All That Is Bitter Is Sweet (2014)

Story: There is a reknown pharmacy and due to an epidemic occurrence in their town, the head physician prescribes a medicine that unexpectedly kills the mayor's son. This leads to have him thrown in prison and to have the pharmacy closed down. The story is about how his daughter struggles through the aftermath - having everything taken away from her and meeting new friends who help her. She also attempts to prove her father's innocence by investigating the ingredients to the medicine created by her father, and along the way uncovers an even bigger secret.

Acting/Cast: Initially I decided to watch this because of the leads Ruco, Linda, Natalie and Raymond. I however, found their acting a bit mediocre. This could be because of the terrible story and scripting. At first I was very intrigued with Raymond's story development, but as it progressed I lost interest especially when Natalie was always around. I found her character very annoying that I couldn't find myself to like her scenes at all. The only pulling factor left now was Ruco and Linda, but I was overly disappointed as they barely had much screen time together nor any development until the very last episode. I was also pleasantly surprised to see Sammy in this though he played the villain and it made me hate seeing him on screen. This was rather different from swooning over him in Line Walker XD His character was just too despicable.The supporting characters didn't help with the story either - especially Pierre and Shirley were both equally annoying to watch. I did however like Jazz in this. He was a quirky little character.

Music: I guess the theme song sets the whole mood for the drama - slow and dull.

Rewatch Value: I actually regret picking this up in the first place.

Overall: As this was my first pre-modern drama I was very disappointed. I've never been interested in pre-modern and had hoped that this would change my mind. Unless you're a diehard fan of Linda and Ruco, I'd suggest giving this a pass. Even with the great casting, this wasn't enough to save a disaster of a drama when the script does not allow it to do anything. I found this drama very boring and non-progressive. I would have dropped this if I wasn't hoping for some miracle ending for Ruco and Linda and there wasn't. I felt like I wasted my time on this drama and do no recommend it at all. There are much better dramas out there.

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