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Wild Chives and Soy Bean Soup: 12 Years Reunion korean drama review
Completed
Wild Chives and Soy Bean Soup: 12 Years Reunion
3 people found this review helpful
by Mivaaa
Jun 20, 2015
26 of 26 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 6.5
Story 6.5
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 2.5
Sometimes, when in a desperate search for that one drama, you can slip and fall down the stairs. And no, I will not cover it up and pretend it didn't hurt and instead just share with you all exactly how hard I fell and how much it hurt. Putting it simple, I fell down the Kdrama stairs and I got really hurt by it. For you that don't get the little symbolism i'm using, I'll just say this. I was looking for a drama that had one special actor. I had to watch a series that satisfied me and didn't make me dislike him more. I thought that I had found that drama, or perhaps a drama that could change my mind. It did however change my mind, sadly not in the way I wanted and not for the better. What may this drama be you may wonder. Its Wild Chives and Soybean Soup. And why? Firstly, the story: I knew for a fact that many people out there watching these dramas have a tendency to not like flashbacks, more often than not, I disagree. To a certain point. When said flashback is ongoing for to long or take over the main story, then I can't help but feel the same as my fellow watchers. But still, even during those times and I still shut up and wait for that flashback to be over. However this time I have to utter my feelings, 'cause the flashback that's used in this little drama doesn't just take over the show and go on for to long, it totally messes up my feelings for the rest of the show. Sure the flashback is essential, kind of, to understand why some characters act the way they do. I personally still feel that they are idiots either way. What do I mean exactly tho? The story is just...there. It doesn't feel amazing but it doesn't suck either, it's just there. This feeling does not, however, appear until after we have a 6 episode long flashback of our main characters fate and history. The flashback, that I felt annoyed at in the beginning became somewhat good after a while. Sure I wanted the story to move on so that I could see the reason to why I even watched the show from the start, but I did find the flashback to have a rather good feeling to it. I liked the characters and so on, sadly after a while, some things happened and the snooze fest began. Then it all ended. The main story had arrived. I was excited for approximately 10 minutes into the real thing. After that I started to miss the younger version of the main characters and the setting they where in. The whole thing just fell right on it's face and couldn't stand up again! Everything that happened onscreen ended up going into one ear and out the other, while my eyes forgot what had been shown to them. That is how I would explain my feelings anyway. Secondly, the cast: Reason to why I found this drama and the reason to why I watched it was, again and once more, because of the actor Nam Gung Min. Twice I've seen him in a drama, first time I hated his character but believed that I would like him in something else, when he wasn't the love rival. I watched Unemployed Romance, where I found him to be around Meh and Maybe. After blaming these feelings on the bad script and pacing, I started my hunt again. Believing, still, that I would find him likable. I've finally come to understand something. My hunt will end here, the possibility that I will find something I'll like with him as one of the mains is close to zero. I can only say that I tried. When watching him play the character that I already in the flashback found to be just alright, it just came falling down. The whole way he carried the character just .... It was hard to watch. I got so irritated just looking at his smug face and for the majority of the series, I wanted him to stay quiet and out of sight, this sadly can't happen when the aforementioned person is the male lead. The female lead, Lee So Yeon as Jang Kook is ...better but still not good enough. The change from the young version and the adult one is way to drastic. It doesn't feel like the same person. I never found myself convinced that the girl I had watched earlier was the new woman in front of me. When that happens it's anything else than a good thing. The story feels less whole and feels less real then it should. It's just an unattractive thing to have when the person we're talking about is in fact the main female lead. I've only seen her in one other drama, I did love the drama and I liked the her character, but I think that's also the only series with her that I'll like, at least for the time being. If we take a look at all the other characters that is part of this little mess, there can be a lot of things said. The brother of the female lead and the drama around him is the one thing that, after the main story, is the most annoying to fallow. The girl that is in focus in that specific sidestory is one of the worst characters here, for me at least. The mother and the conflicts that arise between her and the grandmother is uninteresting. The other side of the series, meaning the male leads family is not any better. The uncle is likable and one of the few characters that I can stand. And for the first time I have absolutely nothing to say about the love rivals, Mind blown! Now someone out there is thinking "Oh no! Is there not a single person in this series that actually is a good character?" To answer that, yes there is one character that I felt really attached to. He was, of course, best when in the flashback but he keeps on being the best when moving into the main story. The character I'm talking about is Park Moo Chul! He was enjoyable and felt real. He felt to be in good balance when between the young and older version, and that they could have been the same person. We got enough backstory about him to understand what and how everything in his life played out. His relationship with our mains is rather cute and was the better part of the story. If you ask me he and Jang Dal Rea/ Jang Kook made such a cuter and better couple then the one we got. Sadly that didn't happen. That is it in a nutshell. I'm not going to say anything about the music, it's not anything magical or special in my point of view. I'm sure that there will be some person out there that will disagree with we, as there always is. Are you really asking me about the rewatch value? The one and only reason to why I finished it was so that I could review it! So that I could warn people. Yes I liked Moo Chul, but remember I liked him the best in the flashback episodes and therefor disappeared way to long ago. Overall and lastly. I'm not saying that you won't like this one. I'm sure that some of you will. However I don't and that is what I've presented to you. The show got destroyed by the flashback, if it had not been better than the main story, I would never have seen how bad the story really was. Most of all, this series have finally given me the rest of not looking for more dramas with Nam Gung Min. He's not going to surprise me with a topnotch role as of yet. No more looking for me,however if he comes across a shockingly perfect role for himself, I hope it comes falling into my lap so that I'll be proven wrong, however until then his labeled as an unliked actor. It's all up to you, dear reader. As I always say, the choice of watching is all up the the person that is going to. If you find it interesting then watch if not then don't. Whom am I to decide that. All I do is say what I think and that's it. Happy Watching! Mivaaa!
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