesitant to watch this because of GHS's performance in The Musical, " I fell for Lee Sang Yoon as Prince Gwang Hae in
"Goddess Of Fire, Jeongi" (2013)! He plays the soft spoken yet stoic characters very well it would seem. I never doubted for a moment that Dong Joo was anything but completely in love with Soo Wan (though I can't quite say the same for her - he DEFINITELY loved her more if ever there was a couple you could say one love more than the other). I thoroughly enjoyed his acting in both dramas, so I'm looking forward to seeing more!
Kim Ji Suk as Kang Ji Woon - I'm not going to go through all the actors, but I feel I HAVE to mention KJS because I've seen him in SO many dramas, and I just want to SCREAM that he hasn't nabbed a Male Lead Role and gotten the girl (at least as far as I've seen thus far), he always get that awful second lead role. If ever there was an actor that gets my second lead syndrome senses tingling, it's this guy! For his main roles, I have seen him in: Personal Taste (2010), I Need Romance 2 (2012), and Cheongdamdong Alice (2012). I've also seen him in The Vinyard Man (2006) and Sassy Go Go (2015), but those, at least to me, were more supporting roles. He was a real jerk in Personal Taste, so he wasn't really on my radar then, however, OH.MY.GAAAWD....I Need Romance 2... In love with him since! If you enjoy him as an actor, see him in that, I had second lead syndrome so damn bad (I'm usually completely unaffected since I've been watching dramas for the better part of 15 years now). I was hoping for much more from him in Cheondamdong Alice too, but he could only do so much with that character. Now that I've digressed beyond what's reasonable (lol), this is my second favorite of his dramas. Ji Woon was a bit too much of a pushover for my liking, I know there's only so much he could've done, but I don't know. I definitely felt his character Ji Woon really loved Soo Wan, but I felt like the character just didn't bring the passion!
Kim Yeo Jin as Yoo Jung Hwa [Dong Joo's mom] - I would be remiss if I didn't mention her because oh my god did she have my heart and tugged at its strings SO hard. I feel like KYJ was made for this role, I just can't imagine another actress filling her shoes! Even though I've seen her mostly play motherly roles, she just fits them so perfectly I can't even complain! I think I first saw her in "Can You Hear My Heart?" (2010), then Trot Lovers (2014), and more recently in Sassy Go Go (2015). She really was, for me at least, the heart of this show, omg, Miss Yoo Jung HWAAAAAAA! ;_;
The rest of the cast was very well rounded, though I felt Kang Ji Woon's mother could've been played by any decent "betchy mom" type actress lol I wish that age differences weren't so taboo in Korea, I mean MAAAAYBE if it's like a girl or guy wants to date someone that is old enough to be there grandparent that's one thing... but I don't think 12 or even 15 years is THAT bad. I won't say anything else, but there was a side love triangle that I really enjoyed. I also enjoyed the camaraderie between not only the 911 staff, but Hyun Jyu Ni as Police officer Cha Min Soo and Kwon Hae Hyo as Kim Woo Chul (I love this man in just about all of his roles - emphasis on Kim Sam Soon (2005).
Music (6.0 out of 10):
I think it had a nice soundtrack, it went really well with the tone and mood of the show. Nothing compelled me to spend money, but made for pleasant sound to my ear holes.
Rewatch (1 out of 10):
I almost feel like I shouldn't bother adding this piece to my reviews as a low score (for me) doesn't mean it was a bad drama. I'm not sure if it's that I'm picky, or I have a short attention span or what, but there are very few dramas I rewatch (or as I like to call it abridge ie watching all my favorite parts again). Perhaps I'd rewatch the first few episodes, maybe, if I was to rewatch any part of it, but very likely no. I wouldn't dissuade anyone from watching this series, I just don't feel it's rewatchable (though to be fair, most melos aren't).
Overall (6.5 out of 10):
Again, VERY strong beginning, but it started to lose me with all of the contrived coincidences towards the latter half. Some people were just a little TOO connected. That's why despite some really strong performances, the drama was just a little over average for me. At times I had difficulty not skipping parts that felt like they dragged and my eyes spent more time rolling back in my head than watching the screen.
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Too slow to endure 20 episodes
First 2 episodes were fast paced. After that it was nothing but dragging the same thing over and over again. Felt like quiting it altogether but forwarded many scenes after 7-8 episodes. Honestly it's not worth watching and 20 episodes seem very long. Flashbacks occur every now and then telling the same thing over a nd over again. I yawned my way to complete this. Totally avoidable.Another thing that irked me was the fact that both the main characters tend to stay away or hard to get from the other main character at different point of time. One time is a charm, but the same thing becomes irritating if the same trick is shown many times.
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-Only eps 1, 2 and may be 3, 4 too are worth watching. The story is good only in that eps. And I would rewatch only them again.
-The rest of eps are just one stupid boring soap opera (I scrolled and skipped them almost all). This is the reason for all minuses in my scores.
-Eps 1, 2 tell a crazy and unique story in intense way - as if you are watching a good movie.
-Kang Haneul is exellent in his role as young DongJoo. And he only appears in eps 1-2 mostly. I don't see any need to change this actor for older ages. Though I'm glad he didn't play in that awkward soap opera I mentioned already. His acting is so emotional and real.
-Gu Hye Seon and Nam Ji Hyun playing the same character were quite not bad. And I'm sorry but I think that Lee Sang Yoon's acting is a shame for a drama lead role.
-DongJoo's mom and doctor Kang Ji Woon are interesting characters.
-Music is quite good
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- Is it wrong of me to like the acting of the younger cast more than the adult cast? As I watched this drama, I constantly had this question, and I'm sure that a lot of people who have watched this will feel the same way.
Story:
- At first glance/watch, the story did appeal to me in a certain way. But after the first few episodes, I was able to pretty much figure the whole plot out and what was going to happen next. Also, the drama consistently went back and forth on the past vs. the present, and that just got annoying after a while. The overall plot seems to be dragged out way too much. So in the end, very predictable and cheesy.
Acting/Cast:
- Honestly, I gave the rating at that number due to the younger cast. If it was based on just the adult cast, it would've been lower. In general, the younger did a great job portraying the scenes a lot better, even if there were little scenes that involved them. The adult cast, on the other hand, felt very monotone to me, so I really don't have much to say in regards to that.
Music:
- The music choices and OSTs were well-done. At times, there were moments where I enjoyed the music more than the drama. But the thing is that's not how it works. In dramas, OSTs are supposed to add more depth and make the audience feel something in that scene/moment, but this drama made me feel nothing. Mainly, it had a lot to do with the acting. When the scenes are quite monotone, the audience doesn't get the chance to be fully immersed at that moment.
Rewatch Value:
- Honestly, I would not watch this drama again. As much as I appreciate the younger cast and the OSTs, the slow progression and poor acting made me lost interest at an early stage.
* You may ask, "If you dislike the drama that much, then why didn't you drop it?."
- I just hate it when I have invested so much time into a drama, and I suddenly have to drop it. I rather finish it and give my full opinion after seeing and analyzing everything.
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Where lead characters faced so many obstacles together . This drama shown how children so much respectful towards their family ,a strong bond ,so emotional bond between them .i guess turning point of drama is that when she said to him " Park Dong Joo ,will you disappear for my life" .it is a heratbreaking statement for him.
I like all the characters ,even those kids also . Music and sounds are good . My favourite song in this drama is " I am run run run to you " beautiful song . Thumbs up for my side.
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Abut this drama I really liked the story in itself, I loved the ambulance stories and how they met and leave and met again during their life.
I left the last episode from watching because the ending was predictable but still enjoyed it.
The story is also more mature than the other rom-com drama, don't expect cheesy scenes but something that tends to get on the really dark side in many scenes!
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