Akage Girl
Northern New England
If you don’t like shows that delve into fantasy (and I do) and obscenely beautiful broody males aren’t your cup of tea (as they are mine) and you don’t like k-dramas in general (I adore them), watch Legend of the Blue Sea anyway because Jun Ji Hyun is just such a talented comedic actress that I would watch anything she’s in….giggling endlessly watching her shenanigans.
STORY: This story is about a mermaid and a man (yep….story that has been around for hundreds…if not thousands of years in many cultures). There is an intriguing back story that goes right along with the current modern-day story that makes it all just a little more suspenseful and a little more fun to watch. And yes, the mermaid and the man meet and fall in love and do they have the happy Disney ending or the tragic fairy tale ending? Well I won’t give you a spoiler except to say, probably (yes, I’m being ambiguous)……just watch it…..okay?
CHARACTERS: The best character of all is the mermaid (Sim Chung) played by Jun Ji Hyun. She meets Heo Joon Jae in Spain and hilariously learns about being human and of course, he doesn’t know she’s a mermaid. I laughed out loud for the first ten episodes as she stays true to her mermaid self-dealing with the human world. From the moment Heo Joon Jae finds her in his closet wearing his hoodie eating his food, its just more fun than a barrel of monkeys. I can’t say enough good things about her performance. Just know that it isn’t all fun and games and when she gets serious or sad………wow, the audience follows her right down the emotional drain.
Heo Joon Jae is played by Lee Min Ho and he does a great job of creating an interesting character that is fun, serious, broody, and intelligent all at the same time. From the first moment he graces the screen as the town agent, we know there is more to Lee Min Ho than broody good looks. While he wasn’t as funny as Jun Ji Hyun, Lee Min Ho gave us two distinct characters that worked towards the same goal quite nicely.
The side characters were very very very well done. From Lee Hee Joon’s (is he a bad guy or good guy?) portrayal of Jo Nam Doo to Tae Ho’s (Shin Won Ho) and Cha Shi Ah’s (Shin Hye Sun) very strange relationship to the money grabbing Ahn Jin Joo (Moon So Ri)…..they are all very interesting, including the serial killer, and Heo Joon Jae’s very sad family situation. Not one character bored me. I would have loved to have seen more of little Yoon Ah and the very funny homeless woman (who actually does not have a name), but they wisely stopped at 20 episodes.
MUSIC: The music was enjoyable, but not killer…..whether or not the soundtrack is fabulous depends on if I buy one of the songs. None of the songs really stood out but were nicely used and not overly annoying.
RE-WATCH: I plan on re-watching but I wasn’t compelled to with episode 20…….lets face it….some shows you are just compelled to watch over and over and over. Legend of the Blue Sea is sweet and lovely, but once through might be enough.
OVERALL: If nothing else, watch this for Jun Ji Hyun. I thought she was funny in You Who Came from the Stars, but she was doubly hilarious in this show. This woman is not afraid to take on anything and sure has incredible timing, whether it be comedic or dramatic. I plan on watching everything she’s in because so far, she’s never disappointed me. Good News! Legend of the Blue Sea is entertaining. The characters are amusing and for twenty episodes, you keep biting your nails, asking the question…..Disney ending or Sad Fairy Tale ending?
STORY: This story is about a mermaid and a man (yep….story that has been around for hundreds…if not thousands of years in many cultures). There is an intriguing back story that goes right along with the current modern-day story that makes it all just a little more suspenseful and a little more fun to watch. And yes, the mermaid and the man meet and fall in love and do they have the happy Disney ending or the tragic fairy tale ending? Well I won’t give you a spoiler except to say, probably (yes, I’m being ambiguous)……just watch it…..okay?
CHARACTERS: The best character of all is the mermaid (Sim Chung) played by Jun Ji Hyun. She meets Heo Joon Jae in Spain and hilariously learns about being human and of course, he doesn’t know she’s a mermaid. I laughed out loud for the first ten episodes as she stays true to her mermaid self-dealing with the human world. From the moment Heo Joon Jae finds her in his closet wearing his hoodie eating his food, its just more fun than a barrel of monkeys. I can’t say enough good things about her performance. Just know that it isn’t all fun and games and when she gets serious or sad………wow, the audience follows her right down the emotional drain.
Heo Joon Jae is played by Lee Min Ho and he does a great job of creating an interesting character that is fun, serious, broody, and intelligent all at the same time. From the first moment he graces the screen as the town agent, we know there is more to Lee Min Ho than broody good looks. While he wasn’t as funny as Jun Ji Hyun, Lee Min Ho gave us two distinct characters that worked towards the same goal quite nicely.
The side characters were very very very well done. From Lee Hee Joon’s (is he a bad guy or good guy?) portrayal of Jo Nam Doo to Tae Ho’s (Shin Won Ho) and Cha Shi Ah’s (Shin Hye Sun) very strange relationship to the money grabbing Ahn Jin Joo (Moon So Ri)…..they are all very interesting, including the serial killer, and Heo Joon Jae’s very sad family situation. Not one character bored me. I would have loved to have seen more of little Yoon Ah and the very funny homeless woman (who actually does not have a name), but they wisely stopped at 20 episodes.
MUSIC: The music was enjoyable, but not killer…..whether or not the soundtrack is fabulous depends on if I buy one of the songs. None of the songs really stood out but were nicely used and not overly annoying.
RE-WATCH: I plan on re-watching but I wasn’t compelled to with episode 20…….lets face it….some shows you are just compelled to watch over and over and over. Legend of the Blue Sea is sweet and lovely, but once through might be enough.
OVERALL: If nothing else, watch this for Jun Ji Hyun. I thought she was funny in You Who Came from the Stars, but she was doubly hilarious in this show. This woman is not afraid to take on anything and sure has incredible timing, whether it be comedic or dramatic. I plan on watching everything she’s in because so far, she’s never disappointed me. Good News! Legend of the Blue Sea is entertaining. The characters are amusing and for twenty episodes, you keep biting your nails, asking the question…..Disney ending or Sad Fairy Tale ending?
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