I. LOVE. THIS. DRAMA. SO. MUCH! Truth be told, I really debated and fought myself against giving this drama a 10. I mean the production values aren't great and it definitely has a high goofiness/quirky factor that some people might not get past, and for any other drama with those negatives, I wouldn't normally go above an 8. But no matter how much I tried to reason with myself, when it came down to it, I just think this drama is everything I ever wanted and everything I didn't even realize I wanted.

Every time I thought I'd only give it an 8 or at best a 9, I found myself cheering or laughing out loud or crying soulful tears (yes, you will need a tissue box, maybe not even a box, but at least a few in your pocket), and then I knew I just had to give it a 10. It gets a 10 not because it is perfect TV, but because it was perfect to me. And, yes, I am an unapologetic and rabid Lee Min Ki fan, but you can see in my ratings of his movies that just because I love him to pieces, doesn’t mean I will automatically rate everything he does as a 10 with a 100 hearts after it. I try to be objective, even when it comes to my Min Ki :).

[Note: I will not be using the annoyingly bad English name of Evasive Inquiry Agency when referring to this drama but rather the more apt Mixed Up Investigative Agency (MUIA).]

First things first, if you are planning to watch this drama, be forewarned that it doesn't get truly great until episode 8 (some people might even say 10). Sure, it's loads of fun and entertaining and even exciting and the mysteries are all good enough to keep you going, but it really doesn't enter into the realm of greatness until then when you really start to see the heart and some surprisingly good acting. Up until then it's like the difference between how your chest feels when you are taking an exhilarating ride on a rollercoaster vs. how your chest feels when you realize you are in love. Sure your heart pounds in both instances, and both are lots of fun, but only love is profound and has memories that will last a lifetime.

Ok, so that out of the way, here are 12 reasons why MUIA is so darn perfect:

1. It's unique. One of the things that always tickles me the most and is most likely to land a drama near the top of my faves list is uniqueness, which, as much as I love Kdramas, is not always one of their strong points. I've seen many Kdramas where I've got the whole thing figured out within about 3 to 4 eps and the rest is just seeing where the details differ from the other 15 dramas just like it. You cannot say that about MUIA.

2. It's a true ensemble. Even in other so-called ensemble dramas usually 1 couple stands just a little taller than the rest of the cast, but not in this case. All 4 main characters are equally important to the point where you truly cannot say that any 2 are the stars. It is a true ensemble.

3. There is romance, but it's not really important. What's important in MUIA is friendship and a sense of family that comes not from blood but from loyalty and love and being there for each other in their time of need.

4. Speaking of family -- no meddling parents! Yeah! Meddling parents suck and are a staple of Kdramas that make me sick. So a show always gets bonus points from me when they aren't there!

5. Without being spoilery, another awesome thing about this drama is that it doesn't fall prey to crazy makjang machinations or hand of god reversals even where the story has left the door wide open for them. It is organic and moves where it should rather than being totally contrived for some kind of shock effect. I'm not saying it's totally realistic (because there are some silly and decidedly unrealistic moments), but it doesn't feel manipulated.

6. Conversely, some things that would normally NOT get fixed or reversed quickly do so in a timely manner. And expectations are frequently subverted. If you think something is going a certain way based on your prior knowledge of Kdramas, well, you are probably wrong.

7. The characters are not stock types and therefore feel like living, breathing people that you WILL start to care about. And I’ll just say it right here – Jung Hee Kyung (played by Ye Ji Won) is PURE AWESOME! I often find Kdrama female characters annoying or downright insipid or if they are of the evil type, well, then, pure evil balls of hatred. Not so with Hee Kyung. Yes, she is flawed, very much so. And she definitely has her annoying moments. But she is such an amazingly nuanced and multi-faceted character. She is a fully 3-D person that fits no character type I’ve seen before, similar to several, maybe but definitely not with all of her layers. I love her to death. She is one of my all-time favorite Kdrama characters, not just women, but characters. I love her warts and all (for those non-native English speakers, I mean that I even love her bad qualities).

8. This show has some deeply philosophical dialogue beneath all the fun. So watch out or it might really get you thinking!

9. Even the peripheral characters are treated as real people and you actually find yourself caring about them. This is a fully-populated world of real human beings, not just a set for our main characters to prance around in. (On that note, make sure you watch the end skit after episode 14. It was just the BEST thing ever! For that matter, watch all the end skits. They are pure gold!)

10. Acting! The main actors in this drama, despite some of the over-the-top quirkiness (mostly reserved for Lee Min Ki, a man who has made over-the-top quirkiness an art form all its own, even in photos, and yet still manages to also be a killer actor in serious moments when he needs to be), have some really special moments of greatness. Especially, again, Ye Ji Won, but definitely also Ryu Seung Soo and Lee Min Ki and even in a couple rare instances Lee Eun Song, when she was allowed to break her intentionally robotic character.

11. The soundtrack was fantastic. I think that a soundtrack can do 3 things in a drama: it can just sit there and do nothing to add or detract to the drama to the point where you can’t even remember if there was music; it can be overbearing and annoying or totally inappropriate and ruin the mood like a poop in pool; or it can add to every moment of the drama making it that much better. And, of course, that’s what MUIA’s soundtrack did. When a moment was funny, the music added to the funny, like using the MacGyver theme song during one scene and practically making me fall out of my chair). When a moment was exciting, the music was exciting (which normally meant adding to the funny by using intentionally overly dramatic music). When a moment was melodramatic, the music perfectly fit that mood too, or in a couple of particularly perfect beats, the total lack of music was what moved me the most. They used a huge range of music (theme songs from shows, American, Korean, classical), and each to outstanding effect. Well done, music director!

12. And finally, the best thing about MUIA, PLOT….and details, details, details. I’d say my single biggest complaint about Kdramas (but clearly not a big enough one to make me stop watching since I’ve now seen 116 in less than 2 years) is how they often start off with nicely nuanced and seemingly thoughtful plots and then start dropping balls all over the place about half way through. My understanding is that this is normally due to the live shoot system that most dramas end up in towards the end of their run and because sometimes scripts are being written while shooting is going on (everything I ever needed to know about Kdramas I learned from King of Dramas, hee ;)).

However, MUIA doesn’t drop balls, threads, or any other bits. It is as tightly plotted as any Kdrama I’ve seen – actually, it might be the most tightly plotted one I’ve seen. Everything that happens has a purpose and there are neat clues and details EVERYWHERE. In fact, all the clues are what gives this such a high re-watch value because I can’t wait to go look for them again! I never felt like the show was looping around to the same old plot over and over again (see most Kdramas) or that it was dropping characters and threads like hot potatoes just to suit the main plot (see nearly every TV show ever). It never did either of these things, and even when you might think it did, it will prove you wrong – just you wait and see!

When I was looking into this drama, I saw that it had really poor ratings when it broadcast. It was on KBS2, not one of the 3 main channels, but the ratings were still really poor. And not many non-Korean Kdrama watchers have seen it either because it isn’t on Dfever or Viki. Therefore, I have officially dubbed MUIA: THE WORLD’S MOST UNDERRATED KDRAMA! I think of it as the Firefly of South Korean television, a truly great show unappreciated in its time. So, I have written this review with the hope that my fellow Mydramalist-ers will give this drama a shot and in time, like Firefly, MUIA will get at least a little of the love and appreciation it deserves!

And if all that isn’t enough – IT’S GOT LEE MIN KI IN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Please note that I added a little bit more to this on 3/8, the day after I originally posted it.)

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I had to sleep on this one before writing this review (as I'm sure anyone who's seen this has). I'll come right out and say that I don't love this drama. It's not a genre I particularly care for. It's not especially exciting. It's not very pretty to look at except of course for the 4 leads themselves, who are blindingly beautiful. Watching it made me feel kind of squicky and dirty. And by the end I don't care so much about the characters except in a "Hey, look at that horrible train wreck. I wonder how mangled the bodies are" kinda way.

BUT, and it's a BIG BUT, this was one of the most unique, compelling and batcrap crazy Kdrama joyrides I've ever been on, and I can't recommend it enough to those who aren't afraid to feel dirty, take a walk on the darkside, and see something they've never seen before in a Kdrama. Because this drama turns everything you know about Kdramas on its head and it did so 9 years ago, which makes me wonder why hasn't anyone else done it since? *(More on that at the bottom.)

Some of the common Kdrama tropes that get turned on their heads are the Cinderella story, the Candy/Mary Sue female lead, the spoiled chaebol son, and most notably the OTP concept.

Without trying to spoil anything, I will just say that even to the end I never really knew who loved whom, and how much and whether any of it was love at all. The truth behind all the lovelines in this drama was so well hidden behind the directing, the very good writing, and the fantastic acting, that even at the end the lovelines were still a confusing mess. And I loved that about this drama because it was so much more realistic. Contrary to Kdramaland, in real life, people can be conflicted about whom they truly love. A person really can love two people at the same time and love is icky and messy. That this drama embraced this fact was so refreshing.

In fact, not only was the romance totally unpredictable but the show itself was, which is why I say it is so compelling. Even someone like me who usually needs either action or humor to keep watching a drama, absolutely could not take my eyes off of this train wreck. This show is ultimate drama-crack, and I owe all of that to the writing and the acting. How many times have you watched a drama only to be pretty sure by about episode 4 how everything is going to play out? Well, not with WHIB. I had some guesses, but they were really just wild guesses and I wasn't confident about any of them. It was that uncertainty that kept me glued to the computer all day yesterday to marathon the last half of this drama.

WHIB is best known, probably, for its ending, so if you want to watch this drama, whatever you do, don't spoil yourself. It was hard for me not to because I am a bit of a spoiler addict, but I avoided it and was the happier for it. Some people, I've read, hate the ending, and some people love it. I LOVE IT! The more I thought about it the more I realized that it was not only totally earned, it was also perfectly fitting. It made sense in every possible way, and that is a rare bird for Kdramas because if there is one major complaint I have about most Kdramas it's that the endings are usually dissatisfying at best and just plain crappy at worst.

Finally, I'll just say that if you do decide to watch this drama, be prepared for a wild and sick ride. Starting WHIB is like going down the rabbit hole. As I said before, this drama made me feel dirty. But it also was exhilarating, with each episode heaping tension upon tension and crazy upon crazy until I couldn't tell which way was up or right from wrong. There is no black and white here, only many shades of dirty gray. If you choose to watch WHIB, enter at your own risk, but I don't think you'll be disappointed.

*(In truth, I think that the abomination that was Fashion King was trying to achieve something like WHIB, but failed miserably on every level but shock value. I chock it up to terrible writing, awful characterization, and mostly to not having a clear idea of what kind of drama they really wanted to make. One of the best things about WHIB that I neglected to mention earlier is how unapologetic it is about being purely character driven. Every event occurs just to put the characters where they need to be, making the choices they need to make, in order to up the tension and tangle the lovelines a little bit more. Normally this kind of artificial maneuvering is a flaw, but because WHIB has no doubt about what kind of drama it is, it works. Characters and the decisions they make are all that matter in this drama. Everything else is irrelevant.)

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I finished this drama special last night (this morning) at around 1:00 am. There was so much adrenaline pumping through me that I wanted to write my review right then, but at the same time I had to digest this masterpiece for a while first. Because this is a masterpiece, and here's why.

First, I will say that if you like Kdramas, this one is absolutely unique in the entire genre. I've seen over 100 and nothing even seems to have been made on the same planet as this. So it definitely has the uniqueness factor - check.

Secondly, because it was a special rather than a full drama, it has a nice short run time of only 8 episodes, so it is great for those with ADHD or who like Kdramas but not the fact that they tend to be so long. Actually, my only real complaint about this drama is that there isn't more of it!

Of course, the first two positive things I've said about this drama are just shallow fluff and not really the reasons I called it a masterpiece. But they are good reasons that I think this is the ultimate drama for introducing noobs to Kdramas (particularly American noobs as those are the kind I know best).

But now on to the real meat of the matter -- why is this a masterpiece, and not just a Korean masterpiece, but possibly a masterpiece of television, period?

1. VISUALS! Did I say visuals? Oh, and visuals. This is one of the most singularly beautiful (and eerie) things I've ever watched. The PD is Kim Yong Soo and going foward I will watch anything he directs (he directed Equator Man, which while it has its plot flaws, no one can deny its cinematography is stunning). Every camera shot is perfectly framed for maximum visual and emotional impact. At times it felt more like watching a series of paintings or artistic photographs pass by rather than film. The visual harmony between the stark modern architecture, the snow, the shadows and even the physical characteristics of the actors themselves and how they are framed in each and every shot demonstrates tremendous forethought and superior aesthetic awareness. I could have watched this drama with the sound and subs off and still enjoyed it; that's how beautiful it is.

2. Acting. Considering the youth of this cast, the acting was quite good, and this drama could not have been pulled off without their sublime efforts because the claustrophobic, character-driven nature of this drama requires great acting. I read on Dramabeans that when the kids were cast that the writer cared more about physical type (because the visuals and theme were that important to her) than acting ability and that most of the actors were considered relatively inexperienced at the time; although, we know most of them very well now (Woo Bin and Sung Joon, for example). I found this revelation startling in light of the brilliance of their acting in White Christmas.

3. Music. Much like the visuals, the music was also all perfectly thought out at every moment to achieve maximum emotional effect. And for we English speakers, there is deft use of some popular tunes like AC/DC's Back in Black, Arcade Fire's Wake Up and Massive Attack's Teardrop (aka the theme song from House), just to name a few. This actually is my favorite soundtrack of any Kdrama I've seen because much of the music was recognizable and that just added to the overall impact of how well it was used to increase the emotional impact of the scenes and theme, rather than just as background music like so many soundtracks. The soundtrack in this drama practically takes on a life of its own and White Christmas would not be the same without it.

4. Theme & Writing. No bones about it, this is a DARK drama and not for the faint of heart. But once again, what makes it great is that it is not dark in the usual twisted crazy parent, birth secret, killing for money, insane makjang way of most dark Kdramas. This is dark because of the theme and the theme is a very simple and universal one relatable to anyone anywhere (that I am not going to go into here because I don't want to give anything away). Much like with the visuals and the music, the writing was also very focused in this drama, without any of the meandering, unfocused, repetitiveness that plagues the live shoot portion of so many Kdramas. Sure it was only 8 episodes, but every scene, every word, of those 8 episodes was perfectly thought out to elucidate the main theme with nothing extraneous and nothing left out either. EXCEPT....

There was one flaw in this otherwise perfect drama and it's a pretty major plot hole that occurs in the last episode that sent my bulls*** radar pinging. And despite my great love of this drama I refuse to let the writer off. If you've seen it, you probably know what I mean. However, I understand why the writer had to do what she did for the overall structure and theme of the drama, and, therefore, I forgive her. Because, in the wake of this glorious tour de force, I am willing to let a little final-hour-what-the-f**ckery slide.

In summation, watch this drama! You will NOT be disappointed. And if by same crazy miracle you are, there is a scene in episode 6 where all the guys take their shirts off, so hold on until there at least!

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I watched this movie because Lee Min Ki was in it. (Disclaimer: I would watch Lee Min Ki reading a phone book or getting a root canal or pretty much the most boring thing you could think of, so I'm a little biased.)

That said, I was pleasantly surprised. I mean, it's nothing special; it's just your everyday light romance. BUT it's a light romance done really well, and with a twist at the end that somehow manages to be both gimmicky (bad) but also entertaining (good).

The best thing about the drama was the acting and the characters. I cared for all of them and was really invested in how the story turned out for them, even when it did lag at times. Overall I would recommend it if you just want to watch a light romance (I'm not saying romcom because it's really only mildly funny, more cute). It's as good as any good American-made light romance + Lee Min Ki = GOOD!

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