It took me a long time to put my feelings for this drama into words. From the very beginning, there was something which attracted me and yet I felt something else was missing.
It's not the acting, which is very good, the cinematography, played on pastel colours and some truly beautiful scenery, nor is it the music, which is very fitting and has a nice soothing quality to it.

I believe the weak point of this drama to be the story itself, the expectations created by the premises and never truly attended. Perhaps I should precise that I am not a fan of the idea of destiny, not in general and definitely not when applied to love. It seems to me, the idea of destiny is too easy an explanation for something very complex. Why do we make certain decisions? Why do we love someone and not someone else? Are we able to face the consequences of our choices? It's way too easy and slightly coward to answer: it's destiny, a higher power decided for me and I'm the impotent victim of a bigger plan.
However, I'm not immune to the fascination of "magic", so I can comprehend - if not approve of - the romantic charm the very old idea of fate holds.
Therefore, I would have accepted a plot entirely built upon the original concept of the red thread bonding two people. But this drama throws in so many elements, in the end it can't be even called a story about destiny, or love. Love is there, but in all its possible forms: friendship, motherly love, filial love, obsession, mistaken love, unrequited one, love for life... you name the rest, it's there anyway.
The Akai Ito legend is also mentioned, but there is no true parallel in the plot, and this red thread ends up being the bond connecting an innumerable number of people.
Furthermore, each and every character in this drama makes more or less pondered choiches and lives with the consequences of them, hence completely defeating the object of a destined love.

I recognize the merit of the writer to portray difficult issues and courageously fit them into the lives of a group of adolescents, but some of them are treated with too light a touch, as if an abusing young man could be convinced of his wrongdoings by a short speech... I wish it were so simple.

This said, I liked the final episode: it brings closure to every character in a way I wasn't expecting given the overall feeling. The friendship theme is strong and I truly liked it: I think the drama would have gained if it had been presented from the very beginning as a story of a few friends and their tribulations.

I don't think I'll re-watch this any time soon. But these young actors did a very good job, so I believe the highest mark for this show goes to them.

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I will get so much hatred for what follows, I'll better go on a vacation for a while.

The premise: I dropped this drama 5 times before finally completing it. The reason why I picked it up again is the most shallow and childish you can think of: the crush on an actor. It embarrasses me no end, but what can I do?
I am the cause of my own suffering.
The reason why I didn't drop it a sixth time as every cell in my body screamed I should, is that when I reached episode 11 I was so bored and annoyed by this drama, the desire to write a review became stronger than the torture itself.
Also, I have let some time pass after the watch before I started writing, because I wanted to use my brain and not my stomach (or heart, in this case it's the same thing).

Let's go in order.
The Plot. There is a fantastic word in French to describe such a plot: a bric-a-brac. It is a fairy tale, which is fine, it's full of elements of fantasy, which is fine, but instead of following a cohesive narrative as required by any story, fantastic or real, it keeps on throwing in new explanations and solutions until nothing makes sense anymore, not even in a fantasy world. We have a Gumiho and suddenly we find out she was made out of the ashes/fire of a Goblin. A GOBLIN? You mean legendary little monsters with either green or red skin, pointed ears and tons of malice? That's not how the half ghost remembers her. Wait, this Goblin turned Gumiho turned half human also gave half of her "ki" (another element popped out of the blue on episode... 13 I think) to a human who gave up half of his life but also has half a ki and drank twice the bead and died and came back to life and then the eclipse...
Ok, I stop here before I turn as crazy as the plot. This story is utterly ridiculous, even when, I repeat, I let time pass and somehow digested it all.
Did I mention the cheese, the sugary dialogues, the repetition of lines, flashbacks, situations? Better not.

The characters.
Oh please kill me.
If you think Gumiho is a fox, you're mistaken: she's a dog. She goes from talking about cow meat every MINUTE of every single episode to the middle, to taking about her Dae Woong every minute of every episode till the end. She depends so much on him that even when the stakes get higher and she decides for a sacrifice in the name of love, it's not suspenseful anymore. It's irritating, predictable and humiliating. As a woman, I find her character insulting. Like a dog, she stays glued to him with a persistence and complete lack of reasoning which is the exact opposite of romantic.
She threatens to disappear at least 4 times, and every time she changes idea and we are back to square one.
Dae Woong has at least a little character development, but stays a bi-dimentional person anyway. His losing his parents when he was a kid is mentioned and never elaborated: why mentioning it, then? The zoo trauma is treated in such a superficial way it's ridiculous.
And the fact that he loves a woman who has the brain of a 4 year old child and the attitude of a loyal dog doesn't play much in his favour.
The "half ghost" Dong Joo passes his time watching an hourglass with one eye and his magic knife with another, repeating to himself the same sentences over and over and playing in his mind the same memory at least 12 times. I still have to understand whether his contribution to the plot is to be there and show his sexy emo haircut or add to the comedic.
The others aren't even worth mentioning: the usual, trite, spiteful, envious girl, the always oblivious friends, the silly grandfather, a farting aunt and the bad double of Chow Yun Fat. Oh yes, the dog (the real one) is wonderful.

The acting of the main leads is decent. The others are, once again, not worth mentioning.

The music is repetitive. Very much so. There is one nice song, but by the end I couldn't hear it anymore, so many times it was played.

I know this sounds harsh and I know I won't be received with sympathy. But given the number of good reviews this thing got, I don't feel like I'm doing any harm to it by stating my honest opinion.
If you want an overdose of cheese, watch this.

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I apologize in advance for the length of what follows.
This drama hit me like a tsunami of emotions and has left me bruised in so many places I'm in dire need of a strong tonic
I had promised myself to never say this, but rules are made to be broken: King 2 Hearts is the best drama I have ever watched. It is so because it fully responds to what I ask a work of fiction: not just to entertain me, but to make me feel. Deeply.

I suppose it's not for everyone though. It raises issues which require a level of maturity, as well as a huge dose of emotional strength. It plays on prejudices and the rotten nature of politics, sparing no one: the arrogance of the western world, the obtuseness of military regimes, the cowardice of politicians, the corruptive power of money no matter where. But it highlights the best virtues too: loyalty, friendship, courage, honesty, responsibility towards the people we love. This story is the growth of a group of people, from biased to understanding, and most of all is the birth of a king worth of this name.
It's obviously a love story too, but I'm glad this is only partly the focus of the drama. Don't expect a rom-com, or you'll be disappointed. The comedy is there, mainly in the beginning, and it is a clever sort of fun, but it's devoid of the usual comedic tropes, and it always has a black undertone - which I personally adore.
So to me this is a truly romantic drama, in the classical sense of the word, full of awe, suspense and heartbreak. There isn't even an ounce of fluff: if this is what you're looking for, King 2 Hearts is not for you.

Two words about script and direction: the first is one of the most consistent I've come across, never deviating from reality even when the setting is fictional. I am aware some of the scenarios are controversial to say the least, but if you give a look at the way international politics works, you'll see that - alas - it's a lot more plausible than we would like to admit. This said, the writers managed to create an ensemble of wonderful characters who touch the heart, and always thought-provoking dialogues. Direction is splendid, very film-like, playing on grand-angle and close-up shots, on colours, light and dark. The action scenes are believable and thrilling.

Standing ovation for the performance of the entire cast. Everyone has done such a brilliant job, I'm in awe.
Ha Ji Won is wonderful, to say the least. I've read some arguing that a north Korean soldier can't be so girly and trusting in the matters of the heart, but her multiple layers are what make Hang A the incredibly believable character I fell in love with, and Ha Ji Won the awesome actress she is. Besides her doing most of her stunts, she studied the North dialect, voice intonation and poses. The result is a charming mixture of vulnerability and strength which is profoundly feminine.
I'm glad I've really got to know Lee Seung Gi with this drama, because this young man has done an amazing step forward in terms of acting. His performance as the shallow, prejudiced playboy he's in the beginning slowly growing to be a king to be proud of, is mind-blowing. I truly felt all his suffering, doubts, uncertainties, fear… stress. He has gained a loyal fan for his professionalism and for the courage to accept a controversial part which more mature actors had refused before him.
Jo Jung Suk and Lee Yoon Ji have been an incredible revelation for me, both acted so naturally it's almost unbelievable.
Hat off to all the other actors. I was just as involved in their fates as I was in that of the main couple. They all made me laugh, weep (buckets, really), be proud or exhilarated.
Yes, even the villain. It won't be easy for the actor to shrug off the image. He embodies evil in its most horrific, unadulterated form: gratuitous cruelty, the pleasure to see others suffer, vanity and megalomania, all highlighted by a child-like behaviour which is as disquieting as it reduces him to the sub-human this character actually is.

Oh, the music!
A good soundtrack explains the scenes with the notes. When he wrote the score for the 1993 film "The Piano", Michael Nyman said he needed some piano pieces which could speak for Ada, who is mute, and work as a substitute to her voice.
That's what the music in King 2 Hearts does: if you close your eyes and listen to it (I have it all on my i-pod) the music will speak for the scene, and will keep on speaking to you when the show is over. The instrumental pieces are simply perfect and aching. "Two Hearts" begins with the pound of two hearts, hence explaining in a second a title whose meaning I had been pining over for weeks.
Simply beautiful.

I have already re-watched half of the drama and am going through a second (third?) complete marathon. If I gave this a lower re-watch value I'd be a hypocrite. And, believe it or not, it improves on second watching.
There's so much more I'd like to say about it, but I fear I've been wordy enough. I feel a last word of… warning is needed though: be prepared to feel strongly. If what you ask a drama is to entertain you or divert you, don't watch King 2 Hearts; only approach it if you're ready to grow so much attached to these characters, seeing them go will give you an almost physical pain.

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Recently I finally learned the meaning of the word "makjang". For those of you who are in the dark as I was, a makjang drama is one where the twists and turns are so over the top, with the hero/ine having to face so much misfortunes and betrayal, the next step is either sanctification or Dante's Inferno. I dare give the word my very personal definition: a drama is makjang, when you wish you could enter the screen and murder half of the characters with your bare hands, then ease on your couch with a sigh of intense satisfaction (drink some soju and you'll have become a makjang character yourself).

Shining Inheritance fits both definitions. There's envy, greed, a dead man walking, 10 trillions lies, missed encounters by a microsecond, corporate plotting, memory loss, love polyhedrons and such a dose of odious behaviours your becoming a virtual assassin would be justified.
But before you decide you hate the genre and turn the page, let me say this drama is strangely and acutely addictive. It took me 4 weeks to pant through the first 7 episodes and less than 1 to watch the remaining 21 (granted, with a little fast forwarding here and there).
The plot is very consistent. Every narrative line comes to a conclusion and justice triumphs. Delicate subjects are touched here, and I appreciated this the most.
I maintain the whole story could have been easily condensed in half the time and the dialogues thinned, if only the characters had stopped repeating the same sentences like an echo and the word money had been uttered one thousand times instead of one billion. There will be moments in which you'll question your choice of dramas, but at that point you'll be so implicated in the crime… ehm, plot, drop it will be harder than exit a gang.

The acting mark is the result of an arithmetic mean. The beginning is not encouraging at all, with exaggerations and wooden deliveries all over the place, but it improves a lot in going. It's as though the actors had been attending Theatre Class while filming. With a notable exception: Yun Joon Suk, who plays the autistic brother, is impressive all through, and makes the drama shine in depth and emotion every time he's on screen.
I'm usually only mildly interested in the cast's attire, unless it's so distracting it prevents me from fully enjoying it or it is integral part of the narrative intent. But grandmother's grey wig - I truly hope it was one - looked so disjointed from her skull I watched all her scenes brandishing a comb. Not that Lee Seung Gi's hairdo was much better: now and then it truly looked like it was about to migrate towards warmer shores. I prayed he would be caught in a sudden downpour to flatten it but, alas!, the sun shone brightly on him. There's improvement in this department too, though, and if you fall for the very pretty main couple, the deed is done.

Two words about the music. I had a hard time coming to terms with the blend of Bach's adagio and K-pop, the first being too solemn and fit to a mass in Latin and the second too… pop. Once again, it's the little brother who saves the score with his very sweet piano piece dedicated to his Noona.

So here's my little piece of advice: watch it. Resist the urge to drop it after the first episode, contain your puzzlement in the second and third, wipe your sweat to the 7th and you'll be hooked. Completing it will give you a sense of power and the feeling you have truly watched The Drama of All Dramas.
What does not kill you, makes you stronger.

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This movie isn't bad: it's scandalous.
I am currently punishing myself for having surrendered to curiosity and approached it in a moment of bad impulse. It doesn't help that I had nothing better to do, because it managed to turn me from lazily content to furious.

The plot is a butchery of the original story. What they have done is take a very uncommon, extra-ordinary, even controversial plot and randomly cut it like Edward Scissorhands gone completely mad.
Let's have a look at who those characters should be - in the mind of the Japanese author: Sumire is a cold, measured, prim career woman who's incapable of opening to anyone. Her loneliness is so much a choice as it is her condemnation. Momo is a young man with talent who stopped loving himself, all instinct and childlike/petlike sweetness. The encounter of these two world-apart people is indeed that of an owner and her pet, while the epilogue is the growth of both as people. Kimi Wa Petto explained why and how Momo is the only one capable of drawing out Sumire's need to give love and why Sumire's the perfect choice to make him finally reconcile with who he is.

This movie takes out every trace of insightful characterization and leaves us with a badly edited huge fluff. It makes those who have seen the drama - like me - bitterly disappointed and those who haven't puzzled, when not disturbed by the concept of a barfing man.
The cast does not save the day. I wonder if they have taken the time to read the manga, or watch the drama to at least understand who these characters are. Perhaps it isn't fair to ascribe this to the actors, but I couldn't help comparing the sober elegance of Koyuki with the frilly style - so out of character - of Kim Ha Neul. And while Matsujun was a very convincing pet, Jang Geun Suk is an embarrassing pantomime of one. The dance is the icing on the cake: the beautiful, well danced modern ballet in KWP morphed here into a crazy grass-hopping. Humph.

In conclusion, I recommend this movie to nobody.

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Why, of why did I read Violet's review? I had somehow fallen into a sort of quiet limbo regarding my favourite actor and almost forgotten about this movie accordingly, when I read her review, ran to watch the movie myself - talk about patience - and was instantly thrown into my most familiar obsession: Hyun Bin.

My bad. To top it all, I agree with her: this movie is beautiful. I know this is a remake of an older Korean movie with the same title which I haven't seen, but from the start it reminded me a lot of the american/french film "Before Sunrise", with the two leads carving out for themselves a tiny bubble in space and time, far from their present lives and the world outside.
The difference - a notable one for me - is that while in Before Sunrise the two protagonists talk a lot, too much for my taste, here silences are a lot more poignant and meaningful. I am actually glad I watched it raw, to the point I think everybody should do so. To elaborate: most dialogues take place in English, but there are moments when Anna speaks in Chinese and Hoon in Korean. English is their communication tool, but the reason why they understand each other is not a language. Apart from the dance scene mentioned by Violet, I fell in love with another, in which she tells him her story in Chinese and he only comments "bad" or "good", depending on what he feels is her mood. Watching it raw, made me live the entire surreal dialogue as if I were him, not grasping one word, but trying to understand what she conveyed with her posture and eyes.

I also agree about the direction, and I have come up with a sort of theory of my own as to why the colours are so subdued. What we are offered is the world outside the prison as Anna sees it. Since colours only depend on our perception, there isn't much reason for her to paint her life. No wonder she wears make up and happier clothes only for a brief moment: they look fake, in contrast with her mood. The only colourful moments are those in which she imagines.
I guess the choice of Seattle wasn't accidental either: as I recall, it is known as the rainiest city in the States.

The acting is spectacular. Hyun Bin is a gorgeous man, but that's definitely not the point of this movie, where he doesn't have to be good-looking: he has to look vain. And I'm glad it is so, for dwelling on his looks would be an offence to his acting skills.
Wei Tang's performance is outstanding. As I said, she expresses a world via silences.

Beautiful music. I wouldn't have minded a little more of it.

I recommend this movie, but only if you are prepared for its pensive pace and all the untold. Not a fluffy watch by all means, and not for anyone looking for comedy.

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Not that this drama needed yet another review: it must be by all means the most talked about K-drama of all times. Writing one satisfies my need to fraternize with the only reviewer here who had the guts to give it a 6, well aware that I will be submerged with jolly hatred, so diplomatically expressed by clicking on the "not helpful" choice.

Let me start with the plot. It isn't the most original of all, but I don't consider this a flaw, per se. Few things are more satisfying for a romantic than a woman compelled by circumstances to live under the same roof with 3 good-looking men. Season this with music, humour and a lot of misunderstandings, and you have the perfect material for a great drama.

My problem lies with dialogues and execution. The first are childish and repetitive, the second is average. I can see for myself that the actors are good looking, but that's the extent of their charm.
Park Shin Hye is insufferable. She displays two emotions only here: surprise - round eyes and O-shaped lips - and desperation - a river of tears. Her character has no real development: a nun who changes her love for god with love for a star, without learning anything whatsoever from the experience, neither wisdom, nor self-assurance or pride. One more apology from her mouth and I'd have strangled her. And don't let me started on the way she walks, as if she were trying to apologize for her existence too.
Out of the three guys, the only acting chop I'm ready to salvage is Lee Hong Ki's. He looks like a puppy, but is endearing and changes throughout the show. Jang Geun Suk uses too many exaggerated facial expressions and Kang Shin Woo too few. The result is forced. One is reminded every minute of the show that these people are staging a drama.
The character of Uee is your usual spiteful duck, whose purpose is none other than add the nth foot walking all over humble Go Mi Nam.
And Grey Eminence the lost twin brother must be the most useless character ever created, who comes back, takes all the glory he did nothing to obtain without as much as a thank you, and even has the guts to start an affair with a woman who has made his sister's life a living hell.

I have admitted before at not being a K-pop fan, therefore I didn't really like the music. But this is my problem, and it would be unfair to judge an original OST only based upon my taste. I thought some songs were used too often and they annoyed me in the long run.

Re-watch value is obviously in line with the general liking of a drama. If one has fallen in love with it, one will probably want to revive the experience. If this is not the case, why re-watch something average when tons of other dramas are still to be seen?

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Before writing a review for this drama, I needed time to cool down a little. Not only I am a fan of dark detective stories, I also love Takeuchi Yuko to pieces. Both premises may have biased my judgment of the show itself.

This drama starts in the very middle of things. Unless you have watched the 2010 special - which I haven't yet - you won't see any introductions, neither of the characters, nor of the setting. You are thrust into the first crime and given brief flashes of the characters' past, pieces of a puzzle you'll only complete by the end, and not in full. It's realistic, harsh and frustrating, but it worms its way into the viewer's interest in a very subtle, gradual way, until you come to the end and wish there were another entire season to watch at once.
The cases brought me more than once to the brink of tears. They are desperate and intense, involving such human characters I couldn't remain detached even if I wanted to.

The cast is downright brilliant. My favourite Takeuchi did not disappoint me. Her character's very complex, with a perpetually seething anger as palpable and incomprehensible at the beginning as it is understandable once her past is slowly revealed. I have a weakness for characters who are incapable of expressing their feelings, because when they finally let the slightest glimpse of vulnerability surface it's so much more intense and heart wrenching.
Which inevitably leads me to her loyal subordinate Kikuta, portrayed by an impeccable Nishijima Hidetoshi. He reads her without fail, and I love that his evident attraction to her originates from his admiration for her skills rather than a simple man/woman dynamic.
Some of the characters are downright irritating. The police director - whose role is quite a mystery to me - is so obtuse the sole purpose of his existence seems to be to provoke his detectives' reaction. While it works on a dramatic level, I hope such individuals do not exist in real police departments, or I'd give up on the Japanese justice entirely, mostly if he's paired with the older corrupt detective whom I wanted to punch in the face.
Good or bad, none of these characters left me unmoved, proof of their outstanding job here.

I loved the music: well chosen, well used, well balanced.

Re-watch value is very high, because at first viewing I found some details hard to follow, mainly because of the fast delivered lines and the unusual way the crimes unfold. Most of all, though, I am experiencing withdrawal symptoms regarding the characters and am looking forward to a continuation. I'd vote for a second season in no time.

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What a delicious drama. Literally.
It left me hungry for more of these adorable characters, and made me hungry for mouth watering food while watching. In short, the title says it all.

The pairing food=hunger may seem obvious, but there's much more to it than what meets the eye. I love the food philosophy as it is portrayed here, because almost each character is defined by his or her way to interact with food. For some it is a simple nourishment, for others, a vehicle to express themselves, the means to capture someone's heart, to force out a smile or the way to forget a childhood of privation.
I was more than once reminded of "Ratatuille", the disney animation film, and the moment in which the merciless food critic savours a bite of ratatuille and is immediately catapulted back to his childhood and the memory of his mother's love.
Food really has the power to stir up memories and rouse imagination.

I came to love all the characters and was impressed by the performance of the entire cast. Granted, Takimoto Miori is basically playing Mio from Ikemen desu ne all over again, but as somebody else wrote before me, she's so adorable I'm ready to forgive her for being still an unripe actress. Osamu Mukai is spot on, and I particularly enjoyed him when he would start talking like a dockworker, rolling his "rrr" and using foul language. But my favourite character is without a doubt Taku with his absent-minded ways and his infectious smile. Their friendship and ties are a pleasure to watch: hilarious, sincere, believable.

The music is great. Every piece fits the scene to perfection without ever overpowering it.

There's much more to say about this drama, but I believe it has to be... eaten, instead of read about. Re-watch value is very high because once you've tasted something good, you definitely want to eat it again, sooner or later.
I may just add that this is a further evidence that reviews and recommendations can be truly useful: I watched hungry! because I trust the opinion of other reviewers here and I'm very glad I did.

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There isn't much that I can add to what has already been expressed in other reviews here: the plot isn't new, nor unpredictable, the acting is good albeit a little over the lines, the dialogues are witty but definitely not deep, the music is fine enough. On a mere objective level, this drama is decent.

And yet, I loved it! I marathoned through it in a couple of days, and enjoyed every episode. I laughed, smiled, grinned. One may object that a drama is either good and to our liking, or it isn't. But the reasons why I like watching something aren't always as clear-cut and defined as I would like to think: I can remain cold in front of a masterpiece, and be enthusiastic of a piece of trinkets.
Hence my tepid marks, which reflect what I hope is an unbiased estimation, not the degree of my liking it.

Fact is, I truly loved the characters. Kohei, the bodyguard played by Nishijima Hidetoshi, is incredibly endearing. I had never seen this actor on screen before and at first sight I thought he was the complete opposite of an eye-candy. But his character is so sweet and lovable, I ended up liking him a lot. Kim Tae Hee, whom I could barely tolerate in My Princess, is adorable here, contributing factor the Japanese language, which renders her voice deeper and more pleasant.
The great actor Takanabe is hilarious. He seems vain and utterly stupid, but we soon discover he hides his own complex, and from that moment on, I dare everyone not to root for him, if not as a lover, at least as a friend and professional actor.
All the other characters do a good job, including Taecyeon, who surprised me with his very good Japanese. The bad guys aren't given enough screen time to get on our nerves.

The music is fine, mostly in the second half of the drama.

Surprisingly, I think I'll rewatch this drama one day. It was a perky watch, which I recommend to whomever is in need of something light, funny, romantic without being melodramatic or mushy.

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I don't know why this drama hasn't got more fans. Personally, I thought it was very well acted, modern, with a lovely photography and enough romance to satisfy the romantics among us.

The plot is neither shallow nor particularly predictable. Until the end, the viewer does not know if the romance between the leads will have a future or not, because apart from the age difference - which isn't that big anyway - there are other, more important obstacles: opposite stances towards work and life in general, different social status, dissimilar goals. The good aspect of this love story based upon differences is that both learn one from the other. It's not the dramatic change of one of them overnight, in the name of love or another equally unrealistic reason.
The best part of the plot lies in the dialogues, though. They are clever, at times hilarious, at others quite deep. I loved learning of the process behind the creation of an advertisement, and why those people are often referred to as "the creatives".

The acting was very good, although I must admit at not having been swept away by Itoh Misaki's performance. There were times when she felt wooden and unconvincing. This lowers my acting mark to an 8, which would have been otherwise flawless, since everybody else did a great job, including Kame.

The music isn't my favourite, but it was chosen with great sense and is very fitting with the story told and the setting.

The photography deserves a mention too: there are some beautiful screen shots throughout this show. I can still see them with my mind's eyes today, more than 4 years after I've watched the drama. They are meant to create a visual pattern, parallel images which create a nice contrast between the incompatibility of the two main leads in the world of words, and the harmony between them on a more emotional level.

I will rewatch it. It gave me an energy shot at the time, therefore I keep it for future need of the same.

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The thing I appreciate the most about Japanese shows in general, is that they can tell a good story without much of an eventful plot to build it upon. They play with narrative style and they excel in delicacy.

I'm not implying Saikou no Jinsei has got no plot, but it's not the kind one would run to watch and sit through with bathed breath. This is the story of a family, of their little and big trials. But most of all it tells of what it means to shoulder responsibility for the people we care for.
I may just as well confess that I started this because I wanted to stare at Yamapi. He's a pleasure for the eye in general, but there's a tangible improvement in his acting skill too. I grew very fond of him and all the main characters. I like it when details and hints are rationed slowly, because that's what happens in real life too: we are presented with a family picture, and bit by bit we are offered glimpses of who they are and where they are going.

The whole cast did a brilliant job, and I found myself with moisture in my eyes more than once. I was impressed by Yamashita's ability to convey his feelings here, and I was entertained by his relationship with both his family and Yuki-chan. It also amazes me that I managed to laugh a lot more often than what is expected by the general atmosphere.

I didn't like the music at all. Not only it isn't my cup of tea, I also thought it was very unfitting now and then. Luckily though, it does not overpower the dialogues or the scenes, and it can therefore be overlooked.

Rewatch value is not too high, but if you like family dramas and touching plots, you may give this one a try.

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For a moment there I was hesitant whether I should express my feelings frankly or filter them for the sake of diplomacy and respect for those who liked it. In the end, I decided for complete honesty, and for this I apologize in advance.

What an utterly stupid movie.
The premises are interesting enough: two "love swindlers" meet, and their carefully planned arts of seduction are put to the test by the experience of the other. Up to this point, everything's fine: two very good looking people are thrown into some funny situations, keeping the viewer entertained for the duration of… a quarter of an hour.
After that, all the inconsistency of this plot come to the surface. This should be a romantic comedy, but where is the romance? Unless we are to think that beauty were the one and only prerogative to love and be loved, there is absolutely nothing likable about those two. They are cynical, spoiled, prejudiced and irritating. If you expect a character development, a little something to make you empathise with one of them or both, you'll be disappointed. There is no characterization whatsoever here: why are these two disillusioned? No idea. Are they going to change, feel deeper, be taught some valuable lesson by the encounter? No.
All we see is 2 handsome people displaying all their weapons, from beginning to end. The point of a romantic comedy is to satisfy the comedic and the romance. In this movie, the comedic is repetitive and the romance non existent, since who cares about two bad people who stay bad?

I suppose the acting saves the day. Son Ye Jin is unusually feisty and plays her role very well, given the little material she was given to work with. This was my first time watching Song Il Gook on screen, but I know he's played serious roles before, so I guess he did a good job too in portraying a funnier character. Since there is no true soul in this movie though, I can't imagine they had to work hard on identifying with their characters.

Music… can't remember, I'm afraid.

No way I'm ever going to rewatch this movie, I'd rather have my foot be hit with a hammer.

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Pasta would be an overall delightful watch if it weren't for a couple of absolutely annoying, infuriating traits.

I think it's necessary for me to premise that I have first hand experience of how a high level restaurant/kitchen works. This is why I was attracted to it in the first place.

For the most part, what happens in the kitchen of this drama is exactly the same you will find in Michelin-stars kitchen all over the world: the strict hierarchy, the arguments between kitchen chef and restaurant direction, the treatment of women (things are rapidly changing, but high level cuisine has been for a long time a male domain, where women were treated almost like slaves). Even details in this drama are absolutely realistic, from the utensils they use to the allocation of each cooking-partie.
I had a great time watching the whole kimchi debacle, as I know for a fact that this is exactly the kind of problem a chef in such a kitchen would face.

BUT. Like Beca, the female lead annoyed me. Royally. Not so much because she would say Yes Chef every second word - that's actually quite accurate - but because she was ambitious but never showed any sign of having learnt anything. If you want to succeed in the gourmet world and you have the chance to work with a great chef you don't discuss his menu decisions: you learn! She is at the same time too humble and too conceited. She bows her head when she should show pride (grrrrrrr) and fights against the chef when HE is right (double grrrrrrr)!
And please don't get me started on the way she eats spaghetti. I'm Italian and, believe me, I cringed, to say the least. She would grab a handful of oily spaghetti and thrust them in her mouth with her hands, chewing them as if it were pigswill. In front of other people. I was disgusted. I respect different customs from mine, but you don't work in a 3-star (or even a 1 star) Italian restaurant without knowing how to eat spaghetti, for Pete's sake!

Lee Sun Gyun on the other hand is amazing. He is an arrogant jerk, but he is absolutely believable. I would never fall for such a man, but nothing he does or say comes out as unrealistic. Let me be just a little spoilerish here and say that his declaration is a great one! I finished the drama because of him and the rest of the hilarious, spot-on kitchen staff.

I can't remember the music, I'm afraid. Hence the 7.

I'm not sure I'll rewatch this drama. I laughed a lot, it entertained me a lot, but there are parts I'd need to skip entirely if I wanted to go through a second watch.

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I'm so much in agreement with every word written in Jeanie's review that I had to go back and change most of mine in order not to write a useless review full of repetitions of what had already been expressed so well.



On my part, I can say Coffee Prince made me reconcile with Korean dramas. If I have to tell the whole, bitter truth, for some time I thought Korean could only produce melodramas, with round eyes girls pouting and arrogant dudes raising perfectly trimmed eyebrows. Until I landed on this drama.

Everything about it felt so real, by the middle I wasn't a simple viewer anymore: I was part of that group of friends. The kind of alchemy they created on screen is rarely found in dramas, because in most cases one is reminded that these people are acting. But Coffee Prince feels like they are having fun together. It reminded me of a dinner with my friends, or camping out with them.

There's a delicious special at the end of the drama, which shows some behind the scene bloopers and interviews. And it's amazing, because either the special looks like integral part of the drama, or the whole drama is like a behind the scene: the interaction between the actors stays the same. Even the make up and clothes are everyday things, not a catwalk display.



And I absolutely loved the way the issue homosexuality was treated. I loved that Han Gyul was tormented by the thought of being gay, but that he was even more so in finding out that she was a woman. Because love, betrayal and trust are universal feelings and have no connection whatsoever with gender.



The music deserves a mention too. Coffee Prince has an outstanding OST, very unusual and difficult to put into a precise musical category. Some pieces have a jazz undertone which I personally loved.



I've read some people complaining about the pace of this drama, saying nothing major happens. But a work of art, be it a movie, a drama, a novel or a cartoon isn't made only of events. It's made of style too, of images, silences, scenery, words. Thousands of love stories have been written and shown in dramas. What makes this one a delightful watch, is the ability of actors and direction to make us connect and "live" this sweet love story with the characters.

Therefore, I'm ready to recommend this show to everyone.

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